Moore takes final ‘Rocket Round’ qualifier
Team CRC driver Andy Moore set a new outright fastest run time in this morning’s final qualifier for the 1:12 World Championships in the Netherlands, the sixth round turning out to be the ‘rocket’ round. Knocking 2-seconds off the previous fastest time held by defending World Champion Naoto Matsukura, the former European Champion ran 39 laps in 8:06.635 to top Q6 by just 6/10th ahead of Ronald Volker as 5 drivers finally broke past 38 laps runs something only Matsukura had achieved yesterday to secure him honour of being Top Qualifier for a third consecutive Worlds.
Moore said he knew after last night’s penultimate round of qualifying, in which he set a new lap record, he had the pace & car to TQ the round and it was down to him just keeping the 8-minute run free of mistakes which is exactly what he did. Sitting 7th at the end of Day 1 of qualifying, the British driver’s Q6 run moves him to fourth on the grid for the Main event but he said the layout of the track is going to make passing very difficult. Moore said he hopes he can pick up the bits & pieces if those starting ahead of him make mistakes which as Matsukura showed in the final qualifier can happen very easily. Really comfortable with his Hobby Wing powered CRC he said he wont be changing anything for the first of the three legs of the final.
After a tough day in yesterday’s qualifying, having been the closest to Matsukura on the opening day of the event, Volker was very happy to secure second on the grid. The German said he made a slow start to the final qualifier but was able to recover and run at the lead pace. Having done his calculations prior to the run he said his main focus was on trying to run at least one second faster than Marc Rheinard as he knew if all the drivers ran 39 laps it would be enough to secure him a top 3 grid position. In the end he outpaced his touring car rival by just over the second to take the No.2 spot on the grid by .5 sec from the Touring Car World Champion who will start third. The biggest loser of the final qualifier was Onpoint Racing’s Jilles Groskamp who failed to make 39 laps and dropped from holding P2 last night to lining up 7th on the final grid.
Although the round was not going to change anything in terms of his grid position, Matsukura didn’t let up on his pace but maybe the Team Yokomo driver found his limit. Crashing a number of times he still produced his fastest time of the weekend also setting a new lap record of 12.083 in the process. Afterwards Matsukura said he changed his tyre set-up for the final qualifier which felt very good and that the mistakes where just ‘stupid’ mistakes by him. Admitting that his rivals have closed the gap in terms of pace he said with no mistakes the win should still be easy.
The biggest surprise of the final round of qualifying came from factory Team Associated driver Rick Hohwart. Running in the second highest of the heats, the American looked set to line-up in the B Final but pulling off a 39 lap run, despite his battery dumping on his last lap, he shot up the ranking list to secure 6th on the grid. Having last made the A-Main at the 1:12 World Championships 20-years-ago Hohwart said copying the set-up team-mate Keven Hebert tried in the mornings 3-minute practice, his car was the best it has been since the event started with it being real easy to drive. Asked about his battery problem, which resulted in a 22-second last lap, he said he had no issues previously and is confident that with a little more charge he should be fine for the finals.
A-Main Grid
1. Naoto Matsukura (JP) – Yokomo – 78/16:16.396
2. Ronald Völker (DE) – Associated – 77/16:09.122
3. Marc Rheinard (DE) – CRC – 77/16:09.656
4. Andy Moore (GB) – CRC – 77/16:10.829
5. Elliot Harper (GB) – CRC – 77/16:16.357
6. Rick Hohwart (US) – Associated – 77/16:33.857
7. Jilles Groskamp (NL) – Onpoint – 76/16:02.125
8. Alexander Hagberg (SE) – Xray – 76/16:02.707
9. Simo Ahoniemi (FI) – CRC – 76/16:04.752
10.Hideo Kitazawa (JP) – Corally – 76/16:12.860
Round 6 Qualification – Top 10 times
1. Andy Moore (GB) – CRC – 39/8:06.635
2. Ronald Völker (DE) – Associated – 39/8:07.236
3. Naoto Matsukura (JP) – Yokomo – 39/8:07.702
4. Marc Rheinard (DE) – CRC – 39/8:08.798
5. Elliot Harper (GB) – CRC – 39/8:12.049
6. Rick Hohwart (US) – Associated – 39/8:22.134
7. Alexander Hagberg (SE) – Xray – 38/8:00.478
8. Jilles Groskamp (NL) – Onpoint – 38/8:00.571
9. Simo Ahoniemi (FI) – CRC – 38/8:00.755
10.Jan Asmer (DE) – Serpent – 38/8:05.203
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