Groskamp back on top of the World
Jilles Groskamp is back on top of the World, the Infinity driver becoming the new IFMAR 1:10 Onroad World Champion at the Huge RC Circuit in Bangkok 12-years after winning the Electric Touring Car World Title. Having booked his way directly into the 1-hour Main by winning Super Pole, Groskamp would in the end cruise to victory to become Nitro Touring Car’s 10th different Champion as outgoing Champion Tadahiko Sahashi struggled in his quest to be the first driver to successful defend the title. Starting as the Top Qualifier, this being his second time to secure pole at the Worlds, Teemu Leino’s race lasted less than 10-minutes as the Finn flipped his Infinity after his second fuel stop and the impact with the boards broke a front shock. With 2018 Champion Naoto Matsukura looking like he was on to repeat his earlier dominant Semi final performance, as the race reached halfway and he had a clear lead over the field, a touch of the curbing ended his challenge. The subsequent impact after the roll would break a rear shock shaft but with the car still running on the spring he would limp home in P6, 7-laps down on his winning team-mate. For 1:8 World Champion Dario Balestri a dead receiver battery would cause him to crash out of a podium finish and DNF with just over 2-minutes to go. Behind Jilles, having managed to un-lap himself towards the end of the race, Capricorn’s Toni Gruber would claim second with tenth place starter Charlee Phutiyothin making it two Capricorns on the podium.
‘This one is special because my son was 2-years old when I won Electric Touring Car and this year my daughter is two and I win here in nitro’, was Groskamp’s reaction to his massively popular victory in a country that he used to call home for many years. Running over how his race unfolded the Dutchman explained, ‘It was a good start, I felt the car was easy to drive. Then Teemu rolled it and I was in the lead. In the first fuel stop we had a slow stop and Naoto went into the lead and kind of pulled away. I had already been a couple of times on two wheels and I knew my tyre strategy was only (to change) one side so I really had to drive my own pace and he pulled away a lot. After 20-25 minutes I was second but Naoto had a big lead so I thought I just continue to run my own race because something can happen and it did, I think he flipped and broke something.’ The now 44-year-old continued, ‘we then changed one side of the tyres which was a risk but I knew I could do it so after 28-minutes we changed and after only a few laps they came in and I had a good pace. Then Sahashi came in to change 4 tyres and I already had a lap & a half in front and from that moment on I just cruised around and tried to keep the car on four wheels.’ Describing the car as ‘quite difficult to drive at the end’ because of tyre size, he said, ‘I really drove the car as an EP car, I go slow in, use a lot of brake, just drive as smooth as I could, still I flipped one time at the end of the straight and from that moment on I knew OK I have to be very careful now so I let some guys go. I said bring it home safely and I did, so it’s amazing. I can’t really say how happy I am now. For sure Naoto was the fastest and I think I was the second fastest but that’s OK.’
Reacting to his 2nd place, after a long pause Gruber said, ‘On one side I am happy and can cry but now when I see only 13-seconds to Jilles when we had a flame out and I had a mistake & flipped, it’s hard to image what could have been without these’. The 2023 1:8 Onroad Vice Champion, continued, ‘starting from 8th and then having a flip that put me last, coming back step by step we where not so far away. We made some little changes after the Semi and it helped a lot the car so I could drive easier because I feel no flip but you never know if you push more if it is going to happen or not.’ Doing a full tyre change, he said unlike his rivals he never considered only making an outside change, and that his flip in the race was a result of touching the curb adding the first left corner ‘was always a critical point for my car.’
A previous World Championship podium finisher in 1:8 GT, Phutiyothin was delighted with his podium finish. The Thai driver said, ‘when we practiced here the car was very good but then once the event started the car was no good’ and he had ‘lots of engine problems’, however after a chassis and engine change on the day things counted most, ‘everything was super good’ with him stating ‘today was my day, the car was perfect.’ A finalist at last year’s 1:8 Onroad Worlds in Japan, choosing to change all four tyres during today’s final, he said everything ‘finally’ went as planned and he couldn’t have planned for the race to go any better.
Asked about his topple from the front of the race when looking so in control of proceedings, Matsukura, the only other driver to have won both the nitro & electric touring car WC titles coming in the race, said, ‘I just touched the inside curb a little too much and the car flipped into the wall which broke the shock. I still had the spring (keeping the suspension up) so I could drive the 35-minutes left.’ The only driver to run a 14-second lap in the final, he added, ‘in the beginning of the race the car was perfect, and I was just driving, driving, you know, but on this track it takes just one mistake.’ Originally planning to stop for tyres at 40-minutes, believing he had damaged his tyre in the impact he told his crew to change the outside tyres early which was when they discovered the damaged shock and he knew his shot at regaining the title was over.
Asked about his race, Sahashi replied, ‘the start was ok but then I struggled to see in the dark. The car was OK, the engine was OK, but the human not.’ With the final starting just after 16:36 local time while the covered track lighting was on, the lack of natural outside light did affect the brightness in the second half of the race. While in contention for a podium, he said after his tyre stop his car was ‘very difficult’ and having made the decision to run positive front camber as the tyres worn down it left him with a challenging car to drive at the end of the race costing him any podium chances.’
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