World Champion Fukuda out

Defending World Champion Keisuke Fukuda will take no further part in the 2008 World Championship after finishing outside the top 3 in the 1/4 Final B. With the Japanese driver not progressing to the next final it means, weather permitting, that this evening we will have a new World Champion.

The 1/4 Final B was dominated by electric touring ace Teemu Leino who lead from start to finish under the guideance of double World Champion Adrien Bertin and his super fast pitman. Behind the Finn it was another Scandanavian who drove a faultless race as Sweden’s Roland Storm took second.

The big battle of the race was for third between Hideo Kitazawa and local driver Filipe Costa. Entering for their final pit stop together it was Kitazawa who had the faster stop allowing him to get passed Costa to take the final bump position. After the race Costa, who was the top Portuguese qualifier, was clearly heart broken to have come so close to making the Semis.

For the second time in a row Fukada missed the start after his Ninja engine cut but 8 minutes in his race was to come to an end after he was given a Stop & Go penalty for an incident with fellow countryman Kitazawa. Team-mate Rick V also saw his World’s come to an early end when his suffered terminal engine problems. Another big casualty of the 20 minute final was current Electric Touring European Champion Marc Rheinard, who looked to have pace for a Top 3 result, but the German rolled his Team Magic three minutes in having worked his way from ninth on the grid up to fourth.

The 1/4 Final A saw a pretty frantic start to the race. Basile Concialdi took the early lead but rolled back to last on the third lap. With Spanish driver Oscar Cabezas taking up the lead, which he would hold till the end, the big battle behind was for second. In the very tightly packed group Mark Green was given a Stop & Go penalty for contact with Josue Artiles which dropped him to last. Although the British ace recovered to fourth its an early exit for the star of the 2006 Worlds in Brazil. Walter Salemi eventually took second followed closely by American ace Josh Cyrul ensuring that both go through to the Semis.

Another big casualty of the quarter finals was local racer and Off road ace Miguel Matias, who was in a bump up position until problems meant he dropped down to 7th by the end of the race.

1/2 Final – A starting order
1. Balestri Dario (IT) – Team Magic/Novarossi/ATS
2. D’Angelo Giuseppe (IT) – Mugen/Novarossi/ATS
3. Martin Christensen (DNK) – Xray/Sirio/Matrix
4. Robert Pietsch (DE) – Xray/Novarossi/ATS
5. Peter Jovanovic (AUS) – Xray/Novarossi/LRP
6. Adrien Bertin (LUX) – Kyosho/Orion/Matrix
7. Ralph Burch (USA) – Xray/Max Power/Jaco
8. Oscar Cabezas (ARG) – Serpent/Mega/Enneti
9. Walter Salemi (IT) – Mugen/GRP/GRP
10. Josh Cyrul (USA) – Xray/Novarossi/Jaco

1/2 Final – B starting order
1. Takaaki Shimo (JPN) – Kyosho/OS/Kyosho
2. Martin Lissau (DNK) – Xray/GRP/GRP
3. Mazzeo Alessio (IT) – Serpent/Max Power/Enneti
4. Paul Lemieux (USA) – Xray/Max Power/Jaco
5. Martin Hudy (SK) – Xray/Max Power/Xray
6. Dirk Wischnewski (DE) – Xray/Novarossi/Xray
7. Yuya Sahashi (JPN) – Serpent/Mega/Kawahara
8. Teemu Leino (FIN) – Xray/Orion/Xray
9. Roland Strom (SE) – Kyosho/GRP/GRP
10. Hideo Kitazawa (JPN) – Mugen/OS/Kawahara

The top 4 qualifiers are currently wrapping up their 1 hour long practice and following this we shall get straight into the Semi finals.

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Rain delays start to Final Day – updated

The start of the final day of the 2008 IFMAR 1:10 200mm World Championships has been delayed for a second time as the rain has started to fail again. The warm-up had just started for the 1/4 Final B but the rain started to fall and the session was abandoned.

