Greiner is Top Qualifier in Thailand
Dominic Greiner is the Top Qualifier for the 200mm World Championships in the Thailand, the Team Serpent driver putting in a stunning drive in the deciding final qualifier at the Huge RC Circuit in Bangkok to secure pole position on his World Championship debut. With just one direct qualifier for the 1-hour Main, the German needed to take Q6 to deny Alexander Hagberg the coveted position and that’s exactly what he did TQ’ing the round from the Swede to tie on points claiming an emotional overall TQ on tie break with the Xray driver. Behind, a strong drive saw Capricorn driver Kyle Branson take the top heat to claim third for the round with his former mentor Mark Green completing the Top 4. For reigning World Champion Meen Vejrak the final qualifier would be his best of the six with the factory KM Racing driver posting the sixth fastest time which leaves him to start his title defence from the 1/4 Finals.
Proving a very popular Top Qualifier, the German was unable to mask the emotion of his achievement as he was engulfed in congratulations from his Serpent team and rivals, he said he ‘never thought (he) would TQ (his) first World Championships’. Knowing nothing but a TQ run would do for the round, the 22-year-old said he knew he had to push 100% and other than 2-small mistakes caused by nerves it couldn’t have went any better. Moving the 748’s moveable chassis weights more towards the rear of the car for the run he said the set-up ‘was perfect’. ‘Having worked so hard the last 2-years’ with the the 748’s designer Michael Salven he said he was ‘so happy’ adding that it was a team effort and without the input of all the Serpent team drivers the TQ would have not been possible. Looking to the final he said with the car so easy to drive and his Max engine ‘so safe’ in terms of run time he ‘couldn’t ask for a better package’.
Hagberg, who will start on pole position in his 30-minute Semi Final, said he ‘drove perfectly but was too slow’. ‘On the limit’ he ‘couldn’t have done any better’ adding their ‘5-minute pace was a little too slow’. Describing his Orcan powered NT1 as easy to drive he said he is confident for the longer distance adding that once he can bump up, racing the Semi could be beneficial in terms of getting into a rhythm for the main event.
Describing his LAB C03 as really good, Branson said his re-found pace came from him just getting more used to the Max engine. Having struggled with run time issues in the first four qualifier while running XRD engines, the British talent who was seeded in top heat said because of this he knew he couldn’t push too hard as he needed the result knowing it was border line between making the 1/4 or the 1/8 final. Declaring himself as being ‘back on track’ with a car & engine now that are working really good, the 20-year-old is confident he has the equipment to bump up come Saturday.
Although he topped two rounds of qualifying, Teemu Leino will join Branson in the same 1/4 Final. Having run out of fuel in the penultimate qualifier, the 2012 Top Qualifier would again not have enough fuel to go the 5-minutes in Q6. Having turned the lower jet in one full turn, the HB driver said his Novarossi engine was still rich causing it to run dry on the final lap. Having had no such run time issues yesterday or in he opening qualifier of the day which he TQ’d, the Finn said he was ‘confused by the problem’ but ‘with something was not right’ he would fit an new engine for the final.
Set to run in the opposite 1/4 final to Leino and Branson, Vejrak said after ‘a lot of mistakes yesterday’ today had gone ‘much better’ but he paid the price for getting ‘no points from the first three qualifiers’. Very happy with how his OS Speed powered HK-1 ran in the last qualifier the Thai ace said it should be very good for the ‘long game’ and if nothing happens drama wise he is confident it has the pace to take him to the Main final.
Although he flipped his Xray in the final qualifier, Nicholas Lee would end up 3rd in the overall qualification ranking. The Singapore driver said a caster change to his NT1 for Q6, one of the few changes he would make over all of the qualifiers, gave him a better car. Planning to run it as is for the Semi Final he will start on pole, he said his car was good but added with it being nitro racing, a class in which so many things can go wrong, he was taking nothing for granted in terms of his progression to the Main.
With fourth in Q6 securing Green fifth in the overall ranking just behind team-mate & 1:8 World Champion Tadahiko Sahashi, Serpent having the most cars in the Top 10 with Yuya Sahashi 9th overall, the former finalist said he is ‘looking very good’ for the finals. The British National Champion said having worked towards 10-minute qualifying strategy in practice before they went and changed the heats to 5-minutes, his 748 takes a long time to come in with his fastest lap always coming towards the end. Describing it as ‘super safe to drive’ he said this is ideal for the final and other than giving the car ‘a spit & a polish’ he was going to run it unchanged for his Semi.
The top Mugen in the final qualifying order, securing 6th, Surikarn Chaidajsuriya used his last heat to test a Maxima engine for the final. Describing its performance as ‘OK’, the owner of the Huge RC Circuit said it had really good run time with the former electric touring car World Champion predicting he should be able to get 6-minutes between refuelling saving him one stop off the semi final distance.
2012 podium finisher Francesco Tironi would end his qualifying with his best performance taking 5th in Q6. Tying on points with his Shepherd team-mate Simon Kurzbuch but getting 7th overall on the tie break, the Italian said while he had one bad lap in the last round the overall performance of his Velox V10 was ‘really good’. Set to start third on the 10 car grid of his Semi, he said he is confident he is competitive enough to bump up.
Kurzbuch, who pushed Greiner hard for the TQ time before hitting a curb and rolling his Velox V10, said while disappointing to make such a mistake he was really happy with his race engine. Fitting the Novarossi unit for the final qualifier in preparation for the final he said ‘it was perfect’. In terms of the car set-up the Swiss ace will make just a small adjustment to make it a little less aggressive adding he might also need to ‘calm down’ his driving style for the long race too and with both changes he should be in good shape.
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