WORLDS: Greiner goes directly to final by earning the overall TQ

0 Nov. 13, 2014, 2:49 a.m.

11/13/2014
By Aaron Waldron

LiveRC.com

In the 200mm nitro touring car division, only the overall Top Qualifier transfers directly into the final. While HB’s Teemu Leino had earned two TQ runs, including the fastest time of the week, the battle for the most valuable TQ in RC racing came down to a two-man competition between Alexander Hagberg, who dominated the first two rounds yesterday, and Dominic Greiner - who had only one finish outside the top four. A thrilling sixth round came down to less than two seconds.

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Seconds after Hagberg crossed the finish line in his final qualifier, and the announcer confirmed he had not gone fast enough to steal the final round and with it the overall, Serpent driver Dominic Greiner crumpled to the asphalt on the pit straightaway in emotion. He collected himself to receive congratulations from many of his fellow competitors and mechanics in the area, relieved to have secured the only direct transfer into the final, and a solo practice session prior to the semifinals on Saturday.

“My car was okay, just too slow,” said Hagberg, who came up just short. “I drove perfect, but it was not enough,” said the Swede, who said that running the semi can actually be a blessing if you make it through to the final. “It can be helpful to run the semi,” said the XRAY driver, “because you can get your momentum going for the final.”

Despite only finishing 11th in the final round, hampered by a crash on the short straightaway on the left side of the track, Singaporean driver Nicholas Lee qualified in the semi in his first Worlds. He doesn’t plan any changes to his XRAY NT1 2014 before the 30-minute race, acknowledging that the track changes so much everyday. “I hope it will be good,” he said.

Current IFMAR 1/8-Scale On-Road World Champion Tadahiko Sahashi had a bad crash about halfway through the race that cost him over three seconds, which knocked him outside of the top sixteen. Even still, the top Japanese racer at the event qualified fourth overall and will be among the favorites to race his way out of the semifinal.

“It was super good,” said Mark Green, after a fourth place finish in the final round that promoted him to fifth overall. “It’s a long run car,” Green said of the setup on his Serpent 748 Natrix, adding, “I can’t run fast enough to wear the tires in properly during warm-up, so my fastest laps are at the end of the five minute qualifier. That’s why I think I’ve got a really good chassis for the final. It’s nice and safe, easy to drive.” Green had a strong couple of days of qualifying, and said, “It was pretty good, apart from the fifth round where I screwed up and threw it off the track. Thankfully there was no damage.”

Finishing only 12th in the final round, track owner Surikarn Chaidajsuriya was very happy to qualify sixth overall after setting a goal of making the semi final. He used the last qualifying run to test a new engine for Saturday’s main events, and feels that his MTX-6 is very stable and configured well for longer races.

Qualifying tenth overall by virtue of his eighth place finish in the final round, the Netherlands-born Bangkok resident Jilles Groskamp said that his Shepherd Velox V10 was a “little better” in the final qualifier and that he knew he needed a good, safe run in order to make the semi. “I just kept it on the track,” said the electric touring car world champ, who said the last round was a “little bit of a step forward.” Groskamp said he will extract more steering from his car with a longer and lower rear camber link setting in the semi. “That will make it perfect,” he said, with a click of his tongue and an “OK” hand gesture.

Top Aussie Jeff Hamon ran the engine he used in Q2, the run in which he recorded his fastest time, and finished seventh for the round to secure a semifinal position. “Anything in the top 30 was the goal, so the semi is definitely rewarding. It’s a bit of an honor driving with that group of guys,” said Hamon.

“Of course I’m excited to make the semi,” said Portuguese touring car ace Bruno Coelho. Of the performance of his NT1 2014, after finishing 13th and locking up the 12th spot overall, the XRAY driver said, “the car was very nice. I just drove safely and tried not to flip.” No changes will be made for Saturday’s semi, as his car “has good steering and no flipping.”

“I was scared for a bit,” said JJ Wang, after hearing that he squeaked into the semi with the final spot. “That last round felt pretty good until I flipped in the hairpin at the end of the straightaway. I thought it was over. I thought it was a repeat of two years ago, where I missed the semis by one place. I thought I did it again. But now I’m in a half hour semi, and anything can happen.”

Top 16 - Round Six

Driver - Country (Car/Engine/Controlled Fuel Choice/Body)
Dominic Greiner - DEU (Serpent/Max/Maxima/SRC) - 21/5:00.182
Alexander Hagberg - SWE (XRAY/ORCAN/Maxima/PROTOform) - 21/5:02.229
Kyle Branson - GBR (Capricorn/XRD/Maxima/PROTOform) - 21/5:02.923
Mark Green - GBR (Serpent/Novarossi/Maxima/Xceed) - 21/5:03.285
Francesco Tironi - ITA (Shepherd/Novarossi/Maxima/PROTOform) - 21/5:03.804
Meen Vejrak - THA (KM Racing/O.S./Cosmo/PROTOform) - 21/5:03.950
Jeff Hamon - AUS (Mugen Seiki/Novaross/Maxima/PROTOform) - 21/5:04.124
Jilles Groskamp - NLD (Shepherd/Maxima/Maxima/PROTOform) - 21/5:04.427
Takehiro Terauchi - JPN (Mugen Seiki/Novarossi/Cosmo/PROTOform) - 21/5:04.924
Takumi Matsuda - JPN (XRAY/Picco/Cosmo/PROTOform) - 21/5:05.100
Nicholas Lee - SGP (XRAY/Novarossi/Maxima/PROTOform) - 21/5:05.508
Surikarn Chaidajsuriya - THA (Mugen Seiki/Maxima/Maxima/PROTOform) - 21/5:05.847
Bruno Coelho - PRT (XRAY/O.S./Maxima/PROTOform) - 21/5:06.063
Keisuke Fukuda - JPN (Mugen Seiki/Picco/Maxima/PROTOform) - 21/5:06.193
Martin Hudy - SVK (XRAY/MAX/Maxima/SRC) - 21/5:06.652
JJ Wang - USA (Mugen Seiki/Novarossi/Maxima/PROTOform) - 21/5:07.327