Exciting A3 sees Coelho finish runner-up at TITC

Bringing the 21st edition of the TITC to a close, A3 of Modified produced the most exciting race of the event with Bruno Coelho, just, taking the win to secure the overall runner-up spot ahead of Marc Rheinard.  With a dominant performance from TITC Rookie Michal Orlowski putting the title out of reach if his rival in A2,  the third encounter was all about who and the order of the two drivers that would stand either side of the Schumacher driver on the podium.  With No.2 qualifier Coelho leading them away with his all new Infinity in A3, Rheinard’s Awesomatix was giving him no breathing however the outgoing Champion started to establish a lead and the attention focus on a good battle for third place, Axon’s Akio Sobue eventually coming out on top in that one.  As the race finish closed in so did Rheinard and on the last it looked like he timed a pass perfectly to take the leg but with one more corner to go to the loop a better line from Coelho say him snatch it right back to claim second overall as Rheinard for the second year in a row completed the podium at the Infinity RC Addict circuit.

Summing up day in Infinity pink, Coelho said, ‘I think it’s an amazing result, again the expectations were high but we still needed to be realistic with a brand new prototype car.  It’s an extremely positive result compared to the competition that has a full developed package.’  With the TITC marking the four time winner of debut race for his new Infinity team, he continued, ‘I am really happy with the result, of course we could do better and we will do better in the future but it is what it is and we need to work harder.  For the start it is already pretty impressive.’  Asked about his A3 battle with Rheinard, he said, ‘I had everything to lose so I just needed to keep Marc behind me which for the first 2 and a half minutes was kind of easy and I was kind of pulling a little away but then suddenly the emotion everything start to kick in and I start to be nervous and making small bobbles which allow Marc catch up.  Yeh, and then we had a nice battle until the end which was a nice RC moment for sure.’

Putting it to Rheinard that A3 was entertaining one, the multiple World Champion replied, ‘I tried, it was just my mistake in the last corner, I just for some reason just drove to tight which wasn’t needed because I was already by and in front.  Then I hit, it’s not really a curb, but a turtle and then I jumped off it and then I was in the dust.’  Asked about his catching of Coelho towards the end of the race he explained, ‘I saw that he was struggling, his car was kind of lose, mine was pushing, so I still kept the tyre good to the end.  The pass was there, the pass was nice and then the next one I f##ked it up.  Disappointing.’  Asked if he was pleased with the overall result, one the podium 19-years after winning the TITC, he said, ‘before A3 it’s always if Lucas (Urbain) has a 2 he would be in front of me so I couldn’t make any stupid things but we had a big gap and I was by, just the loop was too far off.  Back to back third is ok.  Still I’m disappointed but by tonight I don’t care any more I think it’s just now.  It doesn’t matter it all about the win.’

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Sparbier gives new Mugen TITC Open Brushless title

Mugen Seiki can ship its upcoming new MTC-3 electric touring car as a Championship winning car after Soren Sparbier claimed the win of the Open Brushless class at the famed TITC.  Experiencing his first ever time on a plane in order to make the journey to Bangkok, the German returns home with extra luggage in the form of his winning & TQ trophies having wrapped up the title in A2, a race that would prove somewhat controversial.  Having secured pole position by topping two of the four qualifier at the challenging Infinity RC Addict Circuit, the 18-year-old took a very straight forward A1 win on Saturday evening.  In Sunday morning’s A2 however, what was shaping up to be a great battle ended with a body tuck, yet again a great race destroyed by the modern day flimsy lightweight body shells.  After leading away, setting the fastest lap in the process, Sparbier was soon under pressure from Lukas Ellerbrock, the German carrying Awesomatix’s hopes of a fifth consecutive TITC win.  Ellerbrock would find a way passed to take up the lead but Sparbier wasn’t quite done and made a re-pass but contact resulted in Ellerbrock suffering a body tuck.  While Sparbier initially waited, as Ellerbrock pulled off to a marshal for attention, he then resumed the lead.  Taking the A2 win ahead of Fong King he would claim the victory.   In A3, the lively crowd having lot of reasons to ooh & aah, the race eventually going to last year’s Open Brushless podium finisher Adam Izsay ahead of Ellerbrock, the later getting the overall runner-up spot with Izsay’s Xray completing the podium.

