[WTCC] WTCC Rounds 3 & 4 - Valencia

[FIRE]

Qualifying race 1:
1. Muller
2. Tarquini
3. Coronel
4. Oriola
5. Huff

[werner]

Not to much interest here! i quite enjoyed the races, especially since Coronel had great results. It's a shame he did not get menu in the second race. The incident between them was 50/50 in terms of blame, although in the live-shot I really thought Menu just slammed the door too late. After that, Coronel was a bit to cautious. No dount he had the (imo just) warning of the first race in his head.

The seat was still to slow, and only Tarquini gets some results by what must have been an extremely good qualifinglap and defending like crazy in the first race. Muller had a very easy win because of that.

[Craner Curves]

Originally Posted by werner

The incident between them was 50/50 in terms of blame, although in the live-shot I really thought Menu just slammed the door too late. After that, Coronel was a bit to cautious. No dount he had the (imo just) warning of the first race in his head.

I've always thought Menu is really bad at defending position. He seems to have trouble with cars around him. Farfus was the same, forever turning in on somebody.

Surprised at the lack of interest here, given the big grid at Valencia. From Twitter, I've heard the BTCC graduates are happy to be there, despite their lack of pace at the moment.

[Bramzel]

Menu's defense was questionable, especially because from Coronels onboard it was clear that he defended, but then moved again to the left when Coronels nose was next to him, causing the contact. Coronel showed some very intelligent driving though, dropping himself back and making friends with Menu right after so there was no blame for him.

I must admit that Coronel is performing much better than I expected before the season, I thought the BMW would really suffer from age and lack of development but they seem to be closer to the Chevy's than last year. Combination of better understanding of the car + the added weight for the RML boys I guess?

[Pettersson]

Interesting to hear Chilton complaining about lack of power and besides that felt the car was perfect, while Nash says the chassis is their weekest point. Nash was quickest of the Ford guys, any relation to their respective feedback, perhaps?

Great to see Coronel doing a steady weekend with good results. I think the slightly longer races are much better for the BMW's. Would be interesting to see his lap times from both Monza and Valencia in relation to both the Chevys and the other BMW's (I'm too lazy to search them up and analyze). He doesn't have the pace at the beginning (but still quite OK pace compared to the Chevys), then drops off a bit mid-race before really charging the last couple of laps. He just hasn't been able to pass in the last laps, and I don't think Menu's defending was very nice (although within the rule book). ROAL seem to have a good race package and strategy.

[Bramzel]

I expected more from Cerqui by the way, I guess the 320si is a rather difficult chassis to adapt to? Because he surely showed his talent in the Superstar V8's.

[FIRE]

Only saw partly race 1 and full race 2. I enjoyed it.

Good result for Coronel.

[W.A Trichlorostyrene]

OK, so were Huff and Menu sandbagging in Q2? That's what I thought at first, but then the Chevys didn't seem to be THAT much dominant in the races. Hmm...

[W.A Trichlorostyrene]

Originally Posted by Craner Curves

Surprised at the lack of interest here, given the big grid at Valencia.

Yea, the racing is pretty good at times, and they have a much greater car count than expected.

Now I guess many are turned down by the uninspiring GP tracks they race on. Then there's the Chevy domination. Also, the lack of car models variety. And the lack of "names" past mid-field. No offense to the drivers involved, because it doesn't look like there's any no-hoppers, but many of them puts a "who?" in the mind of the usual touring car fanatic. Now hopefully the arrival of Lada and Thommo(and then Honda) will help to solve the latter two issues.

Now let alone those factors, there is something a bit uninspiring with this championship, I don't know, the lack of history, the big turn over rate when it comes to tracks, the fact that they ignore big markets like France, UK or Germany while they race at Marakech or Inifneon where the championship is virtually unknown by the locals, the empty grandstands, the very cold TV broadcasts, etc. Or maybe all of that put together?

[FIRE]

This season the racing is very entertaining.

[artur177]

Also a shout out to Isaac Tutumlu, he really suprised me in the races.

[Cesco44]

Originally Posted by artur177

Also a shout out to Isaac Tutumlu, he really suprised me in the races.

Yeah he done a great job in race 2. Let's see what he can do in the next races