Neumann goes quickest in opening controlled practice
Joern Neumann has gone quickest in China with the 2013 World Championship 4WD Top Qualifier setting the fastest time in the first round of controlled practice. Third fastest in free practice, the German non factory supported driver put in a blistering 3-consecutive laps in CP1 to top the times from Naoto Matsukura, another driver with no official chassis backer for the event. Having set the early pace in Xiamen, HB Racing’s David Ronnefalk would complete the Top 3 ahead of top American Dakotah Phend, Ty Tessmann and Michal Orlowski. Having ended the four rounds of free practice as the fastest driver, Ryan Maifield would struggle to put together 3 good laps. Although fourth quickest in terms of his outright pace over a lap, the newly crowned World champion sits 28th in the seeding. Second quickest to Maifield after free practice, reigning champion Bruno Coelho would end up 8th quickest in the first of the two counting controlled practice, the second of which will bring Day 1 of the 4WD action to a close following the opening ceremony.
‘It was very good’, was how Neumann summed up his run. The former factory Serpent driver who ran an Associated chassis in 2WD and is using an Xray in 4WD with both cars modified by long time mechanic Gerd Strenge, continued, ‘I go back to my previous set up and it was much better. The track has improved and the feeling of my FP3 set-up was better for the track. I think I will stay the same for the last one’. Asked about consistency of his Orion powered XB4, he said, ‘everyone is going to make mistakes because the track is very hard but my car is perfect so I just need to make as few mistakes as possible when the 5-minutes count in qualifying’.
Opting to run Associated cars for the championship, factory Infinity team onroad star Matsukura said, ‘The set-up that time was better. The car was more stable and I had more steering’. Going for a softer spring and shock oil as well as adding more camber to the B64, the 2013 runner-up, continued, ‘we still need to make little changes to get more steering and we are thinking what is the best thing to do’. Like Neumann, he said he was happy with the consistency of the car but due to the track, doing an error free run would be difficult if not impossible.
Ronnefalk described CP1 as ‘pretty good’. On the podium at the previous Worlds held in Japan, he added, ‘I felt something was not right with the steering at the start. The car didn’t turn fully to the left. I popped a ball cup and when Cavalieri was putting it back on I adjusted the left EPA. After that the pace was good and I could put three decent laps together’. Overall pleased with his set-up, he said the focus now is to ‘work on our 5-minute pace’ adding, ‘we just need to change some small details and it should be fine’.
Fourth fastest, Phend said, ‘the car is easy to drive and I did a good qualifying pace but we still want to get more speed in the car. We changed a few things and we are getting closer but we can still work on getting more corner speed’. Missing the final in Japan having made it the previous two occasions, the American concluded, ‘we will keep trying to go faster and make the car more comfortable because trying to make no mistakes will be important too’.
‘The car felt better at the start but then it faded, I think the oil was too soft’, was Tessmann’s view on CP1. The fastest Xray team driver, the Canadian who has spent 3-weeks at the Hudy Arena in preparation for his Worlds debut with the Slovakian team continued, ‘Joern was still faster so we need to find speed and think how we are going to to do that for the last one’. Observing, ‘everyone had more trouble with the jumps section that time’ he said I don’t know if the track is getting harder or if everyone is over thinking it but its important to get clean through there’.
‘It wasn’t looking good at the beginning but it is getting better and better. It’s now looking promising’ was the reaction of 2WD Top seed Michal Orlowski at posting the 6th fastest time. Only 33rd at the end of free practice, the Schumacher driver said, ‘we are running a prototype car and had problems in free practice and I broke a couple of things in the jump section. We have solved that problem and for only my second full run I am happy with how the car is working now’. Looking to the CP2, the first two deciding what heats drivers will qualifying in with tomorrow morning’s CP3 deciding the starting order of each heat, the Polish teenager said, ‘we now know the direction to go with the set-up and we have a good set-up plan for changes we will make for the next one’. Behind Orlowski, Spencer Rivkin would set the eight fastest time as the Team Associated’s fastest driver with Cavalieri P9 ahead of Yokomo’s Lee Martin.
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