Rheinard takes Q4 to hold overnight TQ in Beijing

Reigning World Champion Marc Rheinard holds the overnight TQ at the 1:12 World Championships after he became the fourth different driver to top the times on the opening day of qualifying in Beijing.  Second fastest in the opening two rounds but retiring from Q3, the Yokomo driver finally took the day’s final qualifier after battles with both Naoto Matsukura and Akio Sobue, Sobue taking the fight to the line finishing 0.152 off the German.  Having allowed Rheinard into contention for a TQ run with two smaller mistakes, Matsukura would make bigger mistakes trying to retake control eventually pulling off in the final minute after a mistake that saw him cut the track.  With Matsukura out of the picture there were plenty more Japanese drivers in waiting with Hayato Ishioka finishing the day with his best run to complete the Top 3 ahead of Hideo Kitazawa who topped the previous round and holds 3rd overall behind Sobue.

While pleased to finish off the day with a TQ, Rheinard wasn’t celebrating a break through in performance saying, ‘Naoto is the fastest but he just crashes too much’.  The German added, ‘I’m not sure how the other cars look to drive but for sure mine is not good, it’s so hard to drive’.  Getting to run behind his Tamiya Touring car team-mate Sobue for a few laps, he said the Japanese driver’s CRC chassis with which he took his World title looks to have ‘really good rear traction’.  With two rounds of qualifying left and grid position seen to be key to the final with drivers agreeing the track layout offers few place for overtaking, Rheinard said, the pressure is now on him to get results tomorrow, him being Matsukura who has P8 as one of counting three rounds and currently sits fifth overnight.  In terms of his Muchmore powered YRX12, 3-time Touring Car World Champion said the plan for tomorrow was to ‘leave the car the same as today and just keep going’.

‘Maximum close’ was how Sobue summed up qualifying so far as he has the same points as Rheinard but sits second due to Rheinard having the fastest race time from his Q4 TQ.  While running somewhat under the shadows of Rheinard in touring car, Sobue’s aim is the overall TQ adding, ‘I need one more (TQ) run’. On Q4, the ETS podium finisher said the traction was a little higher causing his prototype CRC to understeer adding as a result of this it was ‘not so fast as before’.  Looking to the morning’s Q5, he said the current set-up should work fine but after that for the final qualifier they ‘need to see how the track conditions are looking’.

Declaring himself ‘happy’ to be sitting 3rd overnight, 2014 podium finisher Kitazawa said while his Morotech was ‘very good’ in Q4 the driver was less so.  Suffering a ‘driver mistake’, the 12th stalwart and multiple World Championship finalist said his biggest focus for tomorrow was to ‘get more sleep’ in the hope of having ‘better concentration’.  With all the drivers travelling between the hotel and the track by official bus this morning the 06:30 pick up had a lot of drivers looking the worse for the early start as they left the track on the 19:00 return bus.

Putting his Q4 performance down to a set-up change that gave his CRC more steering allowing him to push harder, Ishioka said while it was a good finish to the day with a Top 3 he was aiming to be placed higher than the fourth he holds overnight.  The Japanese National Champion, who was tipped by many as being a title challenger based on recent form,  said tomorrow he will run bigger diameter tyres with the aim of having an easy car with which to finish out the 8-minutes.

Becoming the only driver to record an 11-second lap in qualifying, posting an 11.972 in Q4, Matsukura said, ‘the car is ok I just push too hard’.  A driver renowned for his maximum attack driver style since he won the first of his 3-World title in 2008 aged just 15, the now 22-year-old said ‘maybe he needs to take a different approach tomorrow’.  With his Roche prototype becoming ‘super difficult after 4-minutes’, most drivers having such difficulties over the closing minutes of the qualifier, he said he would try make the car easier to drive but admitted there is maybe something to be gained from he himself managing the advantage he seems to be able to build up in the first half of the heat.

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Kitazawa 3rd different driver to post TQ at 1:12 Worlds

Hideo Kitazawa became the third different driver to post a TQ run at the 1:12 World Championships in Beijing, China, the 2014 podium finisher topping Q3 ahead of the pace setters of the opening two qualifiers.  The Morotech driver snatched the qualifier after a late mistake from Q1 winner Akio Sobue with Q2 topping Naoto Matsukura completing the Top 3 despite his car falling apart over the 8-minutes.  With earlier mistakes from Matsukura and Sobue handing Hayato Ishioka the lead for a time until he too became a victim of the difficult track to eventually finish 4th.  After run time issues in both opening qualifiers, Jilles Groskamp would be the only non Japanese driver in the Top 8, the Dutchman getting a sixth while the top European of the first two qualifiers Marc Rheinard retired after damaging his car.  With two P2 runs to his credit, the reigning World Champion was less then complimentary of the driving standards of Matsukura who he felt should have opened for Sobue but instead caused ‘a mess’.

