1/32nd final Results

The 1/32nd finals are now complete, and in a fast even final it was Francisco Rinaldi that took the win by a lap after a fast starting Andy Ledgard from Peru ran into some problems. Rinaldi has now moved up through the 128th to the 1/64th and now the 1/32nd to take his place in the 1/16th final. In 2nd spot was Godoy Javier who was in turn a lap ahead of 3rd place finisher Fernando Eric Ruiz Ochoa, who had also bumped up from the previous final. In the Odd Final it was a strong performance by Renatio Paiva to take the win by 1 lap from Dutch driver Roelof Tooms in 2nd and Frans Van Der Merwe, from South Africa in 3rd, a further 2 laps back.

1/32nd Even Top 3
1. Francisco Rinaldi – 60 Laps 20:13.462
2. Godoy Javier – 59 Laps 20:08.706
3. Fernando Eric Ruiz Ochoa – 58 Laps 20:07.799

1/32nd Odd Top 3
1. Renato Paiva – 61 Laps 20:17.557
2. Roelof Tooms – 60 Laps 20:14.424
3. Frans Van Der Merwe – 58 Laps 20:09.o58

The 1/16th finals are next up.

1/64th final Results

The 1/64th finals are just completed and in the even final it was a steady win for the Mugen driver Pablo Adrian Baudino, just ahead of Francisco Rinaldi in 2nd, who had moved up from the 1/128th, and will now progress into the 1/32nd final. The 3rd position went to final pole man Fernando Eric Ruiz Ochoa, another Mugen driver, who came home 4 laps back to secure his progression. In the odd final it was a win for the Shepherd racer Fabio Ferreo (above), he finished 8 seconds in front of pole man Davi Antunes who finished 2nd while 3rd spot and the final bump position belonged to Carlos Hernandez.

1/64th Even Top 3
1. Pablo Adrian Baudino – 56 Laps 20:23.697
2. Francisco Rinaldi – 55 Laps 20:07.227
3. Fernando Eric Ruiz Ochoa – 51 Laps 20:03.203

1/64th Odd Top 3
1. Fabio Ferreo – 57 Laps 20:19.030
2. Davi Antunes – 56 Laps 20:07.185
3. Carlos Hernandez – 54 Laps 20:02.799

There is a lunch break now and afterwards the racing will continue with the 1/32nd finals.

1/128th final Results

The rain is gone, the track is dry and the 1/128th finals are complete and it was a win in the even final for Daniel Tosso, 1 lap ahead of Martin Forms in 2nd and Francisco Rinaldi in 3rd. In the odd final it was a very easy win for Raul Alfageme who had a 7 lap advantage over Walter Siena in 2nd and Gabriel Funes a further 3 laps back.

128th Even Top 3
1. Daniel Tosso – 55 Laps 20:09.091
2. Martin Forms – 54 Laps 20:08.117
3. Francisco Rinaldi – 49 Laps 20:00.648

128th Odd Top 3
1. Raul Alfageme – 55 Laps 20:11.062
2. Walter Siena – 47Laps 20:04.151
3. Gabriel Funes – 44 Laps 19:26.923

Presenting your Top 4 qualifiers

With rain causing the cancellation of the 5th and 6th rounds of qualifying, its Massimo Fantini who will line up first for the 1 hour long main final on Saturday. We talked to the Serpent 960 driver, and owner of Max engines, and he is very confident going in to the final, “To be honest we were very confident because my team mate Fabio and Andrea went for testing on the track and said the car works very good and also the engine. We had a big advantage for the 5 minutes we had almost no problem to run the qualification without any additional refuelling stop. I could push stronger in the heats and the car was good and the important thing is making no mistakes and i was able to make the top qualifier in all the rounds”. When asked about his chances for the final he said “we are checking our strategy and to be honest we are quite confident, the only thing is the final is very long and anything can happen, also the other competitors are strong, so i need to be cool and make no mistakes”. “I was already in the main final of a World Championship several times and what it is, is hardcore racing”.

The 7-time World Champion Lamberto Collari, racing for Kyosho, lines up in 2nd spot and despite ending up 3 seconds behind Max on pole position he was obviously very confident going into tomorrows final, “Its difficult to know now what will happen. The 2nd position means I can do a good final and I am positive because I had one of the best qualifying times”. Asked if he feels he could have snatched the pole position if the final 2 rounds of qualifying had been run he was “I think for sure the track should have the possibility to be better and I could have done a better time, the reality is different”.

French racer, and former World Champion, Adrien Bertin was very satisfied to make it directly into the final in 3rd position, the Kyosho race stated that “yes, I am really happy because it is now 10 years that I am taking part in the final of Worlds and for me it was very good because in the beginning with preparation (being limited) due the engine matters I am very satisfied and I would like to thank my sponsors and also the Picco company who support me, and hope to bring back a good result tomorrow”.

Last of the top 4 racers and first of the American runners, Chris Tosolini is in confident form ahead of the main final and despite not making 34 like he wished, he said “Yeah, I’m happy, I was a little worried if we didn’t get the rain that someone could bump me out. I rebuilt the car for the final round of qualifying and found a few mistakes in the car so I think I can do 34. I wanted to make top 4 so I didn’t have to have any trouble in the semi thats the most important”. When asked whether he was confident of his chances for the final he said yes, “as long as I’ve been racing I’ve been confident and having a perfect hour, and I don’t get too nervous so I just want to have a perfect hour at a good fast pace and we’ll see. As long as we have no problems we have a good chance”.

Todays lower finals are just about to begin on a now dry track, and the organisers have put sugar water down to help bring up traction. We will bring you the results as we get them

You can view the sorted finals listing here (.xls).

View our event image gallery here.

More rain on Friday morning

Yet another day beginning with rain, the weather was dry earlier in the morning, but a heavy shower around 7.30am soaked the track again and now with the sun out the organisers are working quickly to dry the track so that racing can resume, but the likelihood that round 6 of qualifying will be run is looking increasingly unlikely. The more likely scenario is that the organisers will go straight into the lower finals when the track dries, but we will wait for confirmation of this. If this does happen, then its Massimo Fantini, racing a Serpent 960, that has claimed the TQ spot for this years World Championships ahead of Collari, Bertin and Tosolini.

UPDATE: Despite the track beginning to dry, it has not done so quick enough and round 6 has been officially abandoned. Lowers final will begin in a number of hours. We will have a report on your top 4 soon.

Racing for today is called off

Today’s racing has been cancelled due to the heavy rain, that has kept coming, and with no chance of the track drying up the race control made an announcement calling a halt to today’s proceedings. Good news for those that didn’t get a chance to improve their time, all is not lost as tomorrow morning there will be one final round of heats to be run in the morning before the lower finals. We are now leaving the track as there is nothing happening here and unfortunately everyone else is leaving too, so we will have no one or nothing to photograph or any information to find out.

We will be back first thing tomorrow to bring you news from the last round of qualifying and the lower finals.