Coelho holds overnight TQ in Slovakia
Euro Touring Series champion elect Bruno Coelho completed the perfect day at the season finale in Slovakia as he claimed another TQ run in the second round of qualifying leaving the Xray driver to hold the overnight TQ. Having TQ’d the opening qualifier from outgoing champion Ronald Volker, the second time of asking Coelho topped the times ahead of his only remaining title rival Marc Rheinard however the German’s hopes of sharing the ETS title with the Portuguese ace now looking like increasingly unlikely due to both having used two their sets of tyres while others have a new set still at their disposal for tomorrow’s remaining two qualifiers. Also on new tyres, Freddy Sudhoff would complete the Top 3 just ahead of Alexander Hagberg who was the quickest driver on second run tyres. On used tyres, Volker would suffer an ‘unnecessary roll’ which would leave him with a P16 for Q2 but some consolation for the German is that he still has a new set for tomorrow. After a strong P3 in Q1, Yannic Prumper was again on a good time leading the second fastest heat until he put his VBC on its roof opting to pull off once marshalled.
‘Did what we needed to do, the car was perfect’, was how Coelho summed up Q2. Running new tyres on his T4, he said ‘the track was a little slower than expected’ but he was ‘still able to do faster lap times’. Bettering his Q1 pace and able to go 17-laps, 1.7-second clear of Rheinard he hopes the time will be enough should someone TQ Rounds 3 & 4 tomorrow. Having used both his sets of the Volante handout tyres, he said for tomorrow he must ‘just wait to see how the remaining qualifiers work out with the drivers who still have a new set’.
Rheinard said after his unexplainably bad car in Q1 they got two cars ready for second qualifier. Having checked over his first car after it spun out in the first round, he said on the warm-up lap it did the exact same thing. Changing to his spare car, he said ‘at least it was drivable’ allowing him to put a P2 on the board after his earlier DNF. Not sure what the issue is with his ‘better car’, he will for Q3 copy across the set-up to the spare car but added as the cars feature different chassis plates he is not sure how it will work. Despite also being on new tyres, Rheinard’s best lap would be 2/10ths off that of Coelho. The fastest Tamiya in Q1, Christopher Krapp would complete the Top 10 in Round 2 choosing to save his second set of tyres for tomorrow.
Still not feeling right, Sudhoff said while he had new tyres on his Awesomatix for Q2 he felt he had also managed to further improve his A800. Missing out on 17-laps, he said the changes while making it faster left the car ‘a little more edgy to drive’ adding ‘that its the only weak point now’. Planning to make some changes for the morning’s Q3, he said his ‘own energy should be higher after a good night’s sleep’. Faster of the two Awesomatix’ in the first round, Viljami Kutvonen would post a P8 time on used tyres.
Best of the drivers on used rubber, Hagberg said his Xray ‘was very good but faded too much at the end’. Happy with his T4 on used tyres the Swede will use his second set of new tyres to ‘try to move up the grid’, him currently holding third overall in the qualifying standings. Hagberg’s team-mate Marek Cerny, the outgoing Pro Stock champion who has made the switch to the premier Modified class, backed up his Q1 Top 10 performance with another to post the ninth fastest time.
Having struggled with his Xray in Q1, Team Infinity driver Jilles Groskamp posted a P5 time on partly used tyres. Commenting on the first qualifier, the ETS Luxembourg winner said, ‘I had zero traction and thought maybe I made a tyre prep error. I couldn’t believe the car was so bad’. Pulling off half way through after he rolled, the 2012 World Champion used the same set of tyres for Q2 only this time he changed both his tyre warmer settings and his prep. Having to open to allow Rheinard through, losing 2 to 3 tenths of a second which was enough for a Top 3 finish, the Dutch ace was still ‘super happy with 5th on old tyres’ adding the result put him ‘back in the game’ with it ‘nice to still have a new set of tyres for tomorrow’.
A driver to gamble on pulling off at the start of Q1 to save tyres, Viktor Wilck would only get a P6 admitting himself he ‘expected more’. The Serpent driver said his Project 4-X was ‘at the beginning a little loose and at the end had way too much push’. Running a Top 3 pace he said the car’s drop off caused him to fall back to sixth adding ‘it was the same at the Euros, it loosing too much at the end (of the run)’. Asked what changes he could make for Q3 to cure his understeer, the Swede, ‘I’m not sure at the moment’.
‘A shit load better than the first one’, was how former British National Champion Olly Jefferies described his run to P7 in Q2. The Xray driver said he ‘couldn’t get around the track in the first one’ adding ‘I think the rear right tyre was dead as it just kept swapping ends’. ‘Just switch(ing) to another set of tyres’, his T4 was ‘9-seconds faster’. Looking to tomorrow he said, ‘I think my car is good on used tyres’ but he will take a closer look at the other set of tyres to figure out the problem adding the hot conditions of Q1 would really show up a bad tyre.
In the Xray Pro Stock class having impressed with a P3 in Q1, Marco Siegenthaler went two better to take his Xray to a TQ run. Behind the Swiss driver would be Noah Asendorf also driving an Xray with Yokomo’s Nico Catelani, last year’s Hudy Arena Top Qualifier, completing the Top 3. In the Serpent Formula class, already crowned back to back champion Jan Ratheisky reversed the order of Q1 to TQ ahead of David Ehrbar. Dutch Team Infinity driver Jitse Miedema would take third driving an Xray ahead of Roche driver Olivier Bultynck.
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