Hebert takes Q2 after mistake from Payne

Having been eliminated from the opening qualifier, Xray’s Keven Hebert has TQ’d the second of the TQ Wire 1:12 Modified class at the MonTech NYGP.  Collecting a spun car in Q1 that led to a DNF, Hebert would again be the main challenger to Excelerate RC’s Ollie Payne who took the opening round with a dominant run.  With the British driver looking on a target for 2 from 2, as the qualifier reached the mid way point a slight touch of the curbing coming onto the main straight would result in his Prodigy 12 stepping out with the impact messing up his body.  Losing 5-seconds, while he initially resumed running in P3 he would shortly pull off to prevent any further damage.  Afterwards Payne felt he should have made the tyre change he was considering after Q1.  With Payne out, this promoted Hebert to the TQ pace and the Canadian maintained his form to take it by 1.129 seconds over the Awesomatix of Kemp Anderson.  Finishing P2 in the opening round, defending champion Sam Isaacs would tap out in style at the 2-minute mark.  Having had a DNF in Q1 and been the cause of Hebert’s DNF, Donny Lia would complete the Top 3, the man behind the NYGP still getting to terms with his new Cerberus Racing chassis which is debuting this weekend.

‘Finally made a full run’, was Hebert’s reaction after TQ’ing the second round.  He continued, ‘the car was good but unfortunately it picked up a push about 4-minutes in so I couldn’t really challenge for a TQ.  I knew I was really close to TQ but just couldn’t really challenge after 4-minutes.  Ollie had a crash I think 4-minutes in so I just cruised to the finish line.  Hopefully I find a little bit for tomorrow but the gap is getting closer and hopefully we can challenge him tomorrow.’  On his car set-up, Xray using the event to run a prototype of their X12, Hebert said, ‘I just need to get a little bit more steering for the last 4-minutes of the run to really be there.  He (Payne) starts off a little bit better than me, my car is a little more edgy up front but then it picks up push, where I think his car stays a little bit more consistent throughout the run.  So we need to make the car steer more through the second half of the run and I think I will be right there.’

‘The car is definitely improved from Round 1’, was Anderson view on his Q2 performance.  He continued, ‘we still have a little more speed to find but we are making progress.’  A faster run than his opening qualifier he said, ‘It was a pretty clean run but I had a couple of bobbles at the end.  I didn’t know I was that close to Keven.  I was still pushing pretty hard to see how much battery power I had left and went over a few curbs at the end.’  With the track open for practice this evening before the resumption of qualifying tomorrow, Round 3 & 4 on the schedule, on changes to his set-up the 24-year-old said, ‘I have another car I am going to try it and see how it is in comparison.  I don’t think it is going to be any better but its a different chassis so we will try it out.’

A long time Awesomatix driver but making the change to Cyrul’s new brand, on the second round of qualifying Lia said, ‘it was definitely better that time.’  He explained, ‘I am just trying different things because it is a total new car to me.  This is my first weekend with it, and that was maybe the third or fourth battery I have on the car, so with that being said it’s definitely a good start.’  He added, ‘I am trying things to learn and see how it works and figure things out.’  The veteran 1:12 specialist, who has the car’s designer Josh Cyrul helping him out between runs, added, ‘I’m not going to figure it out here this weekend but you know we got to start somewhere.’  Describing Q2 as ‘somewhat clean’ after he ‘had like 3-seconds of problems’, he added, ‘I’m definitely way off of Ollie’s pace but really not that far off a couple of others so we’ll keep throwing stuff at it and see what sticks.’

Defending NYGP Champion Isaacs opens with TQ Touring Car run

Defending MonTech New York Grand Prix Champion Sam Isaacs has opened Touring Car qualifying with a TQ run at the 8th edition of 360v2 RC Raceway’s signature event.  The Awesomatix driver would set the pace ahead of 2024 Champion Keven Hebert, the Xray driver finding himself in the 3rd of the Gravity RC Modified Touring Car class heats having missed last year’s event.  With both drivers setting identical fastest lap times of 10.99 seconds, at the end of the 5-minutes 7/10th of a second separated the times of the Top 2.  A driver who has raced every running of Donny Lia’s NYGP, Kemp Anderson completed the Top 3 1.9-seconds off his Awesomatix team-mate’s TQ time.

