Kurzbuch finally delivers TQ run in Q4

After a difficult first day of qualifying in Japan, Top Seed Simon Kurzbuch finally delivered on his speed with the Mugen Seiki driver taking the TQ for the fourth round of 6 at the 1:8 Onroad World Championship.  The 2015 World Champion would be more than 1.4 seconds quicker than his closest rival Yuya Sahashi as the first of the day’s three qualifiers saw a number of drivers in the top have issues.  Infinity team-mates Jessie Davis and Naoto Matsukura were in the mix for a Top 3 run until they both ran out of fuel.  Having TQ’d the second round yesterday, Capricorn’s Toni Gruber would make a driver error and end his run early.  All this meant that running in the 3rd fastest heat Takaaki Shimo would complete the Top 3 for the round ahead of Dominic Greiner, Shoki Takahata and Dario Balestri.  Having TQ’d the final qualifier yesterday but having had poor results in the previous two, reigning World Champion Takahata described Q4 as a ‘safe run’ adding he would ‘push more’ in the next one.

‘A better day today, now we show what we wanted to show yesterday’, was Kurzbuch reaction to becoming the fourth different driver to TQ a round here at the Infinity International RC Speedway.  He continued, ‘It was a clean run, we were good with the fuel, it was a perfect run’.  With a best of a P4 from yesterday, he added, ‘there is a long way to go, this is one the first one of three we need’.  Asked about his Ielasi Tuned powered  MRX6X he said, ‘everything feels really good with the car and engine so there is no point to change anything.’

The older of the Sahashi brothers, Yuya was very happy with the balance of his IF18 III but said his engine lost power towards the end of the 4-minutes and this cost his a couple of tenths.  Asked the reason for the power loss he said the engine was set to lean.  Planning to use the same engine again in Q5, the 2015 Worlds Podium finisher said he will just change the plug and in terms of his car he is happy with this so he will leave it unchanged.

Finding himself in Group 10 of 12, Shimo admits this is adding to the challenge of getting a quick time.  The veteran Japanese driver had a bad start to qualifying yesterday when he broke an engine in Q1.  Finding a better set-up for Q2 despite drivers errors he would get a P8 and P10 in the following two rounds.  With his P3 this morning a confidence boost, he plans to push harder in the next one.

‘Not so bad, I’m safe in the Semi now with my points’, was Greiner’s reaction after Q4.  The former 1:10 World Champion said, ‘It is super close.  We are not the fastest, the others are faster but first you must finish and we have been doing that’.  Having started with a P2 in Q1, he explained, ‘We had a problem with the engine in the 2nd one but after checking it we decided to run it in Q3 but it was done’.  Today he tried a different body switching from the Xtreme Hyper Diablo to Super Diablo, but not sure it was any improvement he will switch back to the Hyper.  He concluded, ‘for a long run the car is OK so overall things are not too bad’.

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Takahata takes Q3 as Balestri holds overnight TQ

In a thrilling first day of qualifying at the 1:8 Onroad World Championship, Mugen Seiki’s Shoki Takahata has TQ’d the third round of qualifying becoming the third different driver/manufacturer combo to top the times in Japan.  The reigning World Champion capitalised on the cooling evening conditions to set the fastest time of the day ahead of Infinity’s Dario Balestri with Capricorn’s Toni Gruber completing the Top 3.  Opening qualifying with a TQ run, it is Balestri who holds the overnight TQ at Infinity International RC Speedway ahead of Gruber who topped the second round of qualifying.  With Takahata holding P7 in the ranking, his day not starting out well with a crash in Q1 and DNF in Q2, it is 17-year-old Kouki Kato who is the top Japanese driver sitting in third following an impressive second fastest time run in Q2.

After his issues in the first two qualifiers, him unable to finish both, Takahata summed his his Q3 performance as ‘perfect’.  The 29-year-old said driver errors caused his car to flip in Q1 and ‘fly’ in Q2 and so he was happy to finally deliver a strong final run of the day.  Changing manifold for the opening and again for Q2, the O.S Engines team driver switched from the MR03 to the MR02 for Q3 saying while he preferred the feeling of the MR03 he needed the better run time he got from the MR02.  Highlighting his improved fuel mileage, an issue that has plagued many drivers today, on completing his TQ run he was able to run almost a complete extra lap.  With his TQ run a confidence boost going into Day 2 of qualifying tomorrow, Takahata said he hopes for more of the same tomorrow.

