Groskamp tops free practice in Bangkok

At the end of the second day of the 1:10 Nitro Touring Car World Championships in Bangkok, Thailand, it was Capricorn’s Jilles Groskamp who in the final round of Free Practice jumped to the top of the time sheets ahead of arch rival Atsushi Hara who was unable to better his best three consecutive laps set earlier in the day in FP2. With FP3 interrupted by heavy rain causing a long delay to proceedings, the penultimate qualifier resumed on a dry track however the traction built up over the previous runs was washed away with Team Xray’s Surikarn C the only leading driver to be able to improve on his previous best.

Run under flood lights and in much cooler conditions than earlier in the day Groskamp posted a best time of 45.206 in FP4 bettering Hara’s fastest time of 45.314. Having used the first three practice runs to test set-up and tyre size with a view to the finals, for the closing run of the day the now Thai based Dutch driver reverted to his qualifying set-up for last free practice round jumping ahead of Hara on the final lap as he threw his car down the pitlane entry. With the loop positioned in the hairpin in front of the drivers stand, driving in the pit allows for more corners speed and a better third lap.

Commenting on the feeling of his Maxima powered LAB-CO2 Groskamp said the grip didn’t feel as high most likely as a result of the rain but he was still almost the same pace as he was yesterday when he took the opening day’s action. Having been 15 driver groups for free practice the electric touring car World Champion said he struggled a little with his position on the drivers stand in the final practice being too far to the right but added that tomorrow with only 10 drivers per heat there will be more room and he will be able to resume his normal spot. A moral strike topping the free practice, Groskamp said he plans to use tomorrow’s three controlled practices to gather as much information as possible in terms of a set-up for the finals. He will also use each run to try each of his three race engines ahead of qualifying.

Although unable to improve on his earlier time, Hara tested different springs in his final run. Finding his HB R10 very easy to drive he thought it felt too slow but the timing showed that car had improved pace only he didn’t manage to pull together the 3-laps. Trying Ride Yellow springs and HPI Silver springs on the front he said the Ride springs where perfect for the ‘Happy Hour’ cool conditions while the HPI versions which made the car more aggressive where the better option for the other times when track conditions are warmer.

Just less than 2/10th of a seconds off Groskamp’s pace, double former European Champion Dario Balestri ended the day setting the 3rd fastest time with his Novarossi powered KM Racing K-H1 unable to improve on his second run of the day. Having switched to a softer rear diff the Italian said his car was ‘very good’ but unfortunately he didn’t get to record a time as his personal transponder failed to register with the timing system. Team-mate Meen V ended the day 6th fastest and like Balestri could not better the time he set in FP2. Thailand’s top international racer he said he needs to find more steering something he hopes to achieve by playing with the anti roll bars.

Unable to better his FP1 time, Teemu Leino dropped from being third in the morning to fourth fastest. The Finn who is a former European Nitro Championship Top Qualifier, said his HB R10 was working well until it traction rolled and hit the ‘Wall of death’ at the end of the main straight. The heavy impact resulted in a bent chassis plate with he will replace for tomorrow.

17-year-old local racer Chavit Sirigupta was the second biggest improver in FP4 behind Groskamp. The local took his Maxima powered Mugen to the 7th fastest time ahead of factory Capricorn driver Francesco Tironi after switching to a harder front and rear diff set-up on his MTX5.

Elsewhere Robert Pietsch improved slightly to the 14th fastest time with a 45.668 but said he used too much additive on his front tyres. Playing around with moving the position of weights on the car he was responsible for designing he said after moving the middle chassis weight forward during the run it started to work well by the end of the run. Having played around with weights in his earlier runs today the German said it was ‘crazy how moving them around effects the car’ at this track.

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Hara leads the way in Thailand

Making their 1:10 Nitro Touring Car World Championship debut, it is Team HB and Atsushi Hara who lead the way on the second day of free practice at the very well presented RC Addict track in Bangkok, Thailand.  The Japanese star, who now lives in Thailand and has his own pitroom overlooking the track, set the fastest three consecutive laps in the second of the day’s four scheduled 15-minute practice runs to head KM Racing’s Dario Balestri who had set the pace in the morning’s opening practice.  The fifth running of the bi-annual IFMAR event, this is the first occasion that the reigning champion will not travel to defend their title, a broken hand which is in cast forcing Ralph Burch to withdraw his entry.

