Lee wins A2 after Coelho & Hagberg errors

Nicholas Lee has won the second A-Main of the TITC, the Yokomo driver benefiting from errors from race leaders Bruno Coelho and Alexander Hagberg, both incidents delaying a very unlucky Jilles Groskamp.   From the start Groskamp had Coelho under intense pressure and on the fourth lap the Xray driver would roll trying to keep the door closed on the Infinity driver.  Trying to avoid the Top Qualifier, Groskamp would have to take to the infield allowing third place starter Hagberg into the lead but four laps later he would do almost a carbon copy of his team-mates error. With Groskamp all over the 2015 Champion, on the exact same corner Hagberg was also to roll again, Groskamp having to take evasive action only this time it would end his challenge for both the leg win and that ‘dream’ TITC victory that eludes him.  With Lee going to the front after the second incident he would pull clear to add a win to his A1 second place with Andy Moore, from 9th on the grid, finishing 2nd ahead of Infinity team-mate Chavit Sirigupta and Hagberg.

Guaranteed at least second overall with his A2 win, Lee said, ‘I just tried to be patient and show how I got to the front’. Going into the deciding round as one of three drivers who can win the 15th running of the famed Asia race, he continued, ‘my car has been good all weekend but I think it will be difficult starting from 4th’.  With Coelho having the faster race winning time, the defending champion only needs a second once Lee must get the win. The other potential winner, Moore, has already ruled himself out for the overall win describing his second place as ‘very lucky’.

Commenting on his error, Coelho said, ‘I don’t know if the track was slower or my set of tyres was from a bad batch but I came under a lot of pressure from Jilles and trying to keep a tight line I flipped on the curb on the fourth lap’.  Hagberg said he ‘struggled again with understeer’ adding, ‘I don’t have a good set-up now. It was worse than expected and I don’t know how to fix it’.   Groskamp kept his summary of the race short saying ‘I was super unlucky’, the Thai based Dutch driver adding, ‘It’s a real pity I have no chance to win now but everyone could see I was fast enough’.

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Easy A1 win for Coelho with frantic finish for 2nd

Bruno Coelho took an easy win in the opening A-Main of the TITC, the Top Qualifier able to fend off an early challenge from Jilles Groskamp to cruise home to a winning margin of over 6-seconds from Nicholas Lee.  While the leader had a straight forward race the battle for second would end more spectacular fashion as Yokomo team-mates Nicolas Lee and Ronald Volker reeled in a slowing Groskamp.  With a lack of race announcements creating confusion as what stage the race was at, Lee, thinking it was the last lap, would attempt a pass on Groskamp into the final corner.  Hitting the Infinity driver, causing the Dutchman a body tuck, then Volker, trying to capitalise on the incident, would hit his team-mate but the impact stripped his spur gear. Unfortunately for Volker, the race still had another lap to go.  With Lee thinking that the race was finished he initially stopped after his contact with Groskamp who continued but on hearing the crowd reaction continued on the lap but Groskamp would spin out allowing him to go by for second.  With the incident causing Groskamp’s last lap not to count the result would initially show Volker, with a 4:59.563, third but bringing the error to the attention of race control he was given back the lap demoting Volker a lap down to fourth.

‘As expected Jilles attacked at the beginning  but I was able to keep the door closed and after 1-minute I was able to pull away’. The ETS Champion continued, ‘I have not so much to say, I pulled away and then just tried to stay in front and I will try to do the same in the next one’.  In contrast team-mate Alexander Hagberg, who started third but finished last, was very frustrated by his race saying, ‘the car was completely un-drivable.  I could even turn and people could pass me around the outside’.

Summing up his race, which started from 4th on the grid, Lee said ‘it went well’. He continued, ‘Hagberg went wide and we got side by side and he was unlucky and went off.  Then I caught Jilles towards the end and I thought it was the last lap so I tried a move on Jilles and hit him but as we both crossed the line I thought the race was over.  Then I realised it wasn’t and went again.  That aside I am happy with the pace I had for the race and to get second was good’.

Groskamp said, ‘I had a good start and could easily follow Bruno but half way through I lost a lot of pace and the car started to push, it was the same as the last qualifier’.  He continued, ‘I decided to settle for second but the drop off got worse and Nico & Ronald could catch me’.  On the hectic finish, he said, ‘I was slower but it was not super nice from Nicolas and I hope the second one is not so rough’.  Also hoping he doesn’t ‘not have so much drop off’, he added, ‘shame I cant have the pace from Friday but still we will fight for the podium’.

‘The starting grid is crazy to avoid other cars’ said Volker, the 10 car grid lined up extremely close to one another given the size of the Infinity Addict Circuit straight.  He said going into the first corner with cars either side of him he ‘came out the best to go to the front with Nico (Nicolas Lee). We caught Jilles and Nico tried a move and I tried to benefit but hit someone and broke my spur gear’.  He concluded, ‘I could have been Top 3.  With my grid position it isn’t easy but I am very happy with my performance’.  Behind Volker, Akiyama would finish fourth.

