Chassis – Xray NT1 ’16
Engine – Max Power .12 TQ Worlds Edition
Fuel – Runner Time
Tires (handout) – Hotrace
Radio/Servo – Sanwa
Body – SRC Spark
Remarks – Top Xray driver in both practice and Q1, Bruno Coelho is running an NT1 equipped with the same stiffer chassis seen on Hagberg’s car. The Portuguese ace is also using the new ackermann plate that reduces the ackermann angle, a 0.5mm front anti-roll bar and an SRC clutch.
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Chassis – Capricorn Lab C03
Engine – Tesla T12 World Edition
Fuel – Runner Time
Tires (handout) – Hotrace
Radio/Servo – Sanwa/Savox
Body – Protoform SRS
Remarks – After topping practice, Dario Balestri went on to take round 1 of qualifying here in Gubbio driving his Capricorn Lab C03. The car is equipped with new differentials that feature a different case material meant to reduce friction and to better handle high temperatures. With his setup coming out of the work done on the many visits to this track throughout the year, he is also using the optional aero bumper, lightweight screws and a set of Avid ceramic bearings.
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Chassis – Serpent 784 Natrix
Engine – Novarossi Mito .12 Ceramic
Fuel – Runner Time
Tires (handout) – Hotrace
Radio/Servo – Sanwa
Body – SRC Spark
Remarks – Top qualifier at the 2014 World Championships in Bangkok, Serpent factory driver Dominic Greiner is running the same new smaller diffs as his team mate Mazzeo, with a whole set of Serpent’s electric touring car big bore shock absorbers, aluminium wheel axles, a chassis stiffener just above the clutch and brass adjustable weights.
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Dario Balestri has TQ’d the opening round of qualifying at the Nitro Touring Car World Championships. The top seed took the first of the 6 scheduled qualifiers after a super close battle over the five minutes with Bruno Coelho, a last lap mistake leaving the latter with the 7th fastest time. While Balestri was to cut it ultra close in terms of his run time, his Tesla engine cutting as soon as he crossed the finish line, the Capricorn driver was to take the 5-minute qualifier ahead of Simon Kurzbuch by 2/10ths of a second. One second off the TQ pace, Robert Pietsch would complete the Top 3 followed by the Serpents of Dominic Greiner, Alessio Mazzeo and Mark Green.
A much cooler day than yesterday’s controlled practice with rain forecast for late afternoon, Balestri himself couldn’t hold back on smiling about his opening performance. Summing up the run, the Warm-up Race winner said they were ‘not perfect conditions’ adding ‘if it was hot maybe (it would have been) more easy’. Despite feeling his LAB CO3 is better in hotter conditions the Italian said ‘the car is still good only now others are a little closer (to his pace)’. With his timing on the runtime worthy of an award in terms of perfect timing, Baletri admitted it ‘was very close’ as he took a screwdriver to the carb of the Tesla engine. Looking to Q2, the cloud cover ever increasing he said he had no plans to make any changes. Team-mate Luca Radaelli, one of the stars of practice, would have issues with Takaaki Shimo in Q1 and end up 9th. Having passed the struggling Mugen driver, the Italian twice got hit by the Japanese driver with the Capricorn going into a half spin as a result.
‘Back in the race’ was 1:8 World Champion Kurzbuch’s reaction to his P2 run. The Shepherd driver continued,’ the strategy was to put in a good safe round so it’s a good start to qualifying and now we can attack’. Really happy with his Novarossi powered Velox V10, he said the only issue over the run was having to run behind Mazzeo. Commenting on this he said , ‘I understand it is always shit to have to open for a driver as you lose time but maybe if I had got by him I could have got the TQ. Anyway I am still really happy’. With his car ‘very stable and consistent’ in the cooler conditions he said his engine was also ‘perfect’ so he would go into Q2 without any changes.
Top Qualifier at the 2010 World Championship in Texas, Pietsch described his opening performance as ‘a good start’. Describing his Picco powered MTX6 as ‘very good’, he said catching Mugen team-mate Shimo, who was the second seed for qualifying, cost him a little time. ‘Shimo had an issue and I passed him but he was running pretty close behind me which ruined my flow a bit’. Posting the fastest lap of the top heat, the former 1:8 World Champion plans to ‘keep it the same the next one’.
‘Super close’ was Greiner’s reaction after the heat adding ‘my driving was not good’. Finishing 1.4-seconds off the TQ pace, the 2014 Top Qualifier & podium finisher said his Novarossi powered 748, ‘felt ok but the engine was a bit rich but in the end I think my driving was the biggest thing’. Looking to Q2 he said ‘these are the conditions the car likes so I don’t need to change anything’.
Mazzeo said of his P5 ‘we are happy but also disappointed because we can do better’. The former European Champion would have two mistakes, the second a result of Coelho venting his frustration over a last lap error. He said, ‘I lost my concentration on the last lap after Bruno’s reaction’. In terms of his Gimar powered 748 he said ‘the car ok’ adding ‘it was not perfect for the temperature being cooler’.
‘Against these professional guys I am happy with that, it was pretty much my limit’, was how class veteran Green summed up Q1. The British driver said ‘it was a good first run’ with ‘no issues’ over the 5-minutes adding ‘any time I came up on traffic they crashed out of my way which was helpful’.
‘A stupid mistake’, was how Coelho described his last lap error. The Portuguese star said, ‘everyone below was shouting last lap so I went for it but gave too much throttle in the fast chicane, lost the rear and flipped’. The reigning European Champion was very happy with his NT1, saying ‘the car was very good. I was first all the time fighting with Dario, I just made a rookie mistake’. Team-mate & reigning World Champion Alexander Hagberg would open his title defence with the 25th fastest time, the Swede clearly still not finding his way at the Gubbio track.
