Naoto Matsukura wins 1/12th Worlds

Oli Meggitt continues his report from the 2012 1/12th World Championships... Tuesday held the final round of qualifying and the three leg finals for the 1/12th World Championships. If Monday had been all about Naoto Matsukura, Tuesday certainly wasn't. In the final qualifying round, the track was much quicker than the previous day and saw six drivers post 39 lap runs – Naoto not being one of them. It was Andy Moore who took the round, with the fastest overall qualifying time to boot, but even that was not enough for a top three starting spot. The A final line-up was as follows:

1. Naoto Matsukura
2. Ronald Volker
3.  Marc Rheinard
4. Andy Moore
5. Elliott Harper
6. Rick Hohwart
7. Jilles Groskamp
8. Alexander Hagberg
9. Simo Ahonemi
10.  Hideo Kitazawa

In the first final, it looked as though order had been resumed as Matsukura cleared off into the distance from the first lap. Volker, Rheinard and Moore battled for second, with Harper also in the mix for the first half of the race. There were plenty of incidents, where cars making a mistake would often also take out a number of other cars as they pinballed off the solid track markings. Moore came through in second place, with Hohwart benefitting from other mistakes to take third.

In leg two and Matsukura ran wide on the first corner. Volker dived up the inside, and in an attempt to get back on the racing line, Matsukura hit Volker, with the Japanese driver completing the first lap in the mid pack. This left Rheinard and Moore racing for the lead, with Moore trying everything to pass the current Touring Car World Champion. Moore eventually out-motored the German on the back straight to take the lead, which he held to the finish.

This left Matsukura, Moore and Rheinard in with a chance of taking the title going into the final leg. Matsukura made a clean start from pole, but towards the end of the first lap hit a board, promoting Volker to the lead, Rheinard to second and Moore to third. At the following corner, Matsukura dived up the inside of Moore in a rather robust move that left almost everyone watching expecting the Japanese driver to receive a penalty. However none was forthcoming from the referees as Matsukura set off after the leading pair. Rheinard later made a mistake, allowing the defening champion into second, a position good enough to give him the overall title. In the closing stages, Elliott Harper had passed Rheinard and was within one second of Matsukura, but ran out of time to be able to mount a challenge. Volker took the leg win and with it the final podium step, but Naoto Matsukra crossed the line in second, giving him his third consecutive 1/12th World Title.

Final Finishing Positions:

1. Naoto Matsukura
2. Andy Moore
3. Ronald Volker
4. Marc Rheinard
5. Rick Hohwart
6. Simo Ahonemi
7. Alexander Hagberg
8. Jilles Groskamp
9. Elliott Harper
10. Hideo Kitazawa

Photo's from Monday: