Wang takes rocket round to TQ AOC

JJ Wang is top qualifier in Shanghai having topped the final round in qualifying in what were quicker track conditions as heavy rain outside lowered the track temperature and increased humidity. The only driver to manage a 31 lap run all weekend, he also set a new fastest lap on his way to the top spot. Ronald Volker will start 2nd, having also improved his time despite a heavy hit against the barriers early in the race tweaked his car. Naoto Matsukura takes 3rd with a solid run that saw him break into the 9 second lap times, leap frogging a disappointed Jilles Groskamp who also made a mistake and will now start from fourth on the grid.

Running new tires, he was surprised that they were faster and following rival Volker’s crash in the first minutes he decided to push and go for the time knowing that as long as Ronald was behind him, he would finish on top. Still believing that old tires are quicker even in these conditions, he expects the A-mains to be very interesting on a track that is very difficult to pass on, joking that ‘maybe Volker can make it passed’.

‘I hate rocket round’ was Volker’s reaction to losing the TQ in the final qualifier, the AOC choosing to use the fastest single qualifier instead of qualifying points. Blaming himself for the tap on the straight that left his car badly tweaked, he said it took him some time to adapt to the car but despite this he still improved his time and also managed a fastest lap of 9.883. Trying to put some pressure on JJ later in the qualifier he was not close enough to affect the outcome and deny him his TQ. Saying ‘the rain didn’t help as the track improved too much’ he vowed to fight back in the mains.

Current World Champion Naoto Matsukura said a change to harder springs left his car much improved, now having good corner speed he is still looking for more steering from his Tamiya prototype. Going into the final qualifier knowing he needed to improve he didn’t risk running new tires, instead opting for an old set, he felt he was slowed by a recovering Groskamp who he finally caught up to the back off at the end of the 5 minutes. Happy to improve position he predicts a super close final. In 1/12th scale, a crash resulting in a damaged front tire meant he takes the top spot on the grid using his Q1 time. Testing different GXX tires in each run he says he will go back to his Q1 choice for the finals.

A frustrated Groskamp simply said ‘I threw it away’, having spun out at the end of the straight around the 1 minute mark. Losing a second just there, his car continued to lose pace as the run went on and believes that perhaps new tires would have been better as the traction improved. Not a fan of rocket round qualifying, and with the track difficult to pass on, he said to give away 3rd place was ‘a shame’. Similar to Matsukura, the Infinity driver now has a brand new set of tires for the finals and should the conditions remain the same, this could prove to be an advantage.

A very happy Jan Ratheisky was content that the changes he made prior to the 3rd qualifier had improved his car a lot and he will now leave his Xray the same for the mains. Set to start from 5th, using his Q2 time, the ETS Champion also used Q3 to run a new shell, having been peer pressured by fellow racers on Facebook to get rid of the old beat up shell he was using. Running in 3 other classes, 13.5 blinky, 13.5 boosted and Formula he used Q3 to further improve his TQ times in touring car, his Q1 time being quick enough for pole position in Formula. Working with Ales Dobnikar from LRP, Jan has also been using his run to try different gearing and timing in the stock classes with boosted getting particular attention, with Jan never having never raced this class prior to coming to China.

Set to start behind Ratheisky in Stock 13.5 blinky is Nicholas Koh, the 11 year old ending qualifying 3 seconds clear of 3rd place Max Park. In boosted Gavin Kwok will start 2nd, with ARC boss Jones Chu set to start the triple mains from 3rd. In the great looking VTA class the pole position went to Erik Koh from Sean Wang and Ben Lai but the real battle will be between 7th and 8th starters Rick Wang and Scotty Ernst.

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Volker remains on top as Groskamp edges closer

Expected to be a faster round due the lowering temperature and increasing grip, that prediction did not materialise and conditions remained unchanged with round topper Ronald Volker’s time marginally slower than what he produced in Q1. JJ Wang remains second overnight despite crashing his car later in the heat, the LRP driver pulling up despite not damaging his car. Jilles Groskamp was the only driver in the top 3 to improve, moving to within 1.2 seconds of Wang’s Q1 time, while Jan Rathiesky’s overhauled Xray T4 was vastly improved and he leapt passed Rocket Zhang into the 5th position.

Describing the run as a ‘great close battle between the Top 3’ as they swapped fastest laps and exchanged the lead by the end of the run his pace has lowered which he attributes to easing off after JJ crashed at the end of the straight. Unsure about the weather conditions and therefore the track conditions for tomorrow’s 3rd and final qualifier he is not taking his top spot for granted, saying pole position is ‘still not safe’. Having made some small changes to the front of the car the results was more or less the same as before and tonight he, along with pit man Yukijiro Umino, will think about other setup options.

