Hara moves up to second

Atsushi Hara has moved into second spot in qualifying at the 2011 IFMAR 1:8 Onroad World Championships after improving his time in this morning’s third round of qualifying at the Homestead RC Raceway in Miami.  The Japanese ace improved by almost 6 seconds as he set the second fastest time in the penultimate round behind provisional Top Qualifier Robert Pietsch who was unable to better his Q1 time.

‘Getting closer everyday’ was the former electric Touring Car & 1:8 Offroad World Champion’s response to the 10:13.653 run which is just .884 of a second off Pietsch’s overall TQ time.  The factory Hot Bodies driver, who is running a Mugen, said yesterday’s rain had changed track conditions to a lighter type of grip which allowed his MRX5 to run more freely and for him the conditions were the best so far.  With a change of order for the fourth and final qualifier when Hara’s run will be the second last of the day he feels by then the track will once again oil up making it hard for him to deny Pietsch his third consecutive onroad nitro World Championship TQ honours.

Topping the round, Pietsch said conditions this morning were good enough to set a new fastest time but he came across too much traffic.  The German said track conditions were for him a little slippy following yesterday’s rain and that the cooler conditions suited both Hara and Shimo who are running one-stop strategies.  Asked if he thinks the last round will prove to be the ‘rocket round’ the European Champion said if the wind stays away he will have to give 100% to hold on to the top spot but if there is a strong wind, which causes the rear of the cars to get loose, the Top 4 should stay as it is.

Third fastest for the round and now third overall, Capricorn driver Balestri said he struggled with the track conditions for the opening few laps ending his challenge for overall TQ honours. Running a different tyre diameter on his LAB C801 he said it was not the right way to go.

Improving his time and breaking in to the 37 laps for the first time, Kyosho’s Takaaki Shimo said he was disappointed with his time as on track it felt as though he was running a much faster pace.  Having made a few changes to his OS Speed powered Evolva, the 2009 Finalist said he was confused by changes he had made to the car, as while it was better in some areas it also made the car worse in others.  The Japanese driver hopes he can find a better balance for his final run and keep himself inside the elusive Top 4.  One driver who came close to knocking him out of fourth was fellow country man Keisuke Fukuda.  Having been dogged by radio problems yesterday the Mugen driver said the issue was still on his mind during Q3 but now that he managed a trouble free run his confidence is back and he is feeling positive about the final qualifier.

One of the sports most friendly characters Daniele Ielasi was irate after his run.  The factory Shepherd and Picco driver was on target to run an outright TQ time but had problems with traffic including an incident with 200mm World Champion Ralph Burch.  The Italian said it was ‘extremely upsetting’ when you get everything right only for another driver to cost you a Top 4 time and maybe even the TQ honours.  Heading the timing screen in the top group up until the first pitstop he managed to better his Q2 time but drops to sixth overall.

Elsewhere Lamberto Collari improved his time by almost four seconds but the 9-time World Champion is still a long way off the pace as he struggles with the set-up on his Kyosho.  Team Serpent’s Michael Salven was on a good run until his INS Box got knocked off during his second fuel stop.  The German said he had too little brake on his 966 for the pitstop and while pitman Karl-Heinz Meister did a good job of catching the car during the first stop he was unable to pull it off in the second and as a result the filter got knocked off.  Runner-up at the last World Championships in Switzerland, Mike Swauger finally completed a run but the American who is running Xray’s new RX8 said they made too many set-up changes and now they are lost.  Team Shepherd’s Josh Cyrul was on for his best run but having changed to a brand new piston & liner in his OS engine for the round, the still not fully run-in motor eventually cried enough after 19 laps.

