Balestri TQ’s opening qualifier in Japan
Infinity’s Dario Balestri has TQ’d the opening round of qualifying at the IFMAR 1:8 Onroad World Championship in Japan. Top Qualifier at the last Worlds in 2019, the Italian took the round ahead of Capricorn’s Dominic Greiner as Simon Kurzbuch ran out of fuel on his last lap. The Top Seed after timed practice Kurzbuch looked to be carrying that form into Day 1 of qualifying but having admitted yesterday that the 4-minute run time would be close, this morning it was to cost him the TQ run. Having hinted at his pace in the final practice when he was fourth fastest, Infinity’s Jessie Davis would complete the Top 3 for the first of the 6 rounds of qualifying 0.579 ahead of Toni Gruber. One of the four drivers to top timed practice yesterday, Naoto Matsukura didn’t have a good start to qualifying as he needed to pit after the first 1-minute to have his engine tuned.
