Chassis – KM Racing HK1
Engine – OS Speed 1202
Fuel – MLC
Tires (handout) – Hotrace
Radio/Servo – Sanwa
Body – SRC Spark
Remarks – Japanese driver Syoki Takahata put a great run to take a surprise TQ in round 4 driving a pretty standard version of the KM HK1. Powered by the new 1202 OS Speed engine, his car is equipped with a carbon upper bumper and a front brass chassis weight.
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Syoki Takahata took a surprise TQ in the fourth round of qualifying at Worlds in Italy. Running in the fourth fastest heat, the KM Racing driver would set the fastest time ahead of Dominic Greiner who looked set to take the round as his rivals self destructed in the top heat. Coming to the line on the TQ pace, Greiner would launch his car across the loop believing it would be his finishing time but he got there 0.002 too early. Spinning in his attempt to get the best possible finish time, once he discovered he was still on the clock and recovered he ended the qualifier with 24-second lap time around the 16-second Miniautodromo Internazionale M.Rosati track. With Greiner 8-seconds off Takahata, the pair the only drivers to run 19-laps, best of the rest on 18 would be Greiner’s Serpent team-mate Tadahiko Sahashi who completed the Top 3. Unfortunately a partly stripped rear belt which occurred in the warm-up would leave Q3 Top Qualifier Alessio Mazzeo to struggle around for a P4 for the round.
After a torrid opening day of qualifying in which he suffered two engine failures in his opening two heats, after starting out the day with his first complete 5-minute run, claiming P13 in Q3, Takahata was understandably pleased with his TQ run. Having to start the day out with ‘a safe run’, claiming a P13 for his efforts, the reigning Japanese National Champion said, he could ‘push harder’ in Q4. Making an ackermann change on his OS powered HK1, the 21-year-old said this gave him a ‘better feeling’ with the car, him highlighting his reduced track time due to yesterday’s issues. For Q5 he will leave the car unchanged saying ‘I still need one more time’.
‘Super close, just bad luck’, was Greiner’s reaction after the qualifier. Happy with his Novarossi powered 748 after struggling with a lack of feeling in Q3, the 2014 Top Qualifier was less impressed by the driving of Luca Redaelli. The Capricorn driver would get a P8 for the round but towards the end of the qualifier the German got stuck behind the Italian. The German said, ‘Luca blocked me for two laps. Four or five times the referee called him to open’. On his set-up changes he continued, ‘I’m happy the car is fast again, it’s nearly back to where I want it to be’.
Q4 would prove a good round for newcomers Team Infinity as they got 4 of the prototype cars into the Top 10. Heading that challenge would be Jesse Davis who posted the fourth fastest time. The Australian National Champion said the time was ‘all driving’. Having had a good car for Q3, after crashing in the warm-up he would again crash early on in the actual qualifier badly damaging a tyre. For Q4 he said, ‘I knew I had a good car so I left it and just drove’. Looking for ‘another good result to make the Semis’, he will leave the car ‘exactly the same’. Asked about track conditions he said, ‘You can do two good laps and then the next lap you get hit by the wind. You can see through the field, a driver does a fast lap and then the next one is shit. It’s only when you are going left but its making it difficult’.
Posting the fifth fastest time, Team Shepherd’s Simon Kurzbuch said, ‘the car is fast for one lap and after the first minute or 2 gets hard to drive’. He continued, ‘I think it’s just the wind that is making the car do somethings strange’. For the next qualifier, which is set to be the running of Q2 for the top heat, he will change his Velox V10 to get ‘more rear traction for the fast corners’.
Completing the Top 6 ahead of Infinity team-mate and 2012 Top Qualifier Teemu Leino, Jilles Groskamp said, ‘I was lucky with all the carnage in the round’. With an error by Robert Pietsch ending his own and Mugen team-mate Takaaki Shimo’s race instantly as well as ruining Q1 winner Dario Balestri’s run, the Italian pulling off, and Bruno Coelho making a mistake of his own, the reigning Euro Nitro Series Champion said, ‘we closed the gap a little but I still feel I am missing steering’. On actual pace he felt he should have been 12th or 13th. ‘Lacking .1 or .2 (seconds) a lap’ he also feels he could do with a little more power, his engine set too rich. The 2012 Electric Touring Car World Champion said ‘it’s critical to tune (the engine) for the conditions of the run’. Describing conditions as ‘very tough today (as) the wind is super strong’ he said he will revert to the set-up he ran in the earlier days of practice which he hopes will make the car more stable which he added should suit the conditions.
View complete event results here.
View the event image gallery here.
Alessio Mazzeo has TQ’d the third round of qualifying at the Nitro Touring Car World Championship. After a delayed start to the second day of qualifying as the rain that halted Q2 continued overnight in Italy, the Serpent driver was fastest in the slower track conditions ahead of Robert Pietsch and team-mate Tadahiko Sahashi. Having taken the opening round of qualifying yesterday, Dario Balestri would manage only the 7th fastest time, as he was hampered by a shock issue on his Capricorn. Again Bruno Coelho would show strong running on a TQ pace like in Q1 but this time rather than a mistake of his own the Xray driver would crash into the Shepherd of Simon Kurzbuch which spun in front of him in the windy conditions.
