Groskamp fastest in Q1
Continuing the blistering form he showed in practice, Capricorn’s Jilles Groskamp got qualifying for the 1:10 Nitro Touring Car World Championships underway with a convincing TQ run in what were extremely hot conditions in Bangkok, Thailand. The Dutch ace ran 39-laps in a time of 10:08.998 to top arch rival Atsushi Hara by 3/10ths of a second who in turn was 2 seconds clear of HB team-mate Teemu Leino. The biggest surprise of the opening qualifier was the impressive run from 14-year-old Mugen driver JJ Wang who posted the fourth fastest time a second off Leino’s pace.
With the top group of heats running both of today’s qualifier in the afternoon, groups 1 to 7 having run this morning, the drivers had to run at the hottest point of the day with many drivers describing the conditions as the hottest yet at the RC Addict track. As a result the track was very slow with many drivers afterwards discarding the round as a practice run with Q2 expected to be much faster as conditions should be much cooler making for much higher traction.
Although pleased to take the first qualifier, Groskamp said his Maxima powered LAB C-02 did not feel good and by the end of the 10-minutes was very loose to drive. Describing the track conditions as the slowest they have been so far at this the 5th running of the World Championships he said his lack of traction may have been compounded by him running too small a diameter of tyre. Expecting Q2 to be much cooler, conditions he excelled in during the three days of practice, he said he will not change his car for the run as he knows its good for such conditions.
Setting the second fastest time, Hara said while conditions were very hot & slow he also made the wrong call on his rear tyre choice which made his OS powered R10 very loose on the rear. Suffering from oversteer due to the rear tyre being too hard a compound, he said overall he was happy to be as close as he was to Groskamp. Planning to pick a more suitable tyre nearer to the time of the second heat the Japanese ace will leave his set as is. A driver who knows this track better than most said while he doesn’t think the cars will make 40 laps he is predicting the TQ time to be a 39 lap run in 10:02.
Managing a number of impressive saves as the rear of his R10 got out of shape, Leino said his car was a handful. Tuning to LRP engine to run a little more rich due to the high temperatures he said they went a little too far and this effected his gearbox with it changing late into second. Discarding the round, the Finn said his set-up should suit the expected conditions of Q2 much better and so he doesn’t plan on making any major set-up changes.
Running in the third highest group Wang was very happy with what he described as a good clean run. The highest placed Mugen, he said his Novarossi powered MTX-5 felt good although by the end of the run the American said it started to feel a little loose. Planning to run the same set-up in Q2 he will instead adjust his driving style to suit what are expected to be much higher traction conditions. The Top Qualifier at the last World Championships Mugen team-mate Robert Pietsch was running a similar Top 4 pace to Wang until his engine flamed out as he went to leave the pitlane after refueling. The German, who lost 16 seconds, said they found a problem with the way the fuel gun attaches to the tank in the car and this caused air to get in the fuel line. The designer of the MTX-5 he said he will modify the fuel gun to ensure they don’t have any further such problems. In the end Pietsch was classified 26th fastest in between Shepherd’s Ronald Volker and Serpent’s Paolo Morganti.
Setting the fifth fastest time Andy Moore said he drove a steady run but added he had no other choice as his Maxima R10 had a major lack of steering. Having made his tyre choice based on the handling of his car in yesterday’s practice he said the discovered this morning that the chassis plate was bent. With just enough time to change the chassis in time for his heat he didn’t have time to change his tyre choice and the result was a car that was ‘way too safe’ to drive.
Sixth fastest was reigning Japanese National Champion Takaaki Shimo. The factory Kyosho driver was much happier with his Kyosho V-One R4 today having struggled throughout practice. Changing to a softer front end set-up, the 2010 Finalist said this improved the car a lot but he still needs to find a little more.
Running closely on track with both Leino and Hara for much of the run, KM Racing’s Dario Balestri dropped back in the closing stages to set the 7th fastest time. Afterwards it was discovered that the thrust bearing in his clutch was damaged causing his Novarossi engine to bog down out of the corners. Very happy with the set-up on his H-K1, the Italian said it was better that they had problems in these condition rather than in Q2 which most drivers are referring to as the rocket round.
Top Xray in the opening qualifier was Alexander Hagberg who set the 8th fastest time ahead of team-mates Dirk Wischnewski, Martin Hudy and Paul Lemieux who completed the Top 11. The Swede said the run was very good until just after his fuel stop when he chunked a tyre which made his Orcan powered NT1 ‘push really bad’.
Elsewhere the Serpent team were totally out of luck with the best placed driver in practice Mark Green not even making the start. When the team arrived at the track this morning the air conditioning unit in the pit container had frozen. Trying to free up the unit that was position right of the British Champions pit table it released water but unknown to the team it had poured onto his Sanwa radio. Turning on his radio on the rostrum at first they thought the battery was flat and changed to the battery from Michael Salven’s radio but as Salven fitted the battery he noticed water running across the back of the radio’s functions screen. Getting the radio checked over by Sanwa, who are here for driver support, they said the water had fried the radio and lucky for Green they had a new replacement stick transmitter. For Salven he also had bad luck. Fitting a new fuel tank to his 747 for qualifying this appears to have been faulty causing his Mega engine to run so rich that on occasions the car came to a halt on the track even though the engine was still running and on full throttle. He will refit the tank he used in practice for Q2.
Former 3-time electric Touring Car World Champion and 2010 Nitro Worlds podium finisher Marc Rheinard also had engine problems. Fitting a new Capricorn engine for the first qualifier, the carb was set too lean and the engine eventually flamed out.
Top 15 after Round 1 of Qualifying
1. Jilles Groskamp – Capricorn/Maxima – 39/10.08.988
2. Atsushi Hara – HB/OS Speed – 39/10:09.303
3. Teemu Leino – HB/LRP – 39/10:11.340
4. JJ Wang – Mugen/Novarossi – 39/10:12.349
5. Andy Moore – HB/Maxima – 39/10:14.276
6. Takaaki Shimo – Kyosho/OS Speed – 39/10:15.618
7. Dario Balestri – KM Racing/Novarossi – 38/10:00.116
8. Alexander Hagberg – Xray/Orcan – 38/10:01.133
9. Dirk Wischnewski – Xray/Orcan – 38/10:01.245
10.Martin Hudy – Xray/Max – 38/10:02.050
11.Paul Lemieux – Xray/Max – 38/10:02.701
12.Meen Vejrak – KM Racing/Novarossi – 38/10:03.158
13.Charlee Phutiyothin – KM Racing/Novarossi – 38/10:04.531
14.Biagio Spataro – Xray/G-Mar – 38/10:04.624
15.Surikarn C – Xray/Max – 38/10:04.674
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