October 9, 2015

Matsukura comes good in Q3

Naoto Matsukura has finally come good at the World Championships in Japan, with the pre-event favourite TQ’ing the third round of qualifying from Q1 & 2 pace setter Bruno Coelho.  After a frustrating 2WD event, in which he finished 20th overall, the Kyosho driver had a close battle with Coelho to take the Q3 by 0.266 of a second with David Ronnefalk again completing the Top 3.  Overall it was a better performance from the host nation’s star drivers with qualifying top seed Yusuke Sugiura also putting in his best performance to take a fourth for the round.

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October 9, 2015

Coelho again in Q2

Bruno Coelho has backed up his impressive Q1 topping performance with another TQ run in the second round of qualifying at the IFMAR World Championships at the Yatabe Arena.  Despite a less perfect run, the Xray driver making one mistake when he rolled his XB4 in front of the drivers stand losing over 3-seconds, Coelho would still top the times. With the margin this time only half a second rather than the massive 5-seconds he had in Q1 second would be Michal Orlowski with David Ronnefalk third a further 1.5-seconds adrift.  It would turn out being an all European Top 6  with Tom Cockerill fourth followed by former European Champions Martin Bayer and Lee Martin with American Ryan Maifield posting a P7 run.

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October 9, 2015

Coelho TQs opening qualifier

Bruno Coelho has TQ’d the opening round of qualifying at the 1:10 4WD Offroad World Championships in Japan.  Having ended yesterday’s seeding practice second fastest, the Xray driver would go on top the first of the five qualifiers by a substantial margin of almost 5-seconds from Yokomo driver Tom Cockerill.  The start of qualifying would be very much a European affair with Michal Orlowski and David Ronnefalk next up, 2nd to 4th covered by just 0.024 of a second.  With top seed Yusuke Sugiura suffering ‘too many mistakes’, the Kyosho driver would end up tenth while reigning champion Steven Hartson would continue to struggling posting only the 24th fastest time.  One of the pre-event favourites, Naoto Matsukura was in contention for the TQ until his Kyosho steering locked left as a result of an electrics issue. The powerhouse nation of offroad, the best American for Q1 would be Carson Wernimont in 5th.

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October 8, 2015

Sugiura is top seed at WC

Yusuke Sugiura is the top seed for qualifying at the 1:10 4WD Offroad World Championships in Japan.  The Kyosho driver set a new fastest 3-consecutive laps time in the second of the controlled practices to secure the No.1 in the top heat for qualifying tomorrow at the Yatabe Arena.  Behind the Japanese driver European drivers Bruno Coelho and Michal Orlowski would also improve on their CP1 times to end 4WD Day 1 2nd and 3rd fastest respectively.  Fastest in the first round, Jared Tebo failed to improve second time of asking and will carry the No.4 for qualifying followed by Martin Bayer and Ryan Cavalieri.

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October 8, 2015

Tebo tops open controlled practice

Jared Tebo has topped the opening controlled practice at the IFMAR World Championships in Japan, the Kyosho driver setting the fastest 3-consecutive laps of the Yatabe Arena over the Xray of Martin Bayer. Having set the pace in free practice, Bayer’s team-mate Bruno Coelho would complete the Top 3 with just 4/10ths separating the Top 10 drivers.

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October 8, 2015

Coelho tops practice as Matsukura closes gap

At the end of practice at the 1:10 4WD Offroad World Championships at the Yatabe Arena its Xray’s Bruno Coelho who is proving to be quickest, the Xray drivers P3 time still standing at the top of the times sheets. With none of the Top 3 after P3 improving their times, the two big movers in the final practice would be Naoto Matsukura and Michal Orlowski. 6th & 7th after three rounds, they both improved their 3-consecutive lap times to move ahead of Yusuke Sugiura and Lee Martin with Mastukura’s Kyosho reducing Coelho’s advantage to 3/10ths.

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October 8, 2015

Coelho continues to set pace at Yatabe Arena

Bruno Coelho continues to set the practice pace at the 1:10 Offroad World Championships in Japan, the Xray driver setting a new fastest 3-consecutive laps in the third round.  Behind the Touring Car World Championship runner-up, Kyosho driver Yusuke Sugiura and Yokomo’s Lee Martin complete the Top 3 on the times despite both drivers not bettering their times from the second round.

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October 8, 2015

4WD gets underway at World Championships

With drivers having had a day off to recover from their 2WD exploits it is back to business this morning at the Yatabe Arena as the 4WD World Championships got underway with the first round of practice. With the astro turf track undergoing two changes from that used in 2WD it was Xray’s touring car ace Bruno Coelho who found the best early footing in the high traction conditions as he lay down the early pace over 3-laps. For defending champion Steven Hartson it was not the start the Associated driver was looking for with the American set to change car for the second practice.

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