Coelho leads processional A2
After his body drama in A1, Bruno Coelho took a straight forward win of a processional second A-Main at the ETS in Apeldoorn. The Top Qualifier came under pressure from A1 winner Ronald Volker over the opening laps but seeing off the German, the Xray driver opened a convincing gap to win by 2-seconds. Behind, Christopher Krapp would complete the Top 3 a further 1.2 seconds back with the Top 5 finishing in the order they started. The highest place mover would be A1 3rd place finisher Naoto Matsukura who gained once place to finish 6th.
Commenting on his final, Coelho said, ‘I tried to start with no risk but lost the rear at the first corner so then I had to drive careful and Volker pushed a lot but I managed to pull away’. Asked out his moment at the first corner, the grid having been moved back 2 positions after in the Formula cars had an issue starting on the slight banking, he said, ‘maybe the tyres got cold on the grid but I just had the bad feeling in the first corner but for a few laps I was cautious but once I got the feeling back I could make a gap. Now I will try to do the same in the next one’.
‘He gave me a chance at the beginning as he struggled with the rear but I couldn’t get through’, was Volker’s view on A2. The Yokomo driver said, ‘I had a slide one or two times especially in right corners and then I had no chance to catch him’. He continued, ‘the drop off is too big so we need to try another set-up for the last one and go for it’.
Krapp described A2 as, ‘a pretty boring final’. He continued, ‘It looks like we are still losing steering at the end of the run so we will try more changes. Ronald went away in the first minute or two and then we were the same but Bruno was much faster’. Chasing his second podium fn the season, he said, ‘I hope I can secure the podium and it looks good now. I know it looks boring but I have a 2nd and a 3rd and I am really happy about it’.
With a little more action in Pro Stock, Max Mächler took a close win over Awesomatix team-mate Olivier Bultynck as they touched in the final corner almost handing the win to third placed Tim Benson. Having won A1, Jan Ratheisky got out of shape and lost the lead on lap 10 ending up on the grass. In Formula, Ratheisky would get the win as again Top Qualifier Simon Lauter didn’t execute a great start running wide dropping back to second. Jitse Miedema would take 3rd. In 40+ Masters, Top Qualifier Beni Stutz had a better start and led for 13 laps until he let Christian Drießle through where he would stay to the finish with Arie Manten coming through from P8 on the grid to complete the Top 3.
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