Ronald Volker leads a Yokomo podium sweep at the 2014 TITC

 

  

This past weekend hosted the annual TITC in Asia. The grand finale in the Modified class was shaping up to be a Yokomo affair with Naoto dominating qualifying and sitting on pole, followed by teammates Ronald Volker, Chavit Sirigupta, and Meen Verjak all behind him on the grid. However, Naoto must have used up a little too much luck during qualifying as he surely ran out of it during the finals. Naoto pulled off the front in A1 with a full second gap to Ronald, but mid way through the race made an error through the chicane and gave up the lead to Ronald. Luckily, Naoto was able to recover and chase back up to Ronald's bumper, but with no passing opportunities available, an all-or-nothing finish looked to be shaping up as the seconds wound down. As both came around the last lap nose to tail, the expected happened, with both Ronald and Naoto punching it full throttle into the last corner toward the finish line, both cars flying through the air over the line and into pit lane. Winner? Ronald by 0.001 seconds! 
 
The start of A2 was a repeat of A1, with Naoto pulling off the front, and maintaining a 1.5 second gap over the field. But just when everyone began to think that Naoto would just cruise it home, it appeared his car hit a bump at the end of the straight, causing it to spin into the sweeper and back into the outside wall. Ronald, Chavit and Meen were there to finish 1st, 2nd, and 3rd to not give up any podium points, with Ronald picking up the overall win!
 
With Ronald absent from the grid for A3, all Naoto had to do was bring it home to claim the second podium spot, but with the hard-charging Meen machine behind, it surely did not look easy. Fortunately his luck appreared to have returned to normal as he led Meen and Chavit to line for the win, completing a Yokomo sweep of the podium! 
 

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