Catanzani takes close opening qualifier as Kurzbuch finds form in Chile

Serpent’s Andrea Catanzani has taken the opening qualifier at the IFMAR 1:8 Onroad World Championship in Chile, this morning’s first of the six schedule rounds a close encounter as Mugen Seiki’s Simon Kurzbuch found his form after a below par seeding yesterday.  With a first lap error from Catanzani, it was 2019 World Champion Shoki Takahata who set the early pace but soon it was Top Seed Catanzani who was back at the top of the timing screens but all the while Kurzbuch was executing a strong run getting to within 0.156 of a second of the Italian, the two drivers the only ones to run 23-laps of the CACH track over the 7-minutes.  The star of yesterday’s seeding, Xray’s Maxime Ripoll would complete the Top 3 despite the French driver having a poor pit exit after his fuel stop, his car bouncing off the steel barrier.  Capricorn’s Toni Gruber would open with a P4 run after a driver error dropped Takahata back to P5 with the Capricorn of Thilo Diekman completing the Top 6.

‘7-minutes is very long with 1:8 but yes that was a good run’, that was Catazani’s reaction after topping Q1.  The 20-year-old continued, ‘I made one mistake on the first lap so I half a second.  In the sweeper I hit the insider (track marker) and then the lap later I was a little bit nervous but then I settled in to my pace and it was really good.  We tried something new (set-up) this morning and it was really good but now we need to practice a little bit on the refuelling because we lost time there, but we are fast so I am happy.’

With a spring back in his step following his P2 run, Kurzbuch said, ‘It was a good first run, pity we couldn’t get it as it was quite close.’  Having struggled yesterday and opted to full rebuilt his MRX7 for Q1, he said, ‘the car is working better, still a bit understeering so we can improve that a little bit, but yes I think we are in the game now.’  Asked if they found any issues during the car rebuilt that would have cause his lack of pace yesterday, the Swiss driver replied, ‘No we found nothing wrong but we built up the car from scratch, everything new, everything fresh, so maybe just sometimes all this helps.’  On the track conditions and whether the morning or afternoon is better for him, the 2015 World Champion said, ‘ Normally the morning is better for me’.

Disappointed with his own driving performance in Q1, Ripoll explained, ‘ I lost a bit of time getting on to the pace but its OK, P3 it is one good qualification already.’  The teenager continued, ‘We also lost a bit of time on the refuelling, my pit exit was horrible.  I lost 1-second on Simon.  My pace was not super good but I know when the track will be hotter my car will be more stable so.  For me now (morning) is the worst condition but I know it will get better but for the next one I also need to drive better.’

Describing his P4 as an ‘OK start’, Gruber explained, ‘The car felt really good in the afternoon yesterday after some changes but with the two sides to this track, the morning and the afternoon, the now now feels a little bit slower than the afternoon yesterday.  I think we have the set-up for the afternoon and not the morning but it’s nearly both.  Mostly in work in the afternoon but also in the morning it is not bad but not the best performance. But you know the final is in the afternoon so it better it work then than the morning.’  The German added that his tyre he choose got too small and that lost him performance over the final 2-minutes of the qualifier but summing up he is confident for Q2.