Collari still in hunt for 10th World title

Defending 1:8 Onroad World Champion Lamberto Collari is still in the hunt for a 10th World title but it was a close call for the Italian legend after a incident caused by American Paul Ciccarello on the entry to the pitlane cost him 6 seconds and the lead of the race.  The 1/4 Finals saw the demise of some big names in Miami with 2009 direct qualifier Mark Green, 200mm World Champion Ralph Burch and Japanese Champion Masao Tanaka falling by the way side.

The final day of the 18th running of the World Championships, there was a delayed start to the opening race after Italian driver Nicola Marrone put his Serpent in the barrier at the end of the straight and called a time delay.  With his Serpent fixed he then pulled off almost an action replay of the incident crashing in the exact same spot when the warm-up got underway for a second time.  Although he made the race start he lasted just one lap.

The top Xray in qualifying and starting the race from pole Eric Dankel was dominating the race but a wrong fuel strategy meant the talented German had to stop for fuel with just 2 of the 20 minutes encounter remaining, dropping him to fifth and out of contention for a Top 3 bump placing.

The bizarre incident that very nearly cost Collari a place in Semi was caused when Ciccarello missed the pitlane entry and drove in the wrong direction back to the pitlane entry.  Just making it in in front of Collari, who was making his penultimate fuel stop, the Serpent driver hit the chicane and bounced out in front of the Italian causing both cars to need marshal assistance.  Collari rejoined in 5th position but setting the fastest lap of the race was able to work his way back into the top 3 eventually finishing second behind the Motonica of Spanish Champion Oscar Cabezas with Tsuyoshi Baba, who bumped up from yesterday’s 1/8 final, taking third to take his Mugen into the Semi.

The second of the 1/4 finals produced a less dramatic race with 2007 podium finisher Andrea Cristiani taking the win from 17-year-old British talent Kyle Branson.  A factory Sirio driver this is Branson’s first 1:8 Worlds having only this season returned to the category after a number of years focusing on 1:10 nitro.   Having won yesterday’s 1/8 final, US touring car ace Paul Lemieux claimed the final spot for the Semis and is the sole remaining Xray.  Retiring on the spot after a big crash with Team Shepherd driver Andrea Pirani, RC America boss Burch said contact with the track boards had broke the steering linkage on his car and this resulted in him being unable to avoid the Italian.  Having enjoyed huge joy at Texas nine months ago when he claimed his & Xray’s first ever World title, Burch said he didn’t have high expectations for the brand new RX8 coming here and that the event had been a 10-day test for the team.  With a difficult week over for the American he said, ‘roll on 2 years time’.

With the Top 4 qualifiers now running their 1-hour practice session the next race action will be the first of the 30-minute long Semi-finals which is scheduled to get underway at 13:00 local time.

Semi Final Even Grid
1. Daniele Ielasi – Shepherd/Picco
2. Takehiro Terauchi – Mugen/Novarossi
3. Meen Verjak – Mugen/Novarossi
4. Shinya Shimazaki – Mugen/Novarossi
5. Simon Kurzbuch – Shepherd/Max
6. Flavio Elias – Mugen/Max
7. Robin D’Hondt – Motonica/G-mar
8. Oscar Cabezas – Motonica/VOX
9. Lamberto Collari – Kyosho/Novarossi
10.Tsuyoshi Baba – Mugen/Novarossi

Semi Final Odd Grid
1. Keisuke Fukuda – Mugen/Novarossi
2. Paolo Morganti – Serpent/Novarossi
3. Michele Romagnoli – Shepherd/Novarossi
4. Walter Salemi – Motonica/Max
5. Michael Salven – Serpent/Xceed
6. Rick Vrielijnck – Mugen/Novarossi
7. Josh Cyrul – Shepherd/OS Speed
8. Andrea Cristiani – Serpent/Max
9. Kyle Branson – Serpent/Sirio
10.Paul Lemieux – Xray/Max

View our event image gallery here.

Swauger fails to make it to the big day

Today was lower finals day with the biggest casualty being 2009 World Championship runner-up Mike Swauger.  Driving Xray’s new RX8 chassis the Ameican ace had a difficult qualifying ending up in the 1/16th final but easily won the 20 minute encounter from team-mate Martin Hudy to progress to the final race of the day and one step away from making it through to the big day.  Feeling his clutch was starting to go Swauger planned to change it for the 1/8 final but technical inspection held his car too long leaving him just 8-minutes to get ready for his bump up.  Without time to change the clutch Swauger took the start but he lasted only two laps before the clutch expired.  One of the pre-event favourites Swauger said he had finally found a good set-up and it was very disappointing to go out in this way.

While Swauger will play not further part the host Nation did manage to get three more drivers through to the final day of this 2011 IFMAR 1:8 Onroad World Championship.  Team Serpent’s Scott Kimbrow cruised to victory in the first of the 1/8 finals ahead of fellow 966 driver and Japanese National Champion Masao Tanaka. Despite receiving a Stop & Go penalty for an incident with British driver Tim Wood, 18-year-old Mugen driver Tsuyoshi Baba finished third to secure his place in the final 36.

