Naoto Matsukura retains World title

Naoto Matsukura has retained his World title after an amazing performance in the second A-Main here at the 2010 IFMAR 1:12 World Championships in Burgdorf, Germany.  Making a mistake in the opening section of corners, the Top Qualifier dropped to last but the driving display that was to follow shows just why the 16-year-old is a truly worthy winner of his second World title.

Following his error Matsukura literally sliced his way through the World class field and by lap 16 had his Yokomo R12 back out front where he would stay to wrap up the event.  Successfully defending his crown the Japanese youngster becomes only the 3rd driver in the history of the fifteen 1:12 World Championships to achieve this feat, one of the other drivers being his mentor and rc legend Masami Hirosaka.

Afterwards Matsukura said he felt ‘unbelievably happy’ with the result and it was a great reward for his hard work and preparation over the past two years.  He said his biggest worry coming to German was the new car but early on he proved that it was a capable package. Asked about his mistake, the hugely popular character said everything went blank for a split moment but he regained his composure telling himself he was faster than the rest of the field and he could still win the Leg. That exactly what he did.

Rheinard who led the field briefly paid great respect to Matsukura for his spectacular drive.  ‘I thought when he crashed I could push the title out to the third leg but I could hear Scotty (Ernst) announcing lap after lap that he had made up more places and I knew he was going to do it.’ The German said that even without his mistake he would not have been able to hold off Matsukura saying he was just the class of the field at this event.

Although the World title is decided it is all still to play for in the 3rd leg of the final with the remaining two spots on the podium up for grabs.  Rheinard has two second place finishes but Paul Lemieux took third in Leg 1 and Jilles Groskamp was third for Leg 2 and so the place is not guaranteed yet.  With Matsukura set to sit out the last race of the day we can expect a very close fight to decide the final ranking of the Top 10 1:12 drivers in the world.

A-main leg 2 results
1. Matsukura Naoto – 36 8:05.662
2. Rheinard Marc – 36 8:08.302
3. Groskamp Jilles – 36 8:08.875
4. Völker Ronald – 36 8:12.293
5. Ahoniemi Simo – 36 8:13.673
6. Hebert Keven – 35 8:01.444
7. Cyrul Josh – 35 8:04.562
8. Harper Elliot – 35 8:04.895
9. Lemieux Paul – 34 7:53.008
10.Fischer Marc – 23 5:39.885

Full results can be found here.

View our event image gallery here.

Matsukura cruises to victory in opening A-Main

Defending 1:12 World Champion Naoto Matsukura made it look easy as he cruised to a very convincing victory in the first leg of the A-Mains here in Burgdorf.  The Top Qualifier led from start to finish winning by almost 5 seconds from Marc Rheinard to move a step closer to retaining the title he won 2-years in Bangkok, Thailand.  The young Japanese ace made the race look like a formality but afterwards admitted he was very nervous for the opening part of the race finding it hard to run a tight line, but as he opened up a gap over the chasing pack he was able to relax and get into his regular rhythm.

Rheinard was the only driver who looked like he might be able to take the chase to Matsukura but that quickly faded as he fell 3.7 adrift by the mid way point.  The German, who will defend his Touring Car World title later this week, said a lack of traction meant he was unable to do anything about the pace of the 16-year-old, something he is putting down to a bad set of tyres.

One man who really should buy a lottery ticket this evening is American Paul Lemieux. Having just scraped into the final this morning, the RC America driver took his Xray from 10th on the grid to 3rd by the end of the 8 minutes.  Battling hard with his fellow countryman Josh Cyrul for the position, Lemieux got third as Cyrul crashed, with 30 seconds to go, into the foot of a marshal who was recovering Ronald Volker’s dead car which had come to a halt on the racing line.  Speaking about the incident Cyrul said this was typical luck for him. Recovering, the US Champion eventually crossed the line in 5th position behind the Corally of Finland’s Simo Ahoniemi and ahead of Elliot Harper.

The first big casualty of the race was CRC’s Jilles Groskamp. The Dutch driver was running third but pushed too hard in an attempt keep pace with the top 2.  Hitting a board he broke a rear wheel bringing his race to an end after just 3 laps.  With Groskamp gone Volker held the third spot but 2 laps from home his race came to a sudden stop after the end bell came off his motor after fairly light contact with the boards leaving him with no drive.