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Coelho Top Qualifier at TITC

Bruno Coelho is the Top Qualifier at the TITC after an exciting final qualifier at Infinity Addict Circuit.  After taking both of yesterday’s qualifiers, Coelho was the only driver who could deny Jilles Groskamp his first overall TQ at the famous Asia race and initially it looked like the Infinity driver was about fill that void.   With Coelho’s Xray coming good from the mid race, the Portuguese driver would start to close the gap and as the heat entered the final minute it was apparent Groskamp was starting to struggle.  With Coelho already ahead on the timing screens, Groskamp’s would attempt to keep his dream alive running a tight line off the straight but clipping the curb flipped off the track. While all the attention was on Groskamp and Coelho, Alexander Hagberg was all the time closing on his team-mate but in the end came up 3/10ths short.  With Coelho and Groskamp sharing TQ runs each it was Coelho’s time from last night’s Q5 rocket round which would secure the defending champion his second consecutive TITC TQ.  With Groskamp second and Hagberg third, Nicolas Lee starts fourth as the best Yokomo ahead of Akio Sobue, whose attempt to try to take third on the grid from Hagberg didn’t materialise.  World Champion Ronald Volker would complete the Top 6 on the grid, the 2014 TITC winner very critical of the track conditions drivers faced in the final qualifier.

Reacting to taking the TQ Coelho said, ‘It was very good.  At the beginning Jilles pulled away a lot but as we knew from yesterday my car works better from the middle to the end. It was double fast compared to the others and I could catch Jilles.  He then made a mistake maybe because of the pressure I don’t know but for sure it is great to get the TQ again.’  Asked about the finals, the World Championship Top Qualifier replied, ‘It’s difficult to know because we have a new set of tyres and we don’t know what is waiting for us, it’s a lottery, each set is different’.  He continued, ‘I am not confident.  I’m confident in myself and my car, we will see what happens’.

‘A good job from Bruno but my tyres just switched off after 4-minutes’ was how Groskamp summed up the final qualifier.  Using the same set of tyres he used to TQ the opening two qualifiers, the 2012 World Champion said, ‘I was surprised at the beginning by my pace but suddenly I had not traction.  I think Xray have something better with their tyre preparation and that I was too heavy, too long with mine’.  He added that ‘running the tyres for a third time may also have added to how much they dropped off’.  Saying it was a ‘dream to TQ the TITC’ he added ‘2nd is OK because the outside is a good starting position (on this track)’ and ‘it’s a new game because we are all on new tyres so there are no strategies’.

Returning to the Xray cabin, Hagberg understandably looked pleased with his final qualifying performance.  The 2015 Champion said, ‘At the start it pushed a lot but then came in at the end.  I was closing at the end but it was not enough but I have a good starting position for the final’.  Describing the track as ‘pretty open’ and feeling ‘you can overtake in a few spots’, the Swede said, ‘It will be interesting to see how it goes with everyone on the same tyres.  We all start from zero’. Runner-up to team-mate Coelho last year he concluded, ‘I think I have a good car for the final and it was always good on new tyres’.

Lee felt he ‘drove better today’ but added ‘I needed 2nd for the round to start higher and couldn’t make it.  This was the best I could do because the track changes so much’. Asked about his expectations for the race, the Singapore driver said, ‘I have no idea, I think there is no space to overtake. I raced the Ride Cup race here 2-weeks ago ad there was no space to overtake’.

Changing his car from an aluminium chassis to a carbon chassis in an attempt to TQ the round to get 3rd on the grid, Sobue said he had too much understeer to challenge for the round.  Another driver who feels it will be ‘difficult to overtake’ in the final, the Infinity driver plans to remain on the carbon chassis but change how the car is set-up.

Getting a P6 for the final qualifier to improve his overnight P8 position in the ranking, Volker wanted to voice his opinions on the final qualifier in particular how it cost Thailand’s top international driver Meen Vejrak a spot in the A-Main.  The German said, ‘I’m pretty upset with how things went for Q6.  It was wrong to have no free practice to clean the track before the qualifier started and it meant the conditions were unfair as the qualifying round was the track cleaning and it was of course going to get faster every heat’.  Running in the second fastest heat after Day 1 tyre issues saw him reseeded out of the top heat, he said, ‘I can complain even more today about being in the second heat but I feel sorry for Meen as the track was way worse than the top two heats’.  Running in the third fastest heat, Vejrak who has been on the podium at his home race for the last three years, would top his heat but would end up 15th fastest, compared to a P5 yesterday in Q5, a result that puts him 2nd on the B-Main grid.  On his own performance, Volker said, ‘I couldn’t do much to get Top 5 (on the grid), my car & tyres actually fell alright.  As I expected yesterday I am mid pack and I can’t do much but like anyone starting 5th or 6th I can just hope there is some incidents ahead of me’.