Deciding the final 3 drivers to bump up the 1/8 Odd Main produced a close race between US 1:10 Onroad Champion Paul Lemieux and Capricorn driver DJ Apolaro.  In the end the factory Xray driver took the win by 1 second with fellow Xray driver Jernej Vuga taking his OS powered example to third. Unfortunately for the former European Champion his fuel tank, which he said was the same one he has run all through qualifying, failed post race technical inspection this time round.  With the Slovenian excluded from the results this gave 24-year-old Thai Mugen driver Charlee Phutiyotin the final spot on the grid for tomorrow’s 1/4 Odd Final.

Other drivers who saw their World Championship come to end for at least another 2 years were 2007 Top Qualifier Massimo Fantini and the only female competitor Sabrina Lechner.  So 36 drivers remain in with a chance of becoming the 18th 1:8 Onroad World Champion including 9-time champion Lamberto Collari.  Supported by Shepherd, Matrix, Blitz and Serpent, our coverage continues in the morning with a round up of the 1/4 finals when we will see if the Italian legend can recover from a poor qualification and stay in the hunt for his 10th World title.

View our event image gallery here.

Future of 1:8 Onroad discussed

Yesterday evening IFMAR held a 1:8 IC Track Section meeting here at the track in Homestead with a number of matters being raised including a discussion on how to ensure there is not a repeat of the tyre additive scandal that cost the opening day of qualifying. Section chairman Sander De Graaf said a number of solutions were discussed including the continuation of the controlled tyre preparation area that had to be implemented following protests that brought racing to a halt on Tuesday. While this appears to be working well De Graff said it has put extra pressure on the organisers due to the manpower which it requires.

Also discussed at the section meeting was the reduction of the length over which future 1:8 Onroad World Championship are run. Currently held over an 11 day period, a duration which most of the paddock agree is far too long, one of the Blocs that make up IFMAR are to propose that the Worlds runs from Saturday and Saturday making it an 8 day event. All the matters discussed yesterday can only be implement if first they are proposed by one of the Blocs and then are voted through successfully at the IFMAR AGM which will take place this year at the 1:10 Offroad World Championship that takes place in the middle of July in Finland.

With the corner speeds of an 1:8 car ever increasing, IFMAR want to address this and are looking at the introduction of a new Global Body Spec (GBS). Current bodyshells can run a maximum height of 165mm but IFMAR would like to see this reduced to 150mm. As part of creating the new body spec a new minimum thickness of the body will be set. Bob Ingersoll from ROAR and Franky Noens of EFRA will meet this evening with a number of bodyshell manufacturers including Dale Epp of Protoform and Fabio Domanin of SRC to discuss the matter further. The idea of GBS is to reduce corner speeds which should help to reduce fuel consumption and ultimately engine wear.

The ongoing matter of noise levels was again on the agenda with the reduction in carburettor size and nitro discussed. On a more extreme note it was mentioned that it a reduction in the engines displacement should be looked into. Currently the maximum carb diameter allowed is 9mm with a reduction to 8mm discussed. With everyone running 25% Byron fuel, control fuel having been introduced at the 1:10 Worlds in Portugal in 2008, it looks set that in the future 1:8 will run 16% nitro. Former World Champion and engine guru Rody Roem who attended the meeting believes only the nitro content should be reduced as it will have greatest effect.

We are glad to report that the matter of moving away from Top 4 direct qualifier structure was not raised. EFRA, the European governing body, passed a change to the rule which could mean that the Top Qualifier does line up for the main event with all drivers having to progress from the Semi Finals.

Speaking to Robert Pietsch about the future of the class the Mugen designer said he believes one of the main changes that should be made is a reduction of the minimum weight currently set at 2525g including transponder. The Top Qualifier for the 18th running of the 1:8 Onroad Worlds said he has to carry 160 grams of weight on his MRX-5. The 28-year-old, who was a designer for Shepherd before moving to Mugen at the end of 2008, believes making the cars run at 2400g would mean less stress on parts and reduced tyre wear which is ultimately better for the customer. The MRX5 is the first Pietsch creation from the Japanese company and here in Miami it has taken 10 of the Top 18 places in qualifying including the Top 2 spots with Atsushi Hara setting the second fastest time with it on his 1:8 Onroad debut.

View our event image gallery here.

Pietsch is 2011 WC Top Qualifier

Robert Pietsch is the Top Qualifier for the 2011 IFMAR 1:8 Onroad World Championships as track conditions for the fourth & final round of qualifying were not fast enough to see any changes at the top with Atsushi Hara, Dario Balestri and Takaaki Shimo completing the Top 4 that qualify direct for the big race on Saturday. Current 9 time World Champion Lamberto Collari, who was a direct qualifier in Switzerland, has had another dismill day and will begin his title defence in Miami, Florida, from the quarter finals after running out off fuel two corners from the finish when on his fastest run.

