March 17, 2018

Double pole for Ryan Lutz in Xiamen

Confirming what everyone suspected following Rd1 of Practice, Ryan Lutz has taken the top qualifying spot in Nitro Buggy in Xiamen, China. Despite not improving on his Q1 time the Tekno driver continued to better his best lap time each round to end with a 33.542. Yusuke Sugiura would take the final round just ahead of Lutz but a number of mistakes meant he also didn’t improve his result. Wataru Takashiro ended in 3rd overall with his Q2 time, having a difficult time with traction rolling in the final round. The biggest improvement for the round came from both Kaja Novotny, who secured himself 4th overall, and Chen Guanxian who took 5th, both drivers have 12 plus second gain.

Ryan said that his car was now too soft or more the balance was not right following a rear anti-roll bar change that saw him go up in hardness making the difference between front and rear 5/10ths which maybe caused the issue. As the only direct qualifier into the 1 hour main final tomorrow he will have his own 10 minute practice in which he plans to try some things, suggesting he move the setup over from his EP buggy with the biggest difference between the two cars being the shock package.

Sugiura was on a very good pace in Q3, set to take a 5:12 which was within 2 seconds of Lutz’s Q1 time but made two mistakes on the last two laps when the announcer called the pace. With the surface quite abrasive, especially for the hour final, the Japanese Kyosho driver tried a harder compound, which while slower was more consistent so he will try a few more things to find pace, planning to use the semi final as testing for the main.

Taking 3rd on the spot and pole for the first of the semi finals Wataru Takashiro said ‘car was amazing but made a mistake with the tire’, the Kyosho driver trying a softer compound of Blockade on his MP9 for the cooler conditions. The result was too much grip which saw him struggle with traction rolling, so for tomorrow he will revert to X3 and work on some other small changes to the car.

Finding nearly 14 seconds in Q3, Xray driver Kaja Novotny has been tweaking his setup to gradually get more traction in the car, using his EP buggy to back-to-back test the changes. The run was clean, despite some traffic on the last lap, but without needing to be marshalled he managed a 9 lap run.

Another driver to find a big chunk of time, Taiwanese Agama driver Chen Guanxian put his improvement purely down to the traction and track conditions improving. Also having a clean run, the owner of James tires has not made any changes to his car all qualifying, just deciding to focus on his driving, and for the final may consider a harder compound of Revenge tire should he make the main final, positions 2-17 making the semi final, with the top 4 finishers from each, along with the next fastest driver, joining Lutz to battle it out for the championship.

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March 17, 2018

Ryan Lutz TQs EP Buggy in China

Ryan Lutz is the top qualifier of EP Buggy at the 2018 SIGP in Xiamen, China having taken Q2 which along with taking Q1 locks in pole position for Sunday’s triple A-mains. Putting in a blistering run on the ARC International Raceway, the Tekno driver took 4 seconds off his Q1 time and set the outright track record with a 32.904 second lap, the only driver to drop below 34 seconds in qualifying. It was a familiar order behind with Kyosho driver Yusuke Sugiura taking 2nd place, with Kaja Novotny a further 11 seconds back in 3rd with Chen Guanxian and Shin Dongcheol completing the top 5.

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March 17, 2018

Ryan Lutz tops SIGP EP Buggy Q1

Tekno driver Ryan Lutz has carried his form through from controlled practice in EP Buggy, once again dominating proceedings with Yusuke Sugiura the only driver close to the American in Q1. Over 6 seconds clear at the top of the times, his fastest lap was also over 1.2 seconds faster than his Japanese rival. In 3rd place was Czech Sunpadow backed Xray driver Kaja Novotny, with Jonathan Yeung, who struggled with engine problems in Nitro Q1, ending up 4th a further 4 seconds back with Chen Guanxian from Taiwan completing the top 5.

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March 16, 2018

Ryan Lutz completes perfect day at SIGP

Completing the perfect day at ARC International Raceway Ryan Lutz has also topped controlled practice in EP buggy with the fastest run of the day in the 3rd round along with the fastest lap of the track with a 33.438. Yusuke Sugiura would end the day in 2nd, two seconds adrift of the American driver, with fellow Kyosho racer Hu Weiping in 3rd, while Jonathan Yeung and Serpent driver Felix ‘More Powaaa’ Law would complete the Top 5.

