Kurzbuch comes good to top CP2

Reigning World Champion Simon Kurzbuch has hit the top of the time sheets for the first time in France as he set the pace in the second round of controlled practice.  Starting Day 3 of the 21st running of the 1:8 Onroad World Championship with a confidence boosting time in the final free practice that left him P2 behind Dario Balestri, the Shepherd driver after struggling with windy conditions in CP1 adjusted his car perfectly for CP2 to set the fastest 3-consecutive laps of the afternoon run.  Behind him it was his new for 2017 rival Bruno Coelho who was second fastest, the Xray driver also making improvements to his car after struggling in the the opening controlled practice.  The first time an Infinity hasn’t filled the top spot on the time sheets, it was Naoto Matsukura who was their quickest driver setting the third fastest time despite crashing out of the 7-minute run.  For free practice pace setter Dario Balestri a rear drive shaft failure in the warm-up would prevent him from taking the start of CP2, the Italian saying the drive shaft was due to for changing after the run.

‘A very good consistent run at at the end we also had the best three laps so I’m very happy’, was Kurzbuch’s reaction to topping the times.  He continued, ‘the changes paid off and now we are even more prepared for qualifying.  We know what to do if it’s windy or if it is perfect conditions’.  Happy he has all set-up options covered, the factory Novarossi driver said which engine to run is now his next focus.  ‘I am testing some different engines but I don’t have a favourite yet because they are all working great but we will keep trying until we choose one’.

Coelho summed up his run as ‘very good now’ adding ‘it was much better than the first one’. The Portuguese driver continued, ‘It was very difficult to drive and on power was very loose so we completely changed the car and now it is much better.  We were super close to Simon so it is a big improvement’.  Looking to the third controlled practice, he said, ‘maybe I will make just a small change but with having made so many set-up changes I would like to focus on having the same car again to try to get more out of my driving rather than having to get used to another set-up’.

Matsukura felt third wasn’t a true reflection of his pace.  Making his 1:8 Worlds debut, the Japanese driver said, ‘I don’t make three good laps. I was on new tyres so the first 2-minutes was breaking then in and I was only starting to get up to speed when I crashed so I didn’t get the best from the tyres’.  Asked about his off, which sent the marshal running for cover and resulted in broken rear body support, he said, ‘it was my mistake. I was looking at another car which crashed ahead of me. I think I ran wide and then the wind got under the car’.

Behind Matsukura, team-mate Carmine Raiola posted the 4th quickest time.  The 2013 World Championship finalist said, ‘Now it was OK.  I changed back to my set-up from yesterday and it made the car more stable and I could drive it easy’.  The Italian continued, ‘the focus is on qualifying not three laps so I’m happy with the car now’.

Fastest in the opening control practice, that time still the quickest three laps, Jesse Davis would set the fifth fastest time in CP2 describing the run as ‘different’. Having had a braking issue in CP1, the Australian continued, ‘the brakes are still not sorted but the track felt weird for me. I couldn’t put three laps together so I just went for a clean Top 10 run for the seeding’.  For his next run, the Infinity driver will fit his race engine as well as his race body to ‘check it is all ok’ for tomorrow’s qualifying as well as trying to get to the bottom of his brakes issue.

‘Now I think I can get into my rhythm’, was Robert Pietsch’s reaction after CP2, the German adding, ‘It already feeling a lot better’.  Switching back to standard Sanwa servos having started out the event with a new programmable servo the Japanese company have released but which he hasn’t had enough time to familiarise himself with, the Mugen driver said he got a more true feeling of where his car is at.  On that he feels he is missing a little steering on the entry into the corner and for the next one he will change the front geometry but concluded he was ‘happy, now we are on the right way’.

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Davis fastest in opening controlled practice

Jesse Davis has set the fastest time in the opening round of controlled practice at the 1:8 Onroad World championships in France.  The Infinity driver set the fastest 3-consecutive laps in difficult windy conditions ahead of team-mate Naoto Matsukura.  Continuing to be the main challenger to the Infinity team reigning champion Simon Kurzbuch would take his Shepherd to the third fastest time ahead of free practice pace setter Dario Balestri.  Two improvements for the round would be Francesco Tironi and Robert Pietsch who having been seeded in the second fastest group based on free practice times set the 5th & 6th times respectively.

