Coelho takes easy A1 win
Bruno Coelho took and easy win in the opening A-Main of the Yokomo Euro Touring Series in Spain this morning, the Top Qualifier taking full advantage of the 2nd place battle between Alexander Hagberg and Ronald Volker. Off the start Volker’s Yokomo would get loose from 2nd on the grid allowing 3rd position starter Hagberg to slip through to second at the first corner. While Volker would put the Xray driver under pressure looking to take back the position he couldn’t and in the second half the race the pair were evenly matched with Hagberg leading Volker to the finish line but that wasn’t how they would finish. Just metres from the loop, Volker’s car would stop with an electric problem leaving the World Champion as a non-finisher. The main benefactor would be his team-mate Christopher Krapp would would complete the Top 3 having held off Freddy Südhoff.
Summing up what was a very straight forward race win, Coelho said, ‘Yes, that was a good final for me. Volker lost the rear at the start and Alex could go by and then with them battling I could go away’. The reigning champion, continued, ‘after that I could manage the race without any stress’. Asked about track conditions, it a much cooler day in Madrid this morning, he said, ‘It was a little loose especially in the high speed corners but I expected worse’. Looking to A2 he concluded, ‘I will just try to drive a similar race again’.
Having bumped himself up to 3rd on the grid with a tyre strategy that saw him TQ the final qualifier, Hagberg said, ‘I could pass Ronald in the first corner after he got sideways at the start and then just tried to hold onto to second’. The Swede added, ‘my car was very good in the second part of the race which worked out good. I will try to do the same again in A2’. Commenting on the track conditions, he said ‘it was a little lower grip than yesterday but quite OK’.
‘First of all, losing the start to Hagberg ended my race’, was Volker’s reaction after. The German went on, ‘My car got sideways from the grid. I easily had the pace to fight Bruno but was stuck behind Alex for the first half of the race. At the end we had the same speed’. Asked what caused his car to stop he said, ‘2 corners to go it stopped. The battery was completely empty for some reason. It didn’t feel like it was slowing on the last lap as I could still run with Alex but it just suddenly went. I don’t know why’. He concluded, ‘I’m more upset about my start because it stopped me fighting for the win’.
Krapp said, ‘given I forgot to tighten my top deck it was a pretty good result. I got lucky when Ronald shutdown. I hope they can fix the problem for A2’. The German continued, ‘I was not really an exciting race. It started ok but then my car faded because the top deck was loose so I will be sure its tight for A2’.
In Pro Stock Max Mächler managed to make his TQ stick taking the win ahead of Olivier Bultynck and Jan Ratheisky who both pushed the Awesomatix driver hard. In Formula, Bultynck used up his 9 lives to hold on for the A1 win while Ivan de La Calle managed to get by Ratheisky late in the race for second. In the Masters class, Top Qualifier Thomas Oehler had a very short race turning in early and pulling a wheel of his car on the opening lap with Christian Drießle going on to take an easy win over Christophe Puntil and Scotty Ernst.
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