WORLDS: Matsukura tops first round of ISTC qualifying

0 Oct. 11, 2014, 4:52 a.m.

10/11/2014
By Aaron Waldron

LiveRC.com

Fluke mistakes cost Naoto Matsukura a shot at making history on Wednesday with a fourth straight 1/12-scale World Championship, and he vowed to do everything he could to win his first touring car championship instead. He clearly wasn't joking. The young Japanese star started off the ISTC portion of the 2014 IFMAR Electric On-Road World Championships with a TQ run that was over a second faster than anyone else - even his European Champion counterpart and Yokomo teammate Ronald Völker.

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Naoto Matsukura was quite happy about setting TQ in the first round. He talked about it in a live interview as our Friday broadcast came to a close.

Current European Champion Ronald Völker, whom many expected to be the favorite heading into this event, started off his quest for his first world championship with a solid second place finish. He, too, talked about the start of his quest for a first world championship during our broadcast.

After upsetting Matsukura for the 1/12-scale World Championship earlier in the week, Marc Rheinard took the first step toward an unprecedented fourth title in touring car with a third place finish in the round. Happy with his car and performance, the German was relieved to get the first round out of the way.

Describing his new TRF419 as “very good,” Akio Sobue surprised with a top five finish even after two mistakes - tapping the boards in both the near left corner as well as the keyhole in the center of the track. For Saturday morning’s second round Sobue said he will go from 3K to 5K diff oil.

Having difficulty understanding why his car was “a little bit slow,” former champion Atsushi Hara made a little bobble when he hit a board in the chicane leading to the back straightaway. Struggling to get enough body roll in his prototype Yokomo, Hara couldn’t decide if he would change the roll center or go to a softer shock spring.

Christopher Krapp drove his Kyosho to the only top ten finish not by a Tamiya or Yokomo, but lamented that he drove too smooth and took too few risks, even though he made no mistakes. “I need to squeeze out my driving,” said the German, who said he reacted to the previous practice round in which he made several errors so he took it too easy. Having played with rear diff oil throughout practice he will stick with 5K.

ISTC Round One - Top Thirty