Heading the challenge of class newcomers Infinity in Q1, Andy Moore would post the 8th fastest time with Jesse Davis completing the Top 10. Moore described the qualifier as ‘a pretty good start’ adding he put ‘everything back to the best points from practice’. Admitting he ‘drove a careful round as (he) knew there was an ok time to be had’, he said changing also to his best engine for the run it was ‘a tiny bit rich but safe’. Hitting 18-laps on the 5-minute flat mark, he said he did one more lap no problem in terms of fuel so he ‘can push harder the next one’ as his run time seems to be good.
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Dario Balestri is the top seed for qualifying at the Nitro Touring Car World Championships in Italy. The Capricorn driver topped today’s controlled practice ranking thanks to setting the fastest times in both the third & fourth rounds with a drivers best two of four rounds determining the qualifying heat order. Topping the final qualifying in a faster time than CP3, most drivers pleased to see an end to practice, Balestri was quickest from Mugen driver Robert Pietsch but in the overall ranking it was the Mugen of CP2 pace setter Takaaki Shimo who would finish up second. Although the final practice would be his worst round as he got a P6, Balestri’s team-mate Luca Redaelli completed the Top 3 ahead of quickest man of the day Dominic Greiner.
‘I’m happy’ was Balestri’s reaction to securing the top seeding for qualifying. Running out of fuel in the final practice, he said, ‘in the cold the difference is less so it is normal’, a reference to his strong performance over the hotter second half of the controlled practice. Winner of the Warm-up Race held in much hotter conditions in June, he continued, ‘our car is consistent with the temperature changes and I am happy with this but as we have a bigger advantage in the hot we hope for those conditions tomorrow’.
Running in the second fastest heat and feeling the top heat had a slight advantage as the track temperature continued to drop as Day 3 of the event came to a close, Shimo described his OS powered MTX5 as ‘OK’. Happy to split the Capricorns in the ranking, he said with his car ‘consistent’ he will leave it unchanged for Q1 as ‘it should be good for a 5-minute time’. Admitting Balestri has a distinct advantage in the heat he said with tomorrow’s forecast giving much cooler conditions it should be better for him.
Crashing his Capricorn in the final practice, Redaelli said, ‘the car was good, only my mistake’. Annoyed by his crash, he continued, ‘in the end its ok as I’m still third’. Making his World Championship debut, the Italian said ‘for qualifying it looks good’ and he is feeling confident he can carry his practice form through to tomorrow when three of the six scheduled qualifiers will run.
Again a little off the pace with a P8 for the final round, Greiner’s CP1 time was enough to rank him as the top Serpent driver with fourth overall ahead of team-mate Alessio Mazzeo. Summing up a day which started out perfectly, he said ‘the car feels the same as yesterday but others improved a lot in the hot conditions’. He continued, ‘I think the weather tomorrow should be to our advantage’ but added the competition is still going to be ‘super, super close’. With all the focus so far having been on 3-consecutive laps he feels when the 5-minute time starting counting it is going to bring about quite a few changes in the ranking. Widely recognised as one of the fastest outright nitro touring car drivers in the world, the 2014 Top Qualifier believes also that ‘not everyone is safe for 5-minutes’ in terms of run time.
After putting in his best round in the final practice finishing 0.076 off Balestri, Pietsch said, ‘that is the best the car has been which is the best moment to have it’. Looking to qualifying the Mugen designer said with his Picco powered MTX6 as good as it is now it is ‘just down to the driver now’. Confident he has a car to challenge for the TQ, the Top Qualifier of the 2010 Worlds in America said if it turns out tomorrow is cooler his car ‘may be even better’.
Giving his impression of where he is at ahead of qualifying, Mazzeo said, ‘my car is very good in every condition so it looks good’. He continued, ‘I expect qualifying will be very hard as everyone is so close but the last practice we tested 5-minutes and I’m happy’. With Serpent the best represented brand in the Top 10 at the end of practice, he added this was down to the ‘important work done this year by the team’. Former 1:8 World Champion Tadahiko Sahashi will line up in the top heat carrying the No.9 on his 748 while Mark Green is car No.10.
‘Time to start, enough practice’ was how reigning 1:8 World Champion Simon Kurzbuch summed up the end of what is the fourth day of practice for the Team Shepherd driver. Also reigning 1:8 champion of the Euro Nitro Series, the Swiss ace said ‘I think we are ready and I am confident for qualifying’. Ending practice with a P5 run, he said while over 3-laps his Novarossi powered Velox V10 was a little slower, better rear stability had made it more consistent and a better car for qualifying. A driver who won his European Championship title here in 2009, Shepherd team-mate and current 1:10 ENS championship leader Dirk Wischnewski hasn’t been fairing as well with the German 1:10 nitro specialist ending practice ranked only 19th.
Bruno Coelho is the only Xray in the top heat ending up 8th overall thanks to a good P3 finish to practice. Having crashed on his first attempt at a three quick laps in the previous practice and broke a wheel, the reigning European Champion said ‘Like I said before the pace is there I just made a stupid mistake’. Asked about qualifying he replied, ‘I think all is ok for tomorrow’. While Coelho has kept his NT1 at the sharp end of the times, for reigning World Champion Alexander Hagberg he ends practice ranked 52nd. The Swede said, ‘At times I have a good feeling with the car but its still slow’. He continued, ‘I am hoping for a big turn around in qualifying’.
View complete event results here.
View the event image gallery here.