Haatanen takes A2 in Austria

Having taken second in A1, Joona Haatanen has gone one better in A2 to take the win ahead of Hupo Honigl and Bruno Coelho.  Leading the first half of the race, Top Qualifier Coelho would make a small mistake that would allow Michal Orlowski to go to the front but then it was the Champion’s turn to have a moment allowing Coelho to go back to the front before another error handed Haatanen a lead he wasn’t going to give up, the Finn having found a lot more pace from his Team Associated for A2.  In the end Haatanen won by a very comfortable 6-seconds from Honigl, with Coelho having to settle for third a further 4-seconds back.  Despite setting the fastest lap of the race, Orlowski’s chances of capping off his championship winning campaign with a podium finish are looking unlikely as he crossed the line 5th having ended up 7th in A1.

‘Finally’, was Haatanen’s reaction to the win.  Having had a tough campaign since winning the season opener, he continued, ‘I made a change to the car.  Less toe in the rear. moved the battery forward and ran the car lower and this gave much more corner speed. I felt I was matching the pace of Bruno ad Michal’.  Reporting his battery was not screwed in, the teenager who is without his father as his mechanic this weekend, said, ‘I can only blame the mechanic for that, which is myself’.  Looking to A3, with him now firmly in the hunt for the win he said, ‘I will maybe go with new tyres’.

Commenting on his P2 from 5th on the grid, Honigl said, ‘I felt pretty racy this time and the rear of my car was pretty wide’.  The Austrian added, ‘to be honest everyone crashed and I crashed less’.

‘I had more mistakes this final than over all the day’, was how Coelho summed up his eventful race.  He continued, ‘This was my monkey moment and I hope to not continue like this.  I need a run with no mistakes’.  Asked about track conditions for the evening race, he said, ‘I think the track is not really dry. My car was good before on used tyres but this time it was super loose so I will go on new tyres for the last one’.

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