Matsukura takes final qualifier at 200mm Worlds

Naoto Matsukura took the sixth & final round of qualifying at the 200mm Worlds Championship in Florida.  The Japanese driver continued Infinity’s reign over the qualifiers as he registered the fastest time ahead of team-mate Teemu Leino.  Matsukura’s second TQ run of the day, having opening proceedings with a TQ run, it was to be the fastest of the event with the round also seeing Leino join the elusive 24-lap run group, 1-second off.  Robert Pietsch would complete the Top 3 as only the fourth driver to make 24-laps a further 3/10th off Leino while Mugen team-mate Shoki Takahata ended up fourth fastest.  Top Qualifier Dario Balestri was left counting his blessing that he wrapped things up a round earlier as faulty power connector ended his run just before the 3-minute mark.

‘I’m super happy to make a new record in my total time but we made a little set-up change that made the car easier to drive but also a little less pace on the best lap’, was how Matsukura summed up his TQ run.  Qualifying second overall in between team-mate Balestri and Andy Moore, meaning he will go last in the Super Pole, he continued, ‘I will go back to my set-up from before for Super Pole but for the final I will use the set-up I just ran’.  The class rookie also made an engine change for his final run but said, ‘It was also good but it made a lot of smoke so we will adjust this for the Super Pole’.

Failing to make Super Pole, ending up 9th in the final qualifying classification, Leino was pleased with was his best run of qualifying.  The reigning European Champion said he could have been in contention for Super Pole but a flame out during refuelling in the previous round robbed him of a top run.  Overall though the Finn was happy with the pace he had shown in the concluding qualifier adding ‘now the car is good and the engine which is good going into the Semi Final’.

Pietsch, who qualified fifth overall behind reigning champion Dominic Greiner who got a Stop & Penalty in the final qualifier, was content with his P3 for the round despite suffering a brake issue.  Top Qualifier the last time the 200mm Worlds was hosted in the US he explained, ‘in the beginning (of the qualifier) it was better and I could challenge Naoto but after 5-minutes the brake started getting tight and I had to adjust my driving and lost pace’.  Asked about the pending Super Pole, the 2nd to 5th place qualifiers having 6-laps each to set the best time and join Balestri directly in Saturday’s final, laughing he replied, ‘It will be very difficult.  I’m not the youngest in the Super Pole session’.

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Balestri is Top Qualifier in Miami

Dario Balestri is the Top Qualifier at the 1:10 200mm World Championship in Miami.  The Infinity driver pulled off his third consecutive Worlds pole position in as many years with another TQ run in the penultimate round of qualifying.  Having made a mistake in the day’s opening qualifier, the reigning 1:8 World Champion put in a perfect Q5 making 24-laps to top the times for a third time and deny team-mate Naoto Matsukura and Andy Moore the chance of a first nitro World’s TQ.  Having taken the third round of qualifying, Moore had issues in the pits in his fifth run while a mistake from Matsukura while setting the TQ in front of Balestri ended his hopes and he ended up 5th for the round.  It would be Dominic Greiner who was closest to Balestri but missing out on going 24-laps.  Simon Kurzbuch would complete the Top 3, matching his surprise P3 in Q1, only this time the Shepherd driver took a more traditional route and made a fuel stop like everyone else during the 7-minute qualifier. Robert Pietsch made it four different manufacturers at the top for the round also equalling his best performance so far, while Mugen team-mate Shoki Takahata completed the Top 6.

Top Qualifier at the 2016 Worlds in Gubbio and at the 1:8 World last year in France which he went on to win, Balestri said, ‘I have no words.  Honestly I try to change somethings in the car but my experience from the years told me to change something small.  So I made a super small change and it saved my life because Naoto is really fast’.  Having struggled by his standards in practice, just making the top heat with the 10th fastest time in seeding, the Italian continued, ‘I have to thank Max, Kenji San, Antonio San, Massimo San, everybody.  We now also have a car that is safe for the final’.

Reacting to his run Greiner said, ‘I made a little change and for sure it was better but I had to pass Collari again.  He never opens the door.  I lost time a little but was not the difference there was to Dario’.  The reigning champion continued, ‘I am pretty pleased with the car now and with Super Pole taking place in cooler conditions it is better for our car and if that doesn’t work our car is now working good for the Semis’.

‘I really needed that run’, was Kurzbuch’s reaction.  The Swiss driver continued, ‘In the last one (Q4) I drove too slow and the pit stop was not good but this time we tried something on the car and it paid off’.  Currently sitting 5th overall, the last position to make this evening’s Super Pole the winner of which will join Balestri directly in the A-Main, the 2015 1:8 World Champion said, ‘I need to somehow get into the Super Pole.  I know the car is super good in the evening conditions and I have good feeling in my mind for the final qualifier’.

Commenting on his latest performance, Pietsch said, ‘I tried something on the car compared the run before and it took the best out of it.  The car was not on the same pace as the run before.  Still it was an OK run’.  Suffering from ‘big traffic’ in Q4 which cost him 2-seconds he said he was lucky not to crash out of that one after he slid out of the corner and almost collected him’.  Looking to the final qualifier, the 1:8 World Champion at this track in 2011, said, ‘we need to find something again for the conditions to be as fast as earlier’.

