25.09.2016

Report by J-P.Huhtala (VRC race reporter)


2016 SEASON 3 1:10 ISTC ROUND 2, OSAKA 2

Finnish, Awesomatix factory driver Viljami Kutvonen showed magnificent pace during the qualifying. He was consistent and fast, but didnt get this easy. German driver Christoph Kirchhefer was pushing really hard and was really close to beat this Finnish laprobot. At the end, gap between these two were only 0.126 seconds and it was real exiting moments, when we waited that main final to begin.
Also really close behind was Swedish driver Andre Fossto, Andre`s gap was only one second when qualy ended. Italian Andrea Giordano was also on fire, he got the fourth grid and was 2.8 and German Hendrik Kiel at fifth place, 3.3 seconds behind winner when qualifying round ended. Seidl and Deparde were over 4 seconds and Bailes and Portelli over 8 seconds behind TQ pace. Last man going to big final was Chris Kalfoglou, but his gap was over 12 seconds, and indeed he needed some "tricks" to get more pace.


Kutvonen hold his nerves, even Kirchhefer was pressuring really hard. This shows what Worldclass driver he is.

At Final, Kutvonen continued his great pace, with consistent and precise driving, he holded his nerves and got well deserved win. Kirchhefer was really close whole final, waiting this Finnish miracles mistake, but didnt got it. Finally Kutvonen wonned this final with 0.8 seconds margin ahead of Kirchhefer.


Kirchhefer almost got it, fast and consistent. This was just begining, more of this driver is coming.

Third place went to Andre Fossto, he earned some stars from this event. His pace was there, and he drove very consistent and fast run. He was frustrating one 10th behind per lap and it was just too much. But really exiting and enjoyable final from these three podium drivers.


Andre was once again there, where we have use to have him. At top, with consistent and precise driving.

Kiel and Seidl got fourth and fifth place from the final. There was no big margin, it would only needed one tiny mistake from Fossto and these two would compete that last podium place. Kiel was 1.4 and Seidl 1.7 seconds behind Fossto when they crossed the finishline.
So, these five fastest drivers were all inside 4 seconds, and it was fun to watch. This is how it should be, tight racing.
Rest of the field was Deparde, Portelli, Bailes, Kalfoglou and Giordano.
Something happend to Giordano at Final, he was furios at qualifying but this final went totally under the bench. Was it lack of concentration or what but he got about 10 seconds of his mistakes and this totally ruined his run. Next time Andrea!

In SPORT level Australian Mark Clews, German Markus Aicher and USA driver Jim Merrits solved the podium. Clews and Aicher competed real good run and finally Clews was little stronger with his pace and crossed the finishline 2.3 seconds before Aicher.
Merrits drove also consistent run, but there was lack of pace comparing to those two at front. Jim would needed over three 10th`s faster pace to challenge those two. But Merrits didnt got this easy, as Swedish driver Hasse Holmberg was pressuring him whole final, but with good nervecontrol Merrits got that last podium place with tiny 0.4 margin before Holmberg. Good pressure Hasse!

In CLUB level, Britains Tom Garnham gave the knock-out to others. He was "speedy" at this level, as he crushed fellow competitors.
Man who got the second place, Rodrigo Perez from Spain, was almost 13 seconds behind the winner when they crossed the line.
Third place went to Australian driver B Howard, Howard`s gap to Perez was 2.2 seconds when time ended.

RESULTS

PRO A-main

1|Viljami Kutvonen|FI|18|05:14.358 2|Christoph Kirchhefer|DE|18|05:15.182 3|André Fossto|SE|18|05:17.164 4|Hendrik Kiel|DE|17|05:01.458 5|Tobias Seidl|DE|17|05:01.710 6|Xavier Deparde|FR|17|05:05.976 7|Brad Portelli|AU|17|05:07.074 8|Dana Bailes|US|17|05:07.608 9|Chris Kalfoglou|AU|17|05:08.244 10|Andrea Giordano|IT|17|05:13.106

SPORT A-main

1|Mark Clews|AU|16|05:03.860 2|Markus Aicher|DE|16|05:06.230 3|Jim Merritts|US|16|05:10.612 4|Hasse Holmberg|SE|16|05:11.036 5|Tzu hua Su|TW|16|05:12.336 6|Seiya Inoue|JP|16|05:16.752 7|Yuriy Meshkov|RU|16|05:17.810 8|Klaus Birner|DE|16|05:18.076 9|Hans Guenther Heitsch|DE|15|05:04.224 10|kook fly|CN|DNS

CLUB A-main

1|tom garnham|GB|16|05:14.172 2|Rodrigo Perez|ES|15|05:08.274 3|B Howard|AU|15|05:10.444 4|Yasuhiro Morta|JP|15|05:11.768 5|David Varricchio|AU|15|05:12.312 6|Steve Solosy|US|15|05:15.958 7|Gary Climie|CA|14|05:02.402 8|Michael Walker|US|14|05:06.106 9|James Williams|GB|DNS 10|Andrey F|RU|DNS

STANDINGS AFTER 2 ROUNDS

PRO

1|André Fossto|234 2|Christoph Kirchhefer|234 3|Tobias Seid|222 4|Xavier Deparde|213 5|Brad Portelli|207 6|Andrea Giordano|202 7|Hijrah Saputra|188 8|Tommaso Andreuccetti|174 9|Marcelo Borges|168 10|Billy Yeung|164

SPORT

1|Jim Merritts|234 2|Markus Aicher|231 3|Tzu hua Su|225 4|Yuriy Meshkov|191 5|Klaus Birner|182 6|Hans Guenther Heitsch|181 7|Björn Siewert|175 8|Santo Grasso|166 9|Johan Wilters|166 10|Gary Sundman|150

CLUB

1|B Howard|231 2|Rodrigo Perez|225 3|Michael Walker|186 4|Steve Solosy|182 5|Yasuhiro Morta|171 6|Gary Climie|170 7|Jay Shallington|153 8|Frank Derksen|120 9|tom garnham|120 10|Jean-Marie Glorennec|114

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