Orlowski takes penultimate qualifier at 1:12 Worlds

The overall Top Qualifier at the 21st running of the IFMAR 1:12 World Championship is to be decided in the final round after Schumacher’s Michal Orlowski took the penultimate round.  After crashing out of Q4 this morning, the 2020 Top Qualifier redeemed himself by putting down the fastest run of the event finishing ahead of Q4 winner Kemp Anderson by 1.6 second.  A starting order error, drivers called to start based on the results of Q4 instead of the overall qualification ranking, would see Anderson lead away the heat and the American, laying down the fastest lap, looked for a time that he might repeat his previous effort.  It wasn’t to happen however as entering into the final quarter of the run his pace faded considerably.  Having started from the back after his DNF, Orlowski took advantage to move to the top of the timing screen to take a TQ run that puts him in contention for pole position for tomorrow’s title deciding finals.  The only driver who could have wrapped up the overall TQ early, defending Champion Marc Rheinard could claim he fell foul of the starting order error as he had contact with Hayato Ishioka and needed to be marshalled having just passed the Japanese driver.  In the end he Rheinard would recover to P4 over 3-seconds off 2018 Champion Alexander Hagberg.

‘We changed the car and I was very happy with how it ran’, was how Orlowski summed up his second TQ run.  The Polish ace added, ‘It was a little sketch at the start but as I got used to the changes and my confidence after Q4 was not high but after a few laps it was all good’.   He continued, ‘It was a good battle with Kemp, I don’t know what happened to him at the end but I was happy to have the 1-second cushion’.  Having the advantage of the fastest TQ time, Orlowski said, ‘It is wide open and it’s going to be a good battle in the last one.  I will probably leave the car the same and stick with what I have.  I feel confident with it’.

Anderson said, ‘It started off good but was super loose at the end’.  Asked if he know what the problem was, the North American 1:12 Champion said, ‘I lost rear grip so we will re-evaluate and make a change for the last one’.

Reacting to his P3 run, Hagberg said, ‘Again I struggled a bit for the first minute so we didn’t solve the problem’.  The Swede continued, ‘It’s lacking steering so we will make it more aggressive and try hang on at the beginning’.  He concluded, ‘I think we are still fairly closer but we need to find something’.

Asked about his incident with Ishioka, Rheinard said, ‘The first problem is with IFMAR and the starting order.  I was all the way at the back because it was done off the last heat instead of the overall order’.   Catching and making contact with Ishioka’s Roche six laps in, the German ace said, ‘I hit the kerb a bit when I was passing him and he didn’t back off enough so he hit me’.  On his car, his best lap almost identical to Orlowski’s, he said, ‘It had a bit of understeer but it was still OK but hopefully we can make it better for the last one, we’ll see’.

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Anderson opens Day 2 of quali with TQ run

Having knocked on the door yesterday, Awesomatix’ Kemp Anderson finally delivered a TQ run as he opened Day 2 of qualifying at the 1:12 World Championship by topping Q4 ahead of Xray’s Alexander Hagberg.  Opening qualifying yesterday at Beachline Raceway with a TQ, Michal Orlowski would be one of two big retirements in the 4th of the 6 scheduled qualifier as the Schumacher driver broke his car a minute into the run.  Next to go was overnight TQ holder Marc Rheinard, the Awesomatix driver stripping a spur after riding curbs.  This left the battle between Anderson and Hagberg, the Swede closing on the American in the closing stages, the gap just under a second at the end of the 8-minutes.  Like Hagberg, getting promoted to the top heat grouping for Day 2, Donny Lia would run his fastest qualifier so far to complete the Top 3 ahead of fellow US racer Stuart Mason.

Laying down a new outright fastest TQ time, Anderson said his ‘car was really good’ but it was a tense run as he had to nurse the car to the finish after an early mistake.  The reigning ROAR 1:12 National Champion explained, ‘I had a small mistake at the first chicane and the spur gear was missing half a tooth so I had to drive conservative to finish the run’.  The 21-year-old continued, ‘Alex had a good run at the end but I was  able to hold on.’  Looking to the penultimate qualifier, he said, ‘I’ll just fit a new spur gear and run the car the same.  It is feeling really good now.  I just need to do what I just did two more times’.

Having run in the second fastest group heating after a tough start to the event here in Florida, Hagberg summed up Q4 as ‘really good’.  The record equalling European Champion said, ‘In the beginning the car was a handful up front and I had to back off the first minute but then it was really good and I was able to close on Kemp’.  For Q5 he said, ‘we need to work on the balance for the start and we’ll be right there’.  On being reseed into the top heat, having had traffic issues yesterday, he said, ‘It was definitely an advantage as I had no traffic but the big thing was I could pace against the top guys where as before I only had Donny to gauge against’.

Knocking out another P3 run to go with his one from Q2, Lia described his latest performance as ‘good’ but added ‘I just need to find some front grip’.  Organiser of the annual MonTech NYGP in New York, he said, ‘I think with more steering I will be able to drive the car not as hard and that should then help me to be more consistent.  The thing is finding more front grip without losing rear grip’.  A 1:12 specialist, Lia, who was a finalist the last time the World Championship was held in the US, said, ‘Marc and Kemp are both fast and consistent’.

