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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IFMAR International Jury Decision

Following on from the controversy surrounding the use of tyre additive at the 1:8 Onroad World Championship, which has resulted in the cancellation of the first two rounds of practice, IFMAR have issued the following statement –

‘Homestead, USA, 12th of April 2011

Earlier this year a message was send to the blocs regarding tire treatment in 1/8th Scale IC Track. Tire treatment must not be allowed. Like in the IFMAR rules for 1/10th and 1/5th.. This was also discussed in Pattaya last year, but forgotten to be implemented in the rules..

Yesterday April 11th this was discussed once more between the blocs during a meeting. Everybody is still in agreement that tire treatment is a bad development for the sport and must not be allowed. Unfortunately there are a few additives on the market, almost impossible to detect with equipment on the track. The only way to get confirmation about treatment with those additives is by sending them to a lab.

Yesterday we received a protest from one USA driver against the spraying of the tires, which was not accepted.

Today we received another protest from Italy showing that a few brands of tires is suffering of glue getting affected, causing the rings of the tire to split. The Italian protest was also offering help in setting up a controlled tire area. Because of the possible implications of this protest the race was stopped. After discussions within the IFMAR International Jury and with the drivers the following has been agreed with a majority vote.
• Tire treatment is forbidden.
• Today Tuesday 12th, we will not run qualifying rounds. Tuesday afternoon we will run 1-6 and 13 till 7 starting from 14.45 hours as practice
• A controlled tire area will be set up for Qualifying starting at Wednesday. A total of 4 rounds of Qualifying will be run on the remaining Wednesday/Thursday if weather permits.
• The controlled tire Area will be located near the Technical inspection Area.
• Drivers are advised to bring their tires at least 1 hour before their heat to the officials. Tires must be “new”, out of the box, not trued. Minimum diameter 66mm front and 74mm rear. This will be checked and noted.
• They can be trued in the controlled Area to the right size and have to given back to the officials who will check them again and put them in a plastic back with their registration number and heat number.
• They will be stored in boxes with the heat number.
• You can put a maximum of 10 tires in a bag.
• Tires not used stay in the bag and will be available for the next round.
• This box will be available in the controlled pit area when the heat is due to run.
• The checking and controlling in the controlled tire area will be done by IFMAR officials, or appointed IFMAR officials.

Note,
It is very sad to see that tire treatment is available, even here on the track by drivers who know on forehand that it could not be used. They have gambled and hoped that it would be allowed due to the none availability of detecting equipment. It is even sadder that this small group of drivers is responsible for the delays that now have occurred.

In the past a small group of drivers was also the reason we had to make a decision on the use of controlled fuel, because drivers were cheating.
Now this group might be responsible for the introduction of a controlled tire in the future.

An IFMAR World Championship has 150 till 180 drivers. The majority of them being an amateur, who has to pay 4000 till 5000 USD to run in such an event. Without them there is no World Championship. This small group of so called professional drivers should realize this.

Sander de Graaf
IFMAR IC Section Chairman.’