‘I didn’t expect that’, was Davis reaction after topping the first of the days four controlled practice rounds which on points will determine the heat order for qualifying.  The Aussie continued, ‘I was struggling a little after we adjusted the brake set-up last night.  One click (on the radio) and I had too much break and it was locking up and one click the way I didn’t have enough so we will need to fix that for the next one’.  A driver who made his mark on the international stage at last year’s 1:10 World Championship with a number of strong showings in qualifying, when asked about the wind that has again picked up he said Infinity’s pre-event testing at the RC Circuit Jean Nougier had highlighted this as a potential issue.  Describing the wind as ‘more normal for us’ he added ‘a lot of drivers are struggling with the wind’.  In terms of his chassis set-up Davis said despite the winds he will leave it unchanged for CP2.

Maintaining his strong free practice pace, Matsukura said, ‘It is very difficult to drive with the wind but my car was OK’.  The 1:8 class newcomer continued, ‘My engine was my main problem because it is a new one and is still not fully broken in but it will get more speed as it gets more time on it’.  Asked if he would change his car set-up account of the wind, the multiple electric onroad World Champion said he would leave it the same for now.

Pleased to have closed the gap to Balestri in the 10th, quick 4-minute, round of free practice this morning, ending up second fastest, Kurzbuch said he struggled a little with the wind.  The Swiss ace said, ‘the wind started to get stronger and it caused the rear of the car to be loose.  Some laps it was ok but then other it would catch you especially at the 180 degree hairpin where the rear would just snap away’.  He added, ‘it was still good run because the time was there but now we will make some changes to make it more safe to drive in the wind’.  He said, ‘we need more grip in the rear which will be a bit slower than the perfect set-up but it will make it more safe for a 7-minute run’.

Having been the clear bench marker over the opening two days of free practice, Balestri was not too concerned about not topping the first controlled round.  The Italian said, ‘it was ok, just the wind is really dangerous’ joking ‘you need to have bolts to keep the car on the track’.  Suffering one mistake as a result of the wind, he concluded, ‘we will change something to make the car more stable for these conditions’.

‘That was good’, was Tironi’s reaction to making a step forward in his performance.  The Italian continued, ‘we brought all the set-up ideas we gathered over the previous days together and found a good compromise.  For sure this is the best set-up of the week’.  The Infinity driver added, ‘it slides a little in the rear, maybe too much, so we need to think about a solution for that’.

‘I would say medium’, was how Pietsch summed up his P6 time.  The Mugen designer continued, ‘we have had many problems.  We got a new servo for the race which is programmable so you can adjust the torque but I am not used to what setting to use and I find the setting too nervous so I will go back to my old servos. I need to test the new one back home and get used to it’.  Asked about his car set-up, the former World Champion said, ‘I think the servo has been effecting everything so far but I copied Takahata’s set-up yesterday because I was lost. It was better but doesn’t suit my driving but I am confident that the servo change will help us going forward’.

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Balestri leads strong Infinity practice showing at Worlds

After 2 days of practice it is Dario Balestri who is fastest at the 1:8 Onroad World Championships in France.  The Italian led a 1,2,3 for Infinity setting the fastest 3-consecutive laps around the RC Circuit Jean Nougier track which drivers have unanimously described as difficult.  With Balestri’s fastest time posted in yesterday’s fifth & final run, the main improvement of today came from reigning champion Simon Kurzbuch who would manage to break up the Infinity domination, them having held the Top 7 times for most of the day. Despite engine issues in the 9th round of free practice he would end his curtailed run with 3-laps that where good enough to put his Shepherd driver fourth fastest. The only other non Infinity drivers in the Top 10 would be new Mugen signing Shoki Takahata in 7th and Bruno Coelho who took his Xray to 9th.

A very pleased Balestri said his car was in race set-up when he posted his time yesterday and content with how his car is working he opted to use today’s four 9-minute runs to test some new set-up changes, different engines and also different body positions. Top Qualifier at last year’s 1:10 World Championships in Italy but suffering a diff failure just 7-laps in, he is a fan of the track describing it as really fun to drive but added its very hard on engines.  He said with the sweeper taken at almost full throttle the temperature goes up making tuning very important.  He added, ‘running 16% nitro doesn’t help and I think they should check this rule for the future.  In my opinion 25% would be much better and more safe for the engines’.

