Isaacs goes fastest at NYGP with Round 3 TQ run

Sam Isaacs has moved into the TQ position of the AbsoluteHobbyz 1:12 Modified class at the Montech NYGP, the Awesomatix driver setting down a new fastest time in the third & penultimate round of qualifying.  Having come close to bettering Kemp Anderson’s Q1 time in the second of yesterday’s qualifier, Isaacs became the first driver to run 58 laps of the 360v2 track as he took a hard fought Q3 from a much improved Donny Lia and Anderson, all three bettering their previous times and the only drivers to finish the top heat.  On target for a new TQ pace CRC’s Ollie Payne would again have tyre issues with the British driver deciding to pull off early.  Currently P4 with his Q2 time, he plans to switch tyre brand for the final qualifier.  1:12 Spec World Champion Max Mächler would retire after his motor came loose in his Awesomatix.

Visually pleased with his TQ run, Isaacs said, ‘That was a good run, just clean. I didn’t think my car was perfect but it is very consistent and stays the same for the whole run and I was able to put it all together that time.’  Looking to the final qualifier, the NYGP running FTQ format, the reigning US Champion said, ‘I will probably try to add some steering to it without trying to make it too hard to drive. It’s a tough line between having a drivable car that makes it around corners and one that spins out, so it’s a fine line but I’ll probably make some changes.’

After if he got the good night sleep he said he needed yesterday, Lia replied, ‘I’m a totally different driver today’.  The man responsible for the NYGP, this the seventh edition of the race, he said, ‘We probably had something for TQ there but we started losing grip about half way through and I was kind of hanging on for the last 4-minutes and just trying to nurse it home. We just need to make a couple of small tweaks, we have a problem that is only on right hand turns so it’s just a matter of figuring that out. We might be a little heavy on camber on one side or something, literally it will be tiny adjustments to keep the car good for 8-minutes.’

Dropping from holding the overnight provisional TQ to 3rd despite going faster in the first of today’s two qualifiers, asked about his Q3, Anderson said, ‘The car was pretty good, real easy to drive but just a little pushy. Probably going to add some steering in it for Q4 and see if we can go any faster.’  On his own driving the 23-year-old World Championship Top Qualifier said, ‘I had a couple of bad laps. I got on the curbs a couple of times and got a little squirrely.’

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Isaacs tops Q2 but Anderson holds overnight TQ at NYGP

Having taken the second round of 1:12 Modified qualifying at the Montech NYGP, Sam Isaacs repeated the feat in the Speedzone Modified Touring Car class but again the Awesomatix driver came up short in better his team-mate Kemp Anderson’s Q1 time.  Improving his car from Q1, when he posted the second fastest time, the reigning US National Champion would come very close the America duos best times separated by 0.017 of a second.  Again it would be first time visitor to the 360v2 track Lucas Urbain who would complete the Top 3 but the factory Awesomatix driver was slower than his Q1 effort.  With the race marking the debut of Xray’s new X4’26 in the US it was Drew Ellis who lead their challenge for the round as he took his example to P4 ahead of team-mate Ratheisky.

Summing the round, Isaacs said, ‘I think the car was a little better. I made a few changes with the flex of the car and it was definitely a little bit better. I just missed TQ by a hundredth, I gave it all I had and that’s what it came down to’.  Asked where he could find the speed for tomorrow to better his team-mate, qualifying at the NYGP based off a driver’s fastest time of the four rounds of qualifying, Isaacs said, ‘the car was falling off a little towards the end of the run so I need to try see if I can find some pace and consistency towards the end. The car starts off pretty good but falls off too much.’  Pleased with his own driving in Q2, a small mistake costing him in the opening round, he said, ‘I think my driving was pretty good that time, it was a consistent run, it was just down to the car fading off. I think for Q3 w’ll try run in a new set of tyres and see if that helps.’