‘Congrats to Shoki to be so fast.  He came from nowhere.  I know he is super fast and that he has been super quick here so welcome back’,  was Balestri’s reaction after the day’s concluding qualifier.  The Italian who lost his title to Takahata in the US in 2019, continued, ‘If there is one thing I can say about the race here is that all the cars start too close together.  It is very hard to follow so close to another car, it effects the aerodynamics.  Still I don’t know if I would still be as fast as Shoki.  We have to work on that for tomorrow’.

‘Overall it was a fast run but it was also faster for the other, I was a little too slow, I was not on point for the first minute’, that was Gruber’s thoughts on his third qualifying attempt.  He continued, ‘then I found my rhythm but I wasn’t carrying the same top speed as Dario and Shoki.  I think they were on new tyres, Dario for sure, so they could build more speed down the straight.  My car was reaching top speed early and going no more.  Still a 3rd at World Championship is OK but I want to be faster so lets see tomorrow what we can do.’

Running out of fuel while on a TQ run in the first one and suffering a number of flame outs in Q2 due to too low an idle setting, Kurzbuch said Q3 was ‘a safe run, we needed it’ adding, ‘It was a day to forget’.  Drafting his former Shepherd mechanic Alex Kempe in for this event to work alongside his father in the pits, the Swiss driver said, ‘We will finish up early today, recharge and get ready to go for tomorrow.  This was really not a good day for use with all our different issues’.

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Gruber takes 2nd qualifier at World Championship

In another dramatic qualifier at the 1:8 Onroad Worlds in Japan, Capricorn’s Toni Gruber took the second round TQ.  Having opened qualifying with a TQ run Dario Balestri wouldn’t even make the start of Q2, his engine expiring in the warm-up.  Having led Q1 until he ran out of fuel on the final lap, Simon Kurzbuch would flame out very early on and then when it looked like Naoto Matsukura was on for the TQ of the second round he too ran out of fuel.  All this allowed Gruber to take the TQ ahead of the Infinity of Kouki Kato and the Sahashi brothers who ran their times in the second fastest heat – Tadahiko faster than Yuya.  After a strong first qualifier, finishing P3, Jessie Davis was on for another Top 3 performance but trying to make a pass on Serpent’s Andrea Catanzani, the Italian made contact with the Infinity driver ruining both their qualifiers and earning Catanzani a time penalty.

‘It was really good for the points but not so good overall’, was Gruber’s reaction to taking the TQ for the round.  The German explained, ‘I miss a little bit of top speed and the shift (gearbox) was not so clean and I lost a few tenths.  I think the tyre this round was softer so with the wear it got smaller and that effected my top speed’.  He continued, ‘Naoto was closing behind me but something happened near the finish, I think he ran out fuel,  so I could get the TQ.  We need to see if the engine was not set right or if we had a problem with the gearbox’.

Summing up his impressive P2 run, 17-year-old Kato said, ‘I have a very good feeling with the car but in the first qualifier I was very nervous and I got fifth.  This time I was driving much better as I was more relaxed’.   His first 1:8 World Championship, the Japanese driver said that with his ‘car and engine good’ he will make no changes for the 3rd & final qualifier of the day adding he has ‘no problem with run time’.

Winner of the 1:8 World Championship a decade ago here in Japan, Tadahiko Sahashi reaction to his run was ‘it is getting better’.  The reigning 1:10 Onroad World Champion feels there is more to come from his IF18 III with the set-up still not exactly suiting his driving style.  Also suffering some traffic issues that cost him a few tenths of a second, he did admit he is close on fuel when it comes to making the 4-minutes run time.

Yuya Sahashi said he was happy with the balance of his car in Q2 and instead of making set-up changes to his car he will instead focus on his driving.  Saying he can make run time easy, one thing the 2015 Worlds Podium finisher said he wasn’t too happy with during the second qualifier was his clutch setting.  Looking to make it more aggressive, he will tighten it for the third round.

‘I was on for an easy TQ until the last lap, I lost 3-seconds’, was Matsukura take on the round.  A driver who could become only the third driver in the sport’s history to do the 1:8 & 1:10 Nitro Onroad double here at Infinity International RC Speedway this week,  he explained, ‘the bottom end was set to rich so the next one we will make it more lean which should get us to the 4-minutes.  The car is working great so just need to find half a lap more fuel’.

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