Round 3 - Qualifying - Second Consecutive Pole for Ty Matta

Round 3 - Qualifying - Second Consecutive Pole for Ty Matta
Tues 17 Apr, 11:14 AM

Ty Matta once again dominated qualifying, for the second consecutive time this year, and is quickly setting the reputation for being the fastest driver in the world. The Renawlt driver was clearly the fastest driver of the grid today as he set his pole lap of 1:07.163 – exactly .570 ahead of second place sitter Jack Kirkpatrick.

“Track conditions were not ideal, certainly not the same as last month, but nevertheless, I am very pleased with my performance today” said Matta.

The Filipino-Mexican-American pilot appeared calm and confident for the race.

“To be honest, I could have pushed a little more if I really wanted but did not felt it was necessary. I knew I was way faster than anyone else by sector 3 so I took a bit easy in an effort to save my tires for the race. I think we will do very well and hopefully I won’t have any mechanical issues as I had last month.”

The 2003 Tri-C Senior Sportsman Novice World Champion, Jack Kirkpatrick appeared satisfied in qualifying in second place. Last month, the Pherrari driver suffered a major engine explosion and earlier this week, Kirkpatrick had once again issues with his engines. Many believed that Pherrari would have a rev restriction on Kirkpatrick engine but the team has yet to confirm that.

“It’s a shame that I didn’t have a good enough kart to fight for pole. It did not handled well and I think that is the reason I am not on pole. However, starting in the front row is important and I am prepared to go down the straight neck and neck with Matta. I have absolutely no concerns in regards to my engine and I will push as hard as I have to in order to fight for a win today.”

Heavily criticized last month for failing to qualify in the top 3, Brian Phillipsen was able to edge out his teammate, Kurt Burris, for third place with a lap of 1:07.788 – only 0.055 behind Kirkpatrick. The outspoken driver appeared irritated when his lap time was compared with Ty Matta’.

“Once again, you guys are already making a big fuss about Matta’s qualifying performance and once again I am telling you all that I don’t really care about qualifying. Sure, it is important to qualify up front but it does not mean that I am faster nor slower than anyone else. The race pace is what really matters. The race result is what really counts. My goal is to win a race, not to qualify on pole” said Phillipsen.

Kurt Burris returned to the cock pit of the Pensque this month and quickly established himself as a front runner by qualifying in fourth place. The American hero felt confident of a good race result:

“I think I could have qualified better today, but I am not really going to complain about anything. I think we need to make some final adjustments. I don’t think the gear I had was ideal and I think my tire pressure was a bit off as well. All in all, starting from the second row makes me feel pretty good about the race. We have a good strategy in place.”

Championship leader, Larry Hayashigawa had his best qualifying performance of the year. The Japanese super star will start from fifth place in the race and admitted to struggle in getting up to speed right away for a single lap as required in qualifying.

“We are very weak in qualifying and it is something we are well aware that needs to improve. Considering I had too much grip today, I can not really complain about qualifying in fifth. It is an inside position and hopefully I can pick up a few spot at the start and go from there.”

George Gallardo had an impressive debut last month as he qualified in third. However, the Italian disappointed today as he qualified in 6th place with a lap time of 1:08.257. Gallardo was forced to withdraw from the race last month (March) as he complained of extreme cramps. The Italian was cleared fit to race earlier this week, but many insiders suggested that it was too early for a return to competitive racing.

“I am ready and fit to race” said Gallardo. “It was my first race in the world championship last month and I guess I wasn’t prepared for the intense pressure, but I am now. My poor qualifying performance has nothing to do with what happened last month. I am just struggling with the balance of my kart and that is it. I am hopeful that we will find the proper set up and be competitive later in the day.”

In an effort to build momentum to challenge for the constructor’ s championship, Pherrari brought Larry Rochelle to partner up the Irish, Jack Kirkpatrick.

“This is not a permanent position” said Pherrari boss, John Todt. “Larry comes with a very impressive racing record and we will see how he adapts to our team and to this series. His job today is to get used to this level of racing and hopefully to get some points for us.”

Rochelle had a respectable debut as he qualified within the top 10. “I am never satisfied with my performance, unless I am number 1. I qualified in 7th with a lap time of 1:08.365. I understand that some may find it impressive for qualifying in the top 10 in my first race, but I want more and I will fight hard for a position in the race.”

