Pietsch is 2011 WC Top Qualifier

Robert Pietsch is the Top Qualifier for the 2011 IFMAR 1:8 Onroad World Championships as track conditions for the fourth & final round of qualifying were not fast enough to see any changes at the top with Atsushi Hara, Dario Balestri and Takaaki Shimo completing the Top 4 that qualify direct for the big race on Saturday. Current 9 time World Champion Lamberto Collari, who was a direct qualifier in Switzerland, has had another dismill day and will begin his title defence in Miami, Florida, from the quarter finals after running out off fuel two corners from the finish when on his fastest run.

The designer of Mugen’s MRX5, Pietsch said this was a very proud moment for him and he hopes his time has now come to win his first World title. His third consecutive TQ honour at a nitro onroad World Championship, the European Champion is undoubtedly the fastest driver in the world and hopes that on Saturday his time will finally come when luck will stick with him and he can lift the sport’s greatest title. Suffering a suspected bearing failure in his Novarossi engine, Pietsch managed only two laps in the final qualifier but said he knew the track was not good enough for anyone to challenge the top 4 times. In the end it was Serpent’s Paolo Morganti who was fastest for Q4 with 36 laps in 10:00.906 which was good enough to move the American up one position to 7th overall. Having been one of those accused of using tyre additive, Pietsch said he hoped he had now cleared his name and now his focus will be on spending tomorrow preparing his car and strategy for the one-hour final.

Hara’s attempt at TQ’ing his first 1:8 Onroad Worlds ended as he left the pitlane when his engine died just as he reached the first corner. The Japanese ace, who paid tribute to OS and fellow user Shimo, who has been helping him with his engines all week, said the flame out was his own fault as he didn’t give enough throttle. With the engine restarted he ran the rest of the heat setting the equal fastest lap for the round of 16.064 with Morganti. Having only driven a 1:8 onroad car for the first time in a brief test before flying out to the US, Hara said he was really happy to line-up second on the grid on his debut.

Demoted to third by Hara’s Q3 time, Dario Balestri was delighted at making the Top 4 for the first time ensuring Capricorn a place in the final on their World Championship debut. A double European 1:10 Onroad Champion and set to make this third final appearance in a row, the Italian said he knew three laps into the run that conditions were slow and so he used the track time to test tyres and engine carburation for the final.

Despite a heavy crash in the warm-up that knocked the front left shock off his Kyosho Evolva, 2009 finalist Shimo was second fastest in Q4 but in a time that was well of that which will see him line up fourth for the main event.

Former 200mm World Champions Keisuke Fukuda and Daniele Ielasi will line up on pole position for the Semi finals as they finished 5th and 6th fastest respectively. Fukuda had a big incident with Team Shepherd owner Patrick Shaefer in his final qualifier. The leader of the Group he tried to pass Shaefer but the German spun and was collected by Fukuda’s Mugen with the incident earning the Japanese driver what he felt was an unfair Stop & Go penalty. Ielasi, who is still relishing his lost opportunity in Q3, continued to be out of luck today as his Picco engine dropped a plug just after he left the pitlane to start his heat.

With a very frustrated looking Collari qualifying 22nd it was an even worse day for the man who finished runner-up to him 2 years ago. Second in Lostallo and one of the pre-event favourites coming to Miami, Mike Swauger finds himself in 51st position. It has been a tough event for Xray on their 1:8 Onroad debut with German talent Eric Dankel being the top RX8 driver in 20th while reigning 200m World Champion Ralph Burch is a disappointing 27th. Another driver who failed to deliver was 2009 direct qualifier Mark Green. The factory Serpent driver ended up just behind Collari with the 23rd fastest time.

One driver deserving of a mention is Arturo Carbonell. One of the pioneers of 1:8 Onroad racing he was the 1981 World Champion driving a Delta Super J and it is great to see him still racing 30 years on. Carbonell qualified 66th of the 122 drivers that posted a time.

Tomorrow’s schedule will start off with the lower finals running up to and including 1/8 finals from which 6 drivers will make it through to the main day on Saturday. Our coverage which is supported by Shepherd, Matrix, Blitz and Serpent continues tomorrow with a round up of Friday’s action.

Final Qualifying times
1. Pietsch, Robert (D) – Mugen/Novarossi – 37L/10:12.769 R1
2. Hara, Atsushi (JP) – Mugen/OS Speed – 37L/10:13.653 R3
3. Balestri, Dario (IT) – Capricorn/Novarossi – 37L/10:14.446 R1
4. Shimo, Takaaki (JP) – Kyosho/OS Speed – 37L/10:15.456 R3
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5. Fukuda, Keisuke (JP) – Mugen/Novarossi – 37L/10:15.730 R3
6. Ielasi, Daniele (IT) – Shepherd/Picco – 37L/10:15.785 R3
7. Morganti, Paolo (USA) – Serpent/Novarossi – 36L/10:00.906 R4
8. Terauchi, Takehiro (JP) – Mugen/Novarossi – 36L/10:01.206 R1
9. Romagnoli, Michele (IT) – Shepherd/Novarossi – 36L/10:04.437 R1
10.Verjak, Meen (THA) – Mugen/Novarossi – 36L/10:04.739 R1
11.Salemi, Walter (IT) – Motonica/Max – 36L/10:04.889 R2
12.Shimazaki, Shinya (JP) – Mugen/Novarossi – 36L/10:05.307 R1
13.Salven, Michael (D) – Serpent/Xceed – 36L/10:05.691 R2
14.Kurzbuch, Simon (CH) – Shepherd/Max – 36L/10:06.193 R3
15.Vrielijnck, Rick (NL) – Mugen/Novarossi – 36L/10:06.710 R1
16.Elias, Flavio (BRA) – Mugen/Max – 36L/10:07.048 R1
17.Cyrul, Josh (USA) – Shepherd/OS Speed – 36L/10:07.384 R2
18.D’Hondt, Robin (BEL) – Motonica/G-mar – 36L/10:07.828 R1

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