4 busy days of practice conclude at 1:8 Onroad Worlds
After four busy days of practice for drivers at the IFMAR 1:8 Onroad World Championship in Japan, things are finally set to get official tomorrow with four planned rounds of seeding practice to determine the heat order for qualifying. Summing up how practice had gone, many of the international drivers getting their first taste of the Infinity International RC Speedway on Friday, it was mixed reports from some of the leading title contenders. The driver they all will be trying to beat over the next 5-days, reigning Champion Shoki Takahata was looking content and relaxed and reported being pleased with how he was working through his program. With no official timing being published, icon of the sport Atsushi Hara highlighted the Mugen driver as a driver looking strong over the four days. A 1:8 Onroad Worlds podium finisher himself, Hara felt Takahata’s new for 2023 team-mate Simon Kurzbuch was also looking strong. From his own team, Infinity, he thought Dario Balestri was leading their charge with the 2017 World Champion in confident mood when we caught up with him at the completion of the final practice.
While not officially his home track, living four hours away from Mie, Takahata does know the IFS track well. Asked about track conditions, he said the shear high number of cars running on it over the day was causing it be different every time he went out. Asked about the traction of the high speed circuit, he described the grip as ‘not so bad’ but having a unique feeling. Very happy with his final run of today, calling his car ‘really’ good’, he plans to start with that set-up tomorrow and see how it matches up with track conditions. While temperatures are hitting the low 20-degree celsius range during the day, the conditions are a lot cooler in the morning and again in the evening. Yesterday’s first day of Controlled Practice was effected by strong winds which all drivers report as making things challenging.
‘Well prepared’ was how Kurzbuch summed his current state of play. Ready to get down to the more serious business of racing, the 2015 World Champion said, ‘we’ve tried almost everything by now and know what is working for us. We have good engines already put aside and a good set-up on the car’. Asked about the track, the Swiss driver replied, ‘It’s a really fun track. It’s a great facility.’
Wrapping himself up in extra layers as the sunset on the final day of controlled practice causing the temperatures to drop pretty rapidly, Balestri was another driver ready to get into the more official side of the event. Top Qualifier at the last two World Championships, the Italian said, ‘everything was on point from the first day so we used the 2nd & 3rd days to break in engines’. He added, ‘I am super happy with the IF18 III, it’s faster and it’s easier to drive. The new Max ‘Japan World Championship Edition’ engines is also running really well’. With the top drivers expected to be all closely matched on laps times, the reigning European Champion believes the biggest difference will be down to whether you are running new or used tyres. Describing the car as ‘more difficult’ on new tyres, he said the main point to see will be who can run fast on news tyres with everyone having to do so twice based on the allocations of the controlled tyre.
With the IFS track originally built by his father, this is very much a home race for Tadahiko Sahashi but the reigning 1:10 Nitro World Champion declared himself as only being at 60% of his potential. Struggling with understeer, the 2013 World Champion plans to discuss potential fixes for the issue with his mechanic and 2006 1:10 Nitro World Champion Keisuke Fukuda.
Fresh from his 1:8 GT World Championship win in Sydney recently, Toni Gruber said it had taken him up until the final practice today to get his program back on track after a huge crash on Saturday. Describing the impact as ‘really extreme for the car’, the Capricorn driver bent his chassis. Replacing it with a new one, over the next few runs it was discovered the impact had done more damage to the car than originally thought. With new parts, the German said the car still didn’t feel as good as before the crash with set-up changes not helping. Missing balance front and rear, he said it was really bad today until he put 99% of the set-up he had started out on the car. Describing his car after the final practice as ‘really good now’ he things the chassis plate may have needed a few runs to break in and match the one he started out with.
Team-mate Dominic Greiner described his time in Japan so far as ‘up & down’. The German said the hardness of the hand out tyres is not the same as this is causing issues. He said on the tyres he ran in early practice his car was very good but then when he switched to a new set he was running more towards the back in terms of his pace. Declaring himself not happy in the last round he concluded, ‘we will see what we get tomorrow, it timed practice so lets hope things are better with the tyres’.
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