Things are not expected to be easy for the rookie Rochelle when the green flag is shown. Next to him, the experienced Mucca Rosso driver, John Passon will start from 8th and can make things difficult for Rochelle.

“I know I know I know that I could have done better” said Passon. I just lost a bit at turn 2, but I know that I have a good package today that will allow me to fight harder in the race. I expect a difficult race, but I feel good about my chances of a good result today. The revised 75-DR engine seems to be working very well for me today.”

James Bratton continues to struggle with his Toyoda. The revised bodywork XR-754 has disappointed and latest development made to Bratton’s Rotax engine has not been sufficient.

“I am really disappointed” said James Bratton. “We worked so hard for the past month and we thought we could actually fight for pole today but we are still way off, way off. I just don’t have the grip in the corners and when I get to the main straight, I don’t have the top end speed. It’s frustrating!”

Claiming the last spot in the top 10, Alex King qualified with a lap time of 1:08.658, a very disappointing performance for the Brazilian.

“I am very disappointed. The kart is still very nervous at turn 2 and 3 so I lost a lot of time there. We don’t have the right set up and the issue is that we don’t really know what the problem really is, so we can’t even attempt to make it better. The only encouraging thing I can take out of this is that I was a full second behind my teammate, Hayashigawa at yesterday’s practice and I am now about half second behind. Hopefully, I can find a way to close this gap during the race.”

Steve Thompson, Art Laski and Rick Hovelas fought a close battle for the 11th, 12th and 13th places respectively. Mucca Rosso did not have enough time to give a full set of new tires to Steve Thompson, so he was forced to qualify with new set of front tires only.

“Kart as very difficult to control during practice so we decided to change tires” said Thompson. “However, we did not have enough time and we had to make a decision to go with new front tires only. The handling was better, but I had a very hard time with my back end.”

The only driver in the grid with a Motori-Seven engine package, Art Laski failed to meet team’s expectations. “We targeted top 10” said Laski “and I would have accomplished that. I was on my way to top 10 but I got stuck behind Jeff Greene at the exit of turn 17 so that ruined my momentum and my chances of a better qualifying position.”

Rick Hovelas appeared satisfied with his 13th qualifying position. “I have to be realistic, we are under a very tight budget and have limited resources. The 13th spot was the best we could do today” said Hovelas.

The Sawber team of Brad Bowman and Donald Amigliore took the 14th and 15th spots respectively. Bowman was realistic about his chances in the race today:

“It’s extremely competitive out there and we are about 3 seconds behind the pole sitter. We have done a lot of work back the factory and we understand that a lot more needs to be made. Realistically, we are targeting to be in the middle of the pack today. We have a lot of work scheduled during the next couple of weeks and hopefully we will be able to fight for the top 10 next month.”

Craig Pfeifer took the 16th spot with a lap time of 1:10.694 and had a comfortable margin ahead of 17th place Jeff Greene with a qualifying lap time of 1:13.428. The rookie, Jeff Greene, complained of handling issues with his kart. “There is no grip, absolutely no grip. We will go back to the garage and see what we can do to improve our race pace.”

The last row was filled by Cory Murdock with a qualifying lap of 1:15.768 and Mike Taylor with a lap of 1:16.243.

The expectations are very high for the race later today. Ty Matta has proven to be very fast and is certainly the favorite to win today – will Renawlt give him a reliable package? Kirkpatrick second place in qualifying did not convince experts that he has a kart that is good enough to fight for a win today. Pherrari has had too many engine issues lately. Brian Phillipsen is the most experienced driver and always dangerous despite not having an impressive qualifying performance – can he win back to back? The American hero, Kurt Burris is always a crowd favorite and set the race fastest lap in February. The Japanese super star, Hayashigawa, is the championship leader – will he retain this position after the race today? The Italian George Gallardo has been clear by doctor officials – is he really fit enough to complete a race distance? Which drivers in the back of the pack will move up to the middle of the pack? Which driver in the middle of the pack will surprise and fight with a front runner?

Time will tell – stay tuned for Round 3 of Tri-C TAG MASTERS World Championship – NEXT!