Q2 Update – Matsukura again

Naoto Matsukura backed up his Q1 qualifying performance to make it two from two at the 1:12 World Championships heading yet another Japanese 1-2 this time from Hayato Ishioka. Running a fractionally slower time than his opening run, the defending 3-time champion topped the times by 1.233 from the Japanese Champion with the pair being the only two to run 52 laps of the Minnreg Hall track. Pushing Matsukura hard, Ishioka would record the fastest lap of the round, only him and Alexander Hagberg managing 8-second laps.

Despite tangling with Hideo Kitzawa twice, the first time both cars ending up in the boards and needing to be marshalled, Marc Rheinard completed the top three, half a second up on Olly Jefferies. Second fastest in Q1, Kitizawa didn’t fair as well with his Morotech ending up 8th behind Round 1 retiree Jilles Groskamp and Andy Moore. Unfortunately for Hagberg a competitive Top 3 run would come to a very sudden end just as the run reached the six minute mark. Clashing with another car on the infield US racer Donny Lia’s car would get launched onto the straight with Hagberg having little time to respond and make a direct strike that would end his race. Lia would continue to again be the top home driver, claiming another Top 10 finish with 9th ahead of Masatsugu Ido.

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