published: 2018-07-21 08:22:16 (17206) Author: Willy Wuyts |
Qualification report EC 1/8 Cassino |
| EFRA 1/8th IC Track Euros Qualifying Report |
 After a few days of free practice for all the competitors at the fantastic Cassino circuit in Italy, Thursday saw two rounds of seeding practice, with a drivers best three consecutive laps to count. At the conclusion of seeding practice the top 64 drivers would go on to contest the European 1/8 IC A championships, while the remaining 29 drivers would do battle for the Euro B title. Euro B Michael Kammer displayed his intent early on, taking round one from junior drivers Filippo Domanin and Davide Caporossi. Generoso Mazza then put in an awesome drive in from heat two in the second round, taking the round win from Dennis Weihert and Francesco Maddaloni. Michael Kammer reasserted himself with another fastest time in round three, taking the round from the consistent Maddaloni with Weihert taking third. Kammer had the opportunity to seal pole position by taking round four, but a crucial mistake in the infield dropped him down the order, allowing Mazza to set up a final round shootout for pole by setting the fastest time from Maddaloni and Weihart. All eyes on Mazza then, who did what he could by setting the fastest time in his heat in round five, laying down the challenge for Kammer to respond to. Michael looked to have done all he needed to do, before a late race charge from Dennis Weihert saw him take the round from Kammer, with Mazza third. This left Kammer on pole, and set up a superpole shootout between Mazza, Weihert, Maddaloni and Bergoin for the second guaranteed starting position in the main European B final. Bergoin set a time that was quickly beaten by Maddaloni, with Weihert then failing to beat the laptime set by Maddaloni, leaving just Mazza to run. A searing opening lap from Mazza secured him the superpole by 5/100ths from Maddaloni, and gave him the second guaranteed starting spot in the final. Euro A The cooler track temperature on Friday morning meant round three could be critical, as it was likely to produce the fastest run time, which could prove critical in a tie break situation later on. Kurzbuch took the round by 7/10ths from Balestri, with Pietsch coming home third. Balestri knew what he had to do to deny Kurzbuch the pole in round four, and duly delivered, beating him by the largest gap so far of 1.3 seconds, with the ever-reliable Pietsch in third. Kurzbuch and Balestri tied on points into the last round then, with a win for either of them securing pole. Pietsch just pipped Kurzbuch to the line, though Kurzbuch was subsequently disqualified from the final round after technical inspection revealed his fuel tank to be slightly oversized. This promoted Balestri to second in round with Toni Gruber third, with Kurzbuch maintaining pole thanks to his earlier fast time in round three. Roberto de Cesare was first to run in superpole, laying down a marker of 14.30, which was subsequently beaten by a 14.2 from Toni Gruber. Robert Pietsch then failed to set a time faster than Gruber, leaving just Dario Balestri to run. The first three laps resulted in some times very close to Gruber's earlier run without actually beating it, before a stunning fourth lap saw him finally beat the time and confirm the second starting position for Saturday's main final. |
