Matsukura cruises to victory in opening A-Main

Defending 1:12 World Champion Naoto Matsukura made it look easy as he cruised to a very convincing victory in the first leg of the A-Mains here in Burgdorf.  The Top Qualifier led from start to finish winning by almost 5 seconds from Marc Rheinard to move a step closer to retaining the title he won 2-years in Bangkok, Thailand.  The young Japanese ace made the race look like a formality but afterwards admitted he was very nervous for the opening part of the race finding it hard to run a tight line, but as he opened up a gap over the chasing pack he was able to relax and get into his regular rhythm.

Rheinard was the only driver who looked like he might be able to take the chase to Matsukura but that quickly faded as he fell 3.7 adrift by the mid way point.  The German, who will defend his Touring Car World title later this week, said a lack of traction meant he was unable to do anything about the pace of the 16-year-old, something he is putting down to a bad set of tyres.

One man who really should buy a lottery ticket this evening is American Paul Lemieux. Having just scraped into the final this morning, the RC America driver took his Xray from 10th on the grid to 3rd by the end of the 8 minutes.  Battling hard with his fellow countryman Josh Cyrul for the position, Lemieux got third as Cyrul crashed, with 30 seconds to go, into the foot of a marshal who was recovering Ronald Volker’s dead car which had come to a halt on the racing line.  Speaking about the incident Cyrul said this was typical luck for him. Recovering, the US Champion eventually crossed the line in 5th position behind the Corally of Finland’s Simo Ahoniemi and ahead of Elliot Harper.

The first big casualty of the race was CRC’s Jilles Groskamp. The Dutch driver was running third but pushed too hard in an attempt keep pace with the top 2.  Hitting a board he broke a rear wheel bringing his race to an end after just 3 laps.  With Groskamp gone Volker held the third spot but 2 laps from home his race came to a sudden stop after the end bell came off his motor after fairly light contact with the boards leaving him with no drive.

A-main leg 1 results
1. Matsukura Naoto – 36 8:04.210
2. Rheinard Marc – 36 8:09.113
3. Lemieux Paul – 35 8:00.051
4. Ahoniemi Simo – 35 8:00.817
5. Cyrul Josh – 35 8:03.458
6. Harper Elliot – 35 8:05.755
7. Hebert Keven – 35 8:08.410
8. Völker Ronald – 33 7:29.016
9. Fischer Marc – 22 5:06.816
10.Groskamp Jilles – 1 0:19.528

Full results can be found here.

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World Champion Matsukura to defend title from pole

1:12 World Champion Naoto Matsukura is to defend his title from pole position later here today in Burgdorf, Germany despite Marc Rheinard setting the fastest 8-minute run of the event in the final round of qualifying this morning. With drivers best two times being added together to determine the grid, Matsukura, who topped 4 of the 6 qualifiers, took the TQ honours by just over three seconds from Rheinard. For the majority of the front runners this morning’s qualifier was their quickest run of the event with only Matsukura, Ronald Volker and Andy Moore failing to improve.  Matsukura was again the pace setter in terms of outright speed recording the fastest lap but the Japanese youngster made a number of mistakes.

Rheinard said his Associated was easier to drive this morning and second place on the grid was the best he could of hoped for due to Matsukura’s distinct advantage in yesterday’s qualifiers.  The German who missed out on a podium at the last World Championships when he finished fourth, said that without mistakes it is going to be hard to challenge the pole sitter as he is especially fast over the opening minutes of the race.

Jilles Groskamp will start third on the grid for the final as the lead CRC driver, the American manufacturer getting two cars in the final with Elliot Harper joining him on the grid.  Groskamp said he was surprised to take third and feels it is good having Rheinard starting second as he is the only one who can challenge Matsukura.  If the two battle this should allow the rest of the field to stay in touch.  15th in Thailand, Harper said his aim for 1:12 was just to better that result and he is delighted to have made the big race.  Starting from 9th the English teenager said he can just enjoy the 3-leg final.

Matsukura’s team-mate Volker was disappointed to drop from second to fourth on the grid after he really struggled with his car this morning.  The German National Champion hopes he can get it sorted in the practice final and said the important thing in the actual finals will be to come out clean after the first lap.

Making his third 1:12 Worlds Final appearance, factory Corally driver Simo Ahonoemi will line up fifth on the grid. The Finnish National Champion said he was very happy to be in the final but feels starting from the middle of the pack is not the best place to be but he plans to give it his best shot aiming to better his previous best Worlds finish of 7th.  Making it two SPX in the final Marc Fisher had a great final qualifier and will line-up 7th on the grid.  The German switched from a Black Art to a Protoform AMR bodyshell and said it made the car much easy to drive along with giving better rear traction.

