March 4, 2018

Sobue wins A2, new TITC Champion to be crowned

In a dramatic turn of fortunes TITC 2018 is going to see the crowning of a new champion as Akio Sobue took the win in an action packed A2 at RC Addict.  Having spun out on the opening lap of the opening encounter, defending champion Bruno Coelho looked to have returned to his qualifying form but with a comfortable lead the Xray driver flipped in the sweeper dropping down the order and out of contention for a third consecutive win at Asia’s most famous race.  Coelho was initially followed by A1 winner Alexander Hagberg but was given a huge break when Naoto Matsukura ran into the back of the Swede with Sobue the benefactor moving up to second.  Moments later however that became the lead as on the same lap Coelho touched the curbing and flew off the track.  Also taking advantage of the two incidents, Marc Rheinard suddenly found himself in second which he would hold to the end after seeing off a valiant challenge from Hagberg.  A similar battle went on behind with Meen Vejrak seeing off Coelho for 4th.

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March 4, 2018

Hagberg wins exciting first A-Main

Alexander Hagberg took the win in an exciting opening A-Main at the TITC, the Xray driver withstanding intense pressure from Infinity’s Akio Sobue to cross the line 17/100ths in front.  Having had the perfect week leading up to the A1, reigning champion Bruno Coelho’s domination came to an end on the first lap.  Starting from the TQ, he would lose his Xray approaching the front straight spinning in front of the pack with Naoto Matsukura unable to avoid him.  This let second place qualifier Hagberg go to the front with Sobue in tow and closing.  All over the back of the leader, fourth place starter couldn’t find a way by with an attempt at the end of the front straight resulting in contact.  With Sobue waiting on Hagberg to retake the lead, this brought Meen Vejrak into the lead battle but after a couple of laps the Yokomo driver dropped off give Sobue breathing room for a second attempt to pass but Hagberg kept his composure to secure the win.

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March 4, 2018

Xray 1-2 for TITC A-Main

It will be an Xray 1-2 on the grid for the TITC A-Mains later today at RC Addict In Thailand as a P2 in the final qualifier this morning bumped Alexander Hagberg up two spots to start second behind team-mate & Top Qualifier Bruno Coelho. Having wrapped up the overall TQ in the fourth round of qualifying yesterday, Coelho would complete a clean sweep of qualifying, again topping the times in the sixth & final round this morning. Behind the Xray duo, the attack is set to come from Infinity with Naoto Matsukura third ahead of team-mates Akio Sobue and Marc Rheinard with 2017 race contender Jilles Groskamp also making the grid for the team albeit in 10th spot. For last year’s podium finishers Nicholas Lee and Ronald Volker, its been a tough event with both finding themselves in the B-Main with Meen Vejrak Yokomo’s top hope staring 6th on the grid ahead of team-mate Naoki Akiyama.

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March 3, 2018

Hagberg best of the rest in Q5

With the Bruno Coelho domination at the TITC showing no signs of abating, the Portuguese driver notching up his fastest TQ run in the penultimate qualifier even with getting out of shape, it was team-mate Alexander Hagberg who came out best of the rest.  Posting a time 1.6-seconds off Coelho’s 5th TQ run, the result puts the Swede in contention to make it an Xray 1-2 on the grid that will decide the champion at the 16th running of Asia’s most famous race. Akio Sobue would complete the Top 3, with the Infinity driver together with team-mate Naoto Matsukura and, with an outside chance, Marc Rheinard all vying to start second with one final qualifier left to run on Sunday morning.

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March 3, 2018

Coelho wraps up overall TQ at TITC

Bruno Coelho will start out his quest for a third consecutive TITC victory tomorrow after wrapping up the overall TQ at RC Addict in Bangkok.  Having dominated yesterday’s three rounds of qualifying, the Xray driver secured pole position with yet another different level performance in the fourth qualifier.  Behind him, the main challenge again came from Japan but not from Naoto Matsukura, who had a mistake on the first lap, but from Infinity team-mate Akio Sobue.  Sobue stopped the clock 2.5-seconds off the TQ pace.  Alexander Hagberg finally broke into the Top 3 having finished all of yesterday’s qualifying 4th fastest.  The Swede was on for second but had issues on his penultimate lap which dropped him back behind Sobue.  Despite his mistake Matsukura would recover to record a P4 ahead of Meen Vejrak and Atsushi Hara.

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March 2, 2018

Coelho rules first day of qualifying at TITC

Bruno Coelho has ruled over the first day of qualifying at the TITC, the Xray driver having a perfect and dominant day at RC Addict to TQ all three qualifiers on the schedule.  Q3 would see the reigning champion again top the times from Naoto Matsukura as he had done in the previous round but this time with double the time margin.  Mixing up the order a little with Top 5 almost identical in Q1 & 2, Marc Rheinard would end the day with his first Top 3 run going faster than Alexander Hagberg would made it a hat trick of P4s for the day.  While Coelho had a strong day, for the two drivers that joined him on last year’s podium it was day to forget.  After posting he ninth fastest time in the opening two qualifiers, Ronald Volker would have a DNF in Q3 while Nicholas Lee, who lost out on the win on a tie break with Coelho last year, finds himself 33rd in the overnight qualification having DNF’d Q1 & 2.  The Singapore driver did however finish on a more positive result with a P8 for the third qualifier.

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March 2, 2018

Another easy TQ for Coelho in Q2

Bruno Coelho claimed another straight forward TQ run in the second round of qualifying at this year’s TITC.  Having opened his title defence with the fastest time in Q1, the Xray driver again had a similar time advantage only this time over Naoto Matsukura.  In terms of the Top 5 times, the result was almost identical to Q1 with only Matsukura and Infinity team-mate Akio Sobue switching positions with Alexander Hagberg and Marc Rheinard repeating their Q1 positions.  Naoki Akiyama would post the 6th fastest time to be the best Yokomo as Ronald Volker continues to struggle while Serpent’s Vitkor Wilck made up for a DNF in the first round to record a P7 ahead of Meen Vejrak and Volker.

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March 2, 2018

Coelho TQs opening qualifier at TITC

Chasing his third consecutive victory at Asia’s most famous event, Bruno Coelho has got TITC 2018 off to the best possible start backing up his huge practice pace advantage with a TQ this morning in the opening round of qualifying.  In Bangkok for the past week in preparations for the 16th running of the race, the Xray driver was quickest from Japanese Infinity pairing Akio Sobue and Naoto Matsukura, his advantage over Sobue just shy of 1.8-seconds.  Coelho’s team-mare Alexander Hagberg would opening the 5 rounds of qualifying with the fourth fastest time ahead of fellow European Marc Rheinard while local hero Meen Vejrak led the Yokomo challenge completing the Top 6.  Finding himself in the second fastest heat after seeding World Champion and former TITC winner Ronald Volker would get only a 9th for Q1.

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