August 20, 2018

Coelho finally gets his deserved World title

Having burst on to the scene at the 2014 Electric Touring Car World Championships in Florida finishing runner-up, then dominating the 2016 Worlds in China up until A2 and again finishing runner-up, Bruno Coelho is finally World Champion.  Widely acknowledged as the bench mark in touring car, the World title is the one to elude him but after a rocky start in South Africa it all came together for the Portuguese ace as he again found a way passed the defending champion to win A2 and the status of the No.1 driver in the World. Having found a way passed the Top Qualifier in A1 despite Volker’s best efforts to make his Yokomo wide, this time round Coelho set-up an impressive pass on his rival to go to the front after just 3-laps.  Unfortunately any chances of Volker recovering to force the decider to go to A3 evaporated a lap later as the Welkom RC Arena’s curbing claimed another victim, Volker.  In the end Volker would finish last with Viktor Wilck coming home second ahead of Freddy Sudhoff, all three now set to fight for the final two podium places in A3.

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August 19, 2018

Coelho takes first A-Main in South Africa

Bruno Coelho has taken the opening A-Main at the Electric Touring Car World Championship in South Africa.  Qualifying second on the grid, the Xray driver immediately put the pressure on Top Qualifier Ronald Volker weaving left and right to try and find a way passed the reigning champion.  A side by side drag down the straight was the first warning from Coelho but Volker had the inside line but just after the halfway mark Coelho got the inside in the corner before the chicane with the two cars touching.  Once in front Coelho quickly established a comfortable lead eventually crossing the line 1.4-seconds clear.  Behind, contact between Viktor Wilck and Freddy Sudhoff in the middle of the race played into the hands of 6th place starter Christopher Krapp.  Getting by Alexander Hagberg in the opening corners, the Yokomo driver took advantage of a mistake from Wilck which resulted in him giving Sudhoff’s Awesomatix a body tuck for which the Serpent driver waited to give back position.  Sudhoff would finish 4th with Wilck fifth.

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August 19, 2018

Coelho takes final qualifier as grid is set in South Africa

The concluding round of qualifying at the Touring Car World Championships in South Africa saw Bruno Coelho take a confidence boosting TQ run ahead of today’s title deciding triple A-Mains.  With the overall TQ already decided yesterday in Q5, with reigning champion Ronald Volker securing his first Worlds TQ, and Coelho already locked into 2nd on the grid, the sixth & final qualifier was about deciding the rest of the grid in particular 3rd place.  A battle between 2016 Podium finisher Viktor Wilck and Freddy Sudhoff, it was Wilck who would keep the position he held overnight taking third for the round once again behind Coelho and Volker.  Fifth in Q6, Sudhoff’s fourth on the grid means four different manufacturers will be represented at the front of the grid for this the 10th running of the IFMAR World Championships.  Completing the top half of the grid at Welkom RC Arena will be newly crowned 1:12 World Champion Alexander Hagberg ahead of Christopher Krapp.  The 2018 line-up will be completed by Loic Jasmin, Meen Vejrak, Jan Ratheisky and Nicholas Lee with Yokomo having the bragging rights of the most cars in the final.

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August 18, 2018

Volker is Worlds Top Qualifier

Ronald Volker can finally add World Championship Top Qualifier to his list of achievements after the perfect day at Welkom RC Arena in South Africa today.  Having qualified second for the last three World Championships, the Yokomo driver wrapped up pole position in style with his fourth TQ run of the day in the penultimate round of qualifying.  With 2016 Top Qualifier Bruno Coelho the only driver with a chance of denying Volker, the Portuguese driver’s quest to take the final two qualifiers came undone early as contact with the the corner flipper at the end of the straight caused him a body tuck which after a few laps he was forced to stop and have marshalled.  With Coelho out of contention, Volker no longer had any pressure but he did still have a battle with both Freddy Sudhoff and Viktor Wilck taking turns at the top of the time screen.  In the end Volker crossed the line with 0.486 of an advantage over Wilck with Sudhoff another 1/10th back.  With Coelho pulling off, Alexander Hagberg would be the top Xray with another P4 run ahead of Christopher Krapp with Meen Vejrak completing the Top 6.

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August 18, 2018

Volker denies Coelho in Q4 to close in on overall TQ

Ronald Volker has moved a step closure to the overall TQ at the IFMAR World Championships in South Africa with his third TQ of the event.  The Yokomo driver denied Q1 winner Bruno Coelho a second TQ by 0.281 of a second, the latter having spent more than 3/4ths of the qualifier at the top of the time screens.  Behind the arch rivals, their normal second sparring partner Marc Rheinard a notable absentee from this the 10th running of the Touring Car Worlds, it was Viktor Wilck who once again completed the Top 3.  A much more competitive looking Alexander Hagberg brought his Xray home in the 4th fastest time ahead of Christopher Krapp with Loic Jasmin rounding out the Top 6.

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August 18, 2018

Volker again in Q3

Ronald Volker added another TQ run to his tally at the Touring Car World Championships when he backed up the Day’s opening qualifier with another in the 3rd round.  After a disappointing start to qualifying last night, the Yokomo driver is having a much better run today with the reigning champion again having the edge over Bruno Coelho.  Interestingly despite Q3 being on used tyres both Volker and Coelho ran almost identical times to the Q2 which was on new tyres.  Behind the two pre-race favourites it was Viktor Wilck who completed the Top 3 at the Welkom RC Arena ahead of Freddy Sudhoff.  Together with Christopher Krapp who got a P6 for the round, all three drivers who were involved in the same pile up in Q2 reported their cars to have suffered no effects from the dramatic last lap incident.  Ahead of Krapp, Alexander Hagberg would cap off the first half of qualifying with a P5.

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August 18, 2018

Volker survives dramatic finish to take Q2 in South Africa

Ronald Volker has taken the second round of qualifying at the Electric Touring Car World Championships in South Africa.  The reigning champion kicked off Day 3 of the event by topping the first of the day’s 4 qualifier from last night Q1 winner Bruno Coelho with a dramatic finish to the heat eliminating three of the leading contenders.  P2 in the opening qualifier, Freddy Sudhoff was again in the hunt for a top result being right in contention for a TQ this time round but on his final run through the fast chicane he hit the board bouncing out into the path of Viktor Wilck who then got collected by Christopher Krapp. With all three cars instantly retiring and being attended to by a marshall, Volker would somehow run through the carnage unscathed to finish his final lap securing a TQ run 4/10ths up on Coelho.  Benefiting from the pile-up, Alexander Hagberg would complete the Top 3 nearly 3-seconds behind with Loic Jasmin inheriting a P4 ahead of Meen Vejrak and Nicholas Lee, the latter running in the second fastest heat group.

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August 17, 2018

Coelho takes opening qualifier in Welkom

Bruno Coelho has taken the opening round of qualifying at the Electric Touring Car World Championships in Welkom, South Africa.  The Xray driver topped Q1 in a more convincing time than expected having a 2-seconds advantage over Freddy Sudhoff who in turn was just 4/10ths up on Viktor Wilck.  For Top Seed & reigning Champion Ronald Volker it was not the start to qualifying the Yokomo driver was looking.  He suffered contact with the wall on the main straight after losing his car on the curbing entering the straight dropping him to fifth where he would remain to the end.  Instead it was Christopher Krapp who was top Yokomo with a P4 for the first of the six rounds with Alexander Hagberg completing the Top 6 to end Day 2 of the 10th running of the championships.

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