Coelho takes opening qualifier at TITC

Bruno Coelho has kicked off the defence of his TITC title in the best way possible by TQ’ing the opening round of qualifying at the iconic Bangkok race.  Second behind Ronald Volker in the single seeding round yesterday evening, the Xray driver reversed the order in the first of the four qualifiers by topping the round by 7/10th over the Mugen driver.  Held just after midday local time on a very hot track, behind the Top 2 there was a considerable gap.  The third fastest time was set by Alexander Hagberg who was closely followed by Marc Rheinard and Akio Sobue, the Top 5 all previous winners of what is widely regarded as the most difficult race in the world.  Making it five different manufacturers in the Top 6, Xpress team driver Yugo Nagashima put in the sixth fastest time.

Summing up his opening effort as ‘pretty good’, Coelho said, ‘the conditions are pretty hard because the asphalt is super hot today’.  He continued, ‘in the middle of the run my car was tricky to drive and I was just trying to keep it on its wheels but the last 4-laps I had to push hard to keep ahead of Ronald after he was able to close the gap I made at the beginning.’  Asked what his issue was mid run the Portuguese driver said, ‘the car is rolling too much.  It’s getting so hot.  We never drove in this heat yet so we need to work on the car for that.’

‘P2 is not a bad start and I had a small shot at the end to challenge Bruno’, was top seed Volker’s reaction to Q1.  He added, ‘He pulled a gap at the beginning but the last minute I was very close to him.  I was reducing the gap but then I caught two backmarkers and that cost me time as well as putting me out of my rhythm, I lost time but maybe it did not cost me anything in the overall result.’  A driver who openly admits that the RC Addict track has always tested him, the German said, ‘it was still enjoyable to challenge for TQ at RC Addict cause it didn’t happen in a long time.’  On his car, the former World Champion described it as ‘slightly difficult’ adding ‘the grip was a bit lower today, not by much, and they will make small adjustments for Q2 while also trying to judge what the tyres will do.

Hagberg said his run had a ‘couple of small mistakes’, the Swede highlighting a mistake on his first lap which he said caused him to lose his ‘confidence’.  He said overall his ‘speed was OK’ but he was ‘not able to challenge the Top 2’.  A two time TITC Champion, on his car he said, ‘in general my car is pretty good so I will just fine tune the set-up but I think it’s my driving I need to work on more’.

‘Slow but no mistakes.  The points are OK but pace & car wise it was not OK’, was how Rheinard summed up the first qualifier.  The multiple World Champion who has only won the TITC once in his illustrious career, way back in 2006, said, ‘It felt like I had no grip but still the car was trying to flip.  I had no feeling, the car felt like it had no connection to the track.’

Winner of the event in 2018 and again in 2020, Sobue was much happier with his car today.  P7 in seeding, the Axon driver said, ‘the car is better now.  We made a small change and the balance was better’.  He added, ‘The car is good but my driving was a little cautious at the start.’  The Japanese driver was also a little frustrated after losing time when he caught Rheinard and Lucas Urbain.  With Urbain having had a crash earlier in the run he said, ‘Lucas had a crash and I was faster driver (on pace) but he wouldn’t open for me.  I tried to make a pass and he didn’t open and I crashed into him and I lost a position’.  Encouraged by his car’s Q1 performance he said the plan is to ‘improve the driver’.

Seeded in the second fastest heat, Nagashima summed up his Q1 with ,’It was good, I’m happy’.  Running a number of parts that will form the next kit release from Xpress, he said they made a little change to the car from yesterday adding the the ‘hotter conditions are better’ for his car.  While overall liking the new track layout for this year’s TITC he said the chicane is ‘challenge’ given its high speed nature.

View our event image gallery here.

Video – Seeding Practice (Top heat)

Chassis Focus – Atsushi Hara (Xpress)

Chassis – Xpress XQ11 “Hara Edition”
ESC – Hobbywing XR10 Pro
Motor – Hobbywing V10 Xerun 4.5T
Battery – Fido 5900mah
Tires (handout) – Sweep
Radio/Servo – Futaba 10PX / Futaba CT702
Body – Lens Bodies Ghigli 2.0

Image Gallery

Bruno Coelho – ‘Completely different race to any other. It’s one of the best in the World’

Red RC attended its first TITC in 2017.  It was always a bucket list event but it was the meaning of the win on the Sunday that really endorsed for us that this is one of the greatest touring car races. The emotion of the win was powerful and that winner was Bruno Coelho who gave us the headline for our final report that read, ‘Coelho takes TITC with ‘hardest win’ of career’.  Seven years on and catching up with Bruno before he took his flight to the Thai capital to defend his title, the World Champion still rates the race as ‘one of the best in the World’ adding it is ‘a completely different race to any other’.  Chasing a record equaling fourth win that would put him on par with TITC Master Atsushi Hara, a driver widely acknowledged for putting the race on the world stage, as we will find out Bruno isn’t driven by records but very much being the best on the day.  He knows this is one race where ever detail is critical be successful at ‘one of the most challenging races’ in the world while on the flip side offers ‘one of the best race atmosphere’ you can experience.