A-main leg 1 results
1. Matsukura Naoto – 36 8:04.210
2. Rheinard Marc – 36 8:09.113
3. Lemieux Paul – 35 8:00.051
4. Ahoniemi Simo – 35 8:00.817
5. Cyrul Josh – 35 8:03.458
6. Harper Elliot – 35 8:05.755
7. Hebert Keven – 35 8:08.410
8. Völker Ronald – 33 7:29.016
9. Fischer Marc – 22 5:06.816
10.Groskamp Jilles – 1 0:19.528

Full results can be found here.

View our event image gallery here.

World Champion Matsukura to defend title from pole

1:12 World Champion Naoto Matsukura is to defend his title from pole position later here today in Burgdorf, Germany despite Marc Rheinard setting the fastest 8-minute run of the event in the final round of qualifying this morning. With drivers best two times being added together to determine the grid, Matsukura, who topped 4 of the 6 qualifiers, took the TQ honours by just over three seconds from Rheinard. For the majority of the front runners this morning’s qualifier was their quickest run of the event with only Matsukura, Ronald Volker and Andy Moore failing to improve.  Matsukura was again the pace setter in terms of outright speed recording the fastest lap but the Japanese youngster made a number of mistakes.

Rheinard said his Associated was easier to drive this morning and second place on the grid was the best he could of hoped for due to Matsukura’s distinct advantage in yesterday’s qualifiers.  The German who missed out on a podium at the last World Championships when he finished fourth, said that without mistakes it is going to be hard to challenge the pole sitter as he is especially fast over the opening minutes of the race.

Jilles Groskamp will start third on the grid for the final as the lead CRC driver, the American manufacturer getting two cars in the final with Elliot Harper joining him on the grid.  Groskamp said he was surprised to take third and feels it is good having Rheinard starting second as he is the only one who can challenge Matsukura.  If the two battle this should allow the rest of the field to stay in touch.  15th in Thailand, Harper said his aim for 1:12 was just to better that result and he is delighted to have made the big race.  Starting from 9th the English teenager said he can just enjoy the 3-leg final.

Matsukura’s team-mate Volker was disappointed to drop from second to fourth on the grid after he really struggled with his car this morning.  The German National Champion hopes he can get it sorted in the practice final and said the important thing in the actual finals will be to come out clean after the first lap.

Making his third 1:12 Worlds Final appearance, factory Corally driver Simo Ahonoemi will line up fifth on the grid. The Finnish National Champion said he was very happy to be in the final but feels starting from the middle of the pack is not the best place to be but he plans to give it his best shot aiming to better his previous best Worlds finish of 7th.  Making it two SPX in the final Marc Fisher had a great final qualifier and will line-up 7th on the grid.  The German switched from a Black Art to a Protoform AMR bodyshell and said it made the car much easy to drive along with giving better rear traction.

Between the two Corally’s is American Josh Cyrul who said it was just luck that got him into 6th on the grid.  Driving his own CEFX creation, the US National Champion said he has been struggling with the car and other were faster but he is quite happy to take the place. A total of three ROAR drivers have made it into the final with Canadian Keven Hebert lining up 8th and Xray’s Paul Lemieux completing that all important Top 10.  For factory Associated driver Hebert this is his first attempt at the 1:12 World’s and he’s in the final. He hopes that if he keeps his head in the race he can come away with a good result. Lemieux was speechless at making the A-main having been classified 19th going into the last qualifier.

Claiming the dreaded BQ honours is 2008 World Championship Runner-up Juho Levanen.  The factory Team Associated driver would have qualified sixth for the A-Main after a strong run this morning but having been late to marshal yesterday he was penalised with the loose of his fastest round and so he ended up 11th.  Another 2008 Finalist joining him in the B Final will be Andy Moore, who starts 2nd, after he crashed out in this mornings rocket round.  The British driver who was on a personal TQ run said he had bigger accidents without doing damage but on this occassion his privately entered Associated broke a side link costing him a place in the big race.

Final qualifiers
1. Matsukura Naoto (Yokomo/Nosram) – 74 16:12.612
2. Rheinard Marc (Associated/Speed Passion) – 74 16:15.874
3. Groskamp Jilles (CRC/Team Orion) – 74 16:21.488
4. Völker Ronald (Associated/LRP) – 74 16:22.734
5. Ahoniemi Simo (Corally/GM) – 73 16:08.781
6. Cyrul Josh (CEFX/Speed Passion) – 73 16:11.950
7. Fischer Marc (Corally/GM) – 73 16:13.015
8. Hebert Keven (Associated/LRP) – 73 16:13.481
9. Harper Elliot (CRC/Speed Passion) – 73 16:15.372
10.Lemieux Paul (Xray/Trinity) – 73 16:21.897

Full results can be found here.

View our event image gallery here.