Moore TQs third round at World Championships

Having impressed with a P2 in the second round of qualifying at the 200mm World Championships, Andy Moore went one better in Day 1 of qualifying’s final round to TQ Q3 ahead of reigning champion Dominic Greiner by 15/100ths of a second.  Running the second fastest heat, the Infinity driver took advantage of the cooler track conditions to set the fastest time of the day bettering Dario Balestri’s best time from the opening two qualifiers by 3-seconds and just missing out on completing 28-laps of the Homestead RC Raceway.  Third for the round would go to Balestri, the Italian having an impressive day to hold the overnight provisional TQ with two fastest runs and a P3.  After problems in the opening two qualifiers, Robert Pietsch ended the day with P4 ahead of Tadahiko Sahashi with Francesco Tironi completing the Top 6.

Commenting on his impressive run, Moore said, ‘I knew I needed to make the most of that run because I started first.  Jesse (Davis) was also fast but had problems in the pit and after that I just tried to drive safe’.  With another super fast pit stop, he added, ‘Trin’s pit stop helped a lot but when he told me to push on the last lap I over did it and went 3/10ths slower.  Anyway it has been a good day for sure.  I was aiming for Top 10 runs but ended up with more.  I’m very happy’.

‘Nearly perfect but Andy made a very good run’, was Greiner’s reaction.  The Serpent driver continued, ‘after the mistake at the loop the round before we did not make the burst for the line this time and maybe if I had it could have been the TQ’.  On his car the German ace said, ‘Always in the cooler conditions it is better.  The set-up was not perfect but now I am driving it better and I’m more comfortable with how the car is’.

‘Good points’, was how Balestri summed up his P3 with the 1:8 World Champion adding, ‘and congrats to Andy’.  Heading the qualification points table on 3 points with Moore second on 10, the Top Qualifier of the last 200mm Worlds reported some ‘engine carburettor’ issues in the warm-up for Q3.  With it running a little rich, he said having to make a number of adjustments meant he had ‘not so much time’ to break-in his set of handout Matrix tyres.  He said it wasn’t until around 5-minutes in to the qualifier that his tyres came in but still the Italian was clearly happy with his day.

Pietsch described the first of the two days of qualifying as ‘a nightmare day’.  The Mugen driver, who took his 2011 1:8 World title at the same venue, explained, ‘In the first one I had a mistake myself.  In the second I was leading but after the fuel stop I could get the engine to rev out and get out of the pitlane.  So for the third one we decided to try a different pitstop style, like buggy, and use two people but when we practiced it in the warm-up the body pushed in.  The car is super good but after the body problem I was super nervous I was going to have another problem.   It was a solid fourth I would say but not what I am looking for actually’.  The 201o 200mm Worlds Top Qualifier concluded, ‘the pace for sure is there but right now I only have 1 qualifying result and I need 3 which is not an easy situation’.

Third in seeding, Sahashi said he struggled with maintaining his rhythm over the 7-minutes in the day’s opening two qualifiers and he was happy to better his results in the final run of the day.  The former 1:8 World Champion said the track was very different for Q3 and while he is still working on the rear set-up of his Infinity concluded , ‘there are still three (qualifiers) to go so there is still time to get a good result’.

‘Sometimes I wake up’, joked Tironi as he broke the Top 10 for the first time.  The Italian continued, ‘honestly from this morning I had Top 6 pace, Top 10 for sure, but in the first one I had a flame out and in the next one I had a problem in the pit but the feeling of the car has always been good.’  He added, ‘the car looks and feels good, the engine is good, everything works. I’m happy and tomorrow we will try to make better’.

View the complete event results here.

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