Matsukura is 1:12 World Champion

Naoto Matsukura is the 1:12 World Champion for a fourth time.  The Japanese ace, who burst onto the international r/c scene when he won his first World title in 2008 aged 15, took back the sport’s biggest prize with an impressive recovery drive to make it 2 wins from 2 in the second A-Main in Beijing.   Starting P2, China being his first Worlds not being the Top Qualifier, Matsukura came out best from a third lap pile up involving the Top 3 to go to the lead but almost immediately threw it away with a mistake of his own dropping back to fifth. With Sobue the new leader, Matsukura set about his recovery with his Roche clearly the fastest car on the track.  On the limit trying to keep his lead and under pressure from Matsukura, Sobue would too lose the lead with a mistake and once passed Matsukura took complete control of the race to win ahead of Rheinard to put himself into the history books as the first driver to hold both the 1:12 and Electric Touring Car World titles simultaneously.  A win of a very entertaining A3 would give Rheinard the overall runner-up spot with 1:12 Worlds debutant Sobue completing the podium for the 18th running of the championships.

‘I don’t remember any of the 8-minute, I know I made a mistake one time’, was Matsukura’s reaction after the race.  The protege of Masami Hirosaka, from whom he is now only one title away from matching the 1:12 legend’s world title tally, the 22-year-old continued, ‘the feeling of this win is the same as when I won my first World title,  I am so happy to take back the title’.  Making this title even more sweet he said was the fact that this is his first race having his father as his mechanic, his dad clearly overcome by the win as he congratulated his son after the race.  His first world championship since his shock departure from Team Yokomo, Matsukura thanked Roche owner Max Ma and Patrick Poon, along with his team-mates, for making today’s win possible.  He said he also owed a huge gratitude of thanks to his family and his girlfriend for their ongoing support.  With the historic significance of today’s win, he said he was now more determined than ever to complete the 2016 Worlds by doing the double come Saturday, when the Touring Car World title will also be decided at Fengtai Sports Centre with the racing moving outdoors on to a brand new asphalt track.

Commenting after another disappointing race in A2 Rheinard said, ‘I had no grip. I was just sliding around trying to hold the car on the track. I think the breaks before the final are effecting the traction’.  Asked about the early incident with Matsukura and Sobue, of which he came off the worst, the German said, ‘Somebody touched me but I don’t really know what happened’.  With Rheinard taking the 1:12 win from Matsukura before the then Yokomo driver went on to win his first touring car World title, the 3-time Touring Car World Champion said , ‘I lost this one so all I have to do now is win later in the week’.   Finishing the event by winning the closing race and reflecting on the finals as a whole he said, ‘It was not my day but I didn’t drive good’.   Even though he won A3 he wasn’t happy with his early driving over the 8-minutes, ‘I spun out and dropped to fifth and thought I am not even going to make the podium but got my head down and got back to the front so it worked out’.

‘I’m happy to finish on the podium for my first time (doing 1:12 Worlds) but its not the best result, I wanted the win’.  Commenting on A2 which he led, the CRC driver said, ‘my car was difficult to drive, the track as loose and I was super on the limit trying to keep the lead’.  Losing that lead with a mistake when he tapped the corner pipping, he said ‘Naoto was faster’ adding it was only going to be a matter of time before he would take the lead.  Switching for A3 to the same set-up he used yesterday when he TQ’d the opening qualifier, he said this gave him a ‘super good car’ adding it was a ‘maximum close race’.  Making a mistake while trying to get passed leader for much of the race Hideo Kitazawa as they battled for second, Sobue would drop to 7th in the final 2-minutes of the race recovering to 5th by the finish. With 2014 podium finisher Kitazawa getting second it was Sobue’s P2 race time in A1 that would give him the tie breaker over Kitazawa for the final podium placing.

With Kitazawa taking fourth ahead of fellow Japanese driver Toto Ebukuro, Japan the power house nation at this year’s championships filling 4 of the to 5 spots, Juho Levanen would be the best Team Associated driver finishing 6th ahead of team-mate Keven Hebert.  Shanghai based American JJ Wang gave the locals someone to cheer on finishing his first 1:12 Worlds in 8th with Masatsugu Ido and Hayato Ishioka completing the Top 10 of what is the sport’s original electric World Championship class.  With China doing an impressive job in hosting the World Championships for the first time, and while the 50 entry count was up slightly on the 2014 numbers, with all A-finalists clearly the best in the world, it is clear that in the best interest of keeping 1:12 alive, IFMAR, the drivers and all involved manufacturers need to collectively work together in finding solutions that make the class more appealing and try and return it to it hayday when far more World Championship touring competitors took part.

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Matsukura takes A1 in Beijing

Naoto Matsukura has won the opening A-Main at the 1:12 World Championships in Beijing.  After shadowing Top Qualifier Marc Rheinard for 3-minutes, the former champion went to the front as the defending champion got sideways right in front of the drivers stand. With Rheinard then left to fend off Sobue, the touring car team-mates coming together, it was clear that the German was struggling.  With Sobue eventually getting through, Rheinard would drop to fifth by the end of the 8-minutes with Hideo Kitazawa getting through for third as well as Keven Hebert.  An inspection of his Yokomo afterwards would find the diff had broken in Rheinard’s car.

‘Perfect’ was Matsukura’s reaction to his win over fellow Japanese driver Sobue.  Describing his Roche as ‘really good and super easy to drive’, a fact highlighted by his 12.049 fastest lap of the final, the 22-year-old said, ‘I stayed second at the start to be safe and then Marc made a mistake and I could take him in the inside.  After that I could just go away’.  Building up an advantage of over 5-seconds as the race reached the final minute, the 3-time champion who lost his title to the no.2 starting Rheinard at the last Worlds, said for A2 ‘I just try to do same again’.

