Coelho returns to form to take opening Q1 at ETS Italy
Bruno Coelho returned to form when it counted most with the Xray driver taking the opening round of qualifying at ETS Italy. Having set the pace in free practice, the ETS Champion ended up P6 after the two rounds of controlled practice as Ronald Volker topped the seeding. In the evening’s opening qualifier, which would bring the first official day of the fourth round to a close, Coelho was back in business taking the TQ ahead of Marc Rheinard and Volker. Behind the trio of title protagonists, Elliott Harper would put in a strong performance to set a competitive P4 time followed by Jilles Groskamp and Yannic Prumper.
‘We kept the car the same because it was strange that in free practice we were fastest and then in controlled we suddenly went off the pace so we decided to wait to see if something happens. We put on our race tyres and it did, we were fast again’, was how Coelho summed up his return to the top of the time sheets. The qualifying wasn’t without its dramas for the Portuguese driver as he had a ‘big mistake’ on the run onto the straight on his second lap. ‘Luckily able to get it straight again’, it would leave him with a 17-second lap but with his car working ‘amazing’ as it had been in free practice he would lay down the only 15-second lap of the qualifying two laps later as he set about working his way to the top of the timing screens. Pleased to end the day back on form the reigning champion admitted his comeback had resulted in his tyres getting too hot towards the final laps.
‘I can be happy with the result’ was Rheinard’s reaction to his P2. The Infinity driver would suffer a moment on the curbing at the end of the straight on the opening lap and backing it up with his fastest lap on the next lap would lay down the TQ pace. He said, ‘I was leading but could see Bruno was suddenly running a faster pace than me’. Making a mistake on his final lap, Rheinard said even without this he couldn’t have held off Coelho as his rival had the faster car towards the end of the 5-minutes. Looking to tomorrow’s qualifiers with a number of drivers pulling up or choosing to not start Q1, the German said, ‘it will come down to tyres now so lets see how the tactics play out but I think Bruno will run his second set of tyres in Q2 to try and get the overall TQ wrapped up early’.
Having topped both rounds of controlled practice, Volker said, ‘I’m definitely disappointed finishing P3’. A driver for whom the Riccione track has not be kind in terms of results though he rates it as one of his favourite circuits, the World Champion said, ‘the car was good at the beginning but got too much understeer over the run. I couldn’t challenge for the TQ, this was the max I could do for now in terms of my driving. The Yokomo driver hinted that the cold conditions also went against them saying, ‘we have a good feeling for the hotter conditions, we worked towards this because except for Q1, the rest of the qualifiers and the finals will be run during the day time so I am confident for tomorrow’.
‘After the first few laps I had, I’m surprised with the result’, said Harper of his P4. The Schumacher driver continued, ‘I had no grip for the first two laps because we took the warmers off too early but the car was consistent and at the end still quite fast’. He added ‘it is nice to have good result because we’ve put a lot of effort in’. Describing his car as having ‘good corner speed’, the British driver said he ‘just need(s) to focus on driving a little bit better’ admitting to having tried to ‘over compensate’ for the inevitable drop off over the run.
Second fastest in seeding, Groskamp said, ‘the start was quite OK and I tried to follow Ronald but the car broke away and I spun out’. Able to continue after his 360 degree spin, the Infinity driver said his tyres never came back after their run over the dust and he ‘lost a lot of pace’ over the second half of the run. Having to open to let team-mate Rheinard through, he said even without his ‘donut’ he still feels his IF14 is lacking pace over the second part of the run and he will look at a possible shock set-up for tomorrow.
Completing the Top 6 despite running in the second fastest heat, Prumper summed up his day by saying, ‘it started pretty bad but ended pretty good. I was 25th yesterday and 15 in seeding I was off the pace but we got it figured out now’. The winner here in 2015, the factory VBC Racing driver said, ‘I got a little nervous in the middle of the run as the car started to slide but I held it and to get a P6 is a good boost for tomorrow’. Behind the German and also running in the same heat, Spain’s David Pérez would set the 7th fastest time ahead of Naoki Akiyama, Alexander Hagberg and Freddy Südhoff.
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