World Championship Final report

Lamberto Collari is the new 1/8th scale IFMAR World Champion, giving him an amazing 8th World Title. The race started clean for most racers except for Andrea Cristiani who had to pit for a new tire as his had come off from the wheel, this left him over a lap down behind the leaders. Early on, the race was turning into a 2 man race between pole man Massimo Fantini in the lead and Collari in 2nd position with Collari putting a lot of pressure on his fellow Italian. With this kind on continued press it looked inevitable that Collari was going to make the pass, which he did just after the 10 minute mark to the cheers of the huge crowds present to witness this spectacle. Once passed he just checked out and easily pulled a gap.

It appeared that something was obviously wrong with Massimo’s Serpent and he was struggling with his pace resulting in a roll in the midfield that lost him a lot of time before the marshalls got to him due to his dangerous position. Once underway again he came into the pits for a long unscheduled pitstop and his challenge was over, despite continuing, a brake lever problem being the cause. Massimo’s problems promoted Tosolini to 2nd position behind Collari with Bertin in 3rd and the fastest driver on the track Andrea Cristiani to 4th who was 1 lap behind and looking to unlap himself. Andrea managed to pass Collari at the 24th minute but unfortunately needs to pit and so drops back behind the World Champion but goes after him again, all the while Motonica racer Dario Balestri is having problems on track and at the 28th minute he comes in for a very long stop, dropping him down to last.

At the 30 minute mark a lot of the drivers come into the pits for a tire change with some waiting later for the stop including Collari who leaves it another 5 minutes to make the change which gives the American Kyosho driver Chris Tosolini the lead as it turns out that he will go the full hour without a tire stop, a gamble that looks as it might pay off. But Collari has other ideas and sets off after his team mate. Cristiani, who set the fastest lap of the race by 2 tenths, is eager to unlap himself from Toso and get back on the lead lap after his tire stop, which he does and once passed he is gone and it looks like the tires may be affecting Chris.

With 15 minutes to go Balestri retires but at the same time the action on the track is amazing with Collari shadowing Tosolini and the crowd are errupting with excitement as the Italian looks for a way passed and when he makes the move a huge roar comes over the track but they hit each other and Toso gets back in front but it looks inevitable, how long can Toso hold him off. Collari catches back up easily and makes another attempt going through the carrosel but they hit again with Collari rolling and hitting the barriers. The car is damaged but it doesn’t affect him and he manages to catch up a gap of 8 seconds in about 3 laps, showing the huge pace difference between the 2 drivers. Another attempt to pass results in heavy contact and Lamberto must come in for a stop and go, at this point with 7 minutes to go, it looks good for Chris.

Cristiani meanwhile, is back on the lead lap and is faster than everyone on the track and is getting closer to the leaders thanks to the problems affecting the leading pair. Lamberto takes only a minute after his penalty to get back on the tail of the Sirio powered Kyosho and this time makes a pass which results in the American rolling, the crowd goes crazy with appreciation, this is close racing. Once passed Lamberto immediately pulls out a gap, Toso has no tires left and is now falling back to Cristiani, who with 2 minutes to go takes the American easily and sets after Collari, looking to take his first World title. Despite being faster and having lost over a lap at the start of the final the Serpent driver finishes only 4 seconds back on the winner Lamberto Collari, Tosolini claims 3rd in what was an incredibly exciting race to watch.

Official Final results:
1. Lamberto Collari – 193 Laps in 1:00:06.035
2. Andrea Cristiani – 193 Laps in 1:00:10.657
3. Chris Tosolini – 193 Laps in 1:00:12.287
4. Adrien Bertin – 191 Laps in 1:00:00.086
5. Mark Green – 190 Laps in 1:00:16.087
6. Daniele Ielasi – 189 Laps in 1:00:04.449
7. Massimo Fantini – 188 Laps in 1:00:8.629
8. Yuya Sahashi – 169 Laps in 1:00:17.426
9. Walter Salemi – 143 Laps in 46:52.817
10. Dario Balestri – 121 Laps in 45:26.248

UPDATE: You can download the complete final results here (.txt)

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Lamberto Collari is World Champion

Just a quick post to say that Lamberto Collari has done it again, winning the race by 4 seconds from Andrea Cristiani in 2nd who was followed 2 seconds behind by Chris Tosolini. This is the 8th World title for the Kyosho driver and the main final was a really exciting race between the top 3 who finished all within the same lap after 1 hour.

Unofficial Final results:
1. Lamberto Collari – 193 Laps in 1:00:06.035
2. Andrea Cristiani – 193 Laps in 1:00:10.657
3. Chris Tosolini – 193 Laps in 1:00:12.287
4. Adrien Bertin – 191 Laps in 1:00:00.086
5. Mark Green – 190 Laps in 1:00:16.087
6. Daniele Ielasi – 189 Laps in 1:00:04.449
7. Massimo Fantini – 188 Laps in 1:00:8.629
8. Yuya Sahashi – 169 Laps in 1:00:17.426
9. Walter Salemi – 143 Laps in 46:52.817
10. Dario Balestri – 121 Laps in 45:26.248

We had the problems with our servers during the final, just too many people connected at one time so we apologise for that but we will have the report online from the event later today.

World Championship final coverage

Follow our live report from the main final of this years World Championship in Cordoba, Argentina. We will be updating regularly so keep refreshing (F5) the page.