Bruno’s first TITC was in 2015 when the race returned to the RC Addict track and it has called it permanent home ever since. He qualified second behind Xray team-mate Alexander Hagberg who would go on to win while rough finals left the Portuguese driver 5th.  It was a learning experience but a year later he returned to take the first of his victories.  Defending his title in 2017, he failed to convert the TQ in 2018 and in 2019 he qualified & finished 4th as Hagberg became a multiple Champion of the legendary Asian race.  Not attending the event in 2020, Bruno returned after the event’s Covid hiatus with a dominant 2023 performance but in a race where the finer details are critical Bruno takes on the challenge without one key element in his all conquering touring car campaigns – mechanic Francesco Martini.  ‘I have no Franci this time as he has business commitments.  We had the flights booked already but it was something very important and he can’t come.  I will have Martin (Hudy) as my mechanic so it’s not a huge problem.  Obviously Martin is super good, he designed the car, but myself and Franci collected all the data together in the past.  I don’t want it to sound bad against Martin but myself & Fanci have a special working relationship and at a race as tough as TITC it’s these little details of knowing what to do and when can make a difference.  So not having him at the race is a negative for me.’

Asked why the race is held in such high regard by drivers and one that they so badly want to win, Bruno explained, ‘How the track changes each run because of the hot temperatures makes it so challenging.  In the morning it might be 28 degrees in the shade but in the sun the track temperature could be 50-60 degrees.  You need to drive different to not overheat the tyres.  You need to have two good set-ups for different times of the day.  Every small detail is important even the electronics because they also have to deal with the high temperatures’. A race where all the team drivers come almost a week before the race to test on the track he said, ‘Everyone has plenty of time to test so we have no excuses for the race.  It’s one of the most challenging races, we give all we can give.  People can’t say you are here for 2-weeks and they were only able to do 2-days testing like they said in Gubbio (2020 ISTC World Championship).  Everyone gets loads of practice so that’s one less excuse we all have’.  He continued, ‘From practice you decide your plan for different times of the day.  In the morning there is a lot of traction, mid day low traction and evening is rocket round.  You think you are ready for the race and then someone finds something good for their car and you are stressed.  At the end if I finish 5th I have no excuses, I was not good enough.’

On the chance of becoming one of the races most successful drivers and whether it is motivation for a fourth win, Coelho response was quite typical of a sports person at the peak their career, ‘I get asked a lot about races I have won and how many times I have won certain races but I really don’t count wins, I go to win every race.  I don’t think about the past, I prefer to move forward and try to be better for the next race.  If you live off your past success you don’t strive to be better for the future.’

With tyres always a topic that comes into play not just at the TITC but most touring car races these days it seems, Bruno questions the limit of 5 sets of Sweep tyres this year.  I think for the importance of the race they should not limit tyres as it could be a negative thing.  You will have maybe five drivers in a heat because others are saving tyres.  I think for (race) series limited tyres is good but for a single race like TITC it’s one race and everyone should give their all and not be forced to pick and choose when to or not to run because of saving tyres.  I think like the Worlds it causes more confusion than benefits.  He also feels this years new layout will be hard on tyres, ‘the most critical part of the track is the end of the straight when you are on full brake.  In the hot conditions this is going to burn the tyres’.

While his Hobbywing powered Xray package is much the same as previous years, one significant change from 12-months ago is the radio Bruno will use.  ‘I used to use Sanwa but since September I have been racing with Futaba.  I like the physical feel of the brake.  It has more range and I can get the feeling of a normal brake.  The Sanwa brake is mechanical short so you have to adjust on the radio settings.  With the Futaba you can manage more with the finger and I like this.’

2024 TITC coverage presented by Hobbywing

Hobbywing is China’s earliest national-level high-tech enterprise engaged in R&D, production and sales of brushless power systems for UAV and RC models.  Committed to provide high power density brushless power systems for global customers, Hobbywing and the TITC have a deep-rooted history.  As early as 2009, Hobbywing’s ESC made its first appearance at TITC with this year marking a 15 years history of collaboration.  Except for the three years during the COVID-19 period, Hobbywing has consistently offered on-site technical guidance to its users at TITC, ensuring the optimal performance of their power systems and providing steadfast support for drivers, allowing them to fully immerse themselves in the competition.