A frustrated Matsukura reacted with, ‘Aaah, I made a mistake’.  Having started the day with a TQ run after some issues yesterday, he continued, ‘I made two mistakes.  I was leading and it hit the board on the inside of the corner and then had another mistake 2 laps later’.  Holding the fastest qualifying time of the event, the Japanese driver said, ‘my car was ok that time but the engine was a little rich.  Before the fuelling it was very good but after it had a different feeling.  Still I think I am in the Super Pole and there is still one more to go so I will try for another TQ run’.

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Matusukra opens Day 2 of qualifying with first TQ run

Naoto Matsukura has opened the second day of qualifying at the 1:10 20mm World Championships in Miami with a TQ run.  Having opened qualifying with a P2 but having had issues in Q2 and 3 yesterday, the Infinity driver bounced back in the 4th round to top the times from team-mate Andy Moore.  Continuing Infinity’s reign at the top of qualifying, Matsukura’s TQ is the first 24-lap run of the Homestead RC Raceway with his advantage over Moore over 2-second.  Unfortunately having TQ’d the opening two rounds of qualifying and ending the day with a P2, Dario Balestri could not continue his form as he got his car hooked up in a corner board which cost him over 6-seconds.  Third fastest would be Dominic Greiner, the reigning champion posting a new fastest pitstop of the weekend of 4.2-seconds as pitman Klaus Lechner bettered the previous record set in the heat before by Moore’s pitman Trin NungGai. The big improver of the Q4 would be Teemu Leino, the European Champion who had a best of a P10 from yesterday setting the fourth fastest time ahead of Tadahiko Sahashi and Francesco Tironi.

‘That was very good.  It was perfect and I also drove very good with no mistake’, was how Matsukura summed up his TQ run.  The 200mm rookie continued, ‘before refuelling I had the lead so in the fuel stop we made a safe stop after the problem we had yesterday during the pitstop’ – his mechanic having trouble opening the fuel tank lid in Q3.  The 2014 Electric Touring Car Champion said, ‘we changed the set-up and now was the best the car has been so far.  It still has a little but I am super happy to make 24-laps and will keep it the same for the next one’.

Just under a second off his Q3 TQ pace, Moore described his latest effort as ‘another solid run’.  The British driver continued, ‘we tried a different spring based on how the track was yesterday but now there was cloud cover and there was way more traction.  I was fast the first few laps but it didn’t feel good in the second half of the run’.  The former 200mm Worlds Finalist would also have a mistake during the 7-minute qualifier explaining, ‘I thought I was going to spin so I turned into it and went wide which allowed Erik (Dankel) to pass me but he gave me room to back by him but it cost me around 1-second’.  Looking to the penultimate qualifier, Moore said, ‘depending on the sun for the next one we might change back to what I had on the car yesterday’.  He concluded, ‘anyway now I am for sure in Super Pole but I still have a chance at the TQ’.

Greiner explained, ‘I had two little mistakes because the car felt loose and then after the stop I hit traffic and had to pass Lamberto’.  With the traffic, that also included Balestri and Pietsch, it negated any advantage of his super fast pit stop but the German was quick to compliment Matsukura’s driving saying, ‘Naoto had a crazy fast run’.  He added, Andy was also just a little faster but 3rd is not so bad for a not so perfect run’.  Moore’s time was just 13/1000ths faster.  For Q5 Greiner plans to adjust his rear toe in saying, ‘this will give me more traction and overall rear grip.  I just need a little bit’.

‘I had a better feeling with the car.  That was the first time I was driving the car this week.  We finally found some balance’, was Leino’s reaction to his P4.  The 2012 Worlds Top Qualifier, continued, ‘the big problem is the rear tyre.  It is 8 to 10 shore harder than what we should be running so the Warm-up race we did was a waste of time.  It is the same for everyone but only now have we found a car that is drivable’.  He concluded, ‘we will do a little fine tuning with the set-up for the next one but I have a car I can race in the finals’. Behind Leino, Infinity team-mate Sahashi  equalled his best run with another P5 but the Japanese driver’s time was slightly slower today.

Another driver to equal his best performance from yesterday, Tironi joked, ‘I am still awake’.  Putting his P6 in Q3 yesterday evening down to the fact he had woken up, the Italian continued, ‘It was OK.  We didn’t change anything on the car because yesterday I had a good feeling’.  He added, ‘maybe I could have tried to be faster but I wanted to make a safe run to secure a place in the Semi final.  It all works good but I will try something to improve the corner speed a little for the next one’.

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Chassis Focus – Andy Moore

Chassis – Infinity IF15
Engine – MLC Miami
Fuel (handout) – Maxima
Tires (handout) – Matrix
Radio/Servo – Sanwa/Sanwa
Body – Protoform P47

Remarks – Showing very strongly on the opening day of qualifying at the Worlds here in Miami, Andy is running a standard kit IF15 that features a soon to be released reduced flex chassis plate.  Almost identical to the standard one, the rear hole cut out in the chassis is slightly smaller meaning less flex.  In terms of different parts on the car he is using Infinity’s optional shocks towers and rear CVDs.  Andy is also running new springs on his car that will be released as a special Infinity set in addition to their standard spring offering.

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