5 Days of Practice complete in Switzerland, Pietsch on top

So five days of practice have been completed here in Switzerland at the 17th running of the IFMAR 1:8 Onroad World Championships and its Robert Pietsch who sits at the top of the time sheets despite failing to improve his time in the final practice. The factory Mugen driver completed 29 laps in 10:07.493 in the morning practice and after making a mistake early in the evening session decided to use the run to practice his pit stops.

Coming closest to the German was fellow countryman Oliver Mack. Having had a bad clutch in the first practice, Mack found a better setting for the second to produce the second fastest run of day with 29 laps in 10:11.620. The Team Shepherd driver, who recorded the best lap time of the day with a 19.877 in P1, said his Velox is very good so much so that he has been running the same set-up for the last three days. Tyre wear is proving high for most drivers but Mack said his aggressive driving style is adding to the problem.

Making it three different brands of car at the head of the time sheets, Mark Green described his Serpent 966 as ‘great’. The Englishman said he is 98% there and that the missing 2% was down to his driving but he hopes to rectify that tomorrow. The 2007 World’s finalist who switched to Novarossi this year said the engines are a little sensitive to tuning but once set were really strong around the fast Lostallo circuit.  Swiss driver Marco Muller enjoyed a strong evening practice to post the fourth fastest time, a run he is delighted with. The Shepherd driver has set himself a target of qualifying in the top 18 but leaves the track here tonight a very happy man.

Second fastest earlier today, Italy’s Andrea Pirani failed to improve on his time and dropped to fifth. Switching to softer compound tyres from new Italian company J-Tech,  the Mugen driver found the car quicker but less consistent. Overall he thinks he could have maintained a top 2 placing but a late call for his second fuel stop saw his Novarossi run dry. Vice World Champion Andrea Cristiani completed the Top 6 with his Max powered Serpent 966. The star of Argentina, the young Italian feels he will have his work cut out to close the gap but having qualified only 24th in 2007 admitted anything is possible.

Just behind Cristiani is fellow Team Serpent/Max driver Tadahiko Sahashi. The Japanese ace who referred to the track as ‘excellent’ described his car as ‘so, so’ with a lack of traction hampering his pace in the second practice. Unsure how to cure the problem he said he will think about it overnight and make changes in the morning.

One of the few drivers running a one stop stategy, Italy’s Walter Salemi said his focus today has been solely on engines. Completing the Top 8 the Mugen driver, who was a finalist in Argentina, is running a brand new engine design from Schepis Models/Reds Racing and despite having to be careful at the end of the run is happy to have achieved their target of running five minutes on a tank.

Elsewhere 2007 podium finisher Chris Tosolini had a rear axle break on his Sirio powered Kyosho in the second run adding to a troubled first practice in which he only completed 15 laps. The American said they could have done with the track time but is confident that all will be OK for tomorrow. 15 laps was one more than defending Champion Lamberto Collari managed as he too endured a difficult day in the very humid conditions.

So tomorrow we get down to the serious business of qualifying when times start counting for grid position and we can expect the cream to rise to the top. In the morning drivers in Groups 1 to 7 will have their two qualifiers with the faster Groups 8 to 15 taking to the track for second part of the day.

Practice times (Top 10)
1. Pietsch Robert (D) – Mugen/NR – 29/10:07.493
2. Mack Oliver (D) – Shepherd/NR – 29/10:11.620
3. Green Mark (GB) – Serpent/NR – 29/10:12.341
4. Müller Marco (CH) – Shepherd/NR – 29/10:13.435
5. Pirani Andrea (I) – Mugen/NR – 29/10:13.745
6. Cristiani Andrea (I) – Serpent/Max – 29/10:14.384
7. Sahashi Tadahiko (JP) – Serpent/Max – 29/10:15.212
8. Salemi Walter (I) – Mugen/SM-Reds – 29/10:15.514
9. Van Gastel Ilia (HU) – Kyosho/Orion – 29/10:16.313
10.Patrick Schäfer (D) – Shepherd/NR – 29/10:17.101

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