Vejrak tops 2nd Free Practice
Second free practice is complete and once again the fastest man over 5 minutes is Meen Vejrak. The relatively unknown Thai driver just pipped former World Champion Marc Rheinard to the fastest time posting 18 laps in 05:03.843 compared with the German’s 05:03.891. The reigning FEMCA 1:10 Nitro Touring Champion, Vejrak is delighted with his early performance reporting his Xray T2 009 as working very well on the controlled Sweep tyres.
Rheinard, who described today’s track conditions as having a lot less traction than when the Tamiya team conducted their Pre-World’s testing, says his car is pushing a little and he will change shock positions & camber links to try and increase steering. Third fastest for the session, Andy Moore also suffered from understeer but the Englishman said its a compromise as having good turn in causes the tyres to overheat resulting in a loose back end.
On lap times Atsushi Hara was again fastest, this time producing a 16.469 with Rheinard second on a 16.569. Describing his run as ‘much better than 1:12 scale’, Hara switched cars half way through the session. His first Cyclone TC had a harder front end and although he set his fastest lap with the softer set-up he preferred the feeling of the first car. Third fastest on lap times was Masami Hirosaka with a 16.696. The reigning Japanese Champion was another to switch car but his purpose was to try different motors. Running first a Nosram 4.5 the Yokomo team leader switched to 4.0. While the latter gave considerable more top speed the 4.5 proved quicker over a lap and this is what Hirosaka will run in the first controlled practice. Another to switch cars was Xray’s main hope Teemu Leino. The Finn described the track as loose but found the setting on his second car the better of the two.
Controlled practice is up next and as this determines the reseeding for the six qualifiers we will be able to bring you a more in-depth run down of who is at what with a full ranking list set to be issued after each of the two sessions. From this we will also be able to bring you a summary of which drivers are leading the challenge of each of the manufacturers here in Thailand.
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