Racing, which was due to get underway at 10:00, had already been delayed by 15 minutes due to early morning drizzle at a very overcast Monsanto track.

Update (10:20 GMT) – After another attempt to get racing underway here in Lisbon the race director has again been forced to stop the warm-up as we experienced the heaviest rain fall of the morning so far. A 30 minute delay has been announced. Unfortunately the local weather for today is not looking good.

Update (11:09 GMT) – Warm up for 1/4 Final B will begin at 11:15am local time.

Defending Champion through to final day

He’s the current World Champion and he’s been enduring a tough time in Portugal so far qualifying only 34th but Keisuke Fukuda has kept his title defence hopes alive by winning the 1/8 Final B which will see him progress to the final day of the 2008 competition. The Japanese ace looked as though his woes were to continue today as his car stalled during the count down to the start, the drama putting him last at the end of the opening lap.

The Mugen/Ninja driver made a great recovery to get back up front but was chased down throughout the 20-minute final by nitro newcomer Marc Rheinard who also makes it through to Saturday having bumped up two finals today. Fukuda’s Mugen team-mate Rick V completed the top 3 to the relief and joy of his pit crew. The Dutch driver is very fast but was out of luck in the qualifiers.

In the last race of the day, the 1/8 Final A, former 1:8 Buggy European Champion Miguel Matias took victory from Italy’s Niki Duina putting them both through to tomorrow morning’s 1/4 Final A. The battle for third was a rather heated affair between French driver Arnaud Chaussard and a slowing Brazilian Flavio Elias. The pair touched on the penultimate lap with Chaussard coming off the worst and once more on the final lap with Elias getting spun out. The Brazilian was called for a Stop & Go penalty for the first incident but continued racing and the Frenchman got the same penalty for the 2nd but had no opportunity to do his Stop & Go. With the race being over each driver had 10 seconds added to his finish times meaning the result didn’t change with Chaussard claiming the last bump up spot.

Big names to bow out of the 2008 World in the 1/8 finals include top French driver Jacky Mouton, Brazilian Eduardo Dulac, Manuel Huber of Austria and young English talent Kyle Branson.

Just five races remain before we will know who is the 2008 IFMAR 1:10 200mm World Champion with the first of those finals getting underway at 10:00 local time. Thanks to our event sponsors Kyosho, Xceed and Serpent for enabling us to bring you our coverage from the Portugal throughout the week.

1/4 Final – A Starting line-up
1. Concialdi Basile (FR) XRAY/JP/Enneti
2. Walter Salemi (IT) Mugen/GRP/GRP
3. Josue Artiles Santana (ES) Mugen/Sirio/Enneti
4. Mark Green (GB) Serpent/Mega/Exceed
5. Josh Cyrul (USA) Xray/Novarossi/Jaco
6. Oscar Cabezas (ARG) Serpent/Mega
7. Teemu Saarinen (FIN) Mugen/GRP/GRP
8. Miguel Matias (PT) Kyosho/Sirio/Kyosho
9. Duina Niki (IT) Xray/Max Power/Enneti
10. Arnaud Chaussard (FR) Xray/RB/Speedline

1/4 Final – B Starting line-up
1. Teemu Leino (FIN) Xray/Orion/Xray
2. Jessie Davis (AUS) Kyosho/Novarossi/Kyosho
3. Jerome Renaux (BEL) Xray/JP/GRP
4. Roland Strom (SE) Kyosho/GRP/GRP
5. Filipe Costa (PT) Xray/GRP/GRP
6. Adrian Berntsen Roseth (NO) Xray/Max Power/Xray
7. Hideo Kitazawa (JPN) Mugen/OS/Kawahara
8. Keisuke Fukuda (JPN) Mugen/Ninja/Kawahara
9. Rheinard Marc (DE) Team Magic/Novarossi/Jaco
10. Rick Vrielijnck (NL) Mugen/Ninja/Kawahara

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Rheinard bumps Up, Baker drops Out

Marc Rheinard has just had his first onroad nitro final and the former Electric World Champion will get to go again after finishing second in the 1/16 Final B. The German who is driving a Novarossi powered Team Magic G4 WC set the fastest lap of the race and pulled out a great overtaking manouerve on Thomas Desmaries on the very last lap and hopes he can continue to bump up and make it through to tomorrow. Up front Helge Johannessen took the win and now progresses to the 1/8 Final B.