Isaacs summed up his TQ run with, ‘that was a pretty good run.’  He continued, ‘I had one small mistake did cost me too much time so I will try to clean it up for the next one and see if I can go faster.’  On what he has been doing in terms of his car set-up he explained, ‘It needs something but with the conditions here it’s tough to find a good balance between having enough steering and also keeping it drivable.  And everyone is so close, I think it just really comes down to driving well.’

After his unfortunate take out in the opening Mod 1:12 qualifier, on his first Touring Car attempt, Hebert said, ‘It went well but it was hard to pace myself because I was by myself in the bottom heat but the car is running really good and I drove a really clean run, I just didn’t know if I needed to push or not so half a second off Sam’s TQ so it was close but for the next one we get to fight together.  On changes the second of the day’s scheduled two qualifiers, he said, ‘I need a little more high speed steering so I will add a little more droop to the car but that’s all I am going ti change cause the car is very close.  I just got to get a good clean run in.

Giving a run down on his Q1 run to the third fastest time, Anderson said, ‘The car was definitely better than it was in practice this morning and yesterday so finding some speed and we just got to make a small adjustment for the next one. Asked what the big improvement was from practice, the Tennessee driver said, ‘overall we just found more grip in the car.’  On his pace compare to the two ahead of him, Anderson said, ‘I think I was 1.8 seconds behind Sam. I had a really consistent run which I think was almost a 99.5% so I can get much more consistent than that so we just got to find more speed in the car now.’

Payne takes opening Mod 1:12 Qualifier at NYGP

Excelerate RC’s Ollie Payne has taken the opening round of Mod 1:12 qualifying at the MonTech New York Grand, the British driver having a clear edge over his rivals around 360v2 RC Raceway.  Just missing out on the podium at the last year’s running of the event, Payne took charge of the first of the four scheduled qualifiers despite his last Modified race outing being earlier this year.  Initially chased by Keven Hebert, the Xray driver running a prototype X12 this weekend in New Rochelle, unfortunately the Canadian’s run was cut short when he collected the car of race promoter Donny Lia, after the American spun on rejoining the track after an off.  With Hebert’s race done, this promoted defending Champion Sam Isaacs to P2, the Awesomatix driver almost a full lap down at the end of the 8-minutes.  3-seconds off his team-mate Kemp Anderson completed the Top 3.

Summing up his opening run, Payne said, ‘It was a very good run, the car is a little bit unstable but I think that’s everybody’s, its just I think mine is the best of a bad bunch type of thing.’  He continued, ‘you have to go easy on it, if you over push the car starts to slide so you kind of have you keep it within the limit but its good.’  Racing here last year with CRC before announcing shortly after the race his switch to Excelerate, asked how the last 12-months with the US manufacturer has been, he said,’It has been really really good for me.  The car is always 90% there which means I am never chasing set-up and I am always just doing a little bit here and there to get it into its working window, but it’s alway very good which helps a lot now that I don’t race as much.  It means I can always turn up with a good car.’  With his last big race outing the European Championships back in April, Payne says he has only raced 4 times since then after taking a break over the Summer.  Also running 1:12 Super Stock here, winning that class last year, he said driving the Mod car again here was a bit of problem at first as the last time he ran a 3.5 turn motor was January at the Snowbirds adding, ‘so I am always a bit weary for the first couple of runs.’  Asked about changes for Q2, he said, ‘I’m undecided as to whether to run a different compound of tyre.  I am considering it just because the grip is quite low in terms of American specs, so I am considering to try a tyre with a little more traction but I might wait until the open practice this afternoon and try it then.’

