Rheinard’s 1:12 World title defence off to positive start

Reigning 1:12 World Champion Marc Rheinard got his title defence off to a positive start with the Awesomatix driver topping the opening round of controlled practice at Beachline Raceway in Florida.  Setting a time of 32.983 for his fastest 3-consecutive laps, the German also had the fastest lap for the round with only team-mate Kemp Anderson, 3rd quickest for the round, also able to run a 10-second lap of the track which is proving popular with drivers.  Overall it was the Schumacher of Ollie Payne who posted the second fastest time with team-mate Michal Orlowski fourth quickest.  Japan’s Hayato Ishioka’s Roche was fifth for the round, with recent U.S. Indoor Champs winner Sam Isaacs completing the Top 6.  Keven Hebert was the top Xray in P7 over a second down on Rheinard’s time.

Pleased to top the first of the three seeding rounds Rheinard said, ‘It’s getting better but my driving is still not good’.  Chasing his third World title in the category this week, he said the small curbs are proving challenging as they make the car jump and off the line where there is no grip.  Happy they improved the car for CP1, he said getting tyre treatment right is something they are still working on but overall he feels ‘driving here is the big thing’.  Asked about the track, he replied, ‘It is one of the best for 1:12, it’s not a typical US style and it also looks good.  It’s a really good set-up here’.

Describing the track as ‘very tough’ due to the curbs and grip levels, Payne summed up his first seeding effort as ‘a good first controlled practice’.  The British driver added, ‘It was a bit pushy so we’ll try to get more steering for the next one without making it too hard to drive.  It is difficult to keep the balance when making set-up changes’.  With both himself and Orlowski running cars with a number of special race specific front end parts that Schumacher have created to work with the black carpet being used here, the 24-year-old is confident that with some more fine tuning they have a good car.

Asked about his performance so far, Anderson said, ‘we have been changing a lot on the car and we have got it going around the track pretty good so now we can start working on the minor stuff.’  The 21-year-old American is relishing the track Beachline Raceway have created for the Worlds saying, ‘it is a lot of fun running on a bigger track than normal.  Also the layout is really good and the curbs are in good spots that make it hard to break the car’.

Content with his early pace, Orlowski who comes into the event after back to back Offroad Events including the JConcepts Florida Carpet Championship held here at the sane venue two weeks ago before returning to Europe for the EOS, said his big focus is learning to drive 1:12 again.  The Polish driver said, ‘I’m trying to learn to drive this class again as it so different to everything else but CP1 was pretty good and we are close to the top’.  He added, ‘we made a small adjustment for that run and it was positive.  We were surprised by our pace because the balance is not great.’  Asked about changes for the second round, he replied, ‘we have loads of ideas and will use the two remaining runs before qualifying to try some stuff’.  Another fan of the track, the 2022 European Champion said, ‘the layout is awesome and it a proper size track.  It feels a little inconsistent at the moment but the grip is still developing every run’.

Ishioka said his car ‘seems OK’ but added it was suffering from a little bit of understeer which he hopes to dial out for CP2.  Asked how the track is compared to what he is used to racing on in Japan, the former Snowbirds Winner said, ‘It’s very different to Japan, there is a lot more grip.  I like it’.

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