November 9, 2022

Greiner from Matsukura in Q2

It was a battle of the Champions in the second round of qualifying at the 1:10 Nitro Touring Car World Championship with 2016 winner Dominic Greiner posting the TQ run ahead of reigning Champion Naoto Matsukura. Leading out the cars for Q2, Q1 pace setter Jilles Groskamp was on for another strong run until he rolled and needing to be marshalled quickly putting him out of contention. Having done the same thing himself in Q1 ending up with a P7, Greiner’s run to the fastest time was not without its moments. The Top Seed used up a lot of his luck reserves as he did a 360 at the end of the straight somehow without hitting anything and also being avoided by the two cars following behind his Capricorn. Despite this Greiner would come back to take the TQ for the round by 1.6-seconds from Matsukura with Infinity team-mate Dario Balerstri completing the Top 3.

‘Almost good’, was how Greiner summed up the second of the six qualifying rounds. He continued, ‘I made a 360 at the end of the straight. I ran wide and drove on the white line and the car spun. I was lucky the other cars didn’t hit me’. A driver always striving for better he was pleased with how his reunion with pit man Thomas Gunsel, saying ‘I had a perfect pit stop’. Having flipped early in Q1, something he admitted after the second qualifier ‘was maybe a driver issue’, the German said, ‘I drove very calm and tried to be smooth on the sections the car can flip and then built up my speed over the qualifier’. Looking to Q3, which will bring the first day of qualifying to a close, he plans to ‘stay same with car’ as ‘hopefully for this one there will be less grip’.

Asked about his performance, Matsukura said, ‘it was not too bad. I had a little mistake, just a small driving error. The track was slower but still edgy so I tried to be smooth with my driving’. Happy with his car’s performance the World Champion over three different RC disciplines said, ‘my focus is to get the points today and then tomorrow I can push more’.

Balestri joked, ‘I just tried to survive on the track’.  Top Qualifier at the previous 1:10 World Championship encounter in Miami, he added, ‘I was super slow but had no flip’.  A driver chasing the double of 1:8 and 1:10 World Champion, he continued, ‘You really can’t push so I just try to get the points from each heat’.

Posting the fourth fastest time, Tadahiko Sahashi said he improved his car for Q2 having ‘flipped many times’ in the opening round.  Another driver who could potentially achieve the double here at RC Addict, the 2013 1:8 World Champion is finding today’s track conditions more tricky compared to yesterday when he topped the opening two rounds of seeding practice. The No.2 seed plans to make further set-up changes for Q3 as he continues to ‘chase the perfect set-up’.

P3 in the first round Jesse Davis took 5th on the second time of asking. Asked how his run was he replied, ‘It was a safe run, not really’. He explained, ‘I crashed one time when I touched the curb and flipped which damaged the rear shock tower so after that I just drove around safe after that’. Continuing he said, ‘I probably could have been 4th or 3rd for the round without the mistake but we’ll fit a new shock tower, and a new rear wing as I broke that too, and we’ll go again’.

Completing the Top 6, Takaaki Shimo said ‘the car is not bad today, yesterday it was super difficult’. Suffering one flip over the 7-minutes he said otherwise the run was OK. Asked if he planned further changes to his Infinity he said, ‘Maybe I will keep it the same and work instead on the driver’.

View our event image gallery here.

November 9, 2022

Groskamp takes Q1 in Bangkok

Jilles Goskamp has taken the opening round of qualifying at 2022 IFMAR 1:10 Nitro Touring Car World Championship in Bangkok, Thailand.  As we finally got down to the serious business of qualifying following 5 days of practice, the Infinity driver was fastest in the first of the six scheduled rounds. Behind Mugen’s Shoki Takahata was closest, followed by Jesse Davis, the latter making a big improvement on the form he produced in practice.  Reigning Champion Naoto Matsukura would open his title defence with a P4 despite an engine cut during his fuel stop with team-mates Dario Balestri and Takaaki Shimo completing.  Having topped seeding and leading the fastest heat out of pit lane for the first qualifier, Dominic Greiner would traction roll early on, damaging his car, resulting in him flipping twice more.  In the end the 2016 Champion come out of Q1 with a P7.

‘I’m really happy to take the first round, it lifts the pressure for the rest of qualifying’,  was Groskamp’s reaction to his TQ run.  The veteran Dutch driver continued, ‘I just thought I would put a safe run in cause I could see Dominic pull away at the beginning.  Then he flipped but I could see Dario was coming but then he flipped. I thought I could go a little quicker if I push harder but then maybe I flip too.’  He concluded, ‘It’s a good start’.

Asked about his run and if he had any issues, the question sent the Mugen pit area into laughter.  Speaking through an interpreter, Takahata explained that he started the warm-up having forgotten to tighten his engine screws.  Loosing warm-up track time as the school boy error was rectified, he said he had to be a little more cautious at the start of the qualifier as his tyres weren’t fully broken in.  Despite his issue, the reigning 1:8 World Champion was pretty pleased to come away with P2.  A clean 7-minute run, he is confident he has more to come for the next one.

Running in the second fastest heat having ended up 15th in seeding, asked about his new found form Davis replied ‘the car his completely different today’.  He explained, ‘the first day of practice was good but then the sun came and I struggled to get steering.  Last night I spoke to Jilles (Groskamp) and we figured things out. The car feels comfortable now’.  In terms of the run, he chunked a tyre in the warm-up and then during his fuel stop he touch the wall and also got over fuelled with the fuel getting on the gearbox and leaving him with out second gear for a lap. Despite this, the Australian was happy to show good pace and said the aim is a Top 6 for Q2.