Qualification Ranking after 3 of 4 Rounds
1. Pietsch, Robert (D) – 37L/10:12.769 R1
2. Hara, Atsushi (JP) – 37L/10:13.653 R3
3. Balestri, Dario (IT) – 37L/10:14.446 R1
4. Shimo, Takaaki (JP) – 37L/10:15.456 R3
——————-
5. Fukuda, Keisuke (JP) – 37L/10:15.730 R3
6. Ielasi, Daniele (IT) – 37L/10:15.785 R3
7. Terauchi, Takehiro (JP) – 36L/10:01.206 R1
8. Morganti, Paolo (USA) – 36L/10:02.815 R1
9. Romagnoli, Michele (IT) – 36L/10:04.437 R1
10.Verjak, Meen (THA) – 36L/10:04.739 R1
11.Salemi, Walter (IT) – 36L/10:04.889 R2
12.Shimazaki, Shinya (JP) – 36L/10:05.307 R1
13.Salven, Michael (D) – 36L/10:05.691 R2
14.Kurzbuch, Simon (CH) – 36L/10:06.193 R3
15.Vrielijnck, Rick (NL) – 36L/10:06.710 R1
16.Elias, Flavio (BRA) – 36L/10:07.048 R1
17.Cyrul, Josh (USA) – 36L/10:07.384 R2
18.D’Hondt, Robin (BEL) – 36L/10:07.828 R1

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Video – Heavy Rain stops completion of Q2

Just prior to the completion of today’s qualifying the heavens opened up over Homestead with three of the 13 groups still left to run their second round of qualifying.  Normally in such a situation the round would be cancelled for all drivers as the entire field did not get to compete under the same track conditions.  Thankfully the organisers have been able to agree that the drivers from the three group who missed out on running Q2 today will be given an extra run in between Q3 and Q4 tomorrow saving the second round of an already shortened qualifying schedule.

Hara tops ‘extra’ practice

1:8 Onroad debutant Atsushi Hara has topped the extra practice session that replaced the opening two rounds of qualifying following this morning’s tyre additive scandal. The Japanese ace, whose confidence is growing with every outing, was fastest from Italian’s Dario Balestri and Michele Romangnoli.

Third fastest overall in yesterday’s controlled practice, Hara said track conditions were not as good as yesterday but he was happy with his pace in comparison to the lap times set by his rivals.  Running a different OS engine in his Mugen, the former 1:8 Offroad World Champion said with the engine set a little leaner a 37 lap would have been possible and he is looking forward to qualifying which is now set to get underway tomorrow.

Fastest in controlled practice, Robert Pietsch said he suffered ‘brain interference’ resulting in an off that took the front left corner off his Mugen.  The European Champion and designer of the MRX-5 also found that the track was not as good as yesterday and said today’s windy conditions made driving more difficult as it caught the rear of bodyshell causing the car to get loose.

The only other driver to do a 37 lap run yesterday, Team Serpent factory driver Paolo Morganti tried a different Novarossi engine in his 966 but it wasn’t as good and he struggled for pace compounded by the rear sway bar coming off his car.  The American will now revert back to the same package he ran in CP2 for the morning’s opening qualifier.

Backing up his surprise CP1 topping pace 25-year-old Brazilian Flavio Elias posted another strong run with the fourth fastest time ahead of former 200mm World Champion Keisuke Fukuda and Serpent 966 designer Michael Salven.  19-year-old Takehiro Terauchi set the fastest lap of the ‘extra’ practice taking his Mugen around in a 16.058 on his way to the 8th fastest time behind fellow ZAC Project supported driver Sinya Shimazaki.

After a day that made headlines for all the wrong reasons hopefully tomorrow we can get on with the process of crowning the 18th 1:8 Onroad World Champion and get qualifying underway.  Our coverage, which has been made possible thanks to Shepherd, Matrix, Blitz and Serpent, continues in the morning when we will have a full round up of the opening qualifier.   Groups 7-13 run their two heats in the morning with the Groups 6-1 running in the afternoon.

‘Extra’ Practice Top 10
1. Atsushi Hara (JPN) – Mugen/OS Speed – 36L/10:02.245
2. Dario Balestri (ITA) – Capricorn/Novarossi – 36L/10:02.812
3. Michele Romagnoli – Shepherd/Novarossi – 36/10:05.688
4. Flavio Elias (BRA) – Mugen/Max – 36L/10:07.527
5. Keisuke Fukuda (JPN) – Mugen/Novarossi – 36L/10:08.448
6. Michael Salven (DE) – Serpent/Xceed – 36L/10:08.567
7. Sinya Shimazaki (JPN) – Mugen/Novarossi – 36L/10:08.813
8. Takehiro Terauchi (JPN) – Mugen/Novarossi – 36L/10:10.105
9. Nicola Marrone (ITA) – Serpent/Max – 36L/10:11.817
10.Meen Verjak (THA) – Mugen/Novarossi – 36L/10:16.924

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