Balestri wins Singapore Nitro GP with world class recovery drive

Infinity’s Dario Balestri has claimed back to back wins at the Singapore International Nitro Grand Prix, the Italian putting in a world class recovery drive after an early flame out dropped the Top Qualifier down to 7th in the 45-minute race of attrition.  Leading away the 12 car grid, the 20th edition of the annual race marking the official re-opening of the newly resurfaced RCMC Marine Parade track, Balestri took early control of proceeding with Naoto Matsukura in tow & keeping him honest.  Unfortunately World Champion Shoki Takahata’s challenge on his first visit to Singapore ended as fast as it started, the Mugen Seiki driver suffering a flame out on the first lap – the first of many for the Japanese driver who eventually finished P7.  1:8 & 1:10 Nitro Onroad World Champion Tadahiko Sahashi would be another early exit after he spun and was collected by Jesse Davis, winner of the Last Chance Final, the Japanese driver’s mistake would also lead to the demise of the Australian with just two minutes on the clock.  With the first round of fuel stop coming around, it would see the spectacular demise of Matsukura.  Exiting pit lane after his first stop, spectators trying to capture the 1:8 Onroad action blocked the Nitro Touring Car World Champion’s view and he hit a post, his yellow bodied Infinity resembling a banana after the massive high speed impact.  With things starting to finally settle down, Jilles Groskamp another hitting early problems, it looked like Balestri could switch to cruise control but approaching the send round of fuel stops, the 2 time World Champion ran out of fuel.  The only one of the four direct qualifiers to have not yet hit problems, Carmine Raiola took over the lead.  He would hold that lead until the final 3-minutes.  Setting a new track record as he struck off his rivals 1 by 1 on his way back to the front, Balestri would pass Raiola for the lead on his final fuel stop.  His drive to Singapore Nitro Grand Prix victory a class act by one of 1:8 Onroad’s greatest drivers, his winning margin 5-seconds over Raiola.  Takakki Shimo completed the podium ahead of Teemu Leino.

Clearly surprised by his own recovery drive by his reaction on the drivers stand after crossing the finish line having had a few minutes to reflect on the win, Balestri said, ‘It was an amazing race, maybe my best race ever.’  The 2-time World Champion added, ‘we had the race under control and then I flamed out, we were out of fuel, again!  But this time I said no I need to recover and I just went maximum attack.’  Describing his Max powered IF18-3 as ‘crazy fast’, a fact that was endorsed by his record setting 15.349 lap on lap 41 of 164, he added that apart from that one flameout, all the rest of the race went as planned including his one tyre stop.  Travelling to Singapore as pit man for Infinity designer Robert Pietsch, who bowed out in the Semis, Armin Weihert would step in to refuel Balestri in the final, the highly experience German contributing to the recovery drive by executing some very fast stops.

Asked to sum up his final, having come so close to the win, Raiola said, ‘It was not that bad.’  He continued, ‘we started a little bit rich because we knew the game plan was to arrive at the finish, so the engine worked good there.’  He added, ‘When Dario had his problem and I was leading then so I just pushed a bit more to get a gap.   The problem was after the tyre change, because the second set, which I didn’t break in because I was on the limit (with wear), was like running on aluminium tyres.  I couldn’t drive and they didn’t start to work until 10-12 minutes after the stop.  In the end, the second last fuel stop the body lifted up and I cannot do anything about the lost time, so then I just tried to keep the 2nd place.’

Finishing third, it was to be a long race for Shimo after he developed a clutch problem early in the race.  Caught up in a first lap tangle with Leino, the veteran Japanese Nitro Onroad racer described his podium finish as a ‘super good’ result.  The World Championship podium finisher explained, ‘After 3-minutes the clutch was broken so I had to drive 42-minutes with the engine slow out of the corners.  It was bogging down all the time and I had no speed so I just keep driving around and in the end I made the podium.’

Getting straight to the point about his race, Leino said, ‘I took it easy for the start but then I got taken out at the start and my tyre was f##ked.’  The vastly experienced 49-year-old Finn continued. ‘after that I recovered pretty well but the second set of tyres, I don’t know, something was wrong with them and they drove completely sh#t, they just wanted to spin on one side.  So for 22-minutes it was really hard to drive.’  He added, ‘I was just hanging on to the end and saw cars flying off the track like always, it’s a crazy race, it is always the same here.’