Chassis: ARC R8.4
Engine: Hasi Tuned Japan 2023
Exhaust: Hasi Tuned 04 /EFRA 2174
Radio: Sanwa EXZES Z
Servos (Steering/Throttle): Savox Monster Prototype / Savox SB-2265mg
Body: Xtreme Diablo
Tires (handout): Matrix
Fuel (handout): Maxima
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Infinity’s Dario Balestri has TQ’d the opening round of qualifying at the IFMAR 1:8 Onroad World Championship in Japan. Top Qualifier at the last Worlds in 2019, the Italian took the round ahead of Capricorn’s Dominic Greiner as Simon Kurzbuch ran out of fuel on his last lap. The Top Seed after timed practice Kurzbuch looked to be carrying that form into Day 1 of qualifying but having admitted yesterday that the 4-minute run time would be close, this morning it was to cost him the TQ run. Having hinted at his pace in the final practice when he was fourth fastest, Infinity’s Jessie Davis would complete the Top 3 for the first of the 6 rounds of qualifying 0.579 ahead of Toni Gruber. One of the four drivers to top timed practice yesterday, Naoto Matsukura didn’t have a good start to qualifying as he needed to pit after the first 1-minute to have his engine tuned.
The number 3 seed for qualifying, Balestri was much happier with his car set-up today saying, ‘We seem to get the balance good again this morning and so we could get back to work. I had some trouble at the end with traffic but at the end the result was good’. The 2017 World Champion continued, ‘Like I told you yesterday I was confident with the fuel and I could do 2-laps more. This is good for the finals’. Looking to Q2, three rounds of qualifying on today’s schedule, he said he only plans to ‘just adjust the engine a little bit’ but leave the car unchanged.
Running in the second fastest heat having ended up 11th in seeding, an upbeat Greiner summed up Q1 with ‘It was good’. Having struggled with tyre consistency in controlled practice, the German driver said with more consistent tyres in timed practice they found their way with the set-up ending the day with a P6 run over 3-consecutive laps. A confidence boost ahead of qualifying, he said, ‘long distance is always better for me than 3-laps and over 4-minutes it felt good, so I knew we could go well today’. Making a small change to his car for Q1, he said ‘it was not better’ and he will go back to the previous set-up for Q2. Asked about run time, the former 1:10 World Champion said, ‘I made an extra lap so it looks good, it was better than expected’.
‘A good solid first run’, was Davis’ reaction to his P3 for Q1. The Australian, who started 3rd on the grid at the last Worlds in the US, said he knew yesterday he had good car and four minute pace so he ‘just put in a good engine for today and made fuel’. An O.S Engines team driver, he said, ‘I got an extra lap so we are pretty set for fuel’. For his next qualifier he plans to leave his IF18 III the same adding ‘hopefully I’ll have better traffic this run’.
Gruber summed up his opening P4 effort as ‘overall not a bad run’. The newly crowned 1:8 GT World Champion continued, ‘for sure it was difficult to know how the fuel is so I drive a little easy but everything worked’. He would have a last lap moment that cost him a potential Top 3 but explained, ‘Simon ran out of fuel and was on the racing line, Dario was right behind me so I opened the door for him to save my run’. Looking to Q2 he said, ‘we had a lot of fuel left so I can push a little bit more now that we know the fuel consumption. I also hope for no traffic.’
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Chassis: Infinity IF18 III
Engine: O.S R2105
Exhaust: O.S TR02 – EFRA 2165
Radio: Sanwa M17
Servos (Steering/Throttle): N/A
Body: Xtreme Hyper
Tires (handout): Matrix
Fuel (handout): O.S Nitrox
Notes:
Tadahiko is running two prototype parts on his IF18 III. At the front the car is fitted with upper aluminium knuckles, while at the rear he is using a smaller 6mm anti-rollbar.
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Simon Kurzbuch is the Top Seed at the IFMAR 1:8 Onroad World Championship, the Mugen Seiki driver setting the fastest 3-consecutive laps of the day in the fourth & final round of timed practice in a great battle with Capricorn’s Toni Gruber. The duo swapped position at the top of the timing screens, their engine tuner Daniele Ielasi finding it hard to keep up with which of drivers was currently fastest, but at the end of the 7-minutes it was Kurzbuch who was 2/10ths faster than Gruber. That time would give the very much back in form 2015 World Champion the tiebreaker in the final seeding points ranking as himself and Gruber both count a P1 & P2 each. Fastest in the second round, Infinity’s Naoto Matsukura would put himself out of contention for the confidence boosting Top Seed status when he crashed out just before the final 2 and a half minutes of the run which is when the times start to tumble. Another contender, having topped Round 3, Dario Balestri could not match the lead pace and finished with the third fastest time just ahead of Infinity team-mate Jesse Davis. Overall that would seed Balestri third.
‘It was really good, finally! The one before was not my best run due to my driving error but now I am really, really happy’, was how Kurzbuch summed up the final practice. The Swiss ace continued, ‘the car is good and my engine was amazing and I made everything right on the driving side. Top Seed feels a good way to start into qualifying’. With the attention now turning to 4-minute runs for qualifying, asked if he had any concerns about the qualifying run time his response was, ‘I think it is really tight for everyone. We will need to manage it over the run and have a good feeling for the engine limits to ensure you get to the 4-minutes’.
