Sahashi surprises to open Day 2 of quali with TQ run

Yuya Sahashi caught everyone by surprise on the second day of qualifying as he posted a TQ run in the first of the day’s three scheduled rounds of qualifying. A cloudy morning in Monteux, the Serpent driver set the time in Group 12 of 15, topping his heat ahead of Jilles Groskamp who would get a P3 for the round.  With the attention on the top heat, it looked as overnight provisional TQ holder Dario Balestri had sealed the deal as he crossed the line on the top of the scoreboard ahead of Simon Kurzbuch but rather than a finishing 1-2, their times left them P2 and P4 respectively.  Top seed Naoto Matsukura would see his chances of taking the overall TQ on his 1:8 World Championship debut end with an off.  Other front runners to have issues included Bruno Coelho who finished 7th after heavy contact with the pitwall during his refuelling, him reporting afterwards his car was tweaked as a result.  With a P3 run in Q2 yesterday, Jesse Davis was another to make an error going off track and ending up with a P9.

‘So good’ was how Sahashi summed up Q4. With his best run a P8 in Q2 yesterday, the older brother of 2013 World Campion Tadahiko, said a better clutch and gearbox set-up as well as changes to the rear body support position had made for a more stable car.  The former 1:8 and 1:10 World finalist driver continued that due to commitments with his hobby shop in Japan he had no time to test the new car before coming to France and so yesterday they were still searching for the right set-up.  Happy with his 988 Viper now, setting the fastest lap from Kurzbuch by almost 1/10th of a second, he said the next thing to work on is his ‘mind’ as he feels there is more to come from better driving.

Asked about his run, Balestri said, ‘I had a small mistake on lap 18 which gave me a 16.6 (seconds lap) and I lost the TQ but it is all ok’.  The Infinity driver said the overcast conditions worked in his car’s favour saying, ‘the cooler conditions are better for me’.  A clean run, the Italian said, ‘traffic as always was a problem’ adding ‘maybe the referee needs to pay more attention’.

Balestri’s team-mate Groskamp described his latest qualifying run as ‘perfect’.  Unlike driver feedback from the top heat, the Dutch driver continued, ‘Our heat is so nice, everyone always gives you room’.  Running in the 4th fastest grouping, he said Patrick Schafer was behind him in the run and going fast and having him so close behind ‘maybe cost me a couple of tenth’ – him finishing less than 2/10th shy of Balestri’s time.  Changing his refuelling to come for an early pitstop he said ‘everything was perfect’ adding ‘our car is really good in the morning’.  Asked about Q5, he said, ‘I am now safe in the Semis so we are already thinking about Saturday (Finals day). I’m super happy.’

‘It was a good run but we didn’t win’, was reigning Champion Kurzbuch’s reaction to Q3.  The Shepherd driver, ‘I thought I got 2nd and when I saw others had gone fastest I was a little surprise but it was a good thing because Dario couldn’t complete 3 TQs.  So it is still open’.  The Swiss driver added, ‘we definitely need to risk more. We have good results in the bag but I want to get another zero in there’.

Heading the Mugen charge at RC Circuit Jean Nougier, Syoki Takahata said would post the 5th fastest time.  The Japanese driver said ‘this time I have a very good feeling with the car, it was better than yesterday’. Making no changes to his OS Speed powered MRX6, he said while the track is different each run this morning’s cooler conditions really suit his car. While pleased with his own driving he said he lost time with a bad pitstop as his mechanic dropped his car, his pitstop about 2-seconds slower than his rivals.

Former 1:10 World Champion Meen Vejrak would complete the Top 6 with a much improved performance.  The Maxima engines backed driver said, ‘every day we improve the car but because of the rain we are one day behind’.  Not coming to the track prior to the event, the Thai driver was able to take part in IDP (International Driver Practice) but rain curtailed the second day. He added, ‘it is a bit like Gubbio (last year’s 1:10 Worlds), we were slow for the first 3-days but we were able to improve’, those improvements seeing him make the Main Final.  Running a Capricorn chassis he said, ‘each time we have made a little step forward and I hope we can continue with that pace in the last two qualifiers’.

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