Coelho wins A1

Bruno Coelho has won the opening A-Main at the World Championships in Florida, an early coming together between the Yokomo’s of Top Qualifier Naoto Matsukura and Ronald Volker handing the Xray driver a lead that would never be challenged. Some distance behind the Portuguese sensation, Tamiya’s Marc Rheinard would finish second from fourth on the grid with Matsukura recovering for third ahead of Volker. The opening final of the 8th running of the IFMAR event, a loose track made for a difficult race with many drivers critical of the decision to run the Main race first rather than at the end of the opening round of lower finals. Just how bad conditions were was highlighted by the fastest lap of the final qualifier and first A-Main, both set by Coelho, with him posting a 17.2 in Q6 and only a best of 18.4 in A1.

‘Fantastic’ was how a very happy Coelho summed up his win. Describing the track conditions as ‘really bad’ while pointing to his 18 second fastest lap, he said off the start he just waited to see what would happen. Able to get around the two Yokomos by the fourth corner as they touched he said he just pushed to build up a gap. Establishing a gap over second very quickly he said he then took it easy not wanting to fall fowl of the conditions. Expecting a faster track for A2, the 21-year-old said his aim is to repeat what he did in A1 and see how it works out.

Describing it as ‘stupid to run a World Champion deciding final first’, Rheinard said with zero grip all he could do in the race was just try to keep his car on track. Unable to get around the leaders crash he dropped back to 7th but said luckily a crash later in the same lap at the chicane pushed him back up to third. Able to catch and pass Volker he said that second was a lucky result adding A2 should be better conditions and allow proper racing.

Asked for summary of his race, Matsukura said ‘track no good and I couldn’t control my car’. Recovering to look like he would mount a challenge for second on Rheinard before a mistake coming onto the straight, the Japanese star said after struggling for 4-minutes his car was ‘very good’ in the last minute. Happy he has the car to get the job done he said the track will be better for A2 and he will try to take the battle to A3.

After the final practice, Volker said he made the call himself to go with lighter oil in the rear diff of his BD7 2015 and it was the wrong choice. With ‘zero traction’, he described A1 as a ‘wasted’ round. Commenting on the incident with his team-mate on Lap 1, the German said Matsukura spun out and still on the racing line he had not where to go. Touching he said he still tried to hold the lead but he couldn’t avoid the curb at the next corner with his car jumping it allowing Coelho by. ‘Lucky to hold second’, he said he knew after 1/2 a lap his set-up was wrong and said he knew it was only a matter of time before the others would catch and pass him. Complimenting Coelho on his win saying it was ‘well deserved’, he believes A2 should be better both in terms of his car set-up and the conditions of the track.

View our event image gallery here.

Matsukura is Top Qualifier in Kissimmee

Naoto Matsukura is Top Qualifier for the Electric Touring Car World Championships in Florida, the Yokomo driver claiming his second overall TQ off the event having secured pole position for the 1:12 Worlds earlier in the week. With the sixth & final qualifier at the Kissimme track a three way Top Qualifier showdown between Matsukura, Ronald Volker and star of the event Bruno Coelho it was the Xray driver who would top the concluding round as both Yokomo drivers crashed. Making a last lap mistake himself, even without this Coelho’s time would not been quick enough to secure the top spot as all three drivers ended up on 2-points with 2 x TQs and a second as their counting 3 of 6 rounds. Setting the fastest run of qualifying in the opening round of qualifying two days earlier it was this time that would give Matsukura his fourth World Championship TQ, with Volker’s Round 5 pace securing him second ahead of Coelho. For defending champion manufacturer Tamiya, Marc Rheinard will head their challenge from fourth on the grid with Champion Jilles Groskamp taking up the rear of the grid in 10th position.

Pleased to claim his first Touring Car Worlds TQ, Matsukura said he was forced to push hard by Coelho, describing the Portuguese driver as ‘very fast’. Battling with Coelho for the TQ of the round, he would get out of shape coming onto the straight with the time lost putting him out of contention to TQ overall with the perfect score. Having originally expected his greatest challenge to come from team-mate Volker he acknowledged Coelho is a real potential challenger for the finals. Starting out front and looking to achieve something his mentor & RC Legend Masami Hirosaka never did in winning the Touring Car title, he said his approach for the finals would be drive a clean race. Asked about the opportunities for overtaking on the Full Throttle RC Raceway track he said it would not be easy but added there are opportunities there.

Confident the track conditions wouldn’t allow for anyone to better his fastest 5:15 Q5 pace, Volker said the only way he could better his starting position was to take the round. Pushing hard on lap 6 he would turn too early and make contact with the boards popping a shock off his car. Making a set-up change to his BD7 for the final qualifier he said the car didn’t feel as good as previous runs adding this was something they need to work on for the practice final. Changing a number of things the German said they will return some of the adjustments back to how the previously ran them and combined believes his car should improve. Four time consecutive champion of the highly competitive Euro Touring Series, he said Coelho is going to be a factor in the race but said speed is only one thing but making the right judgements would be key.

Impressing the World with his pace on this his Touring Car Worlds debut, Coelho said his last lap discrepancy was caused by nerves. Setting the fastest lap of the round and the only driver to run 18-laps, the 21-year-old said he knows his Nosram powered T4 is fastest enough to take the battle for the win to the two Yokomos starting in front of him. Asked what his approach for the finals would be, the European Championship Top Qualifier said simply ‘Maximum push’.

Having tried a set-up change in the morning’s free practice and liked it, Rheinard said it didn’t work as well in final qualifier as the temperature came up. Despite his TRF419 being loose on power, the German still claimed his best qualifying performance with a second. Planning to try a different set-up in the practice final, he said looking to actual races he thinks crashes are going to be the key to the outcome adding he hopes to be able to get through such crashes that happen ahead of him. Behind Rheinard, team-mate Viktor Wilck will start 5th, the Swede saying for how their car is in the hot conditions this starting position is the best he could have expected.

Posting the third fastest time of the final qualifier, former Champion Atsushi Hara will start sixth on a grid that contains five RC World Champions. The Yokomo driver, who has been running in Heat 9 of 10 with clouds covering the sun having a huge effect on track condition between groups, said he believes on the same track at the same time he has competitive speed for the final. For the practice final he will try a thicker diff to get more traction for the hotter conditions of the actual triple A-Mains.

View our event image gallery here.