14.02.2016
Bruno Eliazord. VRC PRO Reporter & Pro Class Racer.
Few days after the thrilling 1:8 Sportscars Spec round 2, we come back here at Fort Myers Raceway, for the second round of the 1:8 Sportscars Championship. Remember, during the Spec round we have seen a spectacular fight in sport class between the American experienced driver Robert Yelle, and the french driver Jacques Blanchin, and in pro class between the « Superman » Jeffrey Rietveld and the young french driver Kevin Rasquin. Will it be the same this time in 1:8 sportscars ?
We were also waiting for some pilots that had animated the first round at Boss Speed, like Miquel Hereijqers, Simon Wood, in Pro Class, or Luke Allam in Sport Class, and Johann Jury in Club Class who won last time, but actually, they did not take part of this round.
Fortunately for the show, other great drivers are here today, like in Pro Class, Joshua Berman, Massimo Alliprandi, Alex Guillot, Nuno Correia for exemple. In Sport Class, Klaus Koewenig, who has made a hopefull second spot during the first round, or Rudolf Aigner, Thomas Klingen, or the now famous Csernak family with the father and the son. In Club Class, we're happy to see Carl Huxford, Nuno lourenco, or Laurent Edet.
In total 74 drivers take part of this round, representing 13 nations from all over the world.
Ok, now stop talking, what we want is ACTION, so let's see what happened during the qualifications :
Class Club : on 19 drivers Nuno Lourenco From portugal made it. He has taken the pôle position with 33 laps / 7.09.118, followed by Huang Junhao from China with 33 laps / 7.11.114, and Carl Huxford 32 laps / 7.00.820. The seven other drivers are Will Ho, Benjamin Krings, Laurent Edet, Bert Poesen, Martin Van Veldoven, Jodie Grein, and Schott Dickson.
Class Sport : on 31 drivers, Klaus Koewenig was right to come at Fort Myers, because he did the pôle position with 34 laps / 7.07.652, followed by Camilo Flores from Peru with 33 laps / 7.05.488, and Benoit « Mugen Mrx5 » from Belgium with 33 laps / 7.05.658. The seven other drivers are Christian Watzl, Rudolf Aigner, Ralf Sieber, Joost Wouter, Jean Philippe Csernak, Jonathan Csernak, and Yurïy Meshkov.
Class Pro : on 24 drivers, Jeffrey Rietveld is first again with 37 laps / 7.04.876, followed by Massimo Alliprandi with 37 laps / 7.10.976, Joshua Berman with 36 laps / 7. 04;384. The seven followers are
Nuno Correia, Kevin Rasquin, Graham Raistrick, Minoas Mathioudakis, Ugo Calaprice, Alex Guillot, and Maurizio Mazzocchi.
Club Class Main final :
Everybody seems to take a good start (Huang Junhao, and Bert Poesen DNS). Nuno Lourenco is in the lead, but in the first lap, he loses everything because of a big mistake, hitting the metal barrier and staying blocked. So at the end of the first lap the ranking is 1/Benjamin Krings, 2/Carl Huxford, 3/Will Ho, 4/Laurent Edet, 5/Schott Dickson, 6/Jodie Grein, 7/M Van Veldhoven, and 8/Nuno Lourenco in the last spot now.
But unfortunately for the others, Nuno Lourenco is decided to let no one else than him win this race, so he puts really fast and consistents laps, with his best lap in 11.624s.
At five minutes, juste before the first pit stop, Nuno has taken back his place in the lead. Behind him, things have changed a little, so now the ranking is : 1/Nuno Lourenco, 2/Will Ho, 3/M Van Veldhoven, 4/Jodie Grein, 5/Carl Huxford, 6/Laurent Edet, 7/Benjamin Krings,8/Schott Dickson.
As you can see, Carl Huxford, Benjamin Krings, Laurent Edet, and Schott Dickson have lost many positions, while Wil Ho, M Van Veldhoven, Jodie Grein, and of course Nuno Lourenco have won positions.
At 10 minutes, Nuno Lourenco is now 2 laps in front of Wil Ho still 2nd. I'd like to award a special mention for Benjamin « Yoyo » Krings, who after been falling down from the 1st spot to 7th, go back up at the 3th. Carl Huxford is now 4th Laurent Edet still 5th, M Van Veldhoven 6th, Jodie Grein 7th, and Schott Dickson 8th.
At 15 minutes, nothing has changed, so the ranking is still: 1/Nuno Lourenco, 2/Wil Ho, 3/Benjamin Krings, 4/Carl Huxford, 5/Laurent Edet, 6/M. Van Veldhoven, 7/Jodie Grein, 8/Schott Dickson.
Before the end of this race, Carl Huxford has been able to overtake Benjamin « Yoyo » Krings, who finishes his race at a good 4th spot, considering he has even been 7th in the beginning.
The win goes to the unbeatable Nuno Lourenco, who finishes 4 laps before the second, who is Wil Ho.
Bravo Nuno ! Great race. We will be happy to see you in sport class one day.
