Perfect start for World Champion Matsukura

Defending 1:12 World Champion Naoto Matsukura has ended the opening day of the 2010 IFMAR World Championships here in Burgdorf in the perfect position by putting his new Yokomo at the top of the time sheets ahead of Touring Car World Champion Marc Rheinard.  Both drivers really upped the pace in the final round of controlled practice recording 3 consecutive laps in 40 seconds.  Having set the pace in the opening controlled practice Marc Fischer failed to improve on his time but made three different cars in the Top 3.

Matsukura, who does not speak much English, described his car as still loose but that was the general statement of the day. The big talking point is the lack of traction even after a full days running.  65 drivers have had six eight minute runs each on the track but tonight there is no black line on the industry standard CRC Fasttrak carpet.  The majority of the drivers believe this is due to the mixture of the batch of controlled tyre additive drivers must use.  While it should be the same for everyone, many of the drivers and manufacturers are concerned that the temptation is there for a driver to run a very similar additive, something that would be very difficult to detect yet would give a major performance advantage.  Marc Rheinard has been very vocal about the additive saying that the cars don’t feel anything like a 1:12 to drive and has urged IFMAR to drop the controlled additive.  By allowing drivers to run their regular additive he believes it will make for far better racing and speaking to many of the team drivers in the pits here this evening they are all in agreement with the former European 1:12 Champion.

Providing the most positive quote for the day was LRP team leader Ronald Volker. In the company of England’s Elliot Harper the German said, ‘It been a really good day.  We beat England 4-1’.  Finishing the day fourth fastest Volker said from a racing point of view he was happy with his day and is confident for tomorrow’s qualifiers.  Day 2 of the 1:12 World Championships is scheduled to start with a single round of four minute practice runs in the new reseeded heat order. This will be followed by the more serious business of qualifying with the drivers two best heats added together to determine their starting position for Tuesday’s finals.

Top 10 after practice
1. Naoto Matsukura (Yokomo/Nosram) – 3L 0:40.495
2. Marc Rheinard (Associated/Speed Passion)- 3L 0:40.957
3. Marc Fisher (Corally/GM) – 3L 0:41.178
4. Ronald Volker (Associated/LRP) – 3L 0:41.265
5. Hideo Kitazawa (Corally/Speed Passion)- 3L 0:41.552
6. Hayato Matsuzaki (Yokomo/Nosram) – 3L 0:41.580
7. Juho Levanen (Associated/LRP) – 3L 0:41.624
8. Simo Ahoniemi (Corally/GM)- 3L 0:41.628
9. Josh Cyrul (CEFX/Speed Passion) – 3L 0:41.680
10.Paul Lemieux (Xray/Trinity) – 3L 0:41.732

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Fischer tops first Controlled Practice

Corally factory driver Marc Fischer has topped the first controlled practice at the 2010 IFMAR 1:12 World Championship here in Burgdorf, Germany.  The German set the fastest three consecutive laps with his GM Racing powered SP12X by 8/100th from the LRP powered Associated of free practice pace setter Ronald Volker. Defending World Champion Naoto Matsukura maintained his competitive pace by once again putting his new Yokomo R12 inside the Top 3.  Fischer’s pace came after he switched from Magenta to Pink Jaco rear tyres and applied additive 1 hour ahead of his run rather than the 20 minutes he had been trying earlier.

The 65 drivers taking part in the 15th edition of the 1:12 Worlds are now taking a short time out from racing to take part in the official opening ceremony before returning to the track for a second round of controlled practice which will bring Day 1 to a close.  The times from Cp2 will be used to reseed drivers ahead of tomorrow’s six rounds of qualifying.

Controlled Practice Top 10 times
1. Marc Fischer (D) – Corally – 0:41.178
2. Ronald Völker (D) – Associated – 0:41.265
3. Naoto Matsukura (JP) – Yokomo – 0:41.393
4. Marc Rheinard (D) – Associated – 0:41.429
5. Hideo Kitazawa (JP) – Corally – 0:41.552
6. Hayato Matsuzaki (JP) – Yokomo – 0:41.580
7. Juho Levänen (FIN) – Associated – 0:41.629
8. Josh Cyrul (USA) – CEFX – 0:41.680
9. Jilles Groskamp (NL) – CRC – 0:41.772
10.Olly Jeffries (GB) – Associated – 0:41.805

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Volker sets early pace

After three rounds of free practice it is Ronald Volker who is setting the pace at the 1:12 World Championships. The German recorded the fastest three consecutive laps to top the time sheets from Britian’s Olly Jefferies and defending World champion Naoto Matsukura.  Also recording the fastest lap so far, with a 13.654, the LRP factory driver said his car feels OK despite the low traction.  Running an Associated chassis he was 2/10th faster than the similar combination of Jefferies who was in turn 15/100th up on Naoto.  The current German National Champion says he really likes the track layout and in particular the boards admitting to not being a fan of curbs in 1:12 scale.

Jefferies set his fastest consecutive three laps in the second practice after changing his tyre prep for FP3. Resulting in the car having less grip the European Championship finalist will revert back to his early tyre preparation for the final free practice.  His Associated team-mate Juho Levanen could only managed the 12th fastest time but the Vice World Champion is playing the waiting saying he is saving his good tyres for when track conditions improve.

Naoto who is running Yokomo’s new R12 also set his best time in FP2. Trying different tyres in his third run the Japanese ace said the car didn’t feel as good.  Asked about chassis set-up he said the car is working fine and his focus is on tyres.  For the final free practice he will try another different tyre which are currently being prepared by 1:12 scale’s most successful World Champion Masami Hirosaka.

The man responsible for Serpent’s 1:12 programme, Marcus Mobers is very happy with the start to his World Championship as he lies fourth fastest.  The German is running a number of prototype parts on his S120 which he says are working really well.  Unlike his rivals Mobers feels the traction are not going to come up as expected due to the hot conditions.  Running his own Mobgums brand tyres he plans to use the rest of the day’s runs to try different tyre combinations.  The Serpent team are running well with two cars in the Top 10 with Jan Asmer currently seventh fastest.

With the fifth fastest time Elliot Harper is top CRC driver after Frank Calandra worked his magic on the young British driver’s car. Harper struggled in the opening two runs but the CRC founder put his ‘Big race set-up’ on the Speed Passion powered Gen-X and it transformer the car giving the teenager a major performance boost. For his team-mates Hupo Honigl and Jilles Groskamp the day hasn’t started off well as the lie only 24th and 34th fastest respectively.

Completing the Top 6 is factory Corally driver Marc Fischer.  The German said his car is OK in the opening two minutes of the run but after that gets very loose.  Complimentary of the track layout, he plans to try different tyre compounds and more additive in FP4.

Elsewhere V-Design have two cars in the Top 10 with Mark Stiles 8th fastest just ahead of team-mate Chris Kerswell.  At Xray Alexander Hagberg is fastest of the XII drivers in 13th with team-mate Paul Lemieux 21st.

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