Pressure from Lia sees Anderson up pace in Q3

An impressive performance from Donny Lia in the penultimate round of qualifying at the Montech New York Grand would force Kemp Anderson to up the pace in Q3 to hold on to the top spot in the event’s AbsoluteHobbyz 1:12 Modified class with another new fastest time in rocket round qualifying format.  A non-starter in the second round of qualifying as he switches between racer and event organiser, Lia, boosted by his 1:12 Stock TQ run in Q2, would lay down a very strong run until a mistake was enough to put Anderson back on top of the timing screens, the pair separated by 0.328 of a second at the end of the 8-minutes.  The only driver to manage 54-laps in Q2, he would better that time by almost 4.5-seconds with Lia becoming only the second driver to 54 laps of the 360v2 track.  Behind, Josh Cyrul would take his Prodigy 12 to the third fastest time ahead Keven Hebert and Friday’s Q1 pace setter Max Mächler, the later two having difficult runs.

It was pretty good, I knew Donny was going to be really fast that run so I pushed from the very first lap.  I had one mistake towards the end in the sweeper, I got a little bit loose but other than that it was a pretty clean run.  I think he was faster throughout the whole run but he had two mistakes and I had one, that’s what pretty much decided it.  My car started off really good but I had to drive super super hard at the end to stay ahead.’  Asked if the pressure is now on for the fourth & final qualifier, the 22-year-old said, ‘If he’s got a good car for the next it’s going to be hard again.’  Having added more power to his car for Q3 and made a ride height change, asked if he would make further changes for Q4 he said, ‘We’ll probably just add more power again.’

Putting on the sixth running of the Montech NYGP at his 360v2 track, summing up his Q3 performance Lia said, ‘The car was good but I definitely need to get it a little more comfortable especially in the sweeper, it was getting at little out of shape there so kind of hand to nurse it through there and lost my rhythm a little bit and made one little bobble.  That was like my first kind of real run in Mod so definitely a good base line to go off of and we’ll try to get a good run here in round 4.’  Winner of the legendary Snowbirds Race in 1:12 Mod earlier this year, asked what set-up changes he would make for the qualifying showdown he said, ‘I don’t know I’ve got to think about it.  Probably something in the back of the car, dampening maybe, go to a heavier dampening in the rear, something along those lines.  Just got to tune it in, it was really like the first run, so with a few changes we can get try to get a little bit better’.

With his Top 3 time in Q3 putting him provisionally P5 overall, asked about his run Cyrul replied, ‘We are making a little bit of progress, it has been 7-years since I actually raced 1:12 Modified and it’s kind of like strapping on some ice-skates and going down a bobsleigh run for the first time ever.  Man they have gotten really fast, last time I ran they were in blinky so they are really really fast and I am just trying to get used to it and comfortable’.  Asked about his new Prodigy 12 chassis he said, ‘I think the grip has come up today, yesterday I thought the car was actually pretty good I just didn’t put in a good clean run.  Today I have way too much steering and I am too old to hang on to that.  At least I got a decent run in that one and now we’ll try to mellow it out and make it easier for racing tomorrow’.

Second fastest in each of the opening qualifiers, Hebert’s reaction to the penultimate round summed up his frustration, ‘Not pleasant to drive, that’s about it.’  He continued, ‘We need to keep digging.  I have a second car so I might try that but we need to go with a completely different set-up.’  While his 1:12 run wasn’t good, the Canadian would finally hit the top spot in the Speedzone Modified Touring Car class as he lead home Q1 & 2 pace setter Anderson to lock in the new TQ time.

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Anderson goes top in qualifying at Montech NYGP

Kemp Anderson has gone to the top of qualifying at the Montech New York Grand Prix, the Awesomatix driver laying down a new fastest time for the AbsoluteHobbyz 1:12 Modified class this morning in Q2 as he became the first driver to do 54 laps of the 360v2 track.  Behind Xray’s Keven Hebert set the second fastest time improving on his time from last night’s opening qualifier but the Canadian still remains third overall.  Opening qualifying with a TQ run, Max Mächler struggled with his Awesomatix this morning but still completed the Top 3 ahead of the CRC of Andrew Knapp, the American suffering a late mistakes that meant he also did not improve on his Q1 time.

Asked about his Q2 TQ run, Kemp said, ‘the car was good.  I made a side spring change for that run.  I think the set-up is still on the conservative side so we’ll go a little more aggressive for the next one.’  Asked how he would make the car more aggressive 2023 World Championship finalist replied, ‘I need to check my battery voltage, I think I need some more power in it and I need to find a lot more overall steering.’  Anderson would also TQ the second round of the Speedzone Modified Touring Car class bettering his time from Q1 with Hebert once again his closest challenger for the top spot.

Reacting to his opening effort on Day 2 of qualifier here in New York, Mächler said, ‘I didn’t get my saucing right.  It was really hard to keep it on the lines.  I crashed out a few times, the track fells a bit more gripped up than yesterday and it made it too hard to drive for me.’  He explained, ‘I ran the same sauce as yesterday but I didn’t do a practice run this morning to know the track has more grip I should have gone with the track evolution and I went the same as yesterday so basically my mistake.’  Asked if he went with the drag brake adjustment he planned after his Q1 TQ run, he said, ‘I went two clicks, it helped, but the car was so aggressive it was hard to know how good the change was’.

