World Champion Matsukura to defend title from pole

1:12 World Champion Naoto Matsukura is to defend his title from pole position later here today in Burgdorf, Germany despite Marc Rheinard setting the fastest 8-minute run of the event in the final round of qualifying this morning. With drivers best two times being added together to determine the grid, Matsukura, who topped 4 of the 6 qualifiers, took the TQ honours by just over three seconds from Rheinard. For the majority of the front runners this morning’s qualifier was their quickest run of the event with only Matsukura, Ronald Volker and Andy Moore failing to improve.  Matsukura was again the pace setter in terms of outright speed recording the fastest lap but the Japanese youngster made a number of mistakes.

Rheinard said his Associated was easier to drive this morning and second place on the grid was the best he could of hoped for due to Matsukura’s distinct advantage in yesterday’s qualifiers.  The German who missed out on a podium at the last World Championships when he finished fourth, said that without mistakes it is going to be hard to challenge the pole sitter as he is especially fast over the opening minutes of the race.

Jilles Groskamp will start third on the grid for the final as the lead CRC driver, the American manufacturer getting two cars in the final with Elliot Harper joining him on the grid.  Groskamp said he was surprised to take third and feels it is good having Rheinard starting second as he is the only one who can challenge Matsukura.  If the two battle this should allow the rest of the field to stay in touch.  15th in Thailand, Harper said his aim for 1:12 was just to better that result and he is delighted to have made the big race.  Starting from 9th the English teenager said he can just enjoy the 3-leg final.

Matsukura’s team-mate Volker was disappointed to drop from second to fourth on the grid after he really struggled with his car this morning.  The German National Champion hopes he can get it sorted in the practice final and said the important thing in the actual finals will be to come out clean after the first lap.

Making his third 1:12 Worlds Final appearance, factory Corally driver Simo Ahonoemi will line up fifth on the grid. The Finnish National Champion said he was very happy to be in the final but feels starting from the middle of the pack is not the best place to be but he plans to give it his best shot aiming to better his previous best Worlds finish of 7th.  Making it two SPX in the final Marc Fisher had a great final qualifier and will line-up 7th on the grid.  The German switched from a Black Art to a Protoform AMR bodyshell and said it made the car much easy to drive along with giving better rear traction.

Between the two Corally’s is American Josh Cyrul who said it was just luck that got him into 6th on the grid.  Driving his own CEFX creation, the US National Champion said he has been struggling with the car and other were faster but he is quite happy to take the place. A total of three ROAR drivers have made it into the final with Canadian Keven Hebert lining up 8th and Xray’s Paul Lemieux completing that all important Top 10.  For factory Associated driver Hebert this is his first attempt at the 1:12 World’s and he’s in the final. He hopes that if he keeps his head in the race he can come away with a good result. Lemieux was speechless at making the A-main having been classified 19th going into the last qualifier.

Claiming the dreaded BQ honours is 2008 World Championship Runner-up Juho Levanen.  The factory Team Associated driver would have qualified sixth for the A-Main after a strong run this morning but having been late to marshal yesterday he was penalised with the loose of his fastest round and so he ended up 11th.  Another 2008 Finalist joining him in the B Final will be Andy Moore, who starts 2nd, after he crashed out in this mornings rocket round.  The British driver who was on a personal TQ run said he had bigger accidents without doing damage but on this occassion his privately entered Associated broke a side link costing him a place in the big race.

Final qualifiers
1. Matsukura Naoto (Yokomo/Nosram) – 74 16:12.612
2. Rheinard Marc (Associated/Speed Passion) – 74 16:15.874
3. Groskamp Jilles (CRC/Team Orion) – 74 16:21.488
4. Völker Ronald (Associated/LRP) – 74 16:22.734
5. Ahoniemi Simo (Corally/GM) – 73 16:08.781
6. Cyrul Josh (CEFX/Speed Passion) – 73 16:11.950
7. Fischer Marc (Corally/GM) – 73 16:13.015
8. Hebert Keven (Associated/LRP) – 73 16:13.481
9. Harper Elliot (CRC/Speed Passion) – 73 16:15.372
10.Lemieux Paul (Xray/Trinity) – 73 16:21.897

Full results can be found here.