Sitting 2nd overall with his Q1 time, local ace JJ Wang would crash out of the heat while sitting in 2nd, hitting the inside board at the end of the straight which rolled the car. With times so tight and his first round time pretty solid, he decided to pull the car up. ‘Happy the pace is there’ he described the car as really good and believing that conditions won’t be any quicker in the morning, will just check over the car and use Q3 to bed in tires for the final.

A very happy Jilles Groskamp seems to be really enjoying his first race on carpet for some time, with the 2012 WC feeling his pace was very good compared to the two ahead of him who have been much more active racing touring car in the lead up to this race. Leading the heat and on TQ pace for a while, he said he got too excited and this caused some mistakes. Another racer to use Q3 to bed in tires for the finals, he said that he thinks Q3 is a good place to start for the final, not wanting to lead off the grid with the top 3 so closely matched.

Naoto continues to struggle to get his car to turn, the adjustment to the rear spring for that heat not seeming to make much of a difference. It wouldn’t have mattered as the Japanese driver put a wrong battery in his car and it ran out of power 3 minutes into the race. Not faring much better in 1/12th scale his motor came loose after hitting JJ Wang who had crashed ahead of him, but his TQ is all but certain as he is 3 laps quicker than 2nd place Italian Lorenzo Bali.

Another to improve, after completely changing his car, Jan Ratheisky, the busiest man at the track, sits in 5th spot with his much improved Q2 time. Feeling he lost a lot of time letting Ronald Volker through as he really didn’t want to mess up his race, the German will make more changes for the final round of qualifying. Continuing to dominate the other 3 classes he is running this weekend, including Formula, he will focus now more on modified and in terms of setup will ‘go for risky’. Looking for more on power steering he will change the rear springs, use less toe out on the front, give the car more rear droop and change to a stiffer rear diff.

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Ronald Volker tops Q1 at AOC Shanghai

Ronald Volker has taken the opening qualifying round at RCI V2 in Shanghai, the German waiting until the last lap to take the top spot from practice pace setter JJ Wang. While JJ held the top spot from the start and even set his fastest lap of the event, a late mistake by the Chinese-American youngster meant he would have to settle for 2nd. The 3rd spot would go to Jilles Groskamp who would again set the second fastest lap time but some small mistakes lost him time to his rivals.

Volker was very happy to TQ the opening round, saying that he stayed behind JJ for most of the run but with 1 and half minutes left in the run and being 0.4 seconds down he started to push ‘maximum hard’, timing it perfectly as he managed to pass his rival on the very last lap. Driving the heat with 2nd run tires he said the car was much better but even still he will make a small change to get a little more steering into the car for Q2. Along with all his competitors, he expects the 2nd round of qualifying to be a rocket round as the temperature drops and the grip rises, a single run from the 3 counting.

Controlled practice pace setter and track local JJ Wang led the entire run until he came too close to a track board on the 2nd last lap and had to let off to avoid hitting it. This was enough to demote the LRP driver to 2nd for the round albeit 0.1 down on his rival. ‘I’ll get him in the next one’ stated Wang, saying he believes he would have taken the round had it not been for his late mistake. Knowing the track better than anyone, he knows that Q2 will be faster conditions on track and is confident he will get the job done in today’s final heat.

Former World Champion, Jilles Groskamp says the ‘speed is there but there are just too many bobbles’ otherwise he was right there pointing out that on an average of the top 3 driver fast 15 laps there is little or no difference. Feeling he is lacking steering, he is having to push the car harder to get it around the track and this is leading to the small mistakes that are losing him time. For the next qualifier the Infinity driver will run less rear toe to get more steering, not wanting to change too many things ahead of the all important rocket round.

A dejected Naoto Matsukura said that the changes he made to his car for Q1 had not worked and he had more understeer than before. While the car is consistent, he plans a rear spring change in an effort to improve rotation, a problem that was causing the Japanese driver to make many small mistakes during the run. Another issue for the World Champion is that he has run out of certain parts for his prototype Tamiya car, having broken the same part at last weekend’s ETS in Austria and so he can’t push the car too hard in case he crashes and breaks. Naoto continues to dominate 1/12th scale with his Roche car, the 3 time WC is using the event as a test session for this year’s World Championships in Beijing as it will be run on the same ETS carpet used here.

Another driver who continued to dominate his classes, Germany’s Jan Rathiesky was clearly faster in both the 13.5 classes as well as in Formula. Running all those cars with the same setup used last week in Austria apart from a higher ride height, in Modified he has completely changed his car in an effort to improve on his 6th position and is now just under a second behind local ace Rocket Zhang who sits fifth. In 13.5 Boosted, Jan leads Gavin Kwok and Jimmy Qian while in 13.5 Blinky it is 11 year old Nicholas Koh in 2nd with Max Park 3rd. The Formula class sees Xray driver Heng Heng sitting 2nd while Jimmy Qian once again rounded out the top 3.

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