Meen V TQs 3rd FEMCA qualifier

Reigning Nitro Touring Car World Champion Meen Veijrak ended Day 1 of qualifying for the FEMCA 1:8 Offroad Championship with a TQ run making him the third driver to top the times at the Chinese event.  The Thai driver took his Mugen to the fastest time of the day outpacing Q2 pace setter Dani Choi, who having finished all the qualifiers in the Top 2 holds the provisional overnight TQ honours, with Kyosho’s Yuichi Kanai completing the Top 3 with his fastest run of the day.  For Q1 pace setter Atsushi Hara Q3 would prove difficult with a series of crashes leaving the pre-event favourite only 14th fastest.

Having extended the wheelbase of his OS Speed powered MBX-7, 28-year-old Vejrak said the change gave him better traction and made the buggy more stable than it had been in the opening two qualifiers.  With the track getting more and more bumpy each round and with the Chinese Offroad National Champions for both nitro & electric set to run on the track tomorrow, he expects a much rougher track tomorrow even after overnight repair work is carried out.  As a result he said he plans to run a softer set-up for the first of tomorrow’s remaining 3 qualifiers which are set to get underway just before lunch local time.

Choi was very happy with how is day went but said brain failure in Q3 lead to a mistake and after that he found it hard to get back into his rhythm.  Switching from a 3 to a 4 shoe clutch in his Alpha engine he said it made the bottom end a little too aggressive and for tomorrow he will switch to softer springs to cure this.  Again running Sweep’s Exagon tyre which has performed extremely well throughout the day he will change to his employer’s Square Armor tyre tomorrow after Ryan Lee successfully tested it in his 3rd qualifier in which he posted the 6th fastest time.  Choi said the tyres will lose him a little corner speed but should make the buggy more consistent.

Moving his rear upper camber link to the outside position on the shock tower, Kanai said this gave his MP9 much better rear grip.  Having run medium compound AKA Impact tyres in Q2 he reverted back to the soft he ran in Q1 which he also found worked better allowing him to knock almost 4 seconds off his previous best time.  Overall the former World Champion said he was very happy to end the day with a Top 3 run adding he is really looking forward to Day 2 of qualifying.  Fellow countryman and Kyosho driver Dai Hiroki followed Kanai’s set up change and he too liked the result as he set the fourth fastest time.  Suffering just one mistake after a series of errors in Q2, the Kyosho Masters Champion said the plan for tomorrow is to leave his Reds Racing powered example of the MP9 as is and just drive a little harder.

Thai Agama driver Witsarut Rumlarp was a lot happier with his buggy in Q3 after he changed to harder shock oil and a softer compound Beta Vmax tyre.  Setting the fifth fastest time, the 27-year-old plans to try a softer insert for Q4 which he hopes will further improve the feeling of his Bullitt powered A8.

Describing himself as the tyre tester for Choi, Ryan Lee was very happy with his Q3 run and in particularly his lap times as he set the fastest lap of the race, himself and Hara the only two drivers to do a lap in 29-seconds.   Testing Sweep’s Square Armor he said the car felt good although he has recommended that Choi run one compound softer in Q4.  For himself Lee will use his fourth heat to test the Cubix tyre in the harder red compound with a view to building up tyre data for the Semi Finals for Choi.

Hara said his buggy actually felt good but changing to lighter swaybars on the front and rear of his Mugen had resulted in too much traction.  This combined with him slightly over-driving after some early crashes left him finishing well off the pace.  Planning to revert to the harder swaybars he ran earlier in the day so he can post a third Top 10 run and book himself a spot in the Semis, he said once he can get that done he will use the final two qualifiers to test adding that he is lacking track time with the new buggy.  Asking him how the Mugen compared to the HB D812 he said the difference between the too chassis is quite big with the MBX7 a lot more aggressive than he expected.  In terms of set-up he added that the Mugen is also a lot more sensitive to small changes.

HB driver Sheng Chie Huang set the 7th fastest time ahead of Charlee Phutiyotin with the Top 8 being completed by British driver Tommy Chung. Despite his Asian sounding name, this is Chung’s first time to China and after two less then perfect opening qualifiers he was much happier with his driving in Q3.  For tomorrow the Kyosho driver plans to copy the change made by Kanai and hopefully build on his Q3 time.

Round 3 Top 10 Qualifying times
1. Meen Vejrak (TH) – Mugen/OS Speed – 19/10:04.065
2. Dani Choi (KOR) – Kyosho/Alpha – 19/10:10.363
3. Yuicki Kanai (JPN) – Kyosho/RB – 19/10:21.375
4. Dani Hiroki (JPN) – Kyosho/Reds – 19/10:25.192
5. Witsarut Rumlarp (TH) – Agama/Bullitt – 19/10:27.112
6. Ryan Lee (KOR) – TLR/Alpha – 18/10:04.098
7. Sheng Chie Huang (TW) – HB/Alpha – 18/10.05.985
8. Charlee Phutiyotin (TH) – Mugen/OS Speed – 18/10:06.451
9. Tommy Chung (UK) – Kyosho/Novarossi – 18/10:06.847
10.Trin T (TH) – Mugen/OS Speed – 18/10:18.491

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