Can anyone stop Matsukura?

With three rounds of qualifying for the 2010 IFMAR World Championships complete Naoto Matsukura is looking very strong to retain his World title here in Burgdorf.  The factory Yokomo driver has been fastest in all three rounds, being the only driver to record a hat trick of 37 lap runs. Although it was his slowest run of the day the Japanese teenager was still well clear of his rivals with Ronald Volker closest to him for the round with a fast 36 lap round.  Asked about the track conditions Matsukura (37/8:11.076) said his Nosram powered R12 felt very loose and that conditions had become very difficult, something that he put down to the rise in temperature here in the sports hall.

Volker (36/8:00.092) said his Associated did not feel right at the start with a lack of steering in the left hand corners but 2 or 3 minutes in the problem mysteriously went away.  With the car working again, Volker said he made a strong push for his second 37 lap run of the day but with the time lost in the opening laps meant he just missed out by .092 of a second.

Andy Moore (36/8:01.986) enjoyed his fastest run with the third fastest time for Q3. The factory Hot Bodies driver who is running a privately entered Associated chassis was on target for a 37-lap run but faded in the latter half of the 8 minute heat.  The former Touring Car World Champion said for the first four minutes the car was really good, but in the 2nd part of the run it didn’t feel as dialed in. For Q4 he plans to try smaller diameter tyres in an attempt to make the car more consistent over the full distance of the qualifier.

Simo Ahoniemi (36/8:02.167) continues to show strongly setting the fourth fastest time with his factory Corally.  The Finnish National Champion had a scare as he lined up for the run when his car got a glitch which sent the car crashing into the track boards.  Luckily no damage was done and Ahoniemi was able to make the run.  Happy with the set-up of his SP12X, Ahoniemi is still playing around with tyre diameters and the timing of his additive.

Jilles Groskamp (36/8:03.816) and Marc Rheinard (36/8:04.746) completed the Top 6 for Q3 despite both making costly mistakes.

Full results can be found here.

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