Ripoll delivers on form to TQ second qualifier at 1:8 Worlds
Xray’s Maxime Ripoll has TQ’d the second round of qualifying at the IFMAR 1:8 Onroad World Championship in Chile, the 19-year-old delivering on the impressive form shown in practice to top the qualifier from Capricorn’s Toni Gruber. Setting the fastest lap the heat, the rising temperatures in Santiago making for slower conditions, Rapoll would finish 6/10ths up on Gruber with Mugen Seiki’s Shoki Takahata completing the Top 3 after he once again had a driver error over the 7-minute run. With Ripoll having a bad fuel stop in Q1, his father executed a perfect stop the second time of asking while Q1 winner Andrea Catazani had a bad stop, this allowing the French driver to gain track position and run just ahead of the Italian on track. Coming onto the final lap, Catanzani would attempt to go down the inside of Ripoll but they touched and while Ripoll somehow kept going the contact would see Catanani’s Serpent flip leaving him to cross the line with a P7 for the round. The benchmark all week at the CACH track where in September he was the 1:8 GT World Championship Top Qualifier, the Italian who after taking Q1 said their refuelling was an area for improvement, used the lunch break after Q2 to go into pit lane and practice his fuel stops under the watchful eye of Serpent designer and 1:8 Onroad racer veteran Michael Salven. After a strong Q1, Kurzbuch would deal with a rich engine in Q2 crossing the line P4 ahead Britain’s Alex Thurston and young Capricorn driver Leon Fuhrmann, the German suffering a DNF in Q1.
Having been disappointed with his own driving performance in Q1, Ripoll was understandably pleased with his TQ run having previously said that the morning conditions were the least favourable for his Max Power engined RX8. Reacting to the run, the former European Championship podium finisher said, ‘That was super good, the car was like I said better with hot conditions and this time we had a good refuelling’, his father interjecting and saying ‘this time I am better.’ Looking to Q3, which will conclude the first of the 2-days of qualifying for the 24th edition of IFMAR original World Championship, he said, ‘Same car, same engine, same driver also, and just try to repeat.’ He cautioned however, ‘maybe the next one will be more tricky with the wind but we will see.’
Gruber summed up his Q2 with, ‘It was of course good for the points’. He continued, ‘The car felt the same as the first round but now with the temperature and the wind it gets more difficult but for me it feels the same so this is were we now step by step increase our performance, or maybe stay with the performance and others go slower.’ Looking to Q3, the 2025 ENS Champion said, ‘We will try and hope we can do the same again.’
While putting his P3 down to ‘a little mistake’, Takahata also added that he will do an engine change for Q3 feeling he needs slightly more power. Otherwise the 2025 Japanese National Champion said his MRX7 is good and the big focus for the next one is to eliminate any driver mistakes.
Summing up his P4 run Kurzbuch had little to say, explaining, ‘the engine was a little bit to rich and there was no chance to fight for the top spot. We had to bring it home but with such a rich engine no chance.’ Asked if there was any particular reason for the poor engine tuning, the Mugen Seiki/Ielasi Tuned driver said, ‘We just couldn’t get it right.’
Reacting to his Top 5 run, Thurston said, ‘I think I got a little bit fortunate with a couple of issues and mistakes for other guys. Unfortunately our gearbox was changing a little bit late but it was a clean run and a good pit stop so solid points with 5th, I can’t complain.’ The British Champion said in addition to getting his Mugen Seiki gearbox set right they will also ‘make some minor tweaks and just go again. The car generally seems to be OK throughout all conditions which seems to be the main thing really.’ Asked his thoughts on the track, the 27-year-old, yesterday being his birthday, he said, ‘I think the track is really good, it is very big, quite open but it has a got technical aspect. With it being a little bit lower grip and the car can slide it’s a very fine balance.’