World Championship Final report
Lamberto Collari is the new 1/8th scale IFMAR World Champion, giving him an amazing 8th World Title. The race started clean for most racers except for Andrea Cristiani who had to pit for a new tire as his had come off from the wheel, this left him over a lap down behind the leaders. Early on, the race was turning into a 2 man race between pole man Massimo Fantini in the lead and Collari in 2nd position with Collari putting a lot of pressure on his fellow Italian. With this kind on continued press it looked inevitable that Collari was going to make the pass, which he did just after the 10 minute mark to the cheers of the huge crowds present to witness this spectacle. Once passed he just checked out and easily pulled a gap.
It appeared that something was obviously wrong with Massimo’s Serpent and he was struggling with his pace resulting in a roll in the midfield that lost him a lot of time before the marshalls got to him due to his dangerous position. Once underway again he came into the pits for a long unscheduled pitstop and his challenge was over, despite continuing, a brake lever problem being the cause. Massimo’s problems promoted Tosolini to 2nd position behind Collari with Bertin in 3rd and the fastest driver on the track Andrea Cristiani to 4th who was 1 lap behind and looking to unlap himself. Andrea managed to pass Collari at the 24th minute but unfortunately needs to pit and so drops back behind the World Champion but goes after him again, all the while Motonica racer Dario Balestri is having problems on track and at the 28th minute he comes in for a very long stop, dropping him down to last.
At the 30 minute mark a lot of the drivers come into the pits for a tire change with some waiting later for the stop including Collari who leaves it another 5 minutes to make the change which gives the American Kyosho driver Chris Tosolini the lead as it turns out that he will go the full hour without a tire stop, a gamble that looks as it might pay off. But Collari has other ideas and sets off after his team mate. Cristiani, who set the fastest lap of the race by 2 tenths, is eager to unlap himself from Toso and get back on the lead lap after his tire stop, which he does and once passed he is gone and it looks like the tires may be affecting Chris.
With 15 minutes to go Balestri retires but at the same time the action on the track is amazing with Collari shadowing Tosolini and the crowd are errupting with excitement as the Italian looks for a way passed and when he makes the move a huge roar comes over the track but they hit each other and Toso gets back in front but it looks inevitable, how long can Toso hold him off. Collari catches back up easily and makes another attempt going through the carrosel but they hit again with Collari rolling and hitting the barriers. The car is damaged but it doesn’t affect him and he manages to catch up a gap of 8 seconds in about 3 laps, showing the huge pace difference between the 2 drivers. Another attempt to pass results in heavy contact and Lamberto must come in for a stop and go, at this point with 7 minutes to go, it looks good for Chris.
Cristiani meanwhile, is back on the lead lap and is faster than everyone on the track and is getting closer to the leaders thanks to the problems affecting the leading pair. Lamberto takes only a minute after his penalty to get back on the tail of the Sirio powered Kyosho and this time makes a pass which results in the American rolling, the crowd goes crazy with appreciation, this is close racing. Once passed Lamberto immediately pulls out a gap, Toso has no tires left and is now falling back to Cristiani, who with 2 minutes to go takes the American easily and sets after Collari, looking to take his first World title. Despite being faster and having lost over a lap at the start of the final the Serpent driver finishes only 4 seconds back on the winner Lamberto Collari, Tosolini claims 3rd in what was an incredibly exciting race to watch.
Official Final results:
1. Lamberto Collari – 193 Laps in 1:00:06.035
2. Andrea Cristiani – 193 Laps in 1:00:10.657
3. Chris Tosolini – 193 Laps in 1:00:12.287
4. Adrien Bertin – 191 Laps in 1:00:00.086
5. Mark Green – 190 Laps in 1:00:16.087
6. Daniele Ielasi – 189 Laps in 1:00:04.449
7. Massimo Fantini – 188 Laps in 1:00:8.629
8. Yuya Sahashi – 169 Laps in 1:00:17.426
9. Walter Salemi – 143 Laps in 46:52.817
10. Dario Balestri – 121 Laps in 45:26.248
UPDATE: You can download the complete final results here (.txt)
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