Kurzbuch cruises back into contention in Chile with Semi win
Having missed out on a Top 4 direct to final qualifying position as he ended P5 at the end of the 6-rounds, Mugen Seiki’s Simon Kurzbuch has put himself back in contention for a second IFMAR 1:8 Onroad World Championship title by cruising to victory in his Semi final this morning in Chile. Winner of the World title in Brazil in 2015, a decade on the Swiss racer returned to South America as one of the pre-race favourites but on arriving at the CACH track in Santiago he struggled to find his true form. Leading away the second of the half hour Semis, Kurzbuch drove a calculated race with his crew executing a swift tyre change en-route to him winning by over a lap from the similar car of Britian’s Alex Thurston who together with third placed finisher Christope Louis progresses to their first World Championship final. The 24th running of IFMAR’s original World Championship, the first of the Semi Finals woulds see 15-year-old German driver Leon Fuhrmann head a Capricorn 1-2 from team-mate Thilo Diekmann, the separation 4.7-seconds at the finish. In third, a driver who needed the Last Chance Qualifier race to make Main here at the 1:8 GT Worlds back in September, Brazil’s Flavio Elias booked himself another 1:8 Onroad Worlds final appearance after recovering from a plug change during one of his pit stops to overtake leading Shepherd driver Tim Wood for the bump up position. Wood however would take the win in a very close finish to the 15-minute LCQ, 2/10ths of a second ahead of a Ricardo Hofmeijer, to become the 11th car on the grid and make it five different manufacturers in the final.
Giving his eeaction to his Semi Final performance, Kurzbuch said, ‘The car was feeling good and everything went to plan and we are in the final, we are happy about this but there are still a few things to figure out to be more competitive.’ Asked how the track is today, yesterday a day off for the top drivers, the 33-year-old said, ‘It was good. I like the cool conditions as it is more suitable for my car.’ Changing all four tyres in the Semi asked his opinion on tyre wear he replied while laughing, ‘I don’t tell you know’ before continuing, ‘but we were able to find out what we wanted to know in race pace. It will be interesting.’
A driver whose focus this season has been on 1:10 Nitro Touring, finishing 5th overall in the ENS, but now making the full time switch to 1:8, summing him his Semi win a very pleased Fuhrmann said, ‘At the beginning it was not so good but from the middle of the race the tyres had more grip and then I had more steering. The car was good and could hold (position) with my team-mate Thilo Diekmann.’ A driver who opted not to change tyres over the 30-minutes, and setting the fastest lap of the race with Kurzbuch the only other driver to better that time, asked his thoughts on what will be his first World Final and first time racing for 1-hour, he replied, ‘I think 1-hour will be very difficult so I will just go out and drive my own race and try to make no mistakes.’