Having failed to finish Q1 after a ‘big crash’ but showing good with a P4 in Q2, Kitazawa was pleased that his day was getting better.  Feeling he has been able to improve his car a little each run he put his TQ run down to improving his car.  Improving his time by more than 6-seconds but missing out on Matsukura’s 39-lap pace of Q2, the Futaba employee said the track changed a lot for Q3 adding that the traction for the round was at the highest its been so far.  Describing track conditions as ‘not stable’, he put the higher traction down to an increased humidity in the hall.  Feeling conditions for the day’s final qualifier should be cooler he will adjust the on his prototype 12WX to account for this.

Losing out to Kitazawa by just 0.43 of a second, Sobue said he was ‘unlucky’ to miss a second TQ run.  Having retired from Q2 with a broken diff in his CRC, he said with a freshly built diff in the car for Q3 the overall performance of the car ‘was better’ as a result.  Touching the pipe put his car out in the dust, he said the car was then loose and this was what cost him the time.  With the overall TQ set to be decided over tomorrow’s final two qualifiers, three rounds from the six to count, Sobue still needs another result after his Q2 retirement and planning to leave his car unchanged is focused on ending the day with a run that locks him in the A-Main.

‘A beginner’ was Matsukura’s reaction after Q3, the Roche driver lucky to get P3 as both trail links came undone from the rear pod due to loose screws.  Suffering a huge off in the sweeper off the main straight, the 22-year-old said that was caused by the first screw coming out but was less certain about when the second come off adding he was ‘lucky’ to finish with a third for the round.

Posting his first Top 10 run, with P6 just behind Toto Ebukuro, Groskamp said a change to the boost and timing on his speedo had finally allowed him to run the full 8-minutes.  ‘Surprised’ to find himself having run time issues, he said while the set-up changes have left him ‘lacking power a little’, they had left him with a ‘more stable’ car.  Admitting he is ‘still not close to the fast guys’ as he ‘can’t put in super fast lap times’, he also feels they might have an issue with his tyre truing. Running a Roche chassis, the Team Infinity driver said at the start of the race the car feels like it is floating on the track and its only late in the run that the tyres come in.

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Matsukura gets it done in Q2

Having faded badly after a blistering start to Q1, Naoto Matsukura was able to go the full 8-minutes in the second qualifier at the 1:12 World Championships to TQ the round ahead of Marc Rheinard.  The Roche driver would be the only one to run 39-laps of the tricky Chinese track with Rheinard losing out on the extra lap as he failed to complete the full distance as his car dumped and came to a halt as he tried to complete the 39th lap. Having taken the opening qualifier, Akio Sobue would retire with a broken diff just before the 6-minute mark with Keven Hebert making up for his Q1 retirement to complete the Top 3.  Just 0.056 behind Morotech’s Hideo Kitazawa who would enjoy a P4 run with Juho Levanen again getting securing a fifth for the round.

Despite posting a marginally quicker fastest lap than that of Q1, Matsukura said his ‘car was not perfect’, adding ‘after my crashes in Q1 the rear of the car needs more maintenance’.  Planning to ‘check it over’ ahead of Q3, the 3-time Champion said even with his car not 100% he felt both ‘Akio and Marc were closer’ to him on pace than in the first qualifier.  With run time an issue for Rheinard and both drivers running the same electrics when asked about his run time Matsukura replied he had ‘no problem’ in that department.

Surprised by his car dumping, Rheinard said, ‘I don’t know what caused it, everything was the same as in Q1 other than using just a different battery’.  With Matsukura running no fan on his speedo, Muchmore’s Mr. Jang will remove the fan from Rheinard’s car for Q3.  Running a larger tyre for Q2, the defending World Champion said his Yokomo ‘felt more safe’ but the car is ‘still missing everything’ in terms of grip and traction. Feeling he can better manage his tyres than his Tamiya touring car team-mate Matsukura, the German feels he has a chance now at matching the Japanese driver over the 8-minutes if he said ‘I don’t dump’.

After crashes led to his retirement in Q1, Hebert summed up the second qualifier with, ‘that was better’.  The Team Associated driver said ‘the car had loads of rear traction but now its loose and I have to wait for it to come in but that was a safe run’.  The Canadian added, ‘I lost a lot of time early on trying to find my groove so for the next one I will sauce a little longer in the rear’.