Anderson said, ‘I was expecting the grip to come up some based on the 1:12 run but I had less overall grip that time and it was just a little pushy. Sam was faster than me and catching up and I knew I was going any faster so I just let him go and see if he could chase TQ.’  On his car, he said, ‘I made one tiny set-up change, just a little stiffer spring, but it didn’t seem to make a huge difference in handling.’  On his plan of attack for Day 2 of qualifying the 23-year-old said, ‘I’m trying some different sets of tyres that are a little newer and we’ll see if they’re a little better.’

‘Same, same,’ that was Urbain’s thoughts on Q2.  He continued, ‘I made some radical changes actually and I am both confused and slightly pi$$ed that the car is doing exactly the same and I am getting my ass handed to me by these two (Isaacs and Anderson) big time, I can’t even challenge’.  With two more rounds to make an impression on his US carpet racing debut the Frenchman said, ‘Probably a big reset overnight and try to figure something out. Thankfully we have practice in the morning so we’ll try some more stuff.’  He added, ‘Even when they pulled away I tried to drive different lines and figure out if I can find some speed here and there but it doesn’t really cut it. I need to figure this black carpet out somehow by tomorrow. Thankfully it’s FTD so it’s never over but soon it is going to be too late.’   Asked if his struggles were what he expect coming into the race he said, ‘It exactly what I expected. It is not nice to be struggling but I expected it but it is taking a long time to figure it out.’

‘It went alright, I am trying to stay on the same lap as those guys’ was Ellis reaction to his P4 run.  He continued, ‘I think me and Lucas are battling. I had to give way to both Kemp and Sam it was just enough and it was second to last lap. The car is working really good for me. This is the first run with the new car, the ’26, so still kind of feeling it out but I think it went well, I went faster and I stayed clean.  Sam and Kemp have a really fast pace and it just out there now trying ti stay in front of them and not have to give up that spot and I think I lose maybe 6 or 7/10ths, I don’t want to hold them up at all but I need a little more pace at the beginning of it and then I can stay there.  I think me and Lucas are really close.’  Asked his initial impression of the new the American said, ‘the new car is really good. I had driven a prototype version and this car is production with some changes so this is the first time out with the production car and it seems to be a little bit more usable traction, little bit more corner speed for our conditions and what we are running over here.  The car is a lot lighter so we can really move the weight around but the handling to me feels a little bit more precise and a little bit more usable traction.’ Running the X4’26 in both Modified and Super Stock classes and with Jan Ratheisky the only other driver here running the car, Ellis said, ‘Jan has a slightly different driving style than I have so we are kind of seeing some things.  He is preferring the CFF upper arm, I’m preferring the V Link, actually camber links and stuff you adjust. My car is a little better than his in Mod, his car is a little better than mine in Stock.  We are learning a few things but we both definitely have a a different concept of where we are at. Jan likes to drive the car really hard and be on it, where I was ruined by the foam touring car days and I need a lot of steering and less input and not lock to lock. We really started with the ’25 base set-up and it really carried over well but we are finding those small things, shim here and shim there.  With the different shock package we are running a lighter oil than we did with the ’25 so we’re figuring things out slowly but surely and I think by the time Champs comes around we should be more prepared.  This is fastest I have been in Mod with these guys in a long time.’

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Isaacs tops 2nd qualifier at Montech NYGP

Sam Isaacs has topped the second round of qualifying at Montech Grand Prix,  the Awesomatix driver fastest in the AbsoluteHobbyz 1:12 Modified class ahead of CRC’s Ollie Payne.  After losing all the side wall glue off his front left tyre, leading to his car spinning out on right hand turn, this put Q1 winner Kemp Anderson out of contention.  With the defending Champion eventually pulling off at the 5-minute mark, Isaacs was able to improve on his opening time by more that 2.6 seconds, however it would be 3/10ths shy of bettering Anderson’s FTQ pace from the first round.  Happier with his car around the 360v2 track, Payne would also better his time and ends the first day of qualifying sitting P3 ahead of track owner Donny Lia, Excelerate designer Josh Cyrul and Awesomatix team manager Max Mächler.  Also completing in the Excelerate RC 1:12 Super Stock 13.5 class, Payne had the perfect day topping both qualifiers, his first run just fractionally faster than his second.  Lia is currently his closest challenger in the for the TQ honors with Mächler sitting third with two more qualifiers on Saturday’s schedule.

