Takahata sets CP3 pace at Homestead

Shoki Takahata has put his Mugen at the top of the time sheets in the 3rd round of controlled practice at the 1:10 200mm World Championships in Homestead, Florida.  The Japanese driver posted the 2nd fastest time of the day over 3-consecutive laps to top the round from fellow countryman Naoto Matsukura by 7/100th of a second.  Behind, Simon Kurzbuch made a big improvement to set the third quickest time ahead of Teemu Leino who also made a big step forward in terms of pace.  With his CP2 time still standing as the fastest of the day with one round of controlled practice remaining, Lamberto Collari would end the third round 17th fastest with a body change causing his Infinity to become unstable in the rear.  It would also be a difficult round for reigning World Champion Dominic Greiner who was only marginally quicker in P15.

Commenting on his CP3 performance, having had a previous best of P10 in the previous round, Takahata said his car was getting better with them having made big changes each round to try and improve the car.  The 24-year-old added he still needs to make the car more stable and while still deciding what changes to make he said they plan now to just focus on smaller set-up adjustment compared to before.  Running in the second fastest heat group, asked what he thought of the track he replied it was difficult to make good times on as to achieve this he had to drive more aggressive which in turn made it difficult to be consistent.

With a change of set-up for CP3, Matsukura said the set-up felt ok but discussing his car with team-mate Jesse Davis said, ‘Jesse says I still need to make (the car) more stable’.  Also changing engine for the round, he said it had good top speed but they needed to adjust the clutch for the final round when he will run the engine again.  The Infinity driver added the track itself was also getting more challenging saying, ‘when I pass a driver on the inside I am off the line and in the loose. It is so difficult’.

A driver who achieved his first and Shepherd’s first A-Main Worlds appearance at Homestead RC Raceway at the 1:8 Worlds back in 2011, Kurzbuch said, ‘this track has has good memories for me and the team’. Praising his team’s efforts for the 1:10 Worlds, the 1:8 ace said, ‘we have a good team here working on set-up and it looks like we now found a good set-up for the conditions.  It is pity my father could not be here but he is watching and offering advice from home’.  The 2015 1:8 World Champion said while the car is now stable he still needs to work a little bit on his driving.  He said, ‘the chicane before the loop and the hairpin after are where I can improve most’.

Ninth fastest in the opening two rounds, Leino was happy to have found a bit more pace as practice comes to a close.  Asking the Finn where the improvement came from he replied, ‘we were so far off we needed to make many improvements to the car so its hard to say which one worked’.  The European Champion added, ‘my problem is rear grip like everyone else. Out of the corner I cant get traction. It’s like buggy driving’.

Leading the Xray charge, Leo Arnold posted the 5th fastest time ahead of Robert Pietsch.  The French driver said his car has been working pretty well from the first free practice but that time it was a bit better after he went for a softer suspension set-up.  Describing his car as super consistent and not so bad in terms of speed ‘on 7-minutes it is super good’.  ‘Easy to drive’, he plans to leave it as is for the start of qualification tomorrow.

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Collari fastest in CP2 at World Championship

The second round of controlled practice at the 1:10 200mm World Championships at Homestead RC Raceway saw Lamberto Collari go quickest.  The Infinity driver bettered the CP1 pace of team-mate Naoto Matsukura, to top the Japanese driver with Tadahiko Sahashi making it a 1-2-3 for the reigning 1:8 Onroad World Champion manufacturer. For reigning champion Dominic Greiner it was a frustrating round as he struggled with the balance of his car ending up P5 for the round behind Robert Pietsch.  After struggling with traction conditions reigning 1:8 World Champion Dario Balestri would manage his first Top 6 run ahead of Leo Arnold who is the best of the Xray challengers in Florida so far.

‘The car feels very good’, was a very pleased looking Collari’s reaction after topping the round with the Italian adding, ‘for the long run I’m very confident’.  Asked how he was adapting to the 1:10 driving style he replied, ‘I start out in my mind driving like 1:8 but after the first corner I remember I’m driving 1:10’.  He added, ‘the braking and acceleration are completely different but I am getting more and more comfortable with the driving style each time I go on the track’.  Running a different bodyshell in CP2, he will try and different body position for his next run as well a running a different engine with different timing.

Having made changes to his Infinity, Matsukura said, ‘Now it is too stable for my driving.  I have to be more hard on braking so it is too much hard work. I will go for a set-up in the middle of what I ran now and the first round’.  The 1:8 Onroad World Finalist, his international 1:8 racing debut coming at the Worlds in France last year, continued, ‘my driving is a little different to the others and I am using different lines but I need to change this because I am putting my tyres on dirty parts of the track and it is getting loose in the dust’.  With 2 of the four rounds counting for the seeding for qualifying, meaning he will line up in the top heat tomorrow, he said, ‘This is my first time racing 1:10 and I am really enjoying it. It is good fun.’