Making his 1:8 Onroad Worlds debut, former Electric Touring Car World Champion and reigning multiple 1:12 World Champion Matsukura said, ‘so far it is not a bad start for my first Worlds’.  The Japanese driver, who only made his first and originally unplanned competitive 1:8 race debut at the opening round of the Euro Nitro Series n France qualifying 4th, posted his quickest time in the 8th round.  He said the improvement came after they made his car easier to drive and he hopes the can make it even more easy to drive for tomorrow when after a quick 4-minute final free practice the four rounds of controlled practice will commence. Describing the track as ‘super difficult’ he said it is also ‘very tight’ with ‘no room for error’ and so an easy to drive car is important especially if the wind, which caused drivers a lot of trouble yesterday, picks up again as it started to do during today’s final practice heats.  Behind Matsukura, 2013 Finalist Carmine Raiola would complete the Infinity Top 3 declaring his performance as ‘not bad’ but for tomorrow he plans to try a shock oil change to try get more steering.

Kurzbuch said ‘today we made some good steps in the right direction’.  The Swiss driver said, ‘the car is there and I am now getting the right line as a driver so we just need to improve some small details to get on top’.  On his final and fastest run, he said, ‘we tried something different with the engine but broke a plug and we lost some minutes with two flame-outs but at the end I just wanted to push and get some hot laps because I didn’t want an Infinity 1 to 7 again’.  Happy to do that despite his time almost 4/10th quicker than that of the next fastest driver, he concluded, ‘nothing is decided yet, we still have 1 more practice and 4 controlled practice tomorrow to get were we want to be’.

One of the Infinity’s drivers to not travel to Monteux for pre-event testing, opting instead to use ENS Austria to prepare for the race, Jilles Groskamp said ‘only the first run this morning everything works’.  Posting the 5th fastest time, he said he ran a new engine and with this his car was ‘really nice to drive’.  Changing to a different but slower engine to save this good one, he said the track temperatures also went up making for slower conditions. Using the rest of the day to test set-up changes he said they know what to do and what not to do in terms of the car but added a good engine is really important. With an uphill section to the sweeper he said with a good engine you can go through it in one flow where as a slower engine its not possible so you ‘lose a lot of time’.  The former Electric Touring Car World Champion says he feels ‘confident for the up coming days’. He added ‘our car is good here and all our guys are competitive.  I’m surprised it is going so well but the week of testing the rest of the team did here has really helped and we are all running pretty much the same set-up to which I have just made a few changes to suit my own driving’.

Making a rear shock adjustment for the final run of the day, Jesse Davis said afterwards ‘that one went pretty good’.  While he fastest time was in FP5 yesterday, the Australian was the closest to Kurzbuch’s final practice topping time. He said the shock change made his car more settled leading to better consistency and he feels the consistency is there for 7-minutes, the new length of the qualifiers for the 21st running of IFMAR original World Championship.  Asked his thoughts on the track he said, ‘I like it with no wind but with wind it is really bad’.  According to one French racer who knows the track and area well the wind is going to be a factor throughout the event making for very unpredictable driving conditions.

Takahata is one of the few drivers who is openly not a fan of the track. Describing his practice performance as ‘so so’, the Japanese driver said the track is something completely new for him as ‘there is nothing like this in Japan’, the big difference being the banking.  Making many changes to his Mugen set-up, ‘some good, some bad’, he said today they were mostly good and now his car is ‘much better’ with his P7 time coming in today’s penultimate run.

Looking to achieve his 10th World Championship title here in France, a country where Adrien Bertin, sitting P11, ended his first run of world titles in 1999, Lamberto Collari declared himself ‘happy for now’ adding ‘the base is good’.  Another who set his best time in the final run yesterday, which leaves him eighth fastest he said, ‘the track is difficult but exciting to drive’.  Overall the Italian said the biggest problem so far has been the wind as ‘you try stuff for a run but the wind makes it difficult to drive and you don’t get the full feel of what the change did’.

The man to cause the biggest surprise of the 1:8 Onroad scene this year as he takes the ENS title challenge to the championship’s reigning champion Kurzbuch, Coelho summed up Day 2 of practice as ‘very good’ adding ‘it was better than yesterday, it was strange with the wind’.  The Portuguese driver continued, ‘we improved the car a lot today, the track is super particular.  We are changing all the time but we need time to learn how to adapt for the condition and I think everything is looking good.  Asked about the track he replied, ‘it is good but difficult.  Its super fast so it is easy to make mistakes. Qualifying is going to be interesting’.

‘Up & down, sometimes good, sometimes not but we are trying something different every time’ was how Teemu Leino summed up his practice as he completed the Top 10.  The Finn continued, ‘the car is easy to drive which is the most important thing’. He added, ‘I like the track and its a good track to hold the Worlds. You can make time in sections and it nice that it goes up and down’. Despite his fastest time coming in FP5, he plans for tomorrow to go back to a set-up he ran earlier today saying ‘it was really good that time’.

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