Coelho takes Q1 comfortably over Rheinard
Bruno Coelho has taken the opening round of qualifying at the season finale of the Yokomo Euro Touring Series in Germany. The Xray driver took advantage of the cooling evening conditions to set the pace by more 3-seconds from Marc Rheinard. Having topped the seeding practice, Ronald Volker completed the Top 3 having to give way to the faster Coelho who started the first of the 4 scheduled qualifiers behind him. Having scraped into the top heat Naoto Matsukura would finish a surprise 4th fastest with Freddy Sudhoff and Christopher Krapp completing the Top 6.
Commenting on his TQ run, Coelho said, ‘In the end we didn’t change anything from controlled practice and I just tried to control my first laps so as not to overheat the tyres. It felt really good and then I could begin to push a bit. Volker’s pace was not very fast so maybe he had a problem, but once I passed him I then just tried to manage to the end without any mistake’. The Portuguese driver added, ‘I am still missing steering but that the same problem for everyone as its a characteristic of the track but the Montech Racer body is helping a lot especially in the big corner’. Asked about tomorrow’s three rounds of qualifying, when temperatures will be much higher, he replied, ‘For sure it will be different’, and having experienced hot conditions at the Euro Nitro Series encounter at the track earlier in the month added, ‘the track takes in a lot of heat depending on the sunshine so it can get very hot so we will have to look at how we can change the car for this’.
‘I think it was not bad’ was Rheinard’s reaction. The Infinity driver continued, ‘I knew Bruno in cold would be fastest especially with that new body because it has a lot of downforce so to get second I am happy with this’. He added, ‘Its good that we got two cars in the Top 4 too’. Predicting tomorrow will be ‘completely different’ he said ‘I think in the hot Bruno will not be as fast, he hasn’t looked as good when it is warm so Q2 & 3 we should be closer’.
Volker was ‘a bit disappointed’ with P3. The only driver to beat Coelho for a win this season, he said, ‘it was completely different track conditions to earlier but I still expected better than P3’. Asked what the issue was he replied, ‘my car understeered too much, the track improved a lot (in terms of grip) and I could have run a harder diff’. Feeling he lost out on a potential P2 having to open for Coelho, the Yokomo driver concluded, ‘everything will be different the next two days (due to hotter weather) so that gives me a new chance’.
Matsukura described his P4 as ‘lucky’. Having claimed his first ever ETS podium last time out, the former World Champion said while removing the ARS from his Infinity IF14 made the car ‘pretty good’ it was ‘not quick but was easy to drive’. Having struggled in hot conditions, he said, ‘I checked the weather for tomorrow and it is to be maximum hot so I think I need to change my car and also my driving style’. With the track’s unique asphalt and banked corners working the tyre a lot more than normal, he predicts everyone is going to overheat tyres tomorrow and it will be down to who best manages their driving over the 5-minutes’.
‘Actually pretty good’ was Sudhoff’s response when asked how he felt Q1 had gone. The Awesomatix driver added he had ‘two big moments and almost lost the car’ and these cost him two places, himself, Matsukura and Volker only separated by 2/10ths of a second. He continued, ‘I’m happy as the pace is there so I just need to focus on myself. It will be hotter tomorrow and this is when the car is even better’.
Former ETS race winner Krapp felt he had better pace than P6. The Yokomo driver said, ‘to be honest I’m not too happy because it could have been better’. He continued, ‘On the 2nd lap I had a mistake and let Naoto by but then when I got back up to speed I couldn’t get back by him and he was a little slower than me. 6th is an OK start and I know the pace is there’. Asked how he felt his car would work in hotter conditions, he said, ‘I’m looking forward to tomorrow. The track changes every run so I have left the car the same all day and I attended the Warm-up race so know it’s good when it’s hot’.
In the Xray Pro Stock class Tom Krägefski took Q1 ahead of championship leader Christian Donath with Max Mächler completing the Top 3. In terms of the title contenders, the Pro Stock champion still to be decided, Jan Ratheisky got a P4 while the other challenger Olivier Bultynck played the strategy game and pulled off to save tyres. In the Scorpion Power Formula class former Pro Stock Champion Alexander Stocker took the TQ in the opening round from reigning champion & title contender Ratheisky with Tim Benson 3rd. Championship leader David Ehrbar would get a P5 ahead of the third of the title contenders Bultynck in sixth.
View the complete event results here.
View our event image gallery here.