Sport Class Main Final :
In this class, things are going to be harder to get the win. Everybody will have almost the same pace. It means, even if Klaus Koewenig takes a astonishing rocket start, he makes a mistake few laps later, and the other drivers will get the opportunity to come back on him.
At five minutes, just before the first pit stop, Klaus Koewenig, has lost no time to take back his first spot, thanks to very fast laps (11.730 best lap), but he is closely followed by 3 other racers : Rudolf Aigner only 0.910s behind, Ralf Sieber, Benoit « Mugen Mrx5 », and Camilo Flores. All the others are already one lap behind, but nothing is lost for them. All remains possible in this hard race on a hard track, where your car is always near the metal barriers.
At mid-race, even if he has commited several small mistakes, Klaus Koewenig continues to lead this race, keeping the same pace than before. Will he be able to handle the stress to think about the win ? That's the point, because in fact nothing is finished. Just Behind him 4 drivers still follow him very closely : Camilo Flores, Rudolf Aigner, Benoit « Mugen Mrx5 », Ralf Sieber. Only few seconds between these men and one mistake can change everything !
At 15 minutes, Klaus Koewenig makes his chance to get the win bigger and bigger, laping everybody. The battle seems to be only for the second spot now, between Camilo Flores, Benoit « Mugen Mrx5 », Ralf Sieber, Rudolf Aigner, Joost Wouter. One more lap behind, we find Yuriy Meshkov, and the family Csernak , the son, Jonathan in front of the father Jean Philippe. Even if this fight takes place at the back of the race, it's interesting to keep an eye on it, because, something tell me that the father doesn't want to let his son bit him so easily.
Finaly, Klaus Koewenig has been able to handle his nervous to get the win, with one lap ahead the second Camilo Flores. So a strong race for him too, because Klaus Koewenig was really hard to follow. Seeing the results, this race has been interesting to watch.
Just one last thing : the challenge of the nice family Csernak : who has finaly defeated the other between the father and the son ? And the answer is : the SON !!!
Pro Class Main Final :
Before talking about this race, I'd like to say it's a pity that several drivers did not race this final. Indeed, Kevin Rasquin, Graham Raistrick, and Ugo Calaprice, did not start. On another hand, it makes more chance for the others to do a good result and earn more points for the championship.
Everybody takes a good start, but soon, at the end of the first lap, Massimo Aliprandi hits the metal barrier, and allows Joshua Berman to pass him. Fortunately for Massimo, he is able to restart quickly, just behind Joshua, and it's a good thing for him, because in the second lap, Joshua also makes a mistake, than Massimo and Nuno Correia take this opportunity to reach the second and third spot.
These two yellow cars, begin a great fight during 10 laps, exchanging their positions at each corner, playing « who's who » as they are the same color. This fight takes end at the 11th lap, when Nuno misses his braking, and wastes time, even letting Joshua pass him for the 3rd spot.
The ranking is now : 1/ Jeffrey Rietveld, 2/ Massimo Aliprandi, 3/ Joshua Berman, 4/ Nuno Correia, 5/ Minoas Mathioudakis, 6/ Alex guillot, 7/ Maurizio Mazzocchi.
At five minutes, the only change is when Alex Guillot passes Minoas Mathioudakis, until he makes a mistake letting him take back the 5th spot. Everybody is quite consistent, explaining why nothing really happens in this race.
At mid-race, the race is animated by the tight fight between Alex and Minoas. Alex harassing Minoas to push him into mistakes, but it's Alex who goes straight in the barrier at the 36th lap.
Nevertheless, don't think he's done yet. Alex hangs on to his goal like « Spiderman » to the walls. So, Alex « Spiderman » Guillot restarts, more decided than ever to take back this lost spot. The two drivers are split by only 2 secondes. They put so consistents laps, that nothing moves until the 46th lap, when Minoas hits the barrier just in front of the rostrum. Remember, this corner where you have to turn very early, if you want to be fast whithout touching this now famous and blasted barriers. So, Alex is now 5th just in front of Minoas at the 6th spot, but just for 2 seconds.
In the lead Jeffrey is relax, with almost one lap better than Joshua Berman who has passed Massimo is 2nd , Massimo Aliprandi in 3rd, Nuno Correia in 4th, and Maurizio Mazzocchi in the last spot.
We don't know why, but unfortunately for Minoas, at the second pit spot, he wastes a lot of time, losing one lap on Alex. And that's not the end of his troubles, because two laps after his disastrous pit stop, he hits the barrier, always at this tricky corner, in front of the rostrum. What a pity for him, because he loses all his chances to reach Alex for the 5th spot, and worst, he's even passed by Maurizio Mazzocchi, who was in the last spot, but who has made no big mistakes.
At 15 minutes, the ranking is : 1/ Jeffrey Rietveld, 2/ Joshua Berman, 3/ Massimo Aliprandi, 4/ Nuno Correia, 5/ Alex Guillot, 6/ Maurizzio Mazzocchi, 7/ Minoas Mathioudakis.
Until the end, nothing won't change and the ranking of this main final will remain the same.
