Akio completes quali clean sweep, Groskamp to start 2nd

Having wrapped up the overall TQ in the penultimate round of qualifying at the 2020 TITC, Akio Sobue has gone on to complete the clean sweep by making it four out of four in the final round.  Having topped seeding on Thursday, the Infinity driver has maintained a distinct advantage over his rivals taking the final qualifier ahead of fellow countryman & new for 2020 team-mate Ryosuke Yamamoto, his advantage once again a commanding 3-seconds. With Naoto Matsukura getting up on two wheels during his final attempt, Jilles Groskamp would hold onto his second place starting position, the Dutch driver finishing 3rd ahead of Naoto in the weekend’s fastest heat.  Meen Vejrak again managed a Top 5 run and the fastest lap of Q4, Day 2 of qualifying going much better than yesterday, and with that result the Yokomo driver will line-up 6th for tomorrow’s A-Mains when four Yokomos will go up against six Infinitys.

Commenting on his clean sweep, Akio said, ‘I went with the same set-up as the last controlled practice but now it was a little loose.  It had good pace but it was difficult to drive’.  Asked about tomorrow’s finals, the 2018 Champion replied, ‘It all looks good for tomorrow. My car still has better pace than the other cars’.

‘I got my P2 (on grid) so I’m happy with that’, was Groskamp’s reaction after Q4.  On his final qualifier, the 2012 World Champion said, ‘I had a few moments when the car got loose in the sweeper but I was able to catch back up to second (in the heat).  The track conditions were crazy different again so it was hard to tell exactly what set-up changes are doing but I think I might go back to the set-up I was running in Q1 and Q2’.  On his chances for the final, the Infinity driver said, ‘the gap is still there to Akio so I’m happy to settle for second but I’m going to have to fight for it with Naoto’.

Summing up his Q4 performance, Matsukura said, ‘the car was better than before but still not close to Akio, the track was also better for this one.  One time I went on the curb too much and almost flipped. That made me lose my rhythm and hade a few moments so I lost about 1-second in total’.  Starting 3rd on the grid, last year’s runner-up said, ‘It will be difficult to win.  I have to pass Jilles and then Akio and he is very fast but I will still do my best to try and get the win’.

After impressing in the opening qualifier with a P4 but then dropping off a little in Q2, Yamamoto put his impressive P2 in the final qualifier down to both an improved set-up for the conditions and being more relaxed.  Suffering slightly from nerves after his strong start to qualifying, the 20-year-old ran a softer front spring on his IF14-II for the final qualifier and having already locked himself in to the A-Main on his TITC debut he could drive with no pressure.

Demoted to 5th on the grid by Yamamoto, Viktor Wilck said, ‘I can’t find a middle point.  The car is either too loose or too stable.  I went with the wrong set-ups today. I should have run this set-up in the morning and the morning set-up in the evening.  It’s a little frustrating.  Still overall it’s a good result for the team and the new car.  We will see what I can do in the final’.

Setting a marginally faster best lap time than Sobue in the final qualifier, Vejrak said, ‘I am really happy with the last one.  I feel the car can come back into the game except against Akio who is really fast’.  He continued, ‘I had the best lap for the last one which is promising but I need to improve the car more for tomorrow. I need more overall grip but finding it is not easy. When it is hot the car is ok and the drop (in performance over the 5-mins) is OK’.  Asked about the layout in terms of racing for track position, the Thai driver said, ‘It is not a difficult layout but it is fast so it could be difficult to pass and I also have all Infinity drivers in front of me’.

In the Open Class, Austria’s Dominic Vogl is the Top Qualifier.  Having returned after making his TITC debut at the Infinity Addict Circuit last year, the Awesomatix driver came back from destroying his car in Q3 to TQ the final round in a car prepared for him by Australian team driver Ryan Maker.  Explaining his crash on his warm-up lap, he said, ‘I was running rear, rear tyres and maybe needed to be more patient warming up the tyres.  The car was destroyed so Ryan prepare a car for me fitted with the geardiff from my car and my set-up and it was much better’. Starting tomorrow’s A-Main ahead of Zero Tribe driver Kriengsak Suttiprawat, Infinity’s Trin T and Serpent’s Bowie Ginting, he said, ‘I will go with lighter oil in the geardiff and be more patient at the start, then it should be fine. From the middle to the end I should be fine, but at the start Suttiprawat can challenge me’.