Between the two Corally’s is American Josh Cyrul who said it was just luck that got him into 6th on the grid.  Driving his own CEFX creation, the US National Champion said he has been struggling with the car and other were faster but he is quite happy to take the place. A total of three ROAR drivers have made it into the final with Canadian Keven Hebert lining up 8th and Xray’s Paul Lemieux completing that all important Top 10.  For factory Associated driver Hebert this is his first attempt at the 1:12 World’s and he’s in the final. He hopes that if he keeps his head in the race he can come away with a good result. Lemieux was speechless at making the A-main having been classified 19th going into the last qualifier.

Claiming the dreaded BQ honours is 2008 World Championship Runner-up Juho Levanen.  The factory Team Associated driver would have qualified sixth for the A-Main after a strong run this morning but having been late to marshal yesterday he was penalised with the loose of his fastest round and so he ended up 11th.  Another 2008 Finalist joining him in the B Final will be Andy Moore, who starts 2nd, after he crashed out in this mornings rocket round.  The British driver who was on a personal TQ run said he had bigger accidents without doing damage but on this occassion his privately entered Associated broke a side link costing him a place in the big race.

Final qualifiers
1. Matsukura Naoto (Yokomo/Nosram) – 74 16:12.612
2. Rheinard Marc (Associated/Speed Passion) – 74 16:15.874
3. Groskamp Jilles (CRC/Team Orion) – 74 16:21.488
4. Völker Ronald (Associated/LRP) – 74 16:22.734
5. Ahoniemi Simo (Corally/GM) – 73 16:08.781
6. Cyrul Josh (CEFX/Speed Passion) – 73 16:11.950
7. Fischer Marc (Corally/GM) – 73 16:13.015
8. Hebert Keven (Associated/LRP) – 73 16:13.481
9. Harper Elliot (CRC/Speed Passion) – 73 16:15.372
10.Lemieux Paul (Xray/Trinity) – 73 16:21.897

Full results can be found here.

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Matsukura’s domination ends as Rheinard tops Q5

An exciting penultimate round of qualifying has brought Day 2 of the IFMAR 1:12 World Championships to a close with Marc Rheinard topping Q5 to end the domination of defending Champion Naoto Matsukura.  Rheinard was the only driver to record 37 laps for the round which saw the overnight Top 3 qualifiers all make mistakes.

Matsukura was holding a very slight margin over both Rheinard and Ronald Volker but just after the 2 minute 30 mark got his R12 airborne after clipping a corner marker.  Landing facing in the wrong direction, right on the racing line, he was collected by his Yokomo team-mate Volker. Both recovered just in front of Rheinard on the track but dropped behind him on the timing screen.  A lap later Volker made a mistake himself allowing Matsukura back through but he could do nothing about Rheinard despite the Touring Car World Champion losing almost 3 seconds when he crashed with just 25 seconds left to run on the clock.

Without the late error Rheinard was on target for his best run of the five qualifiers despite saying afterwards his car was hard to drive.  Missing out on his best time by 1.3 second, he said his Speed Passion powered Associated was tweaked from the start causing it to be loose through right hand corners.

For the round it was Andy Moore who was second fastest as he recorded his best run of the day. Running in the second fastest group of heats he just missed out on a 37 lapper pipping European Touring Car Champion Jilles Groskamp by 13/100th. Pleased with the run, Moore said he was hanging on to the car at the end of the run as he continues to struggle to find a set-up that makes the car work for the second have of the 8-minutes.

Although he pulled up early, Volker said his car was really good in Q5 and that he was very happy with his pace.  After his clash with Matsukura he said he lost his rhythm and this caused him to make a number of mistakes and trying make back up the time he started to drove too aggressively.  Asked about whether he felt he could deny Matsukura pole he said it’s not impossible but he would be happy enough starting tomorrow afternoon’s finals from second.

The other driver on form in the final qualifier was Keven Hebert. The factory Associated driver said his Reedy powered RC12R5 has been working well all day and it is his driving that has been letting him down.  The Canadian recorded his best qualifying with the sixth fastest time in Q5 but said he still needs to run the full 8-minute without any mistakes.

A podium finisher at the last Worlds in Thailand, one man having a terrible day is versatile Austrian ace Hupo Honigl.  The IIC 1:12 Champion is struggling with set-up on his CRC Gen-X describing it as like driving a hovercraft.  Recording his best run in the days final qualifier it was still only 19th fastest overall leaving him facing a big challenge for tomorrow’s sixth & last heat.  Honigl hopes a good night’s sleep will give him a clear head for the morning when the track is expected to be super fast.  With a driver’s fastest two times from the 6 heats added together to determine the grid, Honigl said making the final is still very possible as only four drivers having managed a 37 lap run.

Full results can be found here.

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