The designer of Mugen’s MRX5, Pietsch said this was a very proud moment for him and he hopes his time has now come to win his first World title. His third consecutive TQ honour at a nitro onroad World Championship, the European Champion is undoubtedly the fastest driver in the world and hopes that on Saturday his time will finally come when luck will stick with him and he can lift the sport’s greatest title. Suffering a suspected bearing failure in his Novarossi engine, Pietsch managed only two laps in the final qualifier but said he knew the track was not good enough for anyone to challenge the top 4 times. In the end it was Serpent’s Paolo Morganti who was fastest for Q4 with 36 laps in 10:00.906 which was good enough to move the American up one position to 7th overall. Having been one of those accused of using tyre additive, Pietsch said he hoped he had now cleared his name and now his focus will be on spending tomorrow preparing his car and strategy for the one-hour final.

Hara’s attempt at TQ’ing his first 1:8 Onroad Worlds ended as he left the pitlane when his engine died just as he reached the first corner. The Japanese ace, who paid tribute to OS and fellow user Shimo, who has been helping him with his engines all week, said the flame out was his own fault as he didn’t give enough throttle. With the engine restarted he ran the rest of the heat setting the equal fastest lap for the round of 16.064 with Morganti. Having only driven a 1:8 onroad car for the first time in a brief test before flying out to the US, Hara said he was really happy to line-up second on the grid on his debut.

Demoted to third by Hara’s Q3 time, Dario Balestri was delighted at making the Top 4 for the first time ensuring Capricorn a place in the final on their World Championship debut. A double European 1:10 Onroad Champion and set to make this third final appearance in a row, the Italian said he knew three laps into the run that conditions were slow and so he used the track time to test tyres and engine carburation for the final.

Despite a heavy crash in the warm-up that knocked the front left shock off his Kyosho Evolva, 2009 finalist Shimo was second fastest in Q4 but in a time that was well of that which will see him line up fourth for the main event.

Former 200mm World Champions Keisuke Fukuda and Daniele Ielasi will line up on pole position for the Semi finals as they finished 5th and 6th fastest respectively. Fukuda had a big incident with Team Shepherd owner Patrick Shaefer in his final qualifier. The leader of the Group he tried to pass Shaefer but the German spun and was collected by Fukuda’s Mugen with the incident earning the Japanese driver what he felt was an unfair Stop & Go penalty. Ielasi, who is still relishing his lost opportunity in Q3, continued to be out of luck today as his Picco engine dropped a plug just after he left the pitlane to start his heat.

With a very frustrated looking Collari qualifying 22nd it was an even worse day for the man who finished runner-up to him 2 years ago. Second in Lostallo and one of the pre-event favourites coming to Miami, Mike Swauger finds himself in 51st position. It has been a tough event for Xray on their 1:8 Onroad debut with German talent Eric Dankel being the top RX8 driver in 20th while reigning 200m World Champion Ralph Burch is a disappointing 27th. Another driver who failed to deliver was 2009 direct qualifier Mark Green. The factory Serpent driver ended up just behind Collari with the 23rd fastest time.

One driver deserving of a mention is Arturo Carbonell. One of the pioneers of 1:8 Onroad racing he was the 1981 World Champion driving a Delta Super J and it is great to see him still racing 30 years on. Carbonell qualified 66th of the 122 drivers that posted a time.

Tomorrow’s schedule will start off with the lower finals running up to and including 1/8 finals from which 6 drivers will make it through to the main day on Saturday. Our coverage which is supported by Shepherd, Matrix, Blitz and Serpent continues tomorrow with a round up of Friday’s action.

Final Qualifying times
1. Pietsch, Robert (D) – Mugen/Novarossi – 37L/10:12.769 R1
2. Hara, Atsushi (JP) – Mugen/OS Speed – 37L/10:13.653 R3
3. Balestri, Dario (IT) – Capricorn/Novarossi – 37L/10:14.446 R1
4. Shimo, Takaaki (JP) – Kyosho/OS Speed – 37L/10:15.456 R3
——————-
5. Fukuda, Keisuke (JP) – Mugen/Novarossi – 37L/10:15.730 R3
6. Ielasi, Daniele (IT) – Shepherd/Picco – 37L/10:15.785 R3
7. Morganti, Paolo (USA) – Serpent/Novarossi – 36L/10:00.906 R4
8. Terauchi, Takehiro (JP) – Mugen/Novarossi – 36L/10:01.206 R1
9. Romagnoli, Michele (IT) – Shepherd/Novarossi – 36L/10:04.437 R1
10.Verjak, Meen (THA) – Mugen/Novarossi – 36L/10:04.739 R1
11.Salemi, Walter (IT) – Motonica/Max – 36L/10:04.889 R2
12.Shimazaki, Shinya (JP) – Mugen/Novarossi – 36L/10:05.307 R1
13.Salven, Michael (D) – Serpent/Xceed – 36L/10:05.691 R2
14.Kurzbuch, Simon (CH) – Shepherd/Max – 36L/10:06.193 R3
15.Vrielijnck, Rick (NL) – Mugen/Novarossi – 36L/10:06.710 R1
16.Elias, Flavio (BRA) – Mugen/Max – 36L/10:07.048 R1
17.Cyrul, Josh (USA) – Shepherd/OS Speed – 36L/10:07.384 R2
18.D’Hondt, Robin (BEL) – Motonica/G-mar – 36L/10:07.828 R1

View our event image gallery here.