Close Q1 sees Coelho just take it from Sudhoff
A close opening qualifier at the Yokomo Euro Touring Series second round in German has seen the first strike of the weekend go to Bruno Coelho with the Xray driver just seeing off the charge of a very on-form Freddy Sudhoff. Top seed in practice, Coelho had the advantage of starting out front while Sudhoff had to contend with finding a way passed a slow starting No.2 seed Alexander Hagberg. Setting the fastest lap of the race with two laps to go it looked like Sudhoff was on target for the TQ but Coelho responded with his fastest lap of the race which together with a moment from Freddy on the last lap gave Bruno the first TQ run of the weekend. With the Top 2 having a distinct advantage over the rest of the field being, the only drivers to make 21-laps, it was Ronald Volker who came through to post the third fastest time with 3rd to 6th separated by only half a second. Behind, Elliot Harper got a 4th from the first of the four qualifiers ahead of Xray team-mate Alexander Hagberg with the Top 6 completed by Christopher Krapp.
‘It was very close with Freddy’, was Coelho reaction with the reigning champion adding, ‘his car looks very good. It was very close between us all the run and it was all decided in the last laps’. Looking to repeat the win he took on the Daun event’s debut on the ETS calendar last year, the World Champion said, ‘Our cars are working good but mine is still not 100%. It’s missing steering but now that we have one safe qualification we can try something for tomorrow. We will decide tonight what we will do’.
A very pleased looking Sudhoff said, ‘that was a close one. The car was on point from the first lap on’. The Awesomatix driver continued, ‘Once I passed Alex I found my rhythm. It was just some super small mistakes that cost me the TQ. It was super close with Bruno’. Posting a 14.712 fastest lap time, for tomorrow morning’s second qualifying encounter the Worlds Finalist concluded, ‘I will focus more on my driving tomorrow and just leave the car the same. It’s on point’.
Only managing P7 in seeding, Volker look relieved to kick off qualifying with a Top 3. The Yokomo driver said, ‘We improved the car so that was the best it has been all day. I can’t be unhappy with 3rd especially with how close the 5 guys were behind me’. Asked what his issue in practice was, the championship points leader replied, ‘The balance was off and the car was sliding too much. For qualifying we went to a set-up closer to Christopher’s (Krapp) and our ETS Round 1 set-up’. He continued, ‘In reality the Top 2 are far ahead so we need to make further changes tomorrow to close that gap’.
‘The car was really good but my first few laps didn’t go quite so well’, said Harper. The British driver explained, ‘I tried a different motor position in the warm-up and it didn’t work so I pulled in to get my mechanic to change it. He did it super quick but the other cars had already started going for it (to start their qualification)’. Looking to Q2 in the morning, he said, ‘I want to change the balance slightly so it is smooth in the high speed corners but still has rotation at low speed’.
Commenting on his run to the 5th fastest time, Hagberg said, ‘I had a slow start. The tyres I used were less broken in than my other set and they took time to come in so it was probably a wrong decision’. Having to open for Sudhoff, the Swede continued, ‘Once the tyres came in the car was on pace. I will run them again in the morning so hopefully I will be on the pace from the start’.
In the Scorpion Power System Formula class David Ehrbar came out with the first TQ run. The Serpent driver emerged with just 2/10ths of a second advantage over Olivier Bultynck with top seed Jan Ratheisky getting a P3 more than 2-seconds further back. Ratheisky would however take the top spot in the first of the Xray Pro Stock qualifiers leading a Xray 1-2 from practice pace setter Leo Arnold, the French driver’s time 3/10ths off the TQ.
Winner of the opening round of the Infinity 40+ Masters class, Alexander Stocker maintained his practice form to TQ the first qualifier. The Awesomatix driver had a comfortable advantage over class champion Thomas Oehler with Vice-Champion Christian Drießle 3rd quickest. In the new 17.5 Stock class it was also the Top seed who would take Q1 as Luis Moreno narrowly pipped long time pace setter Torsten Baggendorf. ETS Vienna winner & points lead Daniel Pöhlmann got a P3 for his efforts.
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