Coelho cruises to A1 win at ETS
Bruno Coelho cruised to an easy victory in the opening A-Main at Round 1 of the Euro Touring Series in the Czech Republic. Having TQ’d earlier in the day in Hrotovice, the Xray driver made light work of his opposition to win by 2.4-seconds from Ronald Volker who in turn had a 3.5-second advantage over 3rd. It was the battle for 3rd that would provide the entertainment as a train of cars backed up behind P3 starter Viljami Kutvonen until a slight error by the Finn let Marc Rheinard through to complete the Top 3. Managing to hold off the challenge of Xray’s Alexander Hagberg, Kutvonen would hang onto fourth.
‘Everything was perfect’ was how Coelho summed up his dominant A1 performance. Making heavy contact with the barrier at the end of the straight on his way to executing a clean sweep of the four qualifiers forcing him to change tyres for the final as the impact broke both right side wheels, he continued, ‘I was a little afraid that they (the second set of tyres) might not work as expected but they did’. Making ‘a very good start’, setting the fastest lap of the race on his 5th lap, the Portuguese ace said the race ‘got easier’ when Volker made a mistake. After this he said, ‘then I just tried to make no mistakes and get to the end all ok’.
Commenting on his race Volker said, ‘we got everything better for the main by improving the tyre prep and the car set-up and I was able to pull away from the field but Bruno was able to pull away from me’. The World Champion continued, ‘we have to try find something for A2 or even the next ETS. This is something we have to work on’. Losing about a second with his roll over, the Yokomo driver said, ‘I can’t be too disappointed with 2nd and the gap to the drivers behind but it’s looking like this (second) is the maximum we can do this weekend’. Not fully admitting defeat, he said, ‘we will consider some changes for tomorrow to try challenge for A2’.
‘That is all I can do’, was Rheinard’s reaction to him pulling a third out of A1. Winner of the event last year from the TQ, the Tamiya driver continued, ‘I don’t know what Bruno is doing, he is just in a different World’. Widely expected to be his final ETS outing under the Tamiya Racing Factory banner, he said, ‘It’s a long way off yet but I would like to finish the weekend with a podium. Third is the maximum we can get and that’s what we will be aiming for tomorrow’. On getting by Kutvonen, he said, ‘he went wide and left me room so I was able to get passed’.
The only driver to mix it in anyway with Coelho and Volker in qualifying, Kutvonen said was not happy with his car in A1 saying, ‘I made a set-up change and it was shit’. The Awesomatix driver adding, ‘I will go back to what I had before for A2’. On losing position to Rheinard, he said, ‘I lost the rear and went wide and Marc was there so I couldn’t close the door’.
In the Xray Pro Stock class it was to be an entertaining first A-Main. Top Qualifier Christian Donath led the way with the No.2 starting Olivier Bultynck on his Tamiya’s rear bumper until the Belgian flipped his Awesomatix. This gave Donath some temporary space before Alexandre Duchet took the challenge to the German. As the race entered the second half Donath would have a rollover allowing the impressive French driver to go to the front where he would hold on for the win. Behind Donath found himself now under pressure from Noah Asendorf, the Xray driver attempting an inside pass in the final dash to the finish line. They touched but it was Donath who was declared 2nd. In Formula, Top Qualifier David Ehrbar took an easy win after his main challenge Bultynck got hit from behind on the third lap and retired with a shock off. Champion Jan Ratheisky would finish a distant second with third going to René Kölbel.
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