> OK guys the driver presentation will begin in 5 minutes and after the photographs are done we will have a 6 minute warm up and then the race begins. The atmosphere here is electric with thousands of public in the stands.

> Driver presentation is now complete and they will now start the warm up
> Engines are started and the warm up has now begun.

Server overload sorry about that

0m – A clean start for most racers
5m – Its a 2 horse race with Fantini and Collari battling it out
10.5m – Collari passes Fantini and checks out, the crowd are going wild
15m – Collari, Fantini Tosolini
19.45m – Fantini rolls and looses lots of time before marshall gets to him. Cristiani got the pace but a lap down
21.3m Fantini long unscheduled pitstop
23m – Collari tosolini bertin cristiani green
24.4m – Cristiani un laps himself from Collari
26m – Cristiani pits and goes a lap down again
28m –  Dario with a long unscheduled pitstop
29m – Collari, Tosolini, Cristiani
32m – Collari tire stop
33m – Mark Green tire stop
34m – Yuya Sahashi tire stop
35m – Mark Green rolls it on to the straight
36.4m – Dario with major handling problems cant get out of pits
39m –  Tosolini leading ahead of Collari and Cristiani 1 lap down
40.5m – Collari is smoking a lot and loosing time of Tosolini
41m – Cristiani all over the back of Tosolini trying to unlap himself
44m –  Tosolini has Collari all over him
45m – Toso is Resisting the pressure but the pass looks inevitable
47m – Collari passes but toso gets back and hit
49.30m – Collari crashes tring to pass Tosolini over the kerbs
50m – There is a bit of breathing room for Toso but not much Collari wants his 8th title
51m – Order is Tosolini, Collari, Cristiani, Bertin
52m – Cristiani pits
53m – Collari is all over Toso again they hit and he passes. Collari gets a stop and go
54m – Its looking good for Tosolini as Collari takes his penalty
54m – Collari is back again, he is so much faster. He passes and they hit then Toso rolls it
55m – Collari leads Toso in 2nd
58m – Cristiani takes Toso
59m – Order is Collari, Cristiani and Toso. Cristiani has pulled away
60m – Collari is World Champion for the 8th time

Semi final odd Results

Now the second semi final is over and it was Serpent 960 racer Yuya Sahashi, who won the 1/4 final, that has taken the semi odd win and will now take his place in the main final. At the very beginning of the race Michael Salven crashed over a kerb damaging his car, he pitted to fix it and continued and managed to drag himself up to 4th after some great driving and helped by a number of retirements. Leader in the first few laps Daniele Ielasi, who was passed by Yuya Sahashi and the Japanese racer then managed to extend his lead.

Mike Swauger and Takaaki Shimo were early retirements, both cars rolling to a stop on track ending their race and also Hideo Kitazawa retired from 5th place at the 16th minute ending all chances of O.S. getting an engine into the final. Michael closed on then 3rd place racer Walter Salemi when he managed to get 2 stop and go penalties for bad refueling but it wasnt enough for Salven to catch him and he finished 4th.

Semi Final Odd results (Official)
1. Yuya Sahashi – 97 Laps in 30:12.741
2. Daniele Ielasi – 97 Laps in 30:18.261
3. Walter Salemi – 96 Laps in 30:04.426
4. Michael Salven – 96 Laps in 30:17.307
5. Francesco Tironi – 91 Laps in 30:00.013

Your OFFICIAL final order:
1. Massimo Fantini – Serpent
2. Lamberto Collari – Kyosho
3. Adrien Bertin – Kyosho
4. Chris Tosolini – Kyosho
5. Yuya Sahashi – Serpent
6. Andrea Cristiani – Serpent
7. Danielle Ielasi – Kyosho
8. Walter Salemi – Mugen
9. Mark Green – Serpent
10. Dario Balestri – Motonica

There is a break now until 4pm local time when the main final will begin so that is in over 1 hour. We will be reporting on the final by the minute (or close to) and will have a report at the end so in about 1 hour come back and keep refreshing the page.

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Semi final even Results

The first semi final is now over and after 30 minutes of hard racing, it’s Serpent 960 driver Andrea Cristiani that has taken the win. At the beginning of the race it was Dario Balestri that could make it to the front after a great start and he was followed to the front by Cristiani who managed to pass the racers ahead of him and make it to 2nd. A long stop by Balestri for an engine adjustment, lost him the lead and this promoted Cristiani to first in front of Mark Green and Robert Pietsch in 3rd.

During the race Bruno Coelho managed to move up the order to 5th using the track experience gained in the 2 previous finals he raced. During his 4th stop pitstop Cristiani crashed coming into the pit lane allowing Mark Green to take the lead but Cristiani was able to work his way back up the order from 3rd to 1st, helped in part by having one of the fastest cars on track. Midway through the race Robert Pietsch had contact with another car and this caused something to go wrong with his car, dropping him down the order. In the end Cristiani won by half a lap from Green in 2nd, with Balestri half a second behind in 3rd, despite getting a stop and go for bad refuelling.

We will now have to wait until the second semi to see who progresses into the main final. The second semi final is now running.

Semi Final Even results (unofficial)
1. Andrea Cristiani – 97 Laps in 30:16.406
2. Mark Green – 96 Laps in 30:06.195
3. Dario Balestri – 96 Laps in 30:06.876
4. Michele Romagnoli – 96 Laps in 30:11.665
5. Bruno Coelho – 96 Laps in 30:16.154

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