A driver new to the international stage asking Sparbier how it felt to be his first time here and now be Champion, he replied, ‘Very good’.  Asked to sum up his races he said, ‘The first final was really good, the car was good, the end was good.’  On A2, he said, ‘the car was not so good but I was in front and Lukas was behind me.  Then Lukas caught and pass me and then next lap I catch Lukas but I caught his car, I waited but the body was tucked.’   With the MTC-3 designer Robert Pietsch here supporting Sparbier and Ronald Volker in Modified, asking the former Nitro Onroad World Champion about the win he said, ‘I think the second final we probably lost some speed compare to the previous race.  I don’t know if the motor is overheating, I don’t know the cause but I felt he had less power than Lukas so Lukas could catch him and then they had the little incident which was unfortunate.’   Asked when we can expected the release of the MTC, Volker giving the car a ver convincing win over new TITC Champion Michal Orlowski at the recent MIBO International race, Pietsch said, ‘I hope April’.  With huge interest in the new car he added, ‘I am scared we have not enough kits for everyone.’

Summing up his TITC debut, Ellerbrock said, ‘Overall of course second place is not bad but I came here to win it so right now still a little bit frustrating but not a bad result.’  Asked about his take on incident with Sparbier the 27-year-old said, ‘I think it is pretty clear.  I made a very good overtake in my opinion but got take out afterwards and then got taken out a second time so my A2 was the worst scenario’.  ‘A3 was a rough race, something on my car was still not right after A2, it didn’t feel great, I had a really loose rear on the right handers so I just tried to save the podium cause I had not result in A2.’  His time attending the TITC asked if the fact he missed the win does it mean he’ll be back next year to go one better he replied, ‘I hope so yes, that’s the plan.  I really enjoyed this week so would be great to come back again.’

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Video – A-Main Leg 2

Action from the second & deciding A-Main of Modified Touring Car at the 21st edition of the TITC at RC Addict in Bangkok, Thailand.

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Rookie came, Rookie conquered, Orlowski nails TITC win

It won’t be remembered for the intense racing action like we witnessed last year, but the 21st edition of the TITC will go down in the history records as the year the Rookie Michal Orlowski turned up and absolutely nailed the win at the legendary race.  Completing a clean sweep of all four qualifiers, starting the finals from the TQ, Orlowski armed with his Schumacher was the class act gapping the second place qualifier &  defending Champion Bruno Coelho almost immediately in both A-Mains.  Having taken the opening encounter on Saturday, in A2 the Polish ace looked even stronger with Coelho finding himself having to deal with Marc Rheinard on his rear bumper for the entire race.  With almost 3-seconds on his rivals, he cruised to the win and with it the title to become its 11th different champion of the Bangkok race.  A race that is often referred to by drivers as ‘the toughest touring car race in the world’, Orlowski’s performance this weekend was something special and for the World Championship Top Qualifier a major psychological boost.

Putting it to him if today was sweet revenge, Orlowski replied, ‘I would say so, I have had loads of TQ’s recently and I didn’t convert them into wins.  I could see on social media all the comments that I slow down in the finals and stuff like that, so I really wanted to prove everyone wrong here and prove to myself as well because I started doubt myself on being able to start first.  In qualifying we were super close with Bruno so Marc was trying to play mind games with me and saying Bruno will take me out, everyone was telling me he will take me out so I tried to block all this out and do my thing.  The car was amazing in the finals and this allowed me to pull away.  I never looked back and I am really proud of how I was able to drive.  In the finals from the first lap I had a comfortable gap, Bruno was never even close and I just kept pulling away from the whole field.  I am really proud of that especially being here for the first time and how difficult this race is with the changing conditions but we were always strong.’

Asked if he surprised himself at how dominant he was, he replied, ‘For sure I am extremely surprised, I wasn’t expecting at all to be this fast, I was hoping to make the main and just be competitive so that I have some sort of pace to fight for the podium or the usual guys I fight with.  I absolutely did not expect to have so much speed over everyone else so I’m really proud of the work I did with Mattia (Collina), the guys from Elceram over the week of testing.  I think this is very unique because it so rewarding all this practice because we put in so many hours here at the track in this heat, we work so hard and then at the end, this time we won, maybe next we might not, but all this work meant something.’

The 1:12 World Champion acknowledged the support of his team-mate Pekko Iivonen and a certain Joseph Quagraine, ‘I am happy to work with Pekko as well, it was nice to have him here and JQ.  I must say many people can say something bad about him and sometimes maybe he speaks too much on social media but I think he’s actually really smart.  In Q4 gave me a set of shock to put on my car, we had secured the TQ in Q3, and we wanted to try something for the finals to improve the base to increase the gap to make it more comfortable for me, the car was always quite on edge in qualifying so JQ gave me a set of shocks, I don’t know what was inside, but it was actually quite ok, maybe not perfect, but I told him there was something good in it.  And then we made half a millimeter change of bumpsteer, his favourite thing, for A1 and my car was amazing so he as well played a big part and made my speed visible with his Invisible Speed so it’s been an awesome week.  I am really happy for Elceram, they helped us a lot with the settings and made sure everything was running well no issues as almost all the other brands had some sort of problems at some point this week and we had absolutely zero problems so I really happy with everything.’

View A3 report here

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