Video – Qualifying Rd1

Tadahiko Sahashi tops first qualifier

Tadahiko Sahashi set the pace in the opening round of qualifying at the 1:8 Onroad World Championship in Japan, the Serpent driver one of only two drivers to complete 36 laps of the Keitune track. Producing a time of 10:14.886 the younger of the Sahashi brothers was 9/10ths of a second faster than his nearest rival Mugen’s Takaaki Shimo.  Missing out on a 36 lap run by just over a second, KM Racing’s Meen Vejrak completed the Top 3 for the round which saw practice pace setter Jilles Groskamp not finish.

‘Not perfect’ was how Tadahiko summed up his run.  The Japanese driver said while the run was incident free he felt he could have driven a little better.  Commenting on his 977 he said it was different to in practice adding he is not sure whether that was down to the car or the track conditions.  Expecting the track to be much faster for this evening’s second qualifier, which if the rain forecast for tomorrow arrives could be crucial, he said he hopes to put in a much better performance then as he expects the Q1 times will be easily beaten.  Brother Yuya took his Picco powered 977 to the 4th fastest time but he too was not happy with the run.  Struggling with a lack of overall traction inparticular when turning left he said he doesn’t now why, adding that he will have to check the car over to see if it is tweaked.  Having run his secondary engine in the opening qualifier Yuya plans to switch to his best engine for Q2 which he said is going to be crucial to the grids should the rain arrive over the next two days.

Despite setting the second fastest time Shimo said his Mugen was difficult to drive.  Having had too much rear traction in the final controlled practice changes to his MRX-5 for qualifying to reduce this were too much.  The Worlds Warm-up Race winner now plans to go for a completely different set-up for Q2 to reflect the cooler track conditions.

200mm World Champion Vejrak said while his new KM Racing’s K8 was smooth to drive he had to drive a cautious qualifier due to his OS engine being too lean.  Unable to run at full throttle for fear of destroying the engine, he said in terms of his chassis everything was good and with the engine properly adjusted for Q2 he expects to easily make a 36-lap run.  It was a good opening qualifier for the KM Racing team with Adrien Bertin, despite a crash, and Charlee Phutiyotin both making the Top 10 with the 8th and 10th times respectively.

Although he set the fifth fastest time, Teemu Leino said his opening heat was ‘just too slow’ compared to rivals.  The HB driver said the run was essentially just another practice run for the team’s new R8 adding he expects Q2 to be alot quicker.  Suffering a bad pit stop which cost him about 2-seconds, he said the set-up they tried for Q1 was not great but with every run they are getting closer and closer to a good one.  The 2012 Nitro Touring Car Worlds Top Qualifier, is planning a few minor adjustments for his next run. Team-mate Andy Moore went out after a crash but the British driver who had a strong showing in the final controlled practice said a lack of grip was his main problem.  Losing around 4/10ths a lap to his rivals he has no idea why.  For Q2 he said they need to try something different as what they have now in terms of set-up has stopped working.

2010 Worlds Finalist Takehiro Terauchi set the 6th fastest time ahead of 19-year-old Kyosho driver Syoki Takahata.  Mugen driver Terauchi said he is struggling to get fuel efficiency from his Novarossi engine.  Although he managed to do the run on just one stop he ran out of fuel just after he crossed the finish line but said had he gone 36 laps he most likely wont be able to complete the extra lap.

Groskamp, who is looking like the best hope for the World title to remain with a European driver,  didn’t have a good start to qualifying.  An arguement in the pits over where mechanics should stand broke out after the start of the qualifier and when the Dutch driver came in for his scheduled 5-minute fuel stop he unknowningly entered the wrong box as his mechanic had been moved.  Frustrated by the lost time, having come in to the pits on target for a TQ run, the run got worse as he crashed while trying to find a way passed Bertin.  This resulted in the front bumper on his Shepherd getting bent and rubbing on the track forcing him to pull in.  The European Champin said it was ‘no worries’ as the second qualifier is ‘going to be the faster one’.  It wasn’t a good opening qualifier for the European’s with Italy’s hard charging Riola Carmine going out after he clipped the curbing and launched his Xray into a roll which resulted in a front wheel breaking off the car.