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Sobue takes opening qualifier in China

Akio Sobue has taken the opening round of qualifying at the 1:12 World Championships in China.  The CRC driver topped the first of the six scheduled qualifiers after a blistering fast run from Naoto Matsukura came undone in the final two minutes as the former champion ran out of tyres.  The top seed for qualifying, Matsukura quickly pulled clear of his rivals building up an advantage of over 6-seconds, but with a lap time that was 3/10th faster than anyone else his pace took its toll on the Roche drivers tyres leading to a the first of a number of huge crashes coming off the main straight. With the crashes leading him to finish almost a lap down on Sobue in P8, it was reigning champion Marc Rheinard who would be closest to Sobue’s time with JJ Wang, who is running in the second fastest heat, completing the Top 3.

Having dominated both free and controlled practice, when the order was determined by 3-consecutive laps, Matsukura’s first qualifying attempt came undone as his body shell start to rub the carpet as a result of the reducing tyre diameter.  Eventually the body would leave the reigning Touring Car World Champion with no steering leading to the first of a number of spectacular off, Wang who was marshalling the corner after the straight saying afterwards he ‘almost died marshalling’ such was the force of one of Matsukura’s offs.  With tyre wear a problem for all drivers due to the track’s low traction, Matsukura was confident that raising the ride height and trimming his body would prevent the problems happening again in Q2.

‘I’m happy’ was Sobue’s reaction to the somewhat surprise TQ run.  Sixth fastest in controlled practice, the Tamiya touring car team-mate of Rheinard said a set-up change for Q1 had caused his car to be ‘a little difficult to drive’ with the Japanese driver complaining of having ‘a little too much steering’.  Putting the problem down to going too far with set-up adjustment, the 22-year-old will ‘take it back a little’, feeling it should make the car both faster and more consistent for Q2.

Rheinard summed up his P2 time with, ‘the result is better than it (the car) drove’.   He continued, his Yokomo ‘just doesn’t feel like a 1:12 to drive. It just slides around and the tyre wear is like we are driving on sand paper’.  Asked about improving the car, the 3-time Touring Car World Champion said, ‘I’ve no idea. Everyone is in the same boat except Naoto, he is on a completely different level although I don’t know why he didn’t back it off for the last 2-minutes.  He had loads of time on everyone and could have easily still TQ’d’.

Describing his first qualifier as ‘a safe run’, Wang said his ‘car is not fast’.  The Xray driver continued, ‘I knew if I got a clean 8-minutes I could do ok and so the plan was to keep it on the racing line.’  While suffering ‘a few bobbles here & there’, the Shanghai based driver had just one mistake and ‘pretty happy’ with the result said  ‘I need two more’.  Planning to leave his X12 unchanged for Q2 he said while ‘the last 2-minutes are most difficult’ he would work around it and adapt his driving to suit.

Describing his car as ‘not super fast’, Masatsugu Ito was pleased to get a P4 for the qualifier.  Having set-up his Yokomo for stability rather than speed, the 22-year-old said the car was ‘easier to drive’ allowing for a safe 8-minute run. Asked about his tyre wear over the last minutes of the qualifier, he replied it was ‘manageable’ and for Q2 he will just try to repeat the run with ‘another safe drive’.

With Associated team-mate Keven Hebert crashing out of Q1 having impressed in CP2 with the second fastest time behind Matsukura, it was Juho Levanen who led the challenge of the American manufacturer.  Posting the 5th fastest time despite dumping on his final lap, the Finn said ‘I don’t think the car is any faster than before’.  He added, ‘its not super fast but it was the consistency that got the result’.  Asked about coming short on run time, the former World’s podium finisher said it was down to ‘too much power and not enough capacity’.  With Jilles Groskamp also dumping in the same heat, Levanen said, ‘we are running a new speedo here and still need to find the right settings.  The track is also bigger than what we are used to for 1:12’.  Along with adjusting the setting on the Reedy speedo he will also ‘gear down’ for Q2.

Completing the Top 6 ahead of Japanese champion Hayato Ishioka, was 17-year-old 1:12 specialist Kousuke Suzuki.  The 17-year-old said ‘the last two minutes were tough to drive’ and he is considering a set-up change on his CRC.   Behind the two Japanese drivers, Xray’s Alexander Hagberg would get ninth with Toto Ebukuro completing the Top 10.

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