Electric Worlds gets underway in Germany
Two years of waiting to lay claim to the greatest crown in the sport are over for the World’s top electric drivers with the 2010 IFMAR Electric Track World Championship having just got underway here in Burgdorf, Germany. Kicking off the event is the 15th running of the 1:12 World Championship with 8 of 10 Finalists from Thailand including reigning Champion Naoto Matsukura present. The now 16-year-old Japanese protege of r/c legend Masami Hirosaka, is very relaxed despite having the huge weight of defending his title on his shoulders and this has been further increased by the fact he is debuting Yokomo’s first competition 1:12 chassis.
The Japanese company have two examples of its R12 running here with former 2WD Off Road World Champion Hayato Matsuzaki driving the other. With Matsukura switching from Team Associated to Yokomo this leaves Juho Levanen to head the challenge of 1:12 scale’s most successful manufacturer. The 2008 Vice World Champion hopes to go one better this time round despite having only done one 1:12 race this year. Opting to sit out his National series, the one race the Finnish ace did was the ultra competitive European Championships back in March and he won that ahead of Ronald Volker who is the reigning German National Champion.
The other podium finisher in Bangkok two years ago was Hupo Honigl and he carries the hope of specialist 1:12 manufacturer CRC here. The versatile Austrian racer says 1:12 is his favourite class and he is confident about the event with the carpet track putting more emphasis on car set-up rather than the asphalt track of Thailand which was all down to having the right tyres. The current IIC 1:12 Champion Honigl is being supported in Germany by CRC founder Frank Calandra, who is himself racing, and has two very capable team-mates to work with in the form of 2008 Worlds Finalist Jilles Groskamp and young British talent Elliot Harper.
Reigning Touring Car World Champion Marc Rheinard missed out on the podium last time but believes the more European style track will suit him better. Having run a Hot Bodies chassis, which the Japanese company are now no longer producing, the German was expected to run the new Yokomo chassis but its late arrival meant he opted to run an Associated, a car he is familiar with having used it to finish Runner-up at the competitive German Nationals behind Volker.
Another of the finalists running under a different banner following the withdrawal of Hot Bodies is Hideo Kitizawa who has joined 2006 1:12 World Champion manufacturer Corally. The Japanese driver has only raced the Dutch chassis once before, finishing second to Matsukura at the Asia Cup at the Yatabe Arena in April. Interestingly the Futaba employee is one of the few drivers who prefers racing 1:12 on asphalt rather than carpet. Kitizawa is part of a very strong Corally team with 1:12th scale specialists Simo Ahoniemi and Marc Fischer also in their line up. Simo was the top Corally finisher in 2008 with seventh in the A-Main and the Finnish National Champion is hopeful of a much better result this time round on the carpet surface. Although he was absent in Thailand Fischer has been a leading contender in European 1:12 competitions.
The other 2008 Finalist competing in Burgdorf is Andy Moore. The factory Hot Bodies driver is running as a privateer in 1:12 and is using an Associated chassis. With Hot Bodies having their new TCX Touring Car chassis, the former World Champion said that class is his focus and he is using 1:12 more as a warm-up to the second half of the week. His HB team-mate Atsushi Hara has opted to sit out 1:12th scale. The two finalists not in action are Xray’s Teemu Leino and former Hot Bodies driver Dasiuke Yoshioka but there are plenty of quality drivers who will be looking to be in the World’s Top 10 for Tuesday’s finals. American Champion Josh Cyrul did not travel to Thailand but is on top form in 1:12 adding the Snowbirds title to his ROAR crown. Running his own CEFX Griffin chassis design the seasoned veteran is really upbeat about his prospects saying the track surface, which is brand new CRC, and layout are all familiar territory. Running the same car all year he said there are not much excuses he can give if he is not mixing at the front.
Xray have a slightly reduced 1:12 team with Juraj & Martin Hudy forced to pull their entries due to the work load at the Xray factory but they still have two heavy hitters in the form of American star Paul Lemieux and Swedish ace Alexander Hagberg. Serpent have a strong challenger in 1:12 specialist Marcus Mobers as do V-Dezign which is being led by the cars designer Vesa Yli and European stock champion Chris Kerswell.
With brand new carpet the opening two practice runs have really only served to get some traction down and allow the 70 drivers to get settled in to the large technical track the German race organisers have perfectly prepared. The opening day’s timetable consists of four free practice sessions followed by two controlled 8 minute runs after which we will have the opening ceremony.
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