IIC: Cyrul put the US on top of 1/12-scale in round three while Volker tightened the reins on touring car TQ

0 Oct. 17, 2014, 2:01 p.m.

Main Photo: IIC: Cyrul put the US on top of 1/12-scale in round three while Volker tightened the reins on tourin

10/16/2014
By Aaron Waldron

LiveRC.com

The third round of qualifying saw higher grip and faster speeds than we've seen all week, and the TQ times in both Modified 1/12-Scale and Modified Touring Car came crashing down. The stage is set for an all-out assault heading into what will almost assuredly be the best round of the week on Friday evening, with everyone scrambling for one of the nine direct qualifying positions into Saturday's finals. While no one was surprised to see Ronald Völker reset the quickest time in Touring Car, a bright surprise came in the form of Josh Cyrul's bright orange Speed Merchant 1/12-scale rocket as he blasted to the top of the time sheets.

“We’ve struggled with the car being hard to drive and finally, I could drive it!” said an elated Josh Cyrul, who pumped his fist after crossing the finish line with a new TQ run. “I could feel it starting to go away and tried driving a little tighter,” said Cyrul, who thought the ESC may have started overheating toward the end of the run and backed off a little bit until it came back. Having reduced the front camber and saucing his tires just ten minutes before the run, rather than twenty like yesterday, his car was was better - but so was he. Racing in four classes this week, this is the best run he’s had in 1/12-scale modified, having success getting his World GT, 1/12-Scale Super Stock, and Modified Touring Car entries feeling closer to each other yesterday it takes him a couple of minutes to get used to the smallest, fastest vehicle. For Q4, Josh will try a stronger rotor as it will not only run more efficiently, helping to reduce fade toward the end of the run, but also provide more acceleration and drag brake.

Previous TQ Alexander Hagberg also improved his time considerably over yesterday, getting by for a 50-lap run, but cost himself a few seconds with a couple of small bobbles and a bigger crash in the center of the track. “It was fast, but hard to drive,” said Alex of his X12 altering switching to harder tires that “didn’t work out as well as planned”, adding that he “made a mistake” when he had the serious accident in the waning moments of the race. He wasn’t sure what to change for Q4.

“It was better, but understeered a little bit,” said Juho Levanen, who decided just before his run to dial out the front camber and admitted he went too far. “The car is getting better and should be good next run, hopefully,” said the Finn, who will adjust the camber back to where it was prior to Q3 and will change something else on the car.

1/12-Scale Modified:

Josh Cyrul - 50/8:05.591 (R3)
Alexander Hagberg - 50/8:08.825 (R3)
Juho Levanen - 49/8:05.591 (R3)
Mike Haynes - 48/8:00.420 (R2)
Keven Hébert - 48/8:02.286 (R1)
Paul Lemieux - 48/8:05.852 (R3)
Ray Darroch - 48/8:07.634 (R2)
Max Kuenning - 48/8:08.300 (R3)
Hupo Honigl - 47/8:01.959 (R2)
Dave Ehrlich - 47/8:03.521 (R1)

“I need to change the setup,” said Ronald Völker despite resetting the TQ time for the week. Ronald tapped a board at the beginning of the race and spent the last four minutes trying to race from fourth back to the lead. “The car was best on Wednesday and the track changed,” said the German of his Yokomo BD7 2015, which is fitted with an aluminum chassis. Having changed to more linear shock springs more Q3 the European Champion will revert back to the progressive coils he ran yesterday, and will go to thinner rear diff oil.

“Better,” is how Alexander Hagberg described his XRAY T4 2015. “I made a couple of small mistakes - otherwise I could’ve TQ’d. I’ll try to hang in there for the last one,” said the Swedish racer, who simply went wide in a few corners and lost a few tenths. Alex will try softer springs in the final round.

Top American Paul Lemieux was happier with his car than in last night’s second round, finishing less than a second off of the new TQ. “It was better, but still a little bit pushy,” said the XRAY driver, who added, “It was decently competitive. Next round we’re going for it.” The phrase “going for it” will include thicker rear diff oil, thinner rear shock oil, earlier application of tire sauce and more of the sticky stuff on the front tires. “The car was really mellow that time,” said Paul. “If the car was that fast when it was really mellow, I think if I can get it more aggressive I’ll have a good chance.”

Touring Car Modified: