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October 12, 2023

Senesi takes Q4 at GT Worlds

Natanaele Senesi became the third different driver to TQ a round of qualifying at the 1:8 GT World Championship, the Xray driver topping the fourth round on a hot morning in Sydney where the temperatures on Day 2 of qualifying are set to hit 33 degrees. It was to be dramatic top heat that started with an early mistake from Q3 winner Andrea Catanzani, costing him over 2-seconds. Next it was Jeff Hamon who was in trouble, the Serpent driver have brake issues for a third time of the event and he was out after 3-minutes. Setting the fastest lap of the run as the only driver to run a 17-second lap, soon Catanzani was back in the hunt but he had Toni Gruber all over him, the Hong Nor driver having to lift on the straight so as not to run in the back of the Serpent. With Catanzani opening to allow Gruber passed, shortly after the German would all on his own go off the track and across the grass losing over a second. Catanzani looked like making it two TQ runs in a row but on the last lap he would run out of fuel with Senesi crossing the line to take it by 1.9-seconds from Gruber with the Genius pairing of Bernard-Alain Arnaldi and Alex D’angelo third & fourth ahead of Lachlan Donnelly who was running in the second fastest heat.

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October 11, 2023

BREAKING NEWS – Catanzani penalty revoked

Andrea Catanzani’s 3-second penalty for track limits has been rescinded meaning the Serpent driver takes the TQ for the third round of qualifying at the 1:8 GT World Championship. More than two & a half hours after the Italian had 3-seconds added to his time because it was too late in the heat to serve a drive through penalty for track limits, it was rescinded due to IFMAR rules only allowing track limits at pit entry/exit. Jeff Hamon was credited with the TQ for the round when the penalty was imposed but now the top seed gets a P2 for the round as how they originally crossed the line in qualifying.

October 11, 2023

Hamon TQs Q3 after Catanzani penalised for track limits

Jeff Hamon has taken the TQ for the third round of qualifying at the 1:8 GT World Championship but only after a post race time penalty was applied to his Serpent team-mate Andrea Catanzani for track limits. Having run out of fuel while on a TQ run in the opening qualifier this morning, and then suffering a flame out in Q2, Catanzani looked to bring the first day of qualifying in Sydney to a close by finally delivering a TQ run. Given a warning during the qualifier about track limits, later in the heat the Italian was called to serve a drive through penalty but didn’t have time to serve it. Crossing the line as the TQ, it initially looked like the result would stand but a protest was made and some time later he was informed he would have 3-seconds added to his time dropping him behind Hamon. While his team argued that the track limits rule was nothing they had come across before, and was something more applicable to Formula 1, they had no grounds to appeal the penalty. In all the drama it was top be a very good round for defending Champion Joern Neumann as the Sworkz driver posted the third fastest time ahead of Alex D’angelo and Natanaele Senesi. Having TQ’d the first two rounds, Toni Gruber would get 6th for the round having opted to go with used tyres.

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October 11, 2023

Gruber TQ’s opening qualifier at GT Worlds

Having laid down his intentions with the fastest time in this morning’s final practice, Hong Nor’s Toni Gruber delivered a TQ run in the opening round of qualifying at the 1:8 GT World Championship in Sydney. Despite run time for the 7-minute qualifiers a concern for everyone, the early pace was blistering and drivers would later pay. Gruber pushed hard by Andrea Catanzani clearly managed the situation best as extra hot temperatures today added to the challenge and his work with engine tuner Daniele Ielasi clearly paying off. A whole host of drivers came to a halt in the dying moments as they ran dry, the first of them being defending World Champion Joern Neumann. Behind Gruber it would be Alex D’angelo who was second fastest as the Genius Racing team looked to have finally found their way. Team-mate Bernard-Alain Arnaldi also had a strong Q1 securing P4 behind Top Seed Jeff Hamon who would suffer his second brakes issue of the event.

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October 11, 2023

Jae Kuk Yoo crowned Korean 1:8 National Champion

Mugen/KARS driver Jae Kuk Yoo is the new KMRCA 1:8 Onroad Korean National Champion. Racing at Hwangsan Park in South Korea, in qualifying it was Mugen team-mate Moo Sung Kuk who secured the TQ with his MRX6X with Yoo going on to lock in his place in the 45-minute Main by taking the Super Pole having qualified 4th overall. In the final, despite an early spin, Yoo would get passed Kuk to win the title by almost 2-laps with Lee Sung Hyo making it an all O.S Engines powered Mugen podium.

Source: Jae Kuk Yoo [Facebook]

October 10, 2023

Paloschi denies Hamon in penultimate seeding round

An impressive run in the third & penultimate round of seeding practice by Serpent’s Gabriele Paloschi has denied team-mate Jeff Hamon from securing an early top seed status at the 1:8 GT World Championship in Australia this evening. Running a heat earlier than the championship’s title favourites, Paloschi’s impressive time went pretty much unnoticed as Hamon went on to top the final heat of the round from Toni Gruber, which the Aussie and almost everyone else thought had secured him the top seed spot for qualifying. Running his three laps in 55.844, European Championship podium finisher Paloschi had ran his in 55.821. With the second round of seeding a repeat of the opening run, Hamon from Andrea Catanzani and Xray’s Natanaele Senesi, Paloschi topping the third round moves him up to third in Serpent lockout of the top 3 going into the final seeding run in the morning.

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October 10, 2023

Catanzani just pipped by Hamon in first seeding round

Serpent’s Andrea Catanzani looked like giving us a new name at the top of the timing sheets at 1:8 GT World Championship as seeding got underway in Australia but with just seconds to go team-mate Jeff Hamon somehow managed to recover from a problematic start to the run to snatch it from the young Italian. A run that would see a number of drivers in the top heat experience issues, Catanzani was the first driver to break into the 54-seconds for his 3-consecutive laps and looking to save tyres was already down off the rostrum just after half way through the 10-minutes run with his time looking strong enough to hold. Having set the pace yesterday, Hamon was also off the driver stand but for different reasons as he suffered brake problems. Considering abandoning the run, with just enough time to make an attempt at 3-laps after fixing his breaks the Aussie pulled it off pipping Catanzani by 0.094 of a second. Having finished out yesterday’s controlled practice with some promising runs, Natanaele Senesi carried that form into seeding opening his account with a P3 for the first of the four rounds ahead of Paolo Morganti and Toni Gruber.

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October 9, 2023

Hamon tops final controlled practice ‘Down Under’

Controlled practice concluded at the 1:8 GT World Championship in Sydney this evening with Jeff Hamon setting the fastest time for the 6th & final round. Despite everyone, including Hamon himself, expecting it to be the rocket round of the day, the Serpent driver was unable to better his time from the morning’s opening practice. Over his best 3-consecutive laps the Aussie was almost half a second off his morning’s 53.981 pace around the John Grant International Raceway. With a cool morning turning to 30+ degrees heat when the sun reached its peak in the middle of the day, the 6pm timing of the final practice in theory was going to present racers with the ideal track conditions for quicker times. With drivers pushing hard to improve on their times, the majority failed, with the only drivers in the Top 10 to achieve that being Natanaele Senesi and Peter Jovanovic. Xray’s Senesi surprised himself with the third fastest time for the round in between Gruber and defending Champion Joern Neumann.

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