Bruno again in Q2
Bruno Coelho has effectively secured himself the overall TQ at Round 4 of the Euro Touring Series in Italy after he opened Day 2 of the event with a second TQ run. Having claimed last night’s opening ‘rocket round’ qualifier, taking Q2 will make it hard for the Xray driver to be denied pole for the A-Main as the time from the opening qualifier will be near impossible to beat giving today’s hotter track conditions. With Coelho on his second set of tyres, Ronald Volker would do well to get within 3/10ths of the reigning champion given he was on the same set of tyres he ran to a P3 in Q1. While offering ‘no comment’ on his tyre strategy for Q2, Viljami Kutvonen would complete the Top 3 ahead of Viktor Wilck and Meen Vejrak, both drivers on new tyres having opted to sit out Q1.
Summing up his run, the start to Day 2 delayed following overnight rain and the track being covered in widely dispersed cotton-like seed, Coelho said, ‘again it was not perfect but for the result it was good’. In a repeat of Q1, he would again lose the rear of his Hobbywing powered T4 on the opening lap but being lucky in being able to get it straight again. Dropping him 2-seconds off the early TQ pace set by Marc Rheinard, the Infinity driver running wide onto the grass on the straight a lap later ending his run, once the tyres did come in he would recover the deficit to go to the top of the times. He said, ‘On new tyres the car is nervous for the first few laps, I don’t know if its because of additive or that we are starting with the tyre too hot. To be able to pull back 2-second shows the car is good so if we can get the start sorted this will be perfect for the finals. I can’t do more (in terms of the TQ) so we will use the next qualifier to find the problem with the first few laps’.
‘This was the absolute maximum I could do on 2nd run tyres’, was Volker’s reaction to Q2. The Yokomo driver continued, ‘It was clear Bruno was pulling away as his tyres came in but I’m happy to get 2-points on used tyres. He (Coelho) almost threw it away but unfortunately he looks safe for the overall TQ now’. Asked about his plans for his second set of tyres he said ‘We already know when we will run it and I also know when Marc (Rheinard) will run on his but it will be hard to beat Bruno’s time from yesterday’. A much hotter day today at Riccione, Coelho’s Q2 TQ pace was 8-seconds slower than Q1.
11th in Q1, Viljami said, ‘I lacked pace yesterday but I didn’t change the car so maybe the weather suits us better’. Runner-up at ETS Italy last year, the Awesomatix driver continued, ‘I was less than 2-seconds slower than my Q1 pace but the others were 8-seconds off so I will leave the car the same and just try to get another good run to put myself in the A-Main’.
Effectively the first qualifying run for the 4th seed after he opted to not start Q1, Wilck described the outcome of his gamble as, ‘OK’. The Serpent driver continued that while his Project 4X had ‘even more understeer today’ his ‘5-minute pace was better than expected’. Describing today as ‘so hot’, the Swede plans to go up in the oil of his rear diff as well as ‘try to make the right call on tactics with the tyres’, him still needing another strong run to make his first ETS A-Main appearance of the season.
A track where he claimed his best ETS result to date in 2015 when he finished second, Meen Vejrak was content with his P5. The Thai driver said, ‘I pulled off yesterday so I couldn’t blow the run and just put in a safe drive’. Running in the third fastest heat, the Yokomo driver continued, ‘The beginning was too slow but this did mean the car was more consistent in the end. Now I need one more safe run to make the A-Final’. A fan of the track, the former Nitro Touring Car World Champion said, ‘the bump is getting more difficult as I found out many times in practice but anything could still happen so there is still plenty to play for’. Behind Vejrak, Italian Xray driver Alessio Menicucci completed the Top 6.
In the Xray Pro Stock class, the opening two qualifiers saw TQ runs from two different drivers. In Q1, Awesomatix’ Max Mächler topped the round ahead of Italian Mattia Collina but last year’s race winner reversed that result in Q2 with double race winner Alexandre Duchet third in both. In the Scorpion Power Formula class, champion Jan Ratheisky took the first round with his Xray while Serpent’s championship leader David Erhbar took the second one.
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