Matsukura said his ‘car was very good’ and ‘easy to drive’ and he feels without his fuel stop issue he could have been very close to team-mate Groskamp.  ‘I lost 2-seconds with the engine cut and I think without this I could fight for the top spot.  It was a very good start’.  Asked about his engine, he said it was his own error in timing with the throttle during the refuelling.

Having described the unique conditions of the RC Addict track yesterday as ‘the most difficult conditions’ he has experienced, Balestri said it is ‘super hard to manage the car in the shade’.  With the front part of the track shaded while the hot sun is on the rest of the track, the change in traction caught out the Italian as he flipped during the run.  For Q2 he is hoping for more even sun coverage of the track.

On his P7 result, Greiner explained, ‘I hit the steel barrier when I flipped and it damaged the car’.  With the rear aluminium bulk head missing a chuck out of it, he said the car was really difficult after that, leading to him putting it on its roof two more times.  Like Balestri, he said in the shaded parts of the track it is ‘super tricky’ as the car just has ‘too much steering’.  Having checked the chassis plate he is confident it is still ok and a rebuilt of the back end should fix things for Q2.

View our event image gallery here.

November 8, 2022

Video – Final Seeding Practice

Action the final round of seeding practice at the 2022 IFMAR 1:10 Nitro World Championship in which Dominic Greiner was able to post the fastest time and become Top Seed for qualifying which starts tomorrow (Wednesday).

November 8, 2022

Chassis Focus – Shoki Takahata

Chassis – Mugen MTX-7
Motor – OS Speed T1204
Fuel (handout) – Maxima
Tires (handout) – HotRace
Radio/Servos – Sanwa/Sanwa
Body – Xtreme CZ1

Image Gallery

November 8, 2022

Greiner is Top Seed in Thailand

Dominic Greiner is the top seed for qualifying at the 1:10 Nitro World Championship in Thailand. The Capricorn posting the fastest time of the day in the fourth & final round of seeding practice.  Ending yesterday’s controlled practice at the top of the time sheets, the German found himself only P9 as the seeding got underway this morning at the challenging RC Addict track.  Improving to fourth in the second round, he would make his mark on the second half of the day topping the remaining two rounds with his fastest 3-consecutive laps of the day in Round 2 giving him the tie-breaker over Tadahiko Sahashi.  Fastest in the opening two rounds, Sahashi lost his edge as the track traction came up, his best 3-laps on his final attempt being 6/10th off that of Greiner.  The most consistent driver of the day, Jilles Groskamp completed the day with the 3rd fastest time and that is where he is seeded for qualifying thanks to his second fastest times in the earlier three runs.  Posting P4 runs in the final two rounds, Mugen’s Shoki Takahata will carry the No.4 in the top heat while a strong final round for Dario Balestri lifted him from 11th to 5th in the final ranking.  An impressive performance from Milan Holthuis sees the young Dutch driver in the top heat as the 6th seed just ahead of reigning champion Naoto Matsukura.

Summing up his performance in the final practice, his closest rival Dario Balestri being 4/10ths off over the 3-laps,  Greiner said, ‘It was like yesterday’s last run, again the car had too little steering but it was still fast and super easy to drive’.  Having changed his car after the final controlled practice in search of more steering that resulted in a car with too much steering in the first seeding run of this morning.  Based on this experience, the former World Champion intends to leave the car unchanged saying, ‘this set-up is good for the first qualifier’.  With the focus now turning to 7-minute runs for qualifying, Greiner believes he has the consistency. With a fuel stop required, he added that choosing the right time to refuel so as to have a clear pit lane would be an important aspect of the qualifying.

Sahashi said for the final practice his car was ‘a little bit difficult’ to drive.  Describing the track as ‘high bit’, he said he had to ‘drive so careful not to flip’.  Finding the morning conditions suiting his car better, the former 1:8 World Champion is confident he will have a good car for Q1, three rounds of qualifying on the timetable for Day 1 of qualifying.

‘It was close with the other guys but my tyres came in later than the others.  I need to work on getting the (handout) tyres more broken in before the start’, said Groskamp about the final practice.  With drivers getting a 4-minute warm-up before the start of their qualifiers, he continued, ‘The pace is good and the car doesn’t flip.  I drove together with Dominic and we have the same speed.  The car and me are consistent, so let’s see what happens tomorrow’.

Being one of a number of drivers to flip off the track during the final seeding round, Takahata replied, ‘so, so’ when asked if he felt ready for qualifying.  The reigning 1:8 World Champion said his MTX-7 is ‘working good’ but admitted it was ‘also easy to flip’.  Feeling the track is the biggest and totally uncontrollable factor here in Bangkok he hopes to be able to use the experience he gained throughout practice to adapt the car to the conditions.

‘Finally and just in time’, was the reaction of a relieved looking Balestri after posting the second fastest time in the concluding round of practice.  He continued, ‘I tried everything and found something’.  Asked what was the biggest thing he improved on the car, he said it was having the right sway bar set-up for the conditions.  ‘The track changes every run. It is not easy to drive here as you are fighting the limits always. It is the most difficult conditions I have experienced’.

Having opened the day with an impressive P3 but then dropped well down the other in Rounds 2 & 3 before coming back with a P7 in the last one, Holthuis explained his mid day slump.  ‘In the second one a screw came out in the gearbox so I have no warm-up and in the third one I had an issue with the engine which is OK now.  The last one there was no problems so I was able to get another good run’.  Asked his approach for qualifying, he said, ‘Just drive steady because a lot of people flip, myself included, I flipped twice on the last one.  It is all about being consistent’.

View our event image gallery here.

November 8, 2022

Chassis Focus – Dario Balestri

Chassis – Infinity IF15 prototype
Motor – MaxPower Quadrifoglio
Fuel (handout) – Maxima
Tires (handout) – HotRace
Radio/Servos – Sanwa/Savox
Body – Xtreme CZ1

Image Gallery