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Matsukura’s domination ends as Rheinard tops Q5

An exciting penultimate round of qualifying has brought Day 2 of the IFMAR 1:12 World Championships to a close with Marc Rheinard topping Q5 to end the domination of defending Champion Naoto Matsukura.  Rheinard was the only driver to record 37 laps for the round which saw the overnight Top 3 qualifiers all make mistakes.

Matsukura was holding a very slight margin over both Rheinard and Ronald Volker but just after the 2 minute 30 mark got his R12 airborne after clipping a corner marker.  Landing facing in the wrong direction, right on the racing line, he was collected by his Yokomo team-mate Volker. Both recovered just in front of Rheinard on the track but dropped behind him on the timing screen.  A lap later Volker made a mistake himself allowing Matsukura back through but he could do nothing about Rheinard despite the Touring Car World Champion losing almost 3 seconds when he crashed with just 25 seconds left to run on the clock.

Without the late error Rheinard was on target for his best run of the five qualifiers despite saying afterwards his car was hard to drive.  Missing out on his best time by 1.3 second, he said his Speed Passion powered Associated was tweaked from the start causing it to be loose through right hand corners.

For the round it was Andy Moore who was second fastest as he recorded his best run of the day. Running in the second fastest group of heats he just missed out on a 37 lapper pipping European Touring Car Champion Jilles Groskamp by 13/100th. Pleased with the run, Moore said he was hanging on to the car at the end of the run as he continues to struggle to find a set-up that makes the car work for the second have of the 8-minutes.

Although he pulled up early, Volker said his car was really good in Q5 and that he was very happy with his pace.  After his clash with Matsukura he said he lost his rhythm and this caused him to make a number of mistakes and trying make back up the time he started to drove too aggressively.  Asked about whether he felt he could deny Matsukura pole he said it’s not impossible but he would be happy enough starting tomorrow afternoon’s finals from second.

The other driver on form in the final qualifier was Keven Hebert. The factory Associated driver said his Reedy powered RC12R5 has been working well all day and it is his driving that has been letting him down.  The Canadian recorded his best qualifying with the sixth fastest time in Q5 but said he still needs to run the full 8-minute without any mistakes.

A podium finisher at the last Worlds in Thailand, one man having a terrible day is versatile Austrian ace Hupo Honigl.  The IIC 1:12 Champion is struggling with set-up on his CRC Gen-X describing it as like driving a hovercraft.  Recording his best run in the days final qualifier it was still only 19th fastest overall leaving him facing a big challenge for tomorrow’s sixth & last heat.  Honigl hopes a good night’s sleep will give him a clear head for the morning when the track is expected to be super fast.  With a driver’s fastest two times from the 6 heats added together to determine the grid, Honigl said making the final is still very possible as only four drivers having managed a 37 lap run.

Full results can be found here.

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Q4 Update – World Champion ups the pace

The Japanese talent that is Naoto Matsukura just got faster with the defending World Champion setting a new fastest time in the fourth qualifier knocking a second of his previous best to move another step closer to claiming TQ honours for the 15th running of the 1:12 World Championships.  Once again the Yokomo driver finished ahead of his team-mate Ronald Volker, the German a considerable 6 seconds off his pace.  Juho Levanen was third fastest in a round which saw few drivers improve on their times from the opening 3 rounds of qualifying.

Setting the sixth fastest time for the round, Canadian Team Associated driver Keven Hebert was the only driver apart from Matsukura inside the Top 10 to improve on his early times.

Qualification Times for Q4
1. Naoto Matsukura (Yokomo/Nosram) – 37L 8:05.810
2. Ronald Volker (Associated/LRP) – 37L 8:12.036
3. Juho Levanen (Associated/LRP) – 36L 8:01.241
4. Jilles Groskamp (CRC/Team Orion) – 36L 8:02.344
5. Andy Moore (Associated/Nosram) – 36L 8:04.158
6. Keven Hebert (Associated/LRP) – 36L 8:04.624
7. Elliot Harper (CRC/Speed Passion) – 36L 8:05.340
8. Markus Mobers (Serpent/LRP) – 36L 8:08.292
9. Andy Griffiths (V-Dezign/Nosram) – 36L 8:10.245
10.Olly Jefferies (Associated/LRP) – 36L 8:12.869

Full results can be found here.

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