Hagberg tops final qualifier

Having set the pace in practice and then struggled in early qualifying Alexander Hagberg finally returned to form to take the 6th & final round of qualifying at the 1:12 World Championship in Florida. Posting the fastest 8-minute run of the event, the Xray driver just missed out on a 55-lap run by 1/10th of a second as he topped the time sheets by 2-seconds from Donny Lia. Having sat 7th in the overnight standings the TQ run will see the Swede start the A-Main from 4th on the grd behind Lia, Marc Rheinard and Top Qualifier Naoto Matsukura. Posting his best qualifier, Jilles Groskamp would ran the third fastest time of Q6 to go from sitting 21st overnight to securing his 6th consecutive 1:12 World Championship A-Main appearance, the 2012 podium finisher set to start 7th.

‘Really good’ was how Hagberg, who further improved on his fastet outright lap of the event with a 8.591 lap time, described his final qualifier. Having found his way again in the penultimate qualifier after tightening up the rear hub brace on his X12, the European Champion said the car was super easy to drive this morning. While he would lose a little traction towards the end of the run he is confident he has a good chance for the finals despite starting from fourth, adding mistakes are inevitable.

Having made a set-up change to his LRP speedo, Lia said it took him some time to get into the rhythm of the adjusted power band but once he did his Top Rebel felt really good. Admitting 3rd on the grid was more than he every thought possible he said just being in the A-Main on his World Championship debut was ‘awesome’. Liking very much the track layout and with his car working well he said his aim is to run three clean Mains and see what comes to him after that.

Groskamp said he had more traction today and while he lost some time having to open up for both Hagberg and Lia, he still doesn’t have the outright pace of the leaders. Happy to continue his run of Worlds A-Main starts that began here in Florida in 2004, he said starting 7th on the grid would probably make little difference as he predicts ‘a lot of carnage’ in the finals.

Recording the fourth fastest time defending champion & Top Qualifier Matsukura summed up his Q6 as ‘not good’, the Yokomo driver adding he had ‘many mistakes’. Pleased with his R12 C3.1, planning to run it as is for the first final, the 21-year-old said the track today ‘felt more aggressive’ to drive.

After hitting the board for a second time, Rheinard decided to pull off before he ‘destroyed the car’. The CRC driver was on a TQ before his first off saying his car was fast but more difficult to drive today. Starting from second on the grid, when asked about the main the German predicted ‘ugly finals’ saying mistakes on the tight track where going to cause pile ups so the race was pretty much wide open.

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Q5 Update – Rheinard TQs with new fastest time

The penultimate round of qualifying produced the first change at the top of the qualifying time-sheets at the 1:12 Worlds as Marc Rheinard set a new outright fastest pace with his CRC. With the overall TQ decided in the previous round after Naoto Matsukura completed a clean sweep of the opening four qualifiers, Round 5 would see the Yokomo driver retire after contact with team-mate Masatsugu Ido. Despite this Rheinard, who himself retired from Q4 with a broken car, found new form to better Matsukura’s best round by an impressive 6-seconds. Also finding form in Day 2’s closing round of action was Alexander Hagberg, the Xray driver also putting in a 53 lap run that bettered that of the defending champion. Impressing in Q4 with second, Donny Lia backed that up with third as he too broke into the 53 laps.

Having suffered a power drop off on his way to second in Q2 but only going half distance in Q3, Rheinard attributed his new speed to his second charge battery providing him with ‘punch’ for the entire 8-minutes. Also his cleanest round in terms of driving, the 3-time Touring Car World Champion, who holds provisional second on the grid, said for the final qualifier he will just try to repeat the same thing in the morning. Happy with how the car ran, the only change the German is planning is to fit a new Protoform AMR12 bodyshell, the front of his current one starting to be a bit shabby from some heavy contact with the boards over the day.

After a frustrating day having been unable to match the impressive pace he laid down in practice yesterday, Hagberg was finally able to break a smile with his Q5 run. Having ran the rear hub brace loose on his X12 yesterday when securing the top seeding position for qualifying, the Swede said he believed that in his struggle today tightening it would have compounded the issue but giving in to tightening it he said it returned the car to how it felt yesterday. Setting a new outright fastest lap, with a time of 8.699, he said with his confidence restored he hoped to be able to end qualifying with similar run which would help greatly in improving on his current provisional 7th in the qualification ranking.

Describing his first World Championship appearance as being ‘surreal’, local racer Lia said he is ‘thrilled’ to be in the A-Main and running with ‘World class’ drivers. Commenting on his Q5 performance, the TOP sponsored driver felt he drove too conservatively for the first few minutes leaving him to play catch up to Hagberg, the pair running in the second fastest heat following a re-sort after Q3. Really confident in his car he will try to run a faster pace from the start of the final qualifier.

Behind Kitazawa who posted the fourth fastest time, Q5 would see the best run from Team Associated with Keven Hebert and Juho Levanen both making the Top 6. Elsewhere unfortunately for Jilles Groskamp he had a repeat of the electrical issue he suffered in Q3. Sitting 21st in the overnight ranking, the pressure is now on for the 2010 runner-up to get a result in Q6 in order to make the A-Main. It was also a bad round for 2012 Runner-up Andy Moore who failed to complete the round and now has no chance of making the A-Main.

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