Red RC Events » Leino improves by a fraction in Q3

November 14, 2012

Leino improves by a fraction in Q3

Teemu Leino continues to lead the way in qualifying at the 1:10 Nitro Touring Car World Championships with the Finn improving his previous TQ time from yesterday’s second qualifier by .143 of a second in Q3 this morning with Dario Balestri, who improves to 4th fastest overall, the closest to the HB driver some 5.6 seconds off his pace. The second day of qualifying proved a tough run for a number of drivers with Jilles Groskamp and Andy Moore both getting spun out as they lapped slower cars while Atsushi Hara again ran out of fuel.

Having refreshed the shocks on his LRP powered R10, staying with the same weight oil, Leino said this gave him the extra traction he was looking for and that overall the balance of the car felt better. His team-mates Moore and Hara also said their cars where improved over yesterday but for the former who is running in the second highest heat a potential 40 lap run was abruptly ended when he made a pass on Suruth Vataniyapramote. Having got passed, the Thai driver ran into the rear of the Maxima powered R10 pushing the British driver onto the astro turf and causing the body to tuck. Hara said his OS Speed powered example of the new HB felt the best it has since the start of the event but 4-minutes into Q3 it ran out of fuel. Having fitted an engine which in testing at both RC Addict and another track gave very good economy, the Japanese ace, who also ran out of fuel yesterday just before the 10-minutes were up, said they obviously have a problem with the tank and he will change to a new one for the second of today’s scheduled qualifiers.

Balestri said having experienced traction roll in Q2 yesterday he ran Q3 on a smaller diameter tyre. While this gave him a very fast car for the first five minutes he said after his fuel stop his Novarossi powered H-K1 was very loose as the tyres were too small. Very happy with the feeling of the car the Italian said he is confident that with a slight larger tyre for Q4 he should be in good shape. Setting the third fastest time for the round, team-mate Meen V moved into the Top 10 just ahead of fellow Thai driver Surikarn C who despite taking his Xray to a faster time and moving ahead of Robert Pietsch and JJ Wang remains 11th fastest.

Still sitting 2nd overall Jilles Groskamp was critical of the driving standards as he once again came undone by traffic. Having lost out on a TQ run in Q2 yesterday, this morning the Capricorn driver was in the mix for a quick run until he got spun out in front of the driver’s rostrum by 2010 Worlds Top Qualifier Robert Pietsch. Pietsch, who got a Stop & Go penalty for the incident, said he opened up for Groskamp but with another slower car coming up behind the electric touring car World Champion he tried to get back in behind him but didn’t judge it well and ended up tagging the Maxima powered LAB-CO2. With any chance of bettering his Q2 time Groskamp done he used the rest of the heat to test coming in for a tyre change to try a different compund of tyre as well as a different front wheel rim.

Elsewhere Alexander Hagberg was the fastest Xray for the round setting the sixth fastest time to move up to 14th overall. The Swede said it was not a super fast run but it was clean and his Orcan powered NT1 ‘felt OK’. Team-mate Paul Lemieux, who drops to 18th overall, ran out of fuel just before his fuel stop but the American said his Max powered NT1 was not on the pace. Sitting just behind the US Champion in 19th position, based on his non-finish Q2 time, is three time electric Touring Car World Champion Marc Rheinard who lost a rear wheel off his Capricorn in Q3.

Top 15 after Round 3 of Qualifying
1. Teemu Leino – HB/LRP – 39/10:01.512 (3)
2. Jilles Groskamp – Capricorn/Maxima – 39/10.02.182 (2)
3. Andy Moore – HB/Maxima – 39/10:06.779 (2)
4. Dario Balestri – KM Racing/Novarossi – 39/10:07.158 (3)
5. Keisuke Fukuda – Mugen/Picco – 39/10:07.537 (2)
6. Atsushi Hara – HB/OS Speed – 39/10:09.303 (1)
7. Biagio Spataro – Xray/G-Mar – 39/10:10.845 (2)
8. Takaaki Shimo – Kyosho/OS Speed – 39/10:11.229 (2)
9. Mongkolplan Lomrose – Mugen/Maxima – 39/10:612 (2)
10.Meen Vejrak – KM Racing/Novarossi – 39/10:11.751 (3)
11.Surikarn C – Xray/Max – 39/10:12.124 (3)
12.Robert Pietsch – Mugen/Novarossi – 39/10:12.177 (2)
13.JJ Wang – Mugen/Novarossi – 39/10:12.349 (1)
14.Alexander Hagberg – Xray/Orcan – 39/10:12.593 (3)
15.Dirk Wischnewski – Xray/Orcan – 39/10:12.649 (3)

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After the recent ISTC World Championships in California, Red RC gets ready to switches from electric power to nitro power as well as travel to the other side of the World to bring you coverage of the 10th edition of the IFMAR 1:10 Nitro World Championship. With support from Maxima RC Racing Fuel, T-Work’s Asia, Rapicon Max Power RC Fuel, SMART-Workshop, and Infinity, we are excited to be returning to Huge RC Circuit in Bangkok, Thailand, the track of former ISTC World Champion Suirkan Chaidajsuriya hosting the WC for a second time. In 2014 we got to witness Alexander Hagberg claim his first & Xray’s second World title at this unique (and huge!) indoor track. With 2024 a year that we have already seen two historic World title hat tricks, will we see Infinity’s Tadahiko Sahashi become the first ever driver to defend their 1:10 Nitro title? Our coverage starts on November 19 (Tuesday) and runs through to Saturday’s title deciding 1-hour final. We looking forward to you following along as IFMAR crowns its final World Champion of 2024.