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TITC TQ to be decided in final qualifier

Day 2 of qualifying at the TITC in Bangkok would turn out to be Bruno Coelho’s day with the Xray driver backing up his TQ run in Q4 to take the penultimate round of qualifying over team-mate Alexander Hagberg.  A day that consisted of just two qualifiers, the result means it will be the morning before the Top Qualifier of the 15th running of Asia’s biggest race is decided in the sixth and final round, that set to be a shootout behind the defending champion and Day 1 dominator Jilles Groskamp.  While Groskamp has three TQ runs compared to Coelho’s two, the Portuguese driver goes into the final round knowing he has the upper hand should it go to a tie break having just posted the fastest qualifying time so far.  With Modified first on track in the morning for Q6, the Infinity Addict Circuit is expected to be much slower. After his bearing failure off the start of Q4, Groskamp’s day didn’t get much better with him struggling with a big drop off in pace, the Dutchman deciding not to complete the full 5-minutes.  It would be Akio Sobue who would set the early TQ pace but the Infinity driver would also suffer a drop off, falling back behind the two Xrays but holding onto P3 just ahead of Ronald Volker.

Commenting on his latest qualifier Coelho said, ‘For sure the result is very good.  The car was a little better now but for sure it is still not the same as before because it is still 7-seconds slower’. He continued, ‘It was not the fastest at the beginning but midway to the end it was impressive’ adding ‘conditions changed a lot for the round and this helped for the quality of the tyres’. Asked for his thoughts on the deciding qualifier, the World Championship Top Qualifier replied, ‘it’s all open for the TQ so we will see what happens’.

Finishing 2/10ths off Coelho, making it the closest round of qualifying, Hagberg who struggled in the previous round said, ‘I just put on fresh tyres’.  The Swede added, ‘I knew I had a good car for the colder conditions and it was as good as expected but I made a slow start and then when I went to overtake a guy he hit me’. Disappointed to lose out on the chance to line-up second overall due to missing the TQ for the round, he said, ‘trying to secure third on the grid now is all I can do’.  A driver normally reserved in voicing his opinion about races, the recent Snowbirds winner while not going as far as to call out the tyre issue said, ‘this is the weirdest race, results wise.  I went from being off the pace in the last round to fighting for the TQ and it’s the same for others. I suppose one positive is that its exciting in a way.’

Asked about his lack of pace in Q5 Groskamp replied, ‘this set-up is not suited to these conditions but still there was way more drop off than normal’.   The Dutchman said, ‘I didn’t want to change anything on the car because it works so well in the day time conditions and thats when the racing is’.  Even with sticking with that set-up he said he ‘I was surprised it pushed so much because I expected it to be edgy and it wasn’t’.  Regarding the overall TQ he said, ‘It was a shame Akio did not take that one but no worries for tomorrow.  In the morning it will be super low grip so I think it will be harder for Bruno’.

‘It started very good but after it understeered a lot’, was how Sobue reacted to Q5.  With a new set of tyres for the heat, he said they were a good set and he put the drop off down to a shock set-up change for the cooler conditions, but a harder spring made the tyres work too much inducing the understeer.  Hoping to have been able to seal the deal for team-mate Groskamp to get the overall TQ and to put himself in contention for an Infinity 1-2 by taking the round, the 22-year-old said his aim now is to secure third ahead of Hagberg, both drivers currently on the same points but Hagberg having two P2 and one P4 compared to his one P2 and two P3 results.

Continuing to turn around a disastrous first day of qualifying, backing up his Q4 P3 with fourth, Ronald Volker said, ‘I’m happy to take a 3rd & 4th after being 7-seconds off yesterday’.  Running the last two heats with the same white bodyshell he used in practice as they tried to eliminate every possibility for his drop off in pace once qualifying started, the World Champion said today’s improvement was ‘definitely down to tyres’, him using a different set today.  Having dropped into the second fastest heat the German said this added another slight disadvantage in term of the track conditions which he felt were better for the top heat.  With only seven heats of Modified, he feels the disadvantage in the morning could be even bigger as each heat cleans the track.  Currently sitting P8 on the grid he said a TQ would put him third but with no reseeding of the heat tonight this will be very difficult to achieve and he may have to settle for a mid pack grid position.

Completing the Top 5 for the round, Thailand’s top international driver Meen Vejrak would be very relieved by the result.  A podium finisher at his home race for the last three years, the former Nitro Touring Car World Champion said, ‘Yesterday I cannot drive the car. It was a really shit day but today it is so much faster’.  The Yokomo driver continued that his BD8 was ‘totally different to practice (yesterday) but now it is back to normal’.  Asked if the turn around in form was to do with tyres, he replied, ‘I don’t want to say anything but I didn’t lose 5-seconds in the set-up’.

Behind Vejrak, fellow nitro racer Dario Balestri put in an impressive run to set the sixth fastest time.  The new Infinity signing, who is a nitro onroad specialist and has little electric touring car experience, is only racing at the TITC before making an onward journey to Singapore on Monday for 1:8 testing as the Japanese brand makes preparations for this 1:8 World Championship year.

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