Coelho gets much anticipated first win in exciting A2
A driver who has injected renewed interest & excitement into electric touring cars with his raw speed, Bruno Coelho has finally delivered the long awaited first win by taking an exciting A2 at ETS Luxembourg. After a spectacular drive in A1 to recover to third from a Stop & Go penalty, the Portuguese star would second time of asking get to have a straight up battle with Top Qualifier Ronald Volker and A1 winner Jilles Groskamp snatching a last lap win in a great display of World class driving by the trio. While Volker led for the majority of the race, Jilles Groskamp would for a very brief moment go to the front getting by the Yokomo with 3-laps to go only to roll his HB at the very next corner. With this allowing Marc Rheinard to snatch third, Coelho was next to attack Volker with the 21-year-old getting by the German at the same section of the track, the only difference being he made his pass stick to take the anticipated win.
‘No mistake, no Stop & Go, it was perfect’, that was Coelho’s reaction to the race. Starting from fourth on the grid, he said after a lap behind his team-mate Alexander Hagberg who struggling again for traction opened up to allow him through he was able to catch Volker and Groskamp. Sitting behind them waiting for a mistake, he said when Groskamp flipped he knew he had to attack Volker for the win aware there was only 30-seconds left on the clock. Noticing Volker touched the curb a little he said he knew this was the opportunity he had been waiting for and he went for it. Describing his LRP powered T4 as ‘super good’, again posting the fastest lap of the race, and now one of four drivers in the mix for the overall win of the event he said the plan for A3 was to repeat A2.
A pairing that has not enjoyed the best of relationships as they clashed in the previous two rounds of the ETS, Volker was quick to praise Coelho offering ‘Compliments to Bruno on a great drive for the win’. Having struggled with a lack of rear traction in A1 in which he finished only 8th, the ETS champion said he was more confident for the start of A2 having felt on his warm-up laps conditions were better. ‘Able to open a small gap over (Groskamp)’ in the early part after 2-minutes his LRP powered DB7 started to lose overall traction. With Groskamp and Coelho closing he said they were soon ‘both on (his) ass and I couldn’t really fight them off’. Surviving the Groskamp pass having given him space he said when Coelho gave him a little tap he said he knew he was too going to attack. With a bad A1 result, he gave Coelho enough room to execute the move adding it was better to accept a P2 than risking clashing and losing out on a podium he said, adding he is looking to at least secure a podium finish, which could be enough to secure him a fifth consecutive ETS title.
Rheinard said ‘to get a 2 and 3 from 6th on the grid is not too bad’. While his Much More powered TRF419 had good pace the newly crowned Reedy Race Champion said it took him too long to get to pass the cars in front of him by which time the leader is ‘too far away’. Still with a chance of the overall win today he said the battle up front could work to his favour as if they get stuck one into another he might be in the best position to go through for the win.
Despite having thrown away the chance to secure his first overall ETS win with HB, Groskamp was not down about his roll saying ‘I’m happy for the fact I was able to battle for the win’. Describing it as ‘a nice clean race’ and complimenting Coelho who ‘drove a super clean race’, he said Volker was backing them up and he had to back off a few times to avoid contact. Getting by in the Laguna Seca section he said ‘I got too excited and was a centimetre too short (at the next corner) and rolled it’. With the marshal hesitating on recovering his car which was landed wheels down but was facing the grass, the Dutch ace said it was a shame he lost out on 3rd because of that.
In the Xray Pro Stock class, having had a tough A1 Marek Cerny would take the win ahead of the Team Magic of Patrick Gassauer and Schumacher of Nicolai Lindegaard who had a close battle for second. It was not a good race for A1 winner Lars Hoppe or second placed Nico Catelani as incidents left them to finish 7th & 8th respectively. In Formula VBC Racing’s Olivier Bultynck would back up his A1 win to take a dominant A2 win and wrap up his first overall win of the season.
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