Matsukura tops opening qualifier

Defending World Champion Naoto Matsukura has topped the opening round of qualifying for the 2010 IFMAR 1:12 World Championship.  The Japanese star set the pace with a 37 lap run in 8:06.802 which was almost 4 seconds up on his closest rival Ronald Volker.  The only other driver to record 37 laps for the first of six qualifiers was Dutch driver Jilles Groskamp.

Matsukura, who won his World title in Thailand from pole, also recorded the fastest lap for the opening round of heats here in Germany with a 12.82 but Yokomo team boss Robert Itoh wants to see less mistakes from the 16-year-old. Running Yokomo’s new R12 chassis Itoh said they are really happy with the performance of the car and are more focused on honing their young charger’s driving.  Ever run his every move on the track is being watch from the grandstand by 1:12 legend Masami Hirosaka who is looking after his protege.

Volker described his run to second as a good starting point but said he was unable to match Matsukura pace.  The German National Champion was not fully happy with the balance of his LRP powered Associated and will make a few adjustments for Q2 in the hope of closing in on his Japanese Yokomo touring car team-mate.

Groskamp was pretty happy with his opening run but said the gap to Matsukura is too big. The factory CRC driver made a number of mistakes catching corner markers but also believes there is time to be gained from running used tyres.  Having opted for a new set for the opening qualifier he said the car didn’t feel as good at the start of the run as it did on used tyres in the final practice and he now plans to run his Q1 tyres again in Q2.

Fastest of those drivers recording 36 laps and setting the fourth fastest time was European Champion Juho Levanen.  The Associated team driver, who was the runner up 2 years ago, changed front tyres for the opening heat but said this caused the RC12R5 to understeer a little. Having a better balance in the final practice he will switch back to the same fronts used then for Q2.

Touring Car World Champion Marc Rheinard, who is contracted to Yokomo for 1:12 but running an Associated chassis here due to the late arrival of the new R12 chassis, managed the fifth fastest time.  The German said his car is getting better but is still suffering understeer.  Running a similar pace to Matsukura in the early part of the run he said he pushed too hard to try and keep up but with the car pushing he made a mistake.

Marc Fischer was the fastest Corally setting the seventh fastest time ahead of team-mate Simo Ahoniemi.  The German said he needs more speed and plans to change his gearing while Ahoniemi, a finalist in Bangkok, said he used too much additive on his front tyres which cause the car to oversteer.

The only other non European in the Top 10 was America’s Josh Cyrul with the 9th fastest time slotting in between Andy Moore and Elliot Harper. Driving his own CEFX chassis the US National Champion said he drove a safe run despite forgetting to connect the damping tubes on his Griffin chassis which resulted in it being edgy to drive.  Cyrul said he plans another safe run so as to get a good base qualifying time.

Qualification Rd1 results
1. Naoto Matsukura (Yokomo/Nosram) – 37L 8:06.802
2. Ronald Volker (Associated/LRP) – 37L 8:10.698
3. Jilles Groskamp (CRC/Team Orion) – 37L 8:12.148
4. Juho Levanen (Associated/LRP) – 36L 8:01.024
5. Marc Rheinard (Associated/Speed Passion)- 36L 8:01.873
6. Marc Fisher (Corally/GM) – 36L 8:03.275
7. Simo Ahoniemi (Corally/GM)- 36L 8:03.428
8. Andy Moore (Associated/Nosram) – 36L 8:04.004
9. Josh Cyrul (CEFX/Speed Passion) – 36L 8:04.043
10.Elliot Harper (CRC/Speed Passion) – 36L 8:04.229

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