‘No improvement, the car was difficult to drive yet it still pushed so I am going to try find another direction for Q3’, was how Hebert summed up Q2.  The reigning ROAR National Champion said, ‘I am probably going to soften the car.  Just understanding the car a little bit is what I need so I need to find the direction to go, I haven’t found the right direction yet.’

Knapp summed up his run with, ‘you know my car was a lot better round 2 but I had one little mistake at the end, I hit a curb, so it kind of cost me my run but overall I am within 2/10ths of a second a lap of the rest of the drivers so I think the rest of qualifying should go really good.’   The Michigan added, ‘Yesterday my car was a little bit pushy, I was just working on getting some rotation and today I definitely got it rotating a little bit better.  I haven’t run Mod in a couple of months so getting it all back together.’  Ask his plans for Q3, he said, ‘Couple more changes, we are going to make it a little more aggressive, little more rotation ands hopefully should have a good qualifier’.

In the eXcelerate 13.5 1:12 class it was Donny Lia who laid down a new TQ pace ahead of Q1 pace setter Mächler and Eric Anderson. Organiser of the NYGP, Lia had problems in Q1 and was lucky to make it out in time for Q2, and he put together a TQ run. The reigning Snowbirds Champion explained, ‘My goal that run after my troubles in the first run was just to get a run in so I wouldn’t re-sort down to the lower heat.  The fact that I was able to TQ was even better.  I was thrashing with scoring issues so I didn’t think I was going to be ready and I just barely made it out there on rerun tires and some other stuff wasn’t really how it should be.  I was just trying to get a run in but the car came in pretty well, so that was a win win, I was happy to just make it out there.’  Asked about Q3 he said, ‘I think we can go faster.  Tires is the big improvement we can make.  These tires were just to get out there.  The rears were tires I never ran yesterday but were sauced yesterday, the fronts were reruns that I practiced on yesterday so a hodgepodge of tires so first 3-4minute car was real difficult. The bottom line is just to be ready!’

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Mächler takes opening qualifier in New York

Max Mächler has capped off the first day of competitive action at the Montech New York Grand Prix by taking the opening round of AbsoluteHobbyz 1:12 Modified qualifying.  Third fastest in seeding, the 1:12 Spec World Champion took his Awesomatix to the fastest time around at the 360V2 track ahead of Xray’s Keven Hebert and top seed Kemp Anderson, the German’s advantage at the end of the 8-minute run 2.2-seconds.  Owner of the track and the man behind the Montech NYGP, which is now in its sixth edition, Donny Lia would post a P4 run for the round ahead of the CRC of Andrew Knapp and Prodigy of Josh Cyrul.  Mächler would complete a TQ double by also taking the eXcelerate 13.5 1:12 class first round ahead of Steven McNichols.

Admitting the being out front for 8-minutes felt like an eternity, Mächler summed up his 1:12 Mod TQ run with, ‘It was crazy and totally expected’.  He continued, ‘Thanks to Kemp for the whole set-up and everything because as you know I normally do Stock and just Modified for fun sometimes so I came here and he gave me the full set-up before and I copy when he sauces his tyres because it is quite different to Stock so I am following his lead and it worked out this run.  I think he got his car a bit too edgy this time and mine was easy to drive from my side at least.’  On the run he said, ‘After 6-minutes it felt like OK we could stop now, cause 2 more minutes is hard to manage but it worked out somehow.’  Looking to tomorrow second qualifier he said, ‘I will not change anything, I will try to stick with the same program, just reset and double check everything.  There is still room to improve because I have some lap times in between that are like shotgun so I try to get this more consistent.  Maybe will do a small change on the speedo and do a bit more drag brake which will help me because the Stock driver always overshot the corners so with a bit more drag brake it should help me to stop a bit earlier.  That is the only thing I plan to do, car wise no change’.

Summing up his run the second fastest time Hebert said, ‘I drove a really good race but the car just didn’t have the pace.  The car was too hard to drive, I went too soft with the front spring and the car was just not super easy to drive.  I just drove the best I could with what I had and it was a good run but just not enough.’  Looking to tomorrow’s second of four qualifiers, the ROAR National Champion said, ‘I will go back to the front stiffer spring and I’ll have to think about other changes to make trying to learn the car a little bit more.  It didn’t keep corner speed in the sweepers where I was struggling the most so I need to fix that and think about some other changes to do for the morning.’

Asked about his Q1 effort, Anderson said, ‘the car was good after but the first 15-laps it was hooking in the sweeper and I think it was because the body was ticking.’  Asked if he changed bodyshell he replied, ‘No same body, I went softer springs so maybe the car was rolling more in the sweeper that run than before and it was just hitting on the tyres.  After I got sorted out I caught up to Keven but just could get passed him to improve my position.’  Also the Top Seed in the Speedzone Modified Touring Car class, Anderson would maintain his form and TQ the opening round with Hebert again his closest challenger.

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