View the event results here.

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Qualifying times Round 1

1. Tadahiko Sahashi – Serpent/Picco – 36/10:14.886
2. Takaaki Shimo – Mugen/OS – 36/10:15.783
3. Meen Vejrak – KM Racing/OS – 35/10:01.273
4. Yuya Sahashi – Serpent/Picco – 35 10:05.386
5. Teemu Leino – HB/OS – 35/10:08.100
6. Takehiro Terauchi – Mugen/Novarossi – 35/10:09.847
7. Syoki Takahata – Kyosho/OS – 35/10:10.595
8. Adrien Bertin – KM Racing/Orion – 35/10:10.997
9. Atsushi Hara – Mugen/OS – 35/10:11.014
10.Charlee Phutiyotin – KM Racing/OS – 35/10:27.054

Groskamp top seed for qualifying in Japan

Jilles Groskamp is the top seed for qualifying at the 1:8 Onroad World Championships, the Dutch ace again putting his Shepherd top of the time sheets in Japan in the second controlled practice.  Groskamp managed 3-laps in a time of 50.330 on the slower track his CP1 time some 8/10ths faster. Continuing to impress, Italy’s Raiola Carmine set the second fastest time in CP2, his Xray just 9/1000th off the European Championship pace.  Japanese National Champion Takaaki Shimo, the widely tipped event favourite, posted the third fastest time having struggled in CP1 with a lack of steering.

Describing the track as ‘a lot slower’, Groskamp said his Velox V8 still felt good adding he is looking forward to getting qualifying underway.  During the 10-minute run, the Electric Touring Car World Champion tried two different bodyshells to ascertain which is better for the hotter conditions.  Starting the run with Protoform’s 909, which he ran in the morning’s opening practice, he switched to their R18.  Describing the R18 as better for the current track conditions, it making the car more stable & easy to drive, he plans to run it for the first of today’s two qualifiers adding that while it is slightly slower it should be safer over the 10-minutes.

Having his most competitive run yet, Atsushi Hara set the fourth fastest time of CP2 posting an identical time of 50.707 to the similar Mugen of Takehiro Terauchi.  Having run soft springs on his MRX-5 throughout yesterday he ran Mugen’s hard white spring for the final practice which while faster made the car harder to drive.  Still to decide which spring to use for the opening qualifier he said he will probably go back to the grey spring as the white option is risky when the full 10-minutes are counted.  A former Electric Touring Car World Champion and this being only his second time to race 1:8, his last being the previous Worlds in Miami, he said he is still trying to get a good feeling with his clutch.  Hara made a point that he cant just ask his Mugen team-mates for their clutch set-up as they have a style of driving for 1:8 that is totally different to his. Describing his OS Speed as having ‘probably too much power’ he has tried 5 different clutch set-ups and now that hopes he can figure out the best option for Q1 adding he needs to also combine this with his gearing selection.  Despite his CP2 time it is the CP1 time that counted for the majority of drivers meaning Hara will run in the B qualifying group.

Former team-mate Andy Moore is another former Electric Touring Car World Champion who laid down his best run in the final practice, posting the 6th fastest time.  HB is a very welcomed new entry into the 1:8 Onroad market and the Japanese company has four of the brand new R8’s running here this week.  Having an off early on in CP1 which unknown to the team at the time had bent the stinger on his exhaust causing them to think they had an engine problem, Moore said CP2 was much better.  Making a mistake on the third of his counting 3-consecutive laps he said without this he would have run a Top 3 time.  In terms of his set-up, the British driver said a switch to softer springs in the final practice improved the car but it still feels like it has an overall lack of grip, something he said is more to do with the track conditions rather than the car.