I’m really happy because the conditions are very had hard. There is a lot of wind and this is not good for the car especially under braking’, was Mazzeo’s reaction to his first ever TQ run at a World Championships. With the moment made more special for the 24-year-old by the fact his mother & brother were here to watch the run, he said the pressure of the occasion lead to his final laps not being perfect. Still fastest by almost 7/10th of a second, the former European Champion said, ‘For the first 5-laps I took it easy but once I saw the car was OK and had a good feeling for the condition I started to push’. With his next run to be the running of Q2, the round halted by rain yesterday just as the top heat started their engines, he said the track conditions will be the same as Q3 which means they will be a lot slower that the current TQ time for the round which is current held by Kyle Branson. Commenting on the International Jury decision, he said ‘it is impossible to make the best choice for al drivers so I respect their decision’. He added, ‘120 drivers raced so it is not good to change that they loose that run either, I will try to push for a good time but for sure it will be slower’.
Pietsch had the opposite view to Mazzeo on the running of their Q2 heat saying, ‘It’s totally unfair, the track is 3-seconds slower’. The German added, ‘You can’t compare the conditions, it’s the wrong decision’. On his MTX6 in Q3, the Mugen designer said, ‘the car had a little oversteer and I had to drive careful not to crash it’. To cure this he will ‘change (his) rear diff for the next one’.
Behind the Picco powered Serpent of Sahashi, Francesco Tironi would prove the surprise of Q3. Having not been on the radar in practice and 15th in Q1, the Infinity driver described Day 2 of qualifying as ‘much better today’. The Italian said his prototype touring car from the manufacturer newcomer was quite good yesterday but suffered too much push’. Making the front of the car 2mm narrow for today, the former World Championship podium finisher said they are now working on caster adjustments saying ‘the car is very sensitive to caster change’. Having got to complete his Q2 as he is running in the fourth fastest heat, for Q4 he said they will adjust more the caster ‘to find the limit’.
Posting the 5th fastest time Dominic Greiner wasn’t pleased with his car. The Serpent driver said, ‘the track changed a lot. I had no feeling for the car and it was very difficult to drive’. Planning to change the car for the next one, he said a softer set-up should work better for today’s low traction conditions. On the running of Q2, the German said it is ‘super stupid, the track is never the same as yesterday’ adding the qualifier will be ‘a run to test the car’.
Completing the Top 6 Luca Redaelli said he made a front shock change to his Capricorn in anticipation of the conditions but he still struggled suffering with oversteer. Planning to go back to his original shock set-up, he said now that he is getting over the nerves of contesting his first Worlds he also plans to ‘push more’. Team-mate Balestri, who was 5/100ths slower over the 5-minutes said he ‘knew immediately something was wrong (with the car), with his mechanic suspecting it was to do with a bad shock which he added ‘we must check’.
Commenting on his incident with Kurzbuch, Coelho said, ‘it was a little difficult because of the wind but the car was perfect. I was running behind Simon and then he spun in front of me and we crashed. That was the end of the qualifier for me’. Continuing the rest of the run he would get P18. Kurzbuch said, ‘I am really sorry for Bruno. I lost the rear and touched him’. the 1:8 World Champion continued, ‘I think it was the wind because the car was ok through there all the other laps’.
View complete event results here.
View the event image gallery here.
UPDATE
In an attempt to obtain more equal track conditions the International Jury has decided to move the running of Heat 13 Q3 to late in the day during the fifth round of qualifying.
Chassis – Infinity Prototype
Engine – Novarossi Mito .12 Ceramic
Fuel – Runner Time
Tires (handout) – Hotrace
Radio/Servo – Sanwa
Body – Protoform SRS
Remarks – Former electric touring car World Champion Andy Moore is running an identical example of Jilles Groskamp’s prototype Infinity. Even in terms of engines, clutches and radio gear the pair are running the same components. The Brit’s car though features a stiffer setup in the rear end, with harder springs and a bigger sway bar.
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Chassis – Mugen MTX-6 (R)
Engine – OS Speed 1202
Fuel – MLC
Tires (handout) – Hotrace
Radio/Servo – Sanwa
Body – SRC Spark
Remarks – OS Speed and Mugen Seiki development driver Takaaki Shimo is running a pre production version of what could be an upcoming “R” version of the Japanese car, that features the same chassis seen on Robert Pietsch’s car, prototype low friction pulleys, hard suspension arms and rear hubs, a lower front shock tower and a 15g front weight designed to be fitted on the front bumper. Despite carrying a head from the 1201 OS Speed engine, his car is powered by the all new version 1202 that only shares the crankcase with the previous version.
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