Here we go again ! The world championship !
After two years of Covid and quite limited travel abroad, we can finally return to one of the most important races of the year (every 2 years even!).
The last world championships having been held in Las Vegas in 2016 where I finished 7th and in Australia, Perth in 2018 where I finished 11th.
It's a huge RC party with drivers traveling from all over the world to be on a remote-controlled cars track, it's pretty crazy. And what a track!
The RC Redovan club and the Baldo family have done an outstanding job at making this world championship one to remember. Already accustomed to big international races with several national championships, and a European championship in 2016, the Baldo family really pulled out all the stops for this world championship.
Indeed, we could see a clear improvement between the Warmup organized in early June and the world championship in early September. The infrastructures did not really evolve but a huge work was done on the track. The Warmup was indeed a warm-up race for all the drivers, a majority of the European drivers having made the trip but just a very few drivers from overseas (Asians or Americans).
For my part, I participated in the Warmup but a family event forced me to return earlier than planned and I could not really enjoy this Warmup and the potential tests made after the race.
So I prepared myself as well as possible for the event on the beautiful tracks we can have in France, like the ARCF42 or the MRCL Longvic.
As you can see from the pictures, the Spanish weather was very hot and dry in summer. The organizers had to use glue to maintain the dirt and to allow the 180 drivers to enjoy a flat track and a very technical layout throughout the race week.
The World Championship is also the first time for me to meet the people from Kyosho with whom I work regularly! Indeed, we have always seen each other on races, but never in the same team! That is Yuichi Kanai and Mitsuo Yoshimaru.
SUNDAY AND MONDAY: PRACTICES
On Sunday we had three rounds of free practice of 12 minutes. The same thing happened on Monday.
At the end of the first day, I am ranked 25th and I am really enjoying the track. It is fast, but with very technical parts. The glue on the dirt makes the grip very high, but very changing thru the day. During the week, the oil from the exhausts and the rubber of the tires will really make the grip very special and changing.
My confidence is increasing as well as my speed. On the second day, we work on the differentials (going from 5,000 on the center to 7,000), as well as on the tyre choice.
Catapult, Double Down and Medium longwear or Soft longwear tyres. In the last round of free practice, I am very close to the fastest drivers, with an 11th time on 3 consecutive laps. This puts me 19th in the overall practice ranking.
TUESDAY: RESEEDING
Tuesday was a day used for reseeding. This is an important moment that will determine your position in the qualifying groups. The three fastest consecutive laps are counted to rearrange the groups by level in the qualifying heats, which will not change afterwards.
We are making some changes to the car again to make it faster. Changing the center differential to 10,000 has really helped me gain speed.
I finished 11th in the first heat and 13th in the second, which gave me the 15th place in the general classification of the timed practice, a dream spot in the fastest qualifying heat!
In the afternoon, it's time for the famous opening ceremony! It is for me a very pleasant moment to wear the French team jacket, to sing "the Marseillaise" (our national anthem) and to spend a nice moment with the other French drivers, as well as the drivers coming from all over the world!
From Argentina to Japan through Mexico, Italy, Sweden, Malaysia... What a party!
It is also time for the elegance contest! I had warned my friend and painter VP Design Valentin Peuziat, he had to hit hard!
He gave everything for this bodywork, and we come back WORLD CHAMPIONS of the most beautiful painting!
WEDNESDAY AND THURSDAY: QUALIFICATIONS
At the world championship, the qualifications are 10 minutes long. 6 heats with the best 3 taken into account.
It is always special because we do not necessarily have the opportunity to prepare for this kind of race. A pit stop will be required for all drivers.
Indeed, the size of the track with 50+ seconds laptimes requires a 12 minutes range to hope to do no refuelling during qualifying.
In the leading group, no driver will manage to achieve this.
Always the most stressful moment of the race for me, the start of the first qualification. I did a clean run, taking no risks, taking advantage of the other drivers' mistakes.
It's a big score, as I'm in 8th place!
This had not happened to me in the world championship since 2010! A big thank you to Gaetan and Vincent for the fast pit stops that allow me to play at the best level, and to get closer to only 7 seconds from the pole position.
I would never repeat it enough, but at this level it is essential to have an entourage at the height of the event to be able to be 100% concentrated in your driving!
Q1 refueling video:
Unfortunately, the rest of the qualifying sessions did not go as well. In Q2, I have a good speed but I make too many mistakes.
In Q3, we started with new tires, which didn't seem to have as much grip as the old ones. I couldn't manage to do better than 29th, with more mistakes. At this level, a mistake means going from a top 10 to a top 25!
The last qualifying heats are used to work on the car to give it even more speed. It is very easy to drive, but still lacks steering in the slow parts.
The new black Kyosho prototype springs in 1.6mm wire (against 1.5mm for the version sold today) bring me more precision and allow me to get closer to the top 15.
The qualifications are over, and I'm 22nd overall. It's a big disappointment after the result of the first qualification, but it's my place in world qualifications since 2012, so I wasn't surprised.
Each time I had the speed to get back to the final, and with the experience I know that everything is possible.
FRIDAY: DAY OFF
Day without driving for me, while the day was loaded with the lower mains. We are at the track to prepare the car for Saturday and check everything.
Of course, we don't miss the finals of the other drivers of the team and the Frenchies to support them and make noise!
SATURDAY: MAIN FINALS
And surely the most important day of the week! Indeed, everything that happened before doesn't matter much if the slightest technical or mental problem happens during the final stages :-)
This is what happened to many top drivers who did not reach the main final :)
For my part, I made a good 1/4 final, without taking any risk. My Picco P3TT LIMITED EDITION gives me a 9'30 mileage, which gives us a margin and a security.
We saw many drivers running out of fuel during the finals, for not having calculated their mileage correctly during the qualifications.
Despite this unequalled mileage, I still have a lot of power to overtake my competitors in the straight line :-)
So I have my spot for the semi-final practice and the semi-final.
We test 2 different compounds during the practices, Soft Longwear and Medium Longwear, always with the AKA Double Down tyre.
The medium rubber always brings more grip and more stability in these conditions, so we stay with this choice. Small reminder, the temperature is still 45°C in the shade!
In the semi-final, despite a good start, I quickly lost the leading group due to a collision. Indeed, all the drivers seem very tensed, much more than in the 1/2 A final! There are a lot of car piles during the first laps, and I pay the price when some drivers try to get away.
Unfortunately, I don't have enough speed to catch up with all of them, and I failed in 9th place. Only the top 5 move up, with the best 6th and 7th on time in both semi-finals.
I finish at the 20th place, which is not up to my expectations and my results on the last world championships, but it's still a great result!
First French driver. I am happy and proud of it.
Indeed, big names are still behind, and the world championship is so difficult that it is always unpredictable how it will turn out.
I once again enjoyed watching the main final. It's also interesting on the other side of the driver stand. A huge congratulations to Davide Ongaro. He may not have been the fastest in the final, but he was very, very strong mentally, and absolutely calm.
He fully deserves this second title, he was clearly the strongest and most consistent throughout the week.
It's official, the next World Championship will be in 2024 in Brasil!
Waiting for it, read or blog articles and learn with our tutorials!
Q&A Live answering my Worlds Experience:
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See you soon!
The Shark
Reno Savoya