‘Definitely better than practice’, was how Isaacs summed up his Q1 performance.  With limited prep time for this race, being a late entry, he continued, ‘I think we made some improvements.  The car still needs some more steering but compared to practice it was definitely the right direction.’  Asked what changes he might try for Q2, the multiple US Champion and 2023 World Championship finalist replied, ‘I’m thinking maybe bigger front tyres and change the droop a little bit.  Maybe the sauce time and amount too, but we’ll make some more big changes and see if we can keep going in the right direction.’

8th Edition of MonTech NYGP underway at 360V2

The 8th edition of the MonTech New York Grand Prix got underway today with drivers enjoying a full day of practice at 360v2 RC Raceway in New Rochelle ahead of the weekend’s racing action.  Attracting 140 entries, the indoor electric onroad race hosted by multiple 1:12 World Championship finalist Donny Lia, sees defending Champion Sam Isaacs head the entry.  Winning both 1:12 Mod and Mod Touring Car last year on his return to the event after being absent in 2024, the Awesomatix driver was a late entry on the list.  With 2 of the 4 rounds of qualifying on Friday’s schedule, the entry also includes Isaacs’ team-mate & reigning ROAR Champion Kemp Anderson, the returning Xray of Keven Hebert, and Excelerate’s Ollie Payne, the British driver always in the mix in the 1:12 categories.

Arriving yesterday afternoon and setting up his pit table so he could get straight down to business today when the track opened for practice, Isaacs explained, ‘as I didn’t know if I would be able to make to the race, I had to scramble a little bit to throw my 1:12 together so I think that is going to take some work and also getting used to the driving again with the foam tyres.  It is just a lot more reactive and different to touring car and hopefully we can pick it back up again and very quickly.’  A fan of the track, he said, ‘I think the track here is great.  Donny (Lia) makes it with the soft walls and the curbing, I mean there is really no hard boards to hit so bodies last a long time.  It also makes for really good racing with high consistency rates.’  He added, ‘I think the track is inch by inch exactly the same as last year so it will be cool to have a lap time comparison even through we were on a different tyre last year.’

Asked how his day had gone, Anderson, who is racing here together with his father Eric, said, ‘We left Nashville at 06:3o this morning so we got here at like 11:00.’  One of his favourite races of the year, the 24-year-old added, ‘I’ve been working on my Touring Car all day, I haven’t really run my 1:12 at all yet, because I am trying to get more grip in to the touring car.’  The 1:12 Mod Champion here 2-years ago, on the track, the layout the same as last year, he said, ‘I like this layout.  I think it flows really well and it’s good for a big race.  The racing is pretty clean on it.’  Asked if there was any reason he was mainly focused on his Touring Car, the Awesomatix driver replied, ‘It just hasn’t been great and 1:12 usually shapes up to be pretty good here.  We had NYGP and the Nats (National Championships) the past year and my car has been pretty good in both of those.’  Asked to sum up his progress with his touring car over the day, he said, ‘it’s getting better, still some work to do but it’s getting better.’

Arriving from Canada yesterday evening at around 17:00 and setting up his pit area, Hebert said he then retired to bed ‘very early’ as he was not feeling 100%.  Despite not getting the best of night’s sleep, Hebert described today as ‘a good day of practice’ as he completed ‘a lot of mileage’.  With the Xray team present in New York with three prototype 1:12 cars, Hebert said he split his day 50/50 between the new 1:12 and his regular X4’26 Touring Car.  On his performance he said, ‘I am close to the pace I think in Touring Car and the 1:12 is good but I think Oillie (Payne) might have the upper hand for now.  That said it is always tough to say for 8-minutes, there is so much that can change throughout the run.’  He added, ‘I think he’s got a little bit the upper hand now but we will work and try to make that gap a little smaller.’  Making a return to the NYGP having missed last year, on the track layout the Quebec racer said, ‘it is super nice, it’s 360’s typically layout but it has a good flow and it should be a good layout to race people on.’