Hara dominates first day of Qualifying
2000 World Champion Atsushi Hara sits in the overnight TQ position after dominating the opening day of qualifying for the Touring Car World Championships. Hara got his day off to the perfect start by topping the final practice and hasn’t looked back since, winning each qualifier in a faster time than the last. With three maximum scores to his credit, the current 1:8 Off Road World champion looks almost certain to start from the No.1 spot in Sunday’s A Mains. The only way the Hot Bodies/Team Orion driver can be denied this is if one of his rivals can win all three of tomorrow’s remaining heats and do so in a quicker time than the 19 laps in 05:09.045 he laid down in the third qualifier.
Having had the perfect day at the office, Hara says he is not yet finished and wants to TQ all six rounds of heats. The only driver that looks like having any chance of stopping Hara from taking the perfect TQ is fellow Hot Bodies driver Ronald Volker. The German is the fastest man around the RCS over a single lap having set a blistering 15.907 opening lap in Heat 3 on used tyres. The former European Champion has so far been the only one today to put pressure on Hara, something that the Japanese driver has acknowledged. Volker, with two second fastest run times to his credit, says it will be a tall order to deny Hara the TQ and will focus his attentions on securing P2 on the grid.
Third fastest in Heat 3 was Meen Vejrak, the Thai driver bouncing back after two disappointing runs earlier in the day. Running an Xray chassis, the 23-year-old feels he has the pace to run Top 3 again tomorrow and secure himself a place at the sharp end of the A Main grid. He currently sits 8th in the overnight qualification ranking.
Masami Hirosaka was fourth, equalling his best result from Round 1 but it has been a disappointing day for the man who led the way on Day 1 of this fifth Touring Car World Championships. The multiple 1:10 Off Road & 1:12 Onroad World title holder suffered with his nerves today but is aiming to topple his fellow countryman tomorrow by dominating Day 3 of the championships. He plans a number of set-up changes to help him mount his mammoth challenge.
Completing the Top 6 for the Round were Tamiya’s Marc Rheinard and Kyosho’s Shin Adachi. Rheinard only used one of the three permitted sets of control tyres today and lies 3rd in the qualification ranking but aims to use his fresh rubber tomorrow to deny Hot Bodies an all front row in the final. Adachi is carrying Kyosho’s A Main hopes and sits 9th overnight. Interestingly we saw the new 1:12 World Champion in the Top 10 for the first time this evening when he took his Yokomo BDM around the RCS track in the tenth fastest time. The 15-year-old could be one to watch tomorrow.
Also holding a provisional A Main grid position are defending Champion Andy Moore (5th), his Hot Bodies team-mate Hayato Matsuzaki (7th), Jilles Groskamp (6th) and the ever impressive Elliot Harper (10th). Unfortunately for Pre Worlds race winner Viktor Wilck his back luck returned in the third qualifier when he crashed out while on another strong run. The Swedish driver, who recorded the third fastest lap of qualifying, said tomorrow is going to be all about keeping it clean and steady. With two DNF results today he needs a minimum two good runs if he is to stand any chance of making the A Main.
Top 10 results from round 3
1. Atsushi Hara (HB/Team Orion) – 19 Lap 5:09.045
2. Ronald Volker (HB/LRP) – 19 Lap 5:10.565
3. Meen Vejrak (Xray/LRP) – 19 Lap 5:11.842
4. Masami Hirosaka (Yokomo/Nosram) – 19 Lap 5:12.047
5. Marc Rheinard (Tamiya/SpeedPassion) – 19 Lap 5:12.289
6. Hayato Matsuzaki (HB/LRP) – 19 Lap 5:13.080
7. Shin Adachi (Kyosho/Team Orion) – 19 Lap 5:13.429
8. Jilles Groskamp (Tamiya/SpeedPassion) – 19 Lap 5: 13.517
9. Andy Moore (HB/Team Orion) – 19 Lap 5:13.970
10. Naoto Matsukura (Yokomo/Nosram) – 19 Lap 5:14.638
Top 10 results (showing best 2 of 3)
1. Atsushi Hara (HB/Team Orion) – 310pts
2. Ronald Volker (HB/LRP) – 306pts
3. Marc Rheinard (Tamiya/SpeedPassion) – 303pts
4. Masami Hirosaka (Yokomo/Nosram) – 302pts
5. Andy Moore (HB/Team Orion) – 299pts
6. Jilles Groskamp (Tamiya/SpeedPassion) – 299pts
7. Hayato Matsuzaki (HB/LRP) – 297pts
8. Meen Vejrak (Xray/LRP) – 296pts
9. Shin Adachi (Kyosho/Team Orion) – 294pts
10. Elliot Harper (Xray/Nosram) – 291pts
Tomorrow drivers will start the day with a practice run before having three final opportunities to try an improve their starting position for Sunday’s all important finals. Once again we will bring you the news from Thailand as it unfolds with our continued live reports which are kindly supported by Speed Passion and LRP.
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