Unfortunately for Barry Baker his roll came to an end in the 1/32 Final A when he ran out of fuel. The American had to switch to 5 minute stops instead of four after an earlier incident as he tried to make back time but unfortuntely he couldn’t go the distance. Making is race debut for Team Magic here in Portugal, Baker said that he really enjoyed his hour and 20 minutes of driving today and if he had had the Max engine he was running today earlier in the event he wouldn’t have been racing today but tomorrow. Baker was really appreciative of the help he got today from fellow US racer Josh Cyrul who he said did a great job pitting for him. Victor Pelaez who started from pole took the win in the Final from Carlos Barros and Walti Beat.

In the 1/16 Final A, Pelaez again drove another great race to take the victory and keep himself in the competition. Israel Solis Gomez and Mario Spiniello completed the top 3 to progress to the 1/8 Final A. Two casualities from the final were top Austrian racer Daniel Tomaschko and leading British Championship contender Mark Gilliland who stripped a gear while holding third.

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Sirio Pipe Update

We have spoken to a number of key figures here in the pits regarding the pipe controversy that broke late last night. The problem surrounds Sirio’s latest version of the Sirio #2611 exhaust pipe and in partictular the position and design of the stinger.

We asked Sirio boss Andrea Rossi for his position on the situation and his reply was brief saying that there appears to have been a communication breakdown with IFMAR regarding the submitted drawings for the new pipe design. IFMAR claim to have not recieved any submission for the changes. Rossi says they will revert to the older spec design for the #2611 pipe. Sirio will use the same pipe as used in qualifying but with a new stinger fitted and this will now be tested in the lower finals in the car of Davide Gallesi to see how it performs.

Novarossi who unearthed the problems with the pipe spec are very disappointed with how the matter has been dealt with and say it sends out bad signals for the sport. Novarossi plan to issue a full statement regarding the matter after the event but say they have no more confidence in those running the sport. We will bring you that statement as soon as we get it.

One other manufacturer made the comment that the descision is bad for the sport and in particular the privateer drivers who may get disqualified for a very small techincal infringement like a body shell being 1mm too low yet leading professional drivers can run an exhaust that doesnt meet the rules and yet the result stands.

A leading driver who was at the IFMAR 1:10 section meeting last night says the exhaust controversy may be a blessing in disguise as it looks like it may lead to a big shake up in the sport and see big changes in the standardising of the rules and a more professional approach being taken in the running of rc racing.

We will bring you more news as it unfolds.

Barry Baker on a roll

He had a torrid time in qualifying eventually claiming a very lowly 103rd but Barry Baker is on a roll here in Lisbon bumping up two finals so far today. Starting on pole for the 1/256 Final A, the Team Magic driver took third in the race to secure the final spot on the grid for the 1/128 Final A which he went on to win from Takehiro Terauchi who kept the American on his toes. In both finals, the first of which was won by Rafael Angulo, the US Pro racer recorded the fastest laps.

Baker says he is being very careful and as he discovered in the 1/128 final you need to be as he got collected while trying to pass Winik Henrique but luckily no damage was done and he could continue but Henrique got a stop go penalty for the incident. Bakers current rise through the finals is an real American team effort, Josh Cyrul is acting as his pitman and Paul Lemeiux is on tyre truing duties athough Lemieux said, while handing over a set of fresh tyres, that just because he was helping out didn’t mean he wanted Barry to keeping bumping up!

In the 1/128 Final B Brandt Mickael took the win having bumped up from the 1/256 Final B which was won by Pedro Silva who also bumps up to the 1/64 Finals. One big casualty so far is that of World 1:8 Semi Finalist and local ace Bruno Coelho who will take no further part after finishing 8th in 1/128 Final B.

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