Summing up his Q2 run, Isaacs said, ‘that was a better run’.  He continued, ‘I think the car was easier to drive, it had a a little more steering. It was pretty close to the TQ in the end but just didn’t have quite enough and just missed it.’  Looking to tomorrow second day of qualifying, he US National Champion said, ‘the car is definitely better and there is still some room to make some improvements but I got to think about what to be honest.’

Asked how he felt Q2 had gone, Payne said, ‘The car was actually a lot better that time, I just had a tyre the rear left tyre came unglued so they car became really hard to drive and unpredictable.  We definitely took the right step in terms of set-up and I am going to try a different compound of tyre which will hopefully last a bit better in practice this evening and we will go from there.’  Asked about Super Stock, the European and British Champion said, ‘Super Stock is the same thing really, the car was incredible again and came out of the blocks really really good but the outside edge of the tyre I think is just a little bit too soft for how the traction is now so again towards the end of the run it was sliding a little bit too much and didn’t really carry enough corner speed. So this evening will be tyre testing and trying to make last the whole run better.’

Reacting to his second Modified attempt Lia said, ‘It was better. I’m like an adjustment or 2 away, if they are the right adjustments, from being there, so we are trying to figure that out. We are there actually really in Mod I just have to sleep is what I need to do.’  In 13.5 I think we are good. Ollie is very good, he is driving really good, honestly he is just driving better than me. If I can get on my game, rest up, I might have something for him. We are talking about practicing and making changes and I think going to bed is going to be the biggest change for us. It is going to be a fun battle in 13.5 and even in Mod. We are all going to end up pretty close, we’ll all kind of figuring it out. The track is really throwing us for a loop. I don’t know what is going on. I don’t know of it is tyres or if it is track, or me, but I’m struggling.  The other guys are struggling but there just driving better than me.’  Asked what was different about the track, he said, ‘Kemp sounds like he is comfortable, but me, Sam and Ollie too, it’s been very hard to place the car where we want. We are kind of having to anticipate in advance when we turn  the wheel where we are going to end up, it’s disconnected a little bit, so we are trying out what is causing that, we are going close but it’s not there yet for me. It’s a bit of a challenge but that’s what makes it interesting I guess.’

‘Modified is a little sketchy, I am just try not to crash with those guys’, was how Cyrul summed up his P4 in the second round.  A stalwart of the America onroad racing scene he said, ‘the car is getting a little better. I was a bad mechanic Round 1 and forgot to tighten some screws and in a 1:12 Mod car that is always a bad thing. It was more drivable in the second one but the difficult part is just the spacing of all those guys running within hundredths on the clock. So when one comes up I let that one go and that kind of puts me in the dirt and the I slide for a corner or two and the next guy is there pretty quick so I am just trying to time when I let them go a little bit better to give myself a shot. I did a better job that last run. With Sam, Kemp, Donny, Max and Ollie, I am going to be sixth so that’s my job and finish sixth and no crash them and enjoy the event.’  With the Excelerate Prodigy 1:12 project a year old now, on his creation he said, ‘we have some new bits but we’ve already released most of the other stuff. Compared to last year we have a steel chassis now, we have a little bit different offset in the ackermann for our steering blocks and then we have just been working on our bump stops which kind of works like our centre shock. Just refining little things and learning a long the way. It’s kind of weird seeing so many purple cars at a lot of tracks here in the US. With more racers running it I am getting more feedback and we’re cleaning up some of our mistakes from the original release.’

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