Champion ends 1st day of qualifying on provisional pole

Dario Balestri is the overnight TQ holder here in Gubbio, Italy, thanks to his time from the first of today’s two qualifiers. The reigning champion said that cooler conditions made for higher traction in the second heat and during his warm up laps he had to adjust the front camber on his Team Magic to avoid traction rolling. The change reduced the amount of steering and as a result he was unable to better his earlier time although he did come close with a time less than 4/10ths off. Very happy to be returning to his hotel this evening as the provisional pole sitter, the factory Novarossi driver paid tribute to his mechanic Danilo Pucci who’s very fast refuelling helped him to achieve the time in what is very close competition. With one second separating the current Top 3, Balestri is confident he can better his time tomorrow.

Fastest in the second round was Giuseppe D’angelo.  The Mugen driver was within 5/100th of Balestri’s TQ time but reported that his car developed oversteer 4 minutes into the run and he had to drive safe.  His Reds Racing engine was much better now but the Italian feels they can still go a little leaner. Asked if he would challenge for the TQ honours he replied he would be happy to stay second as his main focus was to be strong for the 45 minute final.

Another driver to go faster in Q2 was Sirio’s Francesco Tironi but overall he drops to third. A direct A Main qualifier at the Worlds, he said ‘it is really, really, really close, we are separated by just the smallest of mistakes’. Happy with his Mugen the jolly Italian said he really wants to take TQ here at Gubbio and will be pushing hard in the morning to do so.

The fastest non Italian overnight is Dirk Wischnewski. The German Champion said he made a safe run having had engine trouble in the opening heat. With his time almost certain to assure him a place in the Semi Final, the Xray driver will now push harder to see if he can mix it with the Italians.

‘Finally finished a run’ summed up Teemu Leino’s relief at going the full 7-minutes. The  Finn who was Top Qualifier at the last Euros said the power from his Team Orion engine was now really good and despite his NT1 ‘double steering’ in the corners he was pleased to post the fifth fastest time. The factory Xray driver will try a harder front shock for tomorrow’s most important heat, Q3, which is expected to the rocket round due to the lower morning temperature.

Completing the provisional Top 6 is Niki Duina. The Italian, who was third after the first round, was not able to capitalise on the cooler conditions with radio problems forcing him to pull in early and he drops to sixth. Taking fifth fastest for the round bettering his Q1 run to move in the 26 lap bracket was Belgian Jerome Renaux who remains seventh overall.

Running in the top heat Martin Hudy was on target for a TQ run but his Max engine went off tune after refuelling. The Slovak driver was clearly disappointed with his final time, the eight fastest so far, as he feels his Xray is good enough to challenge Balestri’s time if the engine remains consistent.  Both failing to improve their Round 1 times, young guns Biagio Spataro and Kyle Branson round out the current Top 10.

Having been second fastest in the first qualification only to lose his time for his shell being too low Jilles Groskamp’s day didn’t improve. The Serpent 733 driver who recorded the fastest lap of the top heat suffered engine problems. The Dutch ace said he is very comfortable with the new car but something in the engine/pipe/tank combination is causing the engine to go lean when the fuel level is low.  Serpent teammate Mark Green was also running a strong pace when he made heavy contact with a curb with resulted in a broken rim. The Englishman said his Novarossi engines are working well now, as is the car, and he just needs to get it together in the morning.

For World Champion Daniele Ielasi its back to the drawing board after going in the completely wrong direction with set-up. The Shepherd driver said he is going back to his hotel now where his Velox V10 will undergo a full rebuild with the same set-up as yesterday when the car was working pretty well.

So Day 1 of qualifying is over here at Gubbio and its pretty much as was predicted –  Italians ruling the time sheets. Two more qualifiers make up tomorrow’s timetable but it would be a brave person to bet against an Italian being on pole for Sunday’s final.  Our coverage, which is brought to you in association with Team Orion, Serpent and Mugen, continues in the morning.

Top 10 after round 2 of qualifying
1. Dario Balestri – Team Magic/NR – 26 laps in 07:12.928 (Q1)
2. Giuseppe D’angelo – Mugen/Reds – 26 laps in 07:12.978 (Q2)
3. Francesco Tironi – Mugen/Sirio – 26 laps in 07:13.603 (Q2)
4. Dirk Wischnewski – Xray/Novarossi – 26 laps in 07:14.577 (Q2)
5. Teemu Leino – Xray/Team Orion – 26 laps in 07:14.582 (Q2)
6. Niki Duina – Xray/Max – 26 laps in 07:15.490 (Q1)
7. Jerome Renaux – Xray/Novarossi – 26 laps in 07:15.619 (Q2)
8. Martin Hudy – Xray/Max – 26 laps in 07:16.255 (Q2)
9. Biagio Spataro – Xray/JP – 25 laps in 07:00.433 (Q1)
10.Kyle Branson – Serpent/Sirio – 25 laps in 07:01.058 (Q1)

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