‘I have a sad face and a happy face’, was Gruber’s reaction to his performance. He continued, ‘We could see from the two groups before us that the track is fast and I wanted to see for myself where we are on a fast track. We tested a new engine so we needed a little extra time to get that set correct and I was also on new tyres which need time to break in. I thought I had done enough as I heard I was fastest but then Simon got me with a faster time. This way I’m not so happy. But when I look at the gang of drivers behind it was still a good performance’.
Commenting on his performance, Balestri made it clear he feels he has some catching up to do to run with Kurzbuch and Gruber. The Italian said, ‘we still need to find something in the set-up.’ He continued, ‘an important thing is we break in tyres today so that we have set ready for every round of qualifying’. Asked about run time and if he would have to manage his driving style to make the 4-minutes, the back to back reigning European Champion replied with a confused look, ‘No, run time is no problem so no need’. Surprised to hear other drivers believe it will be tight to the finish, the Max Power Engines driver said, ‘It is no problem for us to go more than 4-minute’.
Explaining his crash Matsukura said, ‘I had done two good laps but pushed a little too much and then crashed. I have made many mistakes at the same spot so it something I need to fix for tomorrow’. Ending up fourth seed ahead of defending World Champion Shoki Takahata, he is confident that he has a car he can challenge with and a good engine to power it having put that aside after topping second practice. He shared the concerns of Kurzbuch on run time saying it is going to be ‘super close’ meaning we might see a repeat of the opening round of qualifying at the 1:8 GT World Championships when lots of driver came to halt on their final lap.
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Chassis: Serpent 990
Engine: Max Power RP9
Exhaust: Max Power – EFRA 2164
Radio: Sanwa M17
Servos (Steering/Throttle): Sanwa XR2 / XR2
Body: Blitz Speed
Tires (handout): Matrix
Fuel (handout): Maxima
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With three rounds of seeding complete at the 1:8 Onroad World Championship, three different drivers have topped the times with Infinity’s Dario Balestri the latest driver to top the times in Japan. Toni Gruber kicked off the first day that counts for anything when he took the opening timed practice but an hour & a half later Naoto Matsukura took the round with an even faster 3-consecutive laps. With ranking points from the drivers best two of four rounds determining the heat groups for qualifying tomorrow, Balestri threw his hat in the ring for the Top Seed honours when he went fastest in the third round, track conditions slowing due to the hotter midday temperatures. The latest round would also see reigning World Champion Shoki Takahata have his run so far as he posted a P3 run behind Mugen Seiki team-mate Simon Kurzbuch who was very lucky to survive a driver error during the 7-minute practice.
Having felt his engine being too rich had cost him a better time in the first run of the day, Matsukura put that right in the second round using the same engine to run a time of 40.912 bettering Gruber’s time by 0.007 of a second! A multiple World Champion of the sport, the Infinity driver would swap out that engine after the run saying, ‘we will keep this one for qualifying’. With a different engine in his IF18 III he would end up only 8th fastest in third round saying, ‘the bottom end was not good’. With another engine for the final seeding round, he said the car is ‘very good’ and its just about getting engines sorted for qualifying, drivers getting 6 rounds over 2-days.
‘I’m following the conditions, they change a lot’, was Balestri’s reaction to his third round fastest run. Explaining that with the temperature rising the track naturally loses grip, the Italian continued, ‘the set-up has changed almost completely. Before we need steering and now we need traction. It is really, really, changing a lot’. The lower grip is reflected in his 41.108 time for the round.
Third fastest for the opening round but only 7th in the next one, Kurzbuch said the run was not so good due to a bad engine setting. With the engine ‘really good’ for Round 3 and the car also really good he said ‘more was possible’ if it wasn’t for his ‘driver error’. Crashing at the end of the straight with his car ending upside down in the racing line and somehow everyone avoid him, the Swiss driver explained, ‘I went to far on the inside and then the car took off. I was very lucky no one hit me on the track’. Despite his scare, Race Director Scotty Ernst warning drivers over the PA and complimenting Dominic Greiner for good marshalling and recovering the car, the former World Champion is confident for Day 1 of qualifying say, ‘everything is set for tomorrow’.
Pleased with his first two runs, Gruber explained that for his latest practice he ‘tried something for qualifying and it was not so good’. Also trying a different engine it was not as good as the previous one. Asked in what way it was not as good, the German said, ‘It was just a little down on pace, not as strong as the other one, and when everyone is this close on pace it’s the little things that are important.’ In a common theme among most of the top drivers, he will try yet another engine in the fourth & final timed practice.
Making a good first attempt at trying to talk to us in English for the first time without having one of the O.S engines representatives translate for him, Takahata said he is still working on engines and optimising the power available to him. Happy with his Mugen’s chassis set up, the Japanese driver has been improve this each round highlighted by his improvement in results of the day.
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