2018 Nordic Championships – Report
The 2018 1/8th Off-road Nordics were held at the Fullspeed RC racing Arena in Vantaa, Finland over the weekend. Even tough the race is called the Nordics, drivers from other countries were also welcomed to join. This time the most drivers came from Finland with Estonia being the second most represented country. The event kicked off on Friday with a day of practice with Saturday being qualification day and from the get go Joseph Quagraine with his own JQRacing car and Lauri Ruotsalainen driving a Team Associated showed good speed taking the first and second spot in Q1. Later Joona Haatanen showed great speed, taking Q2 and Q3 with his Team Associated in front of Joseph Quagraine and Max Mört.
The semifinals were also held on Saturday evening with the first semi saw Joona Haatanen taking the win in front of Tomi Salonen. Max Mört was also quick but had some technical troubles but he still just managed to make the main final. The second semifinal was won by Lauri Ruotsalainen in front of Joseph Quagraine in 2nd and Ari Heinonen in 3rd. Since Lauri’s result was slightly faster than Joona’s, Lauri would snatch the valuable pole position.
On Saturday there was a risk for rain so the Fullspeed crew decided to cover the track. This proved to be the right decision as there was rain during the night and thanks to the cover the track stayed in very good condition.
The 45-minute main final started with Lauri in the lead. Lauri kept P1 for the first four laps before a mistake let Tomi Salonen by. Joona Haatanen had bad luck when a bearing failed causing him to retire. On lap 8 Max Mört managed to pass Tomi and from that point on Max, JQ and Ari were fighting for the lead, swapping places through the final. JQ managed to pull away and even had a 14-seconds lead at one point but then the ultra demanding track started to take its toll and JQ made some mistakes giving Ari the opportunity to close the gap. A couple laps before the end Ari had managed to close down the gap to just one second. After fighting hard JQ made a mistake on the penultimate lap, allowing Ari to take the lead. Ari managed to keep the lead and finished the race a couple of seconds in front of JQ. Max finished 3rd and Lauri 4th.
Nitro final results:
1. Ari Heinonen – Mugen
2. Joseph Quagraine – JQ Racing
3. Max Mört – JQ Racing
4. Lauri Ruotsalainen – Team Associated
5. Tomi Salonen – Mugen
6. Simo Ahoniemi – Mugen
7. Pekko Iivonen – JQ Racing
8. Tony Liljeqvist – Team Associated
9. Markku Honkanen – Team Associated
10.Ilari Lamminsivu – JQ Racing
11.Hendrik Lainemäe – Xray
12.Joona Haatanen – Team Associated
13.Samppa Orhanen – Team Associated
In the electric class the fight in the qualifiers was really tight but in the end Aleksi Vilkman driving his HB Racing car took the TQ in front of Jarno Siltanen in 2nd with Mugen. 3rd went to Hendrik Lainemäe for Xray. In the final the fight for the win was between these three drivers but in the end Jarno managed to win the opening two A-mains, securing the overall win. The last final was a tight battle of who was going to finish 2nd between Aleksi and Hendrik. On the last lap Hendrik made a mistake and Aleksi managed to overtake Hendrik to secure the 2nd spot.
Electric final results:
1. Jarno Siltanen – Mugen
2. Aleksi Vilkman – HB Racing
3. Hendrik Lainemäe – Xray
4. Teppo Kauppinen – Hobao
5. Rihard Lainemäe – Xray
6. Martti Myllyntaus – Tekno
7. Jani Hovi – TLR
8. Tomi Mairue – TLR
9. Ilus Robin – TLR
10.Joonas Kekkonen – Team Associated
11.Aapo Heinonen – Team Associated
12.Jukka Ruuskanen – HB Racing
Source: Hobbyfactory [hobbyfactory.fi]