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March 16, 2018

Ryan Lutz tops EP Buggy practice after 2 rounds

Ryan Lutz continues to lead EP Buggy here in Xiamen at the SIGP, once again topping the times in CP2 with a faster lap time than in the opening round, however failing to improve his consecutive 3 lap time. Stopping the clock with a 33.618 his fastest lap was some 2 seconds quicker than that of 2nd placed Hu Weiping but over 3 consecutive laps the Kyosho driver was only 1 tenth of a second behind in Rd2, though with his first round time 3 seconds quicker the US Tekno driver currently tops the overall seeding. Jonathan Yeung was 3rd with a solid practice, finding a lot of time between rounds, with Czech Sunpadow supported Xray racer Kaja Novotny getting on the board with P4 following a problematic first practice, just in front of Yusuke Sugiura in 5th.

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March 4, 2018

Sobue wins TITC spectacularly by 3/1000ths of a second

Akio Sobue has claimed the biggest win of his career with one of the smallest margins possible, the Infinity driver winning A3 by 0.003 of a second from Alexander Hagberg to be crowned champion of the 16th running of the TITC.  With a win a piece, it was Sobue and Hagberg along with Marc Rheinard who went into the final race with a chance of the title after reigning champion Bruno Coelho crashed out of title contention in A2.  Hagberg needed the win, Sobue having the advantage of the faster winning time.  Starting second behind his Xray team-mate Coelho, the Top Qualifier quickly opened the door to put Hagberg where he needed to be.  With Naoto Matsukura and Coelho clashing at the next corner, Sobue and Rheinard made up the Top 3, the stage set for the 3-way showdown.  After an initial challenge on Hagberg, Sobue dropped back with Hagberg looking like Xray would retain the title but over the final 3-laps the race came alive again as the Japanese driver reeled in the leader. On the last run through the sweeper, Sobue went for a pass getting out of shape in the process before attempting a pass on the inside of the Swede and there was contact, both cars spinning out.  With Hagberg resuming in the lead, with a bigger gap than before the contact, it looked as the race was decided with three turns to go but Sobue wasn’t conceding that easily and launching his car at the finish line he managed the perfect line to snatch a win that left everyone in amazement.  Behind Meen Vejrak crossed the line third securing the Bangkok driver the final step on the podium ahead of Marc Rheinard.

‘I’m so happy for the team’, was Sobue’s reaction to winning Asia’s most famous race.  The unassuming driver continued, ‘I joined the Infinity team last year at this race and to mark it with the biggest win of my career I’m so happy’.  On the deciding A-Main he said, ‘As I expected Bruno opened for Alex.  My car in the beginning was not so fast, Alex was a little faster.  Then my car started to get better and I push the last minute and started to catch him’.  On the contact in the sweeper he said, ‘It was too much of a push from me but I wait for him to take the back the lead’.  Asked if he thought the incident cost him the win he replied, ‘I never give up and made full punch to the line.  I never made podium here before’.

An understandably frustrated Hagberg said, ‘everything was going well until the last lap.  Akio tried to pass me and crashed into me.  Basically he won the race from me because of this which is definitely not fair’.  Having started out the event looking untouchable with Coelho dominating all six qualifiers, TITC 2018 turned on its head today for the Slovakian manufacturer with Coelho finishing 8th.  The result is one that even his rivals agree highlights the race organisers need to address the tyre situation for the future.

With the weekend proving tough for Yokomo, last year’s podium finishers Nicholas Lee and World Champion Ronald Volker both failing to make the A-Main, Vejrak was delighted to make the podium at his home race.  Qualifying 6th on the grid, the former nitro touring car World Champion said, ‘I knew I needed to finish ahead of Marc and I almost traction rolled trying to keep up with him at the start.  Then I could hear some sound coming from Marc’s car and I get by him’.  He continued, ‘last year no A-Main, this year I’m on the podium, it is the best result I could have expected. I’m super happy for Yokomo and also to be the only Protoform driver on the podium’.

Explaining the noise that Vejrak heard and that forced him to retire from A3, Rheinard said, ‘I went wide slightly on the straight and hit the outside pipe.  I wasn’t hard but it felt like the C-hub was broke but the tyre had come off completely. It was my fault I hit the pipe but the tyre should not come off like this’. He continued, ‘anyway the team took the win which is most important.  I would like to have got a podium, the pace was there in the end’.

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