Behind Moore, Meen Vejrak was again the fastest KM Racing driver setting the 7th fastest time of CP2 followed by Japanese driver Syoki Takahata and the Sahashi brothers, Tadahiko 9th fastest and Yuya 10th.

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Groskamp fastest in first controlled practice

Team Shepherd’s Jilles Groskamp got Day 3 of the 1:8 Onroad World Championships off to a flying start as he set the pace in the first of the two rounds of controlled practice.  The Dutch ace did a best 3-consecutive lap time of 49.524 over the 10-minute run outpacing by 2/10th of a second Mugen’s Takehiro Terauchi (49.857) and Serpent ‘s Yuya Sahashi.  The first sunny morning at the Keitune Racing Speedway since drivers arrived for the event, the warmer opening conditions caught out many drivers most notably pre event favourite Takaaki Shimo who said afterwards he had ‘no steering’ leaving him to post the 7th fastest time.

Surprised at how far he was ahead of his rivals, said Groskamp ‘If I look at my times the run was good, but if I was to judge it on the feeling of my car it was not super’.  The reigning European Champion said the track has changed a lot since yesterday due to the sunny conditions, the rising sun also causing him problems with seeing his car on some points of the track.  Feeling he might have pushed a little too hard, he believes if he was to be a little smoother he can go even quicker. Running Hot Race tyres on his Maxima powered Velox V8, he said that ‘maybe the warmer conditions are better’ for him as his set-up for a hotter track seems to work better than his rivals.

Having made an Ackermann change to his MRX-5 from yesterday, 22-year-old Terauchi said his car was a little better but added he feels he can further improve his set-up.  A finalist 2-years ago in Miami, he will run a different chassis plate on his Novarossi powered MRX-5 for the second controlled practice.  Fellow Mugen driver Shinnosuke Yokoyama took his OS powered example to the fourth fastest time.  The 21-year-old said the hot conditions made his ZAC tyres equipped car very tricky to drive at the start of the run but from then on it improved every lap.  Having lowered his ride height since yesterday evening’s final free practice he felt the change improved the car and should the conditions stay hot he will leave everything as is for the second controlled practice.

Despite posting the third fastest time Yuya Sahashi said he wasn’t happy with his morning’s run.  Describing the track conditions as tricky he said he got caught out by how warm it was for the run and his set-up left him with a lack of steering.  Planning a set-up change to stop the understeer he said he will also be trying to get a better tune of his Picco engine.  Setting the 6th fastest time was the second of the famous Japanese brothers Tadahiko.  He too said he was caught out by the track conditions adding that he also had to deal with his engine being set too rich.

While the race may be void of the big name Italian drivers, their National Champion Raiola Carmine is ensuring the home of nitro racing is being well represented.   Posting the 5th fastest time, the 22-year-old from Angri in southern Italy, said his Matrix equipped Xray RX8 ran perfectly this morning.  Declaring himself happy with the run, he said the problems he had yesterday with a lack of consistency from the engines has been solved adding that his Max engines were now running without any issues.

Fastest in yesterday’s closing free practice, Shimo said he went too far with a set-up change to make his OS powered Mugen more stable, the conditions catching him out.  Struggling to get the ZAC tyres equipped MRX-5 to turn in he was 6/10ths off Groskamp’s pace and for CP2 will try a totally different set-up to factor in the sunny conditions.

Fastest of the KM Racing team was Meen Vejrak, who took the new K8 to the 8th fastest time.  The reigning 200m World Champion, said the car was ‘pushing a little’ because of the weather but is confident he can rectify this for the final practice before qualifying.  Also suffering with his OS engine running on the rich side he said with those two small items sorted he is feeling pretty confident for qualifying.

Oliver Mack posted the 9th fastest time ahead of former double World Champions Adrien Bertin and Atsushi Hara who set identical times.  Mack said the ‘track was not good’ as he struggled for grip but the German seemed more concerned by his lack of run time.

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