Deja vu! Catanzani is Top Qualifier in Chile again

It was a case of Deja Vu at the IFMAR 1:8 Onroad World Championship in Chile today as Serpent’s Andrea Cantanzani claimed his second overall Worlds TQ of 2025 in the sixth & final round of qualifying, the super quick Italian having pulled off the same feat 11 weeks ago to the day when he was Top Qualifier at the 1:8 GT Worlds.  With Catanzani equalling Maxine Ripoll with a second TQ run of the event in Q5, this set the stage for a thrilling duel between the two young guns.  The highly anticipate battle however wouldn’t go the full distance.  Steeling time from his rivals with his super quick fuel stops to TQ Rounds 3 & 4, unfortunately this time round Ripoll would have issues in pit lane, his engine flaming out during refuelling.  This ended what has been a super impressive and entertaining to follow challenge from the 19-year-old for the top spot on grid.  With Ripoll out, Catanzani would TQ the round ahead of Capricorn’s Toni Gruber and Mugen Seiki’s Shoki Takahata to secure the overall TQ, the first in a long long time for 1:8 Onroad pioneering manufacturer Serpent.  For Gruber and Takahata the result will see them go directly to the final as Top 4 qualifiers.  One of the favourites ahead of championship, Simon Kurzbuch would end quali with a P4 which wouldn’t be enough and now the 2015 World Champion has a Semi final between him and lining up to try and claim a second World title.

One his Q6 run Catanani said, ‘it was really good but difficult with the wind, the final 4-5 laps the wind came really hard and it was difficult to drive but I managed it well so I am really happy.’  He continued, ‘I’m sorry for Maxime that he flamed out because I think it would have been very close in the quali but yes I am very happy get the TQ.’  On his second Worlds TQ in one year, unfortunately the 1:8 GT Worlds Final not going way after an early engine flame out, the 20-year-old said, ‘I hope that now it will be good for the race,’  Asked what he felt would be the biggest factor for Saturday’s 1-hour final he said, ‘we have to check all the tyre wear on the old sets that we have and then we will make a strategy but I think the most important thing for a 1-hour final is to be consistent and no errors.  It will be hard but I hope that we will do a good job.’  On car set-up he said in general there is no need to change the car for the longer run however he said they may try something in the Top 4 practice session but emphasised it would not be something to different to what they already have.  He concluded, ‘I think the car is really fast and really good and also really easy to drive and in these conditions this is the most important thing.’

Clearly disappointed at missing out on the TQ, on the final qualifier Ripoll said, ‘I had a mistake just before the refuelling and when we make the refuelling the engine stop and so it was finished.  Still P2, and for the final it is good and I will fight for the win.  It is a long race 1-hour so anything can happen even the guy who starts in 10th can win.’  Having never raced a 1-hour final before, the European Championships a 45-minute main, asked if he has thought about his strategy for the final yet he said, ‘We will have tomorrow the whole day to prepare the car and prepare the strategy.’  Putting it to him that he was obviously disappoint to miss the TQ having been right in the hunt but that he is still in his first World final, Ripoll replied, ‘yes I know but when you almost get the TQ and you lose it at the end its a bit disappointing but in 1-hour it will be OK and I will be happy but for the moment it’s tough.’

‘The overall of the TQ was gone so then it was to make Top 4 so the final qualifier was perfect in that way.  It’s good’, that was how Gruber summed up the final qualifier.  Asked his thoughts on the upcoming final, the 2023 runner-up said, ‘I heard that maybe it is a rain day on Saturday, maybe then the grip and track will change completely after the rain.  If it doesn’t rain the track is pretty consistent, if it’s windy, if it’s hot we know how our car works but I think we might have to make something little on the set-up because when the wind was strong it was overall too loose.’  On tyre wear and the number of changes he expects to make, the German replied, ‘I think for everybody it has to be two times full.  Other strategies with tyres makes no sense.  It is strange because in both sides the wear is almost the same.  Of course the left is more tyre wear because of the big right corner but you also have a lot of tyre wear in the front right because of the left corner in the middle.  So it makes no sense to make half (change) because in the end the tyre gets too small and also that makes the car completely difficult and even more with the strong wind, you cannot drive like this.’  With tomorrow (Friday) a car prep day he will use the down time to consider his game plan for the final.

The fourth & final driver securing a direct spot in the final just ahead of his team Kurzbuch, Takahata said his car had ‘no pace’ in the final qualifying round, something that is a little concerning giving it ran at a similar time of day to when the final is scheduled.  Making changes to the car after improving it for Q5, he said the latest change didn’t work.  Asked it his thoughts on the final, the 2019 World Champion’s response was very clear, ‘I want more speed.’  Asked if going back to his Q5 set-up would make him more competitive, he said they need to find something more.  A driver who was in regular contention yesterday but hampered by driver errors, he said today that speed has just disappeared.  The 31-year-old hopes they can come up with some ideas to test in Top 4 practice session.