Coelho sets the pace as free practice concludes

Reigning World Champion Bruno Coelho set the early pace in Gubbio, Italy, the Xray driver posting the fastest 3-consecutive laps of the four rounds of free practice at the ISTC World Championship. With a full 1-second advantage, his closest rival would be multiple Champion Marc Rheinard with Ronald Volker and Jilles Groskamp making it a very familiar picture at the top of the time sheets. Setting the fifth fastest time, Yannic Prumper was the fastest of those in search of their first World Title.

‘It seems good, the car is super fast but we had some problems on parts of the track’, was how Coelho summed up free practice. Finding himself on the grass on a number of occasions and his car taking flight on the straight one time he added while the car is fast ‘it is not perfect’. Asked how he is getting to terms with the track changes, he said forgot about the dots and ended up hitting them and said the dots at the end of the straight can be hard to see but concluded ‘it is what it is’. Asked about his pace over the full 5-minutes, he said the first controlled practice would show as drivers can only run one car, most running two cars in the free practice runs.

‘The last one was good’, was Rheinard’s response to his early performance. Having tried ‘different stuff’ in the first three runs, the Awesomatix driver said switching back to his ‘normal set-up’ he was a lot happier with the car. Choosing to run only one car each round, the German felt his lap times were good over the entire duration of the run but added he thinks it will be the same for Bruno when he runs just one car. Asked about the track, he said, ‘Driving on this track (layout) is questionable, the dots are pointless’.

Volker seemed content with his practice saying ‘we are doing fine’. The Mugen driver added, ‘we went out with 2 cars each run to get more data for the shortened event and we know what we want now for CP1’. Asked about the differences between the cars, he said they tried to go different directions with each set-up as well focusing on testing body shells. Asked about his overall pace he said his focus wasn’t on 3-consecutive laps so he is confident they also have good 5-minute pace. Describing it as ‘weird’ having Q1 on the opening day of the Worlds, asked how he was adapting to the new track layout he replied the dots are ‘not a great idea’.

2012 Champion Groskamp said after 6-years since his last WC he was happy to be back. Describing Day 1 as ‘a bit of a rushed dasy’, the Infinity driver continued, ‘so far so good, I am pretty happy with the car so far. We are not far off on the 3-laps although Bruno is far ahead of everyone’. A driver who raced the nitro touring car European Championships here during the Summer, the Dutch driver is not enjoying the layout changes. ‘I don’t like the layout. 3 corners have totally different apex now and I really don’t enjoy it. I know it is the same for everyone but the decision ruined the layout and has made it hard to follow so it will be hard to race’.

‘Getting better and better’ was Prumper’s thoughts on free practice. One of the few factory drivers not to test prior to the event along with Yokomo team-mate Christopher Krapp, he said, ‘we weren’t here for practice so my ficus is working on my driving style. You could quickly see who did and who did come for practice so I am satisfied with my pace for now’. He said some small changes had got his car ‘more to what I want’. While he doesn’t have to re-learn as he wasn’t here before the dots were added, the German did say, the end of the straight is terrible for sure. You have to take a wide line and there is no grip. For those watching the race it would be better with no dots, the make it really difficult to overtake’.

Joining Axon this season, Akio Sobue said he was taking a step by step approach to getting his car dialled into the track. The Japanese driver said ‘small changes each run’ were getting the TC10/2 to his liking but he was having issues with the dots. ‘I don’t like the dots, a small touch causes a big jump and they make it difficult to over take’. Asked about his car which has been on general sale for a while, he said they are running some new stuff that is planned to be released later as optional parts.

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