Explaining his first DNF of the event, Orlowski said, ‘We made a change to the car for the morning practice and it was very loose so we came back a bit on the change for the qualifier but it was still too much and we had way too much steering.  When I crashed one of the screws on the rear pod sheared and I had to pull off’.   Rheinard said the spur gear is quite exposed on the Awesomatix and riding the curbs, as he has been doing, the angle was obviously enough for the contact that stripped the teeth.

In the Spec Class, Max Machler made it 3 from 4.  The overnight TQ holder, the Awesomatix driver became the first driver to go 39-laps over the 8-minutes.  Behind on 38-laps, Xray driver Robbie Dodge got a second for the round ahead the Awesomatix of Q3 winner Mark Stiles.

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Rheinard holds overnight TQ at 1:12 Worlds

With Day 1 of qualifying complete at the 1:12 World Championship, it is defending World Champion Marc Rheinard who holds the overnight TQ in Florida.  The Awesomatix driver wrapped up the day’s action at Beachline Raceway with by backing up his Q2 performance with a second TQ run in the third round.  Having taken Q1, Michal Orlowski was looking on target for repeat performance until he bounced his Schumacher off the boards promoting Rheinard to the top of the timing screens.  A strong recovery that even Rheinard admitted caught him off guard, would see the Pole getting to within 0.493 of a second by the end of the 8-minutes.  Overall the Polish ace holds second in the qualification points ahead of Kemp Anderson and Alexander Hagberg.  Hagberg would end the day with his best performance setting the 3rd fastest time and together with his two P4 runs from earlier, the former World Champion gets promoted up to the top heat grouping for Day 2 of qualifying.

While claiming another TQ run and pleased to be holding the overnight TQ, Rheinard again wasn’t happy with his own performance.  Chasing a third title in 1:12 to go with his 3 Electric Touring Car World titles, on Q3 the German said, ‘It was a horrible start.  I hit the curbs and went into the wall.  I was thinking ‘what are you doing’ and then it took me 3-4 laps before I got into my rhythm because I was pissed’.  Having heard the impact of Orlowski’s crash that handed him the lead just inside the half way point of the qualifier, he said he never expected him to recover so fast explaining, ‘I was in comfort mode and just trying to control the race to the end without any more mistakes.  When I heard he had close the gap to 1.3-second I went ‘Oh shit, and had to push again’.  Asked about his bad starts in Q2 & 3, Rheinard said he needs to look at his warm-up laps.  He said, ‘I am not even doing one lap so maybe I need to do another lap to get the tyres in the groove.  Michal does one really fast lap and a slow lap but I need to check my run time’.  Asked if run time is an issue he replied, ‘It seems ok but it’s kind of close’ adding, ‘when it goes it doesn’t slow down it just completely stops’.

Despite his mistake, Orlowski said, ‘I was happy to be so close to him in the end’.  Finishing 0.493 behind after losing 1.6-seconds on his tap out on lap 25, he said, ‘I pushed as hard as I could to catch Marc but the car was a little loose on one side after the crash’.  Asked about the crash, the impact echoing around the Beachline Raceway indoor venue, the 2020 World Championship Top Qualifier said, ‘I had a good lead but made a mistake at the chicane.  It’s a part of the track that is difficult for all of us’.  Looking to Day 2 of qualifying, 3 more rounds to be completed, Orlowski feels, ‘we need to find a little more to beat Marc’.

His best run in terms of ranking but a slower time than his opening qualifier, Hagberg said, ‘problems with traffic cost me time’.  He added, ‘the first two minutes were good but when Donny (Lia) crashed and I lost my concentration’.  Having made huge progress in Q2 posting a P3 Lia’s crash was one of the loudest of the day.  With the traffic and loss of concentration, on his lack of pace Hagberg said, ‘I don’t know if it was my driving or the car but we will look at something to get the car to maintain better pace to the end (of the heat)’.  On a positive the 8-time European Champion said, ‘I’m in the top heat tomorrow so don’t have to worry about traffic’.

Fourth fastest Kemp Anderson rounded out the day with a P4 run after a third in Q1 and second in Q2.  The leading US challenger here at the 21st running of the 1:12 Worlds said, ‘I’m happy to be sitting 3rd overall right now, we have 3 more goes to try and move up’.  On his Q3 performance he said, ‘The car was alright, it felt like it did in Q1 but I had a few driving errors.  We will work in the car and find more speed’.  Asked where he hoped to get the extra pace from he said, ‘It’s a little pushy still so we’ll try to get more steering but its a balance to keep the stability and not make the car more hard to drive’.

A multiple 1:12 Worlds finalist and finalists at last year’s Touring Car World Championship in Italy, Hayato Ishioka finally showed some form in the final qualifying.  Getting a fifth for the round, the Roche driver said they improved the car step by step over the day and much improve traction in Q3 has the Japanese driver feeling confident of a better Day 2 of qualifying.  Holding P7 overnight, he said they have found a good direction with the set-up today and that was reflected by his fastest lap of the day coming in Q3.

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