View our event image gallery here.

Sobue is Top Qualifier at 2020 TITC

Akio Sobue is the Top Qualifier at the 2020 TITC, the Infinity driver locking up pole position at the 18th running of Asia’s premiere touring car event when he opened Day 2 of qualifying with yet another TQ run.  The 2018 Champion, who took that victory from 4th on the grid, made it three from three in the penultimate round of qualifying at the Infinity Addict Circuit, this time ahead of team-mate Naoto Matsukura.  The only other driver to complete 20-laps in the much hotter afternoon conditions, the former World Champion was over 3-seconds back despite a less than perfect 5-minutes from Sobue. Viktor Wilck completed the Top 3 for the round by just 2/10ths of a second from Jilles Groskamp while Yokomo’s Meen Vejrak enjoyed his best qualifying result so far to breaking up an all Infinity Top 6 with P5.  Behind the Thai driver TITC debutant Ryosuke Yamamoto set the sixth fastest time ahead of the Yokomo’s of Nicholas Lee and Hayato Ishioka.

Reacting to his first TITC TQ, Akio said, ‘I’m really happy that on our first race with the IF14-II we are putting in a good showing for the new car’.  He continued, ‘the conditions (for Q3) meant lower traction but the balance of my car was still good.  After 3-minutes again everyone dropped off but my car was good for 5-minutes.  The only problem I had was that I had an overshoot a few times’.  Asked about the fourth & final qualifier, the Japanese driver said, ‘I will freshen up the car for Q4 and make a small set-up change, it will be a really small change I want to try’.

Summing up his latest qualifying attempt, Matsukura said, ‘I changed a little the set-up because today the traction is not so good and it is a little windy but I still found my car a little loose to drive’.  With the chance to TQ gone, last year’s runner-up behind the absent Alexander Hagberg continued, ‘I will now chase P2 on the grid.  In the points I am showing 3rd but if I can get a second with a faster time then I can take second from Jilles.  The next qualifying is at five forty something so for sure there will be more traction and it will be rocket round.  I will make a set-up change to suit the conditions’.

‘I changed the set-up but it was too stable’, was Wilck’s view of his Q3 time.  The Swede continued, ‘the change meant the drop off was not so bad now but overall I didn’t have enough speed. At the beginning it was too slow’.  Currently holding P4 on the grid, for the final qualifying round he will ‘try something more with the set-up’ concluding, ‘Akio is out in front but me, Jilles and Naoto are very close so there is plenty to fight for’.

Groskamp explained, ‘I changed a lot on the set-up because I had a 2nd in the first one and another 2nd in the second one’.  He continued, ‘today is a similar time to when the finals will run so I tried harder suspension arms that are optionals for the car and a stiffer top deck. It made the car stable but also created too much push.  This is the same as Akio is running but his set-up is different.  I will stay with the harder arms as they suit hotter conditions but I think I will go with the softer top deck to get more steering.  I know the last round will be cooler but I still want to test this set-up.  I hope Akio TQ’s all four so I can hold my second.  Akio has the set-up and is driving very good this week but Viktor, Naoto and me are all together’.

Commenting on his marked improvement today, Vejrak said, ‘I think we made a good start today and this result will get me into the A-Main’.  The same track where he won his Nitro Touring World Championship title in 2012, he said, ‘today the grip is quite low but the car works better today.  It was going good until I made a mistake and lost 1-second.  This cost me 2nd or 3rd position for the round’.  Asked what changes he had made to his BD10, the 2018 podium finisher said, ‘I didn’t change anything. I just freshened up the car and today it had more steering.  I’m not sure if it just the conditions suit the car more or if the car is better’.  Hoping to improve the P7 on the grid he currently holds, asked about the remaining qualifier he said, ‘I need to try something with the car. I don’t have a feeling of good speed and I want to make less heat in the tyres’.

View our event image gallery here.