September 19, 2015

Coelho Top Qualifier on EOS debut at Nürburgring

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Touring car ace Bruno Coelho has stamped his mark on the world of 1:10 Electric offroad claiming the overall 2WD TQ at the Euro Offroad Series season opener at the Nürburgring. His debut EOS at the German event, the Xray driver claimed pole position for the finals after topping the final qualifier ahead of reigning champion Lee Martin.  With Martin taking Q2 & 3 the result left the two tied but with Coelho’s Q4 time the fastest of qualifying the Portuguese ace will carry no.1 on his buggy in the final. Winner of the last season’s finale, Schumacher’s Michal Orlowski will start third on the grid ahead of Xray’s Martin Wollanka with American Carson Vernimont completing the top half of the grid.

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‘Much, much more than I expected’, that was Coelho’s reaction to his impressive feat in a class which the professional driver has limited experience.  Having thrown away the TQ pace in Q3 crashing twice, in the deciding qualifier he flipped his prototype XB2 just once and with Martin also suffering a flip he was able to outpace the Yokomo driver by over 3-seconds to take Q4 and the overall. Describing his car as ‘brilliant’ he said they knew during testing at the Hudy Racing Arena what it was capable of but coming to a different track you never know how it will work but it was still perfect.  Asked about the finals he said the biggest decision would be choosing whether to run new or used tyres, the new carpet being used for the fifth season is resulting for little or no tyre wear. In terms of his approach to the final he said he lacks the experience of those starting behind him and ‘need(s) to focus 110%’ adding that with the extra elements of the jumps it was more difficult than racing a touring car.

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Having looked to have the overall TQ in the bag Martin was a little downbeat to end up second.  In the final qualifier, he said he took his eye off the car for a second and ‘crashed like an idiot’. With ‘a dodgy Yokomo’ crashed in the middle of the front straight he said it was enough to put him off and cause him to crash.  Asked about his car he said they managed to improve it for Q3 and then again for Q4 but still descibing it as ‘not perfect’ he said hopefully they can make it better for the final.  Commenting on the final he said it was really close between himself and Coelho but his approach was going to be to ‘drive around & around and see what happens’.

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Having made changes to lose rear end grip from his Cougar KF2 for Q3, getting a 3rd from the round, Orloswki said a front shock oil change for the final qualifier ‘wasn’t the best’. Going up in the oil he said he had no rear grip and the car wouldn’t turn in.  Considering the set-up issues the 14-year-old declared himself ‘pretty happy’ with 3rd and hopes by going back to his base set-up he can run a good final.

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Despite his final two heats not going very well, Wollanka was happy with his overall qualifying performance as he claimed his best 2WD starting position with P4. Targeting a podium finish in the final he is confident his XB2, on which he forgot to check the ride height for Q4 with it being way too high, has the pace to be in the mix.

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Starting behind Wollanka will be the two Yokomos of Carson Wernimont and Marc Rheinard. Wernimont said he ‘expected a little more of himself’.  Making his debut as a full factory Yokomo driver, he said the speed is there but he making too many mistakes due to driving too hard.  For the finals, the American, who last year TQ’d the EOS season opener in Poland, plans to ‘keep it under control and work on his consistency’.

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Rheinard summed up his performance with ‘always one crash too much each time’.  The 4-time Onroad World Champion said his YZ-2 ‘feels OK’ however is ‘not super easy to drive but that’s the same for everyone’.  Asked about his expectations for the final he said ‘in offroad everything is possible and with open wheels its hard to force a pass’.  Feeling mistakes will determine the race outcome he said ‘its going to be interesting’.  Behind Rheinard the grid will be completed by Martin Bayer, former champion Joern Neumann, and Scandinavian teenagers Joakim Nicolaisen and Joona Haatanen.

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