The only fact to notice in the end of the race, are the troubles of Minoas Mathioudakis. What Happened to him ? In the first part of the race he has been fast and consistent, but after so many mistakes, he seems to have completly lost his focus. So, at the 85th laps, 2 minutes before the end of the race, he hits again the barriers, and his engine stops. He has to go back to the pit lane, with the help of a marshall, and restarts his engine.
You may think, his troubles are finish for good now ? Not at all. When he goes out of the pit lane, he hits the two tires at the exit, stays blocked, and has to wait again that a marshall put his car back on the track. Than Completely disheartened, he finishes his race, commiting a lot of mistakes again, and again.
This kind of misadventure shows how much racing on VRC PRO is firstable a question of focus. Even a good driver can fail because of that. But, be sure next time we will see Minoas Mathioudakis focus until the end, without bad luck, and the other drivers should pay attention to him, because he will be dangerous.
Another win for the « Superman », the well known Jeffrey Rietveld. Congratulations to him !
Club Main Final Results :
1/ Nuno Lourenco / 93 / 20.03.286
2 / Wil Ho / 89 / 20.05.496
3 / Carl Huxford / 89 / 20.05.496
4 / Benjamin Krings / 89 / 20.13.482
5 / Laurent Edet / 87 / 20.01.318
6 / Jodie Grein / 83 / 20.10.852
7 / Martin Van Veldhoven / 83 / 20.12.212
8 / Schott Dickson / 81 / 20.02.634
9 / Huang Junhao / DNS
10/Bert Poesen / DNS
Sport Main Final Results :
1/ Klaus Koewenig / 94 / 20.03.820
2 /Camilo Flores / 93 / 20.05.624
3 / Rudolf Aigner / 92 / 20.02.642
4 / Ralf Sieber / 92 / 20.05.106
5 / Mugen Mrx-5 / 92 / 20.06.402
6 / Joost Wouters / 91 / 20.04.086
7 / Yuiy Meshkov / 90 / 20.06.904
8 / Jonathan Csernak / 88 / 20.00.890
9 / Jean Philippe Csernak / 88 / 20.05.624
10/Christian Watzl / DNS
Pro Main Final Results :
1 / Jeffrey Rietveld / 103 / 20.10.634
2 / Joshua Berman / 102 / 20.03.266
3 / Massimo Aliprandi / 101 / 20.02.178
4 / Nuno Correia / 101 / 20.04.002
5 / Alex Guillot / 99 / 20.08.178
6 / Maurizio Mazzocchi : 97 / 20.07.436
7 / Minoas Mathioudakis / 93 / 20.02.444
8 / Kevin Rasquin / DNS
9 / Graham Raistrick / DNS
10/Ugo Calaprice / DNS
Interview of Nuno Lourenco, the winner in Club class :
The race didn't go well as I expected, because of the short time for training and having a faulty adaptator.
Fort Myers is one of my favorite tracks, with fast lines.
The setup of the car wasn't the best because it was a bit nervous and spending lot of tires for 20min.
Interview of Thomas Koewenig, the winner in Sport class :
I drive RC cars for five years now and still it is hard for me to find the right setup. Mostly I drive with a setup that fits my driving style and then I change it according to the track.
At this track I had to test out a lot until it worked how I'd imagined it.
The part before the pit and the elongated right curve are challenging......
The layout of Fort Myers is pretty hard, you have to hit everything accurately to drive really clean and nearly perfect for fast rounds.
As always before finals I warmed myself up but that apparently wasn't enough here. Therefore the first race was pretty bad anyway. In the second race being under pressure it was even harder but then somehow I did it, passably. I didn't know if it was good enough for the first place, though....because I drove so very early.
Personally I only can advice everyone who's got this hobby to train VRC. That has brought me very much for here you're forced to drive precisely.
Also here you can see what makes you faster and the other way around what slows you down.
This year my racing schedule for outside is quite filled and I'm looking forward to having better weather!!
Interview of Alex Guillot, Pro class driver :
VRC PRO : Can you tell us your general feeling about your race ?
Alex Guillot : I thought it never ending, not race 20mn since months, trembling and lot of emotions at start, then I have enjoyed a lot do my laps.
VRC PRO : What do you think about the track, the layout ?
Alex Guillot : Very short track (11s laps), full speed chicanes, very tough to do good laps without crash the car on long run. No mistake is forgiven.
VRC PRO : Tell us about your car, was it perfect, and eventually a word about your set-up.
Alex Guillot : I have always "same base setup"since years, posted on website. I only adjust diameters tires/gears/brake dépends track, yes the car is so good! :)
VRC PRO : Any advice or any secret for the other drivers ?
Alex Guillot : Do laps laps laps, try to stay on the "black layout" with fluidity and feel the flow.Good time will come with practice and fun.
VRC PRO : Why would you recommend VRC Pro to someone who doesn't use it yet ?
Alex Guillot : Real pilots, real layout from all around the world, i use my real radio and feel the same, multiplayers...thank you VRC Team :)