Sahashi said he found a better set-up for CP2.  Making rear end adjustments as well as switching to softer shock oil in the rear, the Japanese driver said the changes made his car ‘drive better’.  Making his Infinity debut in Florida, the long time Serpent driver plans to take each of the adjustments one step further for CP3.

Having had a front diff problem in CP1, Pietsch said his car ‘felt pretty ok’ for the second run but added ‘it was still not the same as 2-days ago’ when he topped the opening day of practice. Fitting a new diff for CP2, the Mugen driver will now change the weight distribution of the prototype car concluding, ‘I hope with this we can find the pace of 2 days ago again’.  

‘I’m not happy with the car’, was Greiner’s reaction after CP2.  The German continued, ‘the balance is not good. It is pushing on corner entry and then has too much steering on the way out. It’s only on the left side of the track.  The right side is pretty OK so I don’t know what to do.’  One thing he said is contributing to his problems is the shore difference between the front tyre and rear tyre. He said, ‘there is a 10 shore difference, normally I would race with a difference of 3.  I can qualifying the car ok when I am driving around on my own but I could not race it like this. It is too hard to drive’.

Commenting on his performance Balestri said, ‘It is getting better but the big problem is when we tested at the Warm-up the tyres were completely different. They had more grip.  We were 1-second faster than we are now and then when we start 2 days ago the car was undriveable.  We had to start again from zero which is really bad for us’.  The Italian was critical of the format saying, ‘they always changes the rules. In Gubbio we had 6 practice each day but here get 4 and yesterday because of the rain it was only 3. Anyway today its getting better but it is not enjoyable to drive. It is like driving on ice. It’s a really bad race’.

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Matsukura tops first controlled practice in Florida

Naoto Matsukura has topped the first round of controlled practice at the 1:10 200mm World Championships in Florida.  Making his 200mm race debut at the event, the Infinity drivers was quickest over 3-consecutive laps by almost 2/10ths of a second from former World Champion Meen Vejrak and the reigning champion Dominic Greiner.  Despite yesterday evening’s rain, that forced the final practice to be cut short Matsukura was able to match his pace from yesterday which was the fastest of the day.  The first of four seeding rounds on today’s schedule, behind the Top 3 Tadahiko Sahashi would set the fourth fastest time ahead of Lamberto Collari and a much improved Toni Gruber.

‘Not so bad’ was Matsukura’s reaction to topping the times, however the Japanese driver admitted his car was ‘difficult to drive’.  He continued, ‘I don’t know if it is all the car or not or whether the traction is low but I think it is a bit of both.  I would like to get the car more stable for the next one but I will wait to see how the track is doing before deciding what to change’.  The former Electric Touring Car World Champion, a title he won in Florida,  added, ‘yesterday there was more wind on the track but today it is not so bad which makes things much easier’.

Vejrak was pleased with his opening run saying, ‘the car is better than 2-years ago in Gubbio.  I was only 30th or something in controlled practice but now I’m in the Top 10’.  The Thai driver continued, ‘I drive this track before in 1:8 but with 1:10 it is completely different.  Even since practice has started the track is completely different because of the rain’.  On his car’s performance, the Maxima team driver setting the fastest lap of the round, he said, ‘I need a little more rear grip for better forward traction.  My engine and power are a lot better than Gubbio and for the car I will try a different wing in the next one to see if it helps the rear grip’.

‘So so.  There is a little bit less traction I think because of the rain’, was Greiner’s reaction after CP1.  Picking up a pipe from his pit table, the Serpent driver explained, ‘I spun one time and Naoto hit me and my pipe got smashed.’  He continued, ‘I added more weight to the front of the car which was better but I made another change that was not better so I will go back to what I had before’.  He concluded, ‘I think the next one we will be better’.

Reporting the traction as ‘different’ today, Infinity driver Sahashi said his car was not really set-up for the lower traction and having left it unchanged from yesterday he would adjust his set-up for CP2.  Speaking through the translation from Matsukura, like the majority of the drivers, the former 1:8 World Champion said he needs to find more rear end traction.

Off to a strong start to his first attempt at a 1:10 200mm World Championship, Collari summed up the his first controlled practice as ‘good’.  The Italian legend of nitro onroad racing continued, ‘we just made a few adjustments for less traction.  We left the chassis the same and changed the rear diff and the feeling was good’.  Asked how much the traction had changed from yesterday before the rain, he said there was ‘not too much difference but there was a little’.  He concluded, ‘In the evening the track will be back to the same as yesterday’.

Reacting to his Top 6 time, 2017 European Champion Gruber said, ‘the last 3-days of practice was really difficult.  We totally don’t find the set-up for the track.  For the last one yesterday we made changes but because of the rain we couldn’t drive.  We decided to test it today and the car works better.  Now it was possible to run 18-second laps’.  Looking to the rest of the day, the factory WRC driver said ‘now we need to get consistency’.  Behind Gruber, reigning 1:8 World Champion Dario Balestri was 7th fastest ahead of JJ Wang, reigning European Champion Teemo Leino and newly crowned ENS Champion Jilles Groskamp.

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