Race Team News - Training 4, Lausitz

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Race Team News - Training 4, Lausitz

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Race Team News - Training 4, Lausitz

by Kirsten Corrigan, Aug 6, 2010

Hannes Arch (1st) of Team Abu Dhabi set the pace in the final training session with a 1:12:01 time. Finishing almost three seconds faster than yesterday, the Austrian said the improvement was the result of good team work. “I struggled in the first training yesterday and didn’t quite get the lines right or the set-up of the airplane but thanks to my team I’ve figured it out,” he said. “It’s not the most twisty track even though it looks it. Now it’s just a case of making it nicer, tighter and working on the small details. I want to win and that’s why we’re here. I’ll be happy if I win the Lausitz race.”

Paul Bonhomme (2nd) was over a second behind his biggest threat, Arch, despite flying a clean run in the training session. “It was alright but I made a slight mistake with my set-up,” he explained, adding that this had caused more drag than he’d anticipated. “I’ll make sure that doesn’t happen tomorrow and I’m not getting wound up; there are more important things in life. The key is not to relax too much though.” The defending champion is also wary of outside threats from the likes of Chambliss, Dolderer, McLeod and Ivanoff who, the Brit says are all capable of “putting in a cheeky little 1:13 when you’re not ready for it”.

Nicolas Ivanoff (3rd) showed consistency after remaining in the top three for the second day running. The French pilot posted a 1:13:87 clean time and admitted watching the other pilots racing up close from the EuroSpeedway location was a definite advantage in learning the best lines. “I like the fact that you can choose a lot of different ways to fly after the chicane for almost four turns,” said Ivanoff. “In this track I think you can pull less G and keep more energy. The first time I watched anyone fly here I thought ‘wow that’s low and fast’ but it’s great to have the spectators so close and it really motivates me. You can communicate so well with the audience here.”

Yoshi Muroya (4th) made a significant improvement with a top four result in training, trailing Ivanoff by a second with a 1:14 run. “I’ve had three months in between races and the first training session was mad – I couldn’t catch up with the plane at all,” explained Japan’s Muroya, who is flying with a new titanium tailwheel in Lausitz. “Today I tried to be as safe as possible, to slow down and it was better. I prepared well between the races and it worked quite well. The last run was OK and it definitely gave me confidence.”

Matt Hall (5th) was back on form with a solid position in the final training session. “I deliberately took a conservative approach to fly smooth, which time and time again has proven that you’ll do well,” said Hall, back from his extended race break. “I have noticed a difference in my confidence and I was more tentative than I thought I would be. I’ve done maybe three hours since the start of June so I’m regaining my confidence in the plane. Today I cracked 1:15, which I’m pretty happy with and I felt like I was very smooth and back to my old flying style. Going into the weekend, we’re quite comfortable with where we’re sitting.”

Nigel Lamb (6th) picked up a surprise penalty for incorrect level flying and was unable to repeat his strong performance demonstrated in yesterday’s training where the British pilot finished at the top of the timesheets. Team Breitling will be looking to refocus ahead of Qualifying tomorrow and Lamb will no doubt be scrutinising his race lines overnight to work out how to avoid any further penalties.

Michael Goulian (7th) shaved off more than half a second from yesterday’s result and showed signs of progress in the track. The American pilot, who has yet to make the podium this year, is pinning his hopes on a European win but will need to squeeze every last bit of power from his engine if he wants to catch up with the top teams.

Kirby Chambliss (8th) posted a 1:16 time including two seconds in penalties but wasn’t too worried about the setback. “We haven’t had a lot of training but I finally feel I’ve got a handle on the track,” he nodded. “I had a little penalty out in the track today but I know what that was for and I won’t do it again tomorrow. So yeah, we’re expecting some good things but I still need to find almost two seconds but we’re in the same situation we’ve been in all year. We just need to push hard and try to come out of here with at least a podium.”

Peter Besenyei (9th) was five seconds off the pace in training but sounded upbeat nonetheless due to the successful improvements made to his new Corvus Racer during the summer break. “Unfortunately I had no time to fly the Corvus over the summer as we had to paint it. Before it had stickers and now you can see it looks lovely,” Besenyei said proudly “Also we made quite a lot of modifications, like we changed the tailwheel and the canopy. We also added new wingtips so it was quite a lot of work to get done. Overall it has improved a lot and I’m happy.”

Sergey Rakhmanin (10th) managed a sub 1:20 run today and attributed an increase in engine performance to the new fuel servo installed ahead of the Lausitz finale. “It looks like we’re a little bit faster and more predictable temperatures when I lean the mixture. We are taking some small steps ahead. We also adjusted the fuel nozzles and it seems better,” said the Russian pilot.

Alejandro Maclean (11th) was optimistic about his potential and hoped to improve in Qualifying tomorrow after a good night’s sleep. “A few days ago I caught the flu and I was still feeling weak today. I thought I flew really fast but when I looked at the times, I realised it wasn’t so great,” said the Spaniard. “Hopefully by tomorrow I’ll catch up and aim for the best. We have made a few changes to the plane but they are corrections rather than improvements. We changed the sump and got rid of a few leaks on the induction system which is giving, in theory, a little bit more power. That’s definitely something I need.”

Martin Sonka (12th) remained steady with a low table result but did pick up a penalty for incorrect knife-edge in the track. The Czech rookie was still battling with an underpowered aeroplane but looked to be finding a good line through the EuroSpeedway track. He posted a 1:21:32, which was a jump of nearly five seconds on his initial training result.

Pete McLeod (13th) hit a pylon and also picked up an additional two seconds in penalties in a sub-par run for the promising pilot from Canada. He was focused on the task in hand and keeping a cool head in preparation for Qualifying. “There are a lot of corners here and lots of decisions but some of the tight spaces limit options,” said McLeod. “There’s a good pace in the track but I don’t have any goals about where I want to finish. I’ve been getting good net times but the penalties have been stacking up. I need to do something about that for tomorrow.”

Matthias Dolderer (14th) showed resolve despite blowing his training run with a pylon hit. The home favourite, racing with his super fast Edge 540 V3, said tomorrow would be another day and all was well. “I had the chance to do some training flights at home in Tannheim and polished it like hell so it should be really sleek,” grinned Dolderer, who thinks a Final Four place is achievable. “I’m feeling quite comfortable in the plane and the engine is running quite well. I’m optimistic for the weekend. The plan for tomorrow is just to relax and the flying itself wasn’t too bad but setting a 1:21 gives the others a bit of hope!”