Hara was happy with his pace saying his OS powered R10 is working really well and it is a credit to designer Miyashita who joined HB from Kyosho just over a year ago.  Having not raced 1:10 nitro for almost 9-years, when he then drove the HPI Racing R40, he said the modern 1:10 nitro car needs to be driven with a lot more aggression similar to that of a 1:8 Onroad car, a style that is totally different to electric touring car which he said he uses the most at this track as part of his regular testing for Team HB.  Impressed by Balestri’s improvement on pace today over yesterday, Hara believes that his biggest challenge is going to be fellow electric touring car ace and newly crowned World champion Jilles Groskamp.  He said the Dutchman, who was fastest at the end of yesterday’s four rounds of practice, doesn’t just have good pace but more importantly knows how to win titles as he found out first hand when he finished runner-up to the Tamiya driver at the Electric World Championship’s which where held on Groskamp’s original home track just outside Amsterdam although having relocated to Bangkok a few years ago RC Addict is now also his home track.

Backing up the potential of the R10, Teemu Leino set the third fastest time while Andy Moore managed 7th.  Leino, who like fellow countryman Kimi Raikkonen prefers to just get on with the job in hand rather than talk about it, said he is still playing around with small set-up adjustments but having traveled to Thailand for two days of testing with his LRP powered example of the R10 he is confident that they have a very competitive car.  The 2006 Electric Touring Car World Champion, Moore was very happy with his pace in yesterday’s practice with today’s runs focusing on running various Maxima engines ahead of having them marked for tomorrow’s three controlled practice rounds which will determine the seeding for qualifying on Tuesday.  The British driver also ran two different chassis today saying the first car was better and it is this one he plans to race.  Having only properly raced nitro once before when he debuted the R10 at the European Championship back in August, the British ace again has the car’s designer Miyashita as his mechanic with Andy’s only job between runs being the saucing of tyres, something he said he could get very used to.

Having shown yesterday that he has a good qualifying set-up for his Maxima powered Capricorn when he topped the time sheets along with setting the outright fastest lap, Groskamp switched his attentions today to working on his set-up for later in the week.  Running larger diameter tyres in each of his 15-minute runs the 2008 World Championship Top Qualifier tried a finals set-up and was pleased that he was still able to set the 14th fastest time just ahead of 2006 World Champion Keisuke Fukuda.  Joining Groskamp at Capricorn is his Tamiya electric Touring Car team-mate Marc Rheinard.  A podium finisher in Texas, this is the German’s third time to contest the nitro Worlds.  Having struggled with the handling yesterday his mechanic & brother Toni found that the car was tweaked.  Fitted with a new radio tray and shocks for today, the 3-time Electric World Champion said the car was ‘so much better’ now.  In the second of his runs, 15 cars running on the track at one time in each free practice, Rheinard ran wide and made heavy impact with what has been christened the ‘wall of death’ at the end of the straight.  Although he was able to continue he said the car didn’t feel right and they will now have to give it a full looking over.  He currently sits 24th fastest.

Running the 4mm shorter KM Racing H-K1 chassis Balestri was happy with his performance in the first two practice runs today.  Describing it as an electric drivers track, the Italian said his factory Novarossi powered car was at about 80% the set-up he would like for qualifying but he was confident that he could get it near to 100% in the next two outings.  Reminded of the last World Championship where no Italian drivers made the final he said he was determined to make sure that didn’t happen again this year.  KM also have super fast Thai driver Meen V, who has so far set the 5th fastest time just behind 2010 runner-up Takehiro Terauchi, and is one driver Hara said has a strong chance at the title due to the amount of testing he has done prior to the event.

While half of the nitro touring car World Champions are absent, inaugural Champion Adrien Bertin also not making the trip to Thailand, all 5 electric touring car world champions have come to Bangkok with home hero Surikarn C holding the 8th fastest time.  Today’s fourth free practice sessions will be used to reseed the groups for controlled practice which will see just 10 cars running at once on the track.

Top Qualifier at the last World Championship and leading the final until his Mugen went out of control when fuel got into his receiver during one of his pit stops, Robert Pietsch set the 16th fastest time today. The 1:8 World Champion had an interesting start to the event as one of his bags got lost in transit.  At the track last night he got a call from his airline at 19:30 that his bags had arrived but were in customs which closed at 20:00.  Immediately hailing a taxi he said the ride to the airport was like something out of Toyko drift but they made it on time and after paying a custom charge, which his airline will refund to him, his bag with all his spares parts was released.  Having tried a different car and set-up in the first two practice runs today the German said they went the wrong direction with the set-up and he will go back to the car he ran yesterday for the final two free practice runs as it was not as edgy to drive.  A better set-up he said they still needed to find something and even then it was going to be hard to match the pace of the local track heros.

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