‘Undriveable, I couldn’t even hold it on the track’, was how Rheinard summed up a disappointing A1.  He continued, ‘I didn’t feel right from the start and just got worse, something broke’.  With close friend Marc Fisher, who is here for the Touring Car World Championship and himself an accomplished 1:12 driver, breaking the news to him that the diff was broken, Rheinard took some consolation from the news and with a fresh diff for A2 will be hoping to get his title defence back on track.

Having struggled to keep ground with the Top 2 initially Sobue said for the first three minutes his CRC ‘pushed a little’ but then got good up to the 5-minute mark before it started to get loose again. Moving up to second on Lap 24 of 39, the 1:12 World Championship debutant plans to adjust the rear wing on his Protoform AMR bodyshell in the hope this will give him a more competitive car for the next one.

Having said he would attack for position in the final 2-minutes, and on paper that was how it worked out for Kitazawa, in reality the Morotech driver got third because of Rheinard’s problems.  Unable to keep pace with the Top 3, dropping back quickly, the 2014 Podium finisher admitted ‘the top 3 are a little faster’.  He continued, ‘I need more steering so I will leave the additive on longer (for A2)’.  Behind Kitazawa, Kevin Hebert would finish 4th just ahead of the struggling car of Rheinard.

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Rheinard Top Qualifier at 1:12 Worlds

Reigning Champion Marc Rheinard will defend his 1:12 World Championship from the best position possible, the Yokomo driver claiming the honour of Top Qualifier in China this morning.  Having kicked off the final day of the 18th running of the championships with a second TQ run in Q5, the German initially looked set to take pole position with the perfect score of 0 points as he set the pace in the sixth & final qualifier.  On target for a 40-lap run with 4 of the 8-minutes complete, a mistake in the fast chicane on the right side of the track would put him out on the spot as he popped off a trailing link.  With Akio Sobue, the only one who could deny Rheinard the overall TQ, the new pace setter Rheinard would have to watch nervously from the drivers stand as his touring car team-mate looked on target to beat his Q5 which would have given him the overall TQ on the tie break but the CRC driver would make a mistake promoting Naoto Matsukura to the top of the timing screens.  Taking the round by 1.6-second from Sobue, Matsukura’s second TQ run would also see the Top Qualifier of the last four World Championship bump his fellow countryman back to third on the grid.

Posting his first fastest lap of a qualifier, Rheinard said of the final qualifier, ‘the car was good, I just made a stupid mistake’.  Commenting on Sobue’s pace, he said, ‘I knew it might be close but I knew the pace would drop off over the last two minutes’.  Asked about the finals, the 3-time Touring Car World Champion said, ‘We’ll see.  I hope I can pull away but a crash behind would help’.  He continued, ‘With Naoto starting behind me it is always not easy’.  Commenting on ending Matsukura’s run of 4-consecutive pole positions at the Worlds, he said ‘from four TQ’s he won three of four so the odds of the TQ winning are pretty good’ adding with a smile, ‘The only time he didn’t win from TQ was when I beat him’.

Pleased to move a head of Sobue on the starting grid with his Q6 TQ, Matsukura said his Roche prototype is ‘good’ but deciding on what to do with tyres was going to be the big thing for the final.  After running a bigger rear tyre in Q5 but traction rolling at the start, he said while the car was difficult for the first 4-minutes it was good for the last 4-minutes.  Reverting to a standard size tyre for Q6, he said while it gave him a ‘super easy’ car for the first 3-minutes it ‘then became a little loose’.  The 22-year-old said ‘I am still thinking what is the best option but maybe I can try something in between’.  A driver famed for his maximum attack racing style, the reigning Touring Car World Champion said, ‘For the first 2-minutes I safety drive.  I think me, Marc & Akio have higher pace than rest so we should pull away’.  He continued, ‘I will wait for a mistake, not force a pass’, all drivers agreeing the track has few places in which to attempt a pass.

Summing up his last qualifier Sobue said, ‘the first 2-minutes the car pushed and last 3-minutes it was loose’ adding it also lacked ‘initial traction’.   With a practice final the 1:12 World Championship debutant plans to use the track time to test a new set-up in the hope of finding better traction and stabilising the performance of the car over the 8-minutes.  Asked about his approach for the final starting behind Rheinard and Matsukura, he said his plan was going to be to ‘attack from the start’.

Having been on the podium with both Rheinard and Matsukura in Florida last time round, Hideo Kitazawa is aiming to ‘at least be on the podium’ again.  Starting one position higher than in 2014, when he got 3rd from 5th on the grid, the Morotech driver plans to play for the first 6-minutes and then ‘in the last 2-minutes is my best to make places’.  While he would go crashing out of the final qualifier, the Futaba employee said his car was ‘perfect’ and he will ‘leave it the same’ for the opening final.

Completing the top half of the grid, Keven Hebert feels he ‘can fight for 3rd’.  The Team Associated driver tried more camber in the final qualifier which gave him more steering but caused the rear to start ‘steeping out a little’.  Getting a P4 for the round, which would count as one of three scores, the Canadian said overall his RC12 is a ‘good safe car for the main’.  Finishing 5th from 9th on the grid 2-years ago, he said, ‘in qualifying we saw everything can happen.  There are fast cars but they keep crashing’.  Hebert’s team-mate Juho Levanen, who was borderline for making the main show going into the final qualifier, posted a P6 in the final qualifier to put himself 9th on the grid ahead of JJ Wang in a final that has no less than 6 Japanese starters.

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