| Race report by Stanley Wangsanegara |
|
The 2006 Indonesian National Championship, Round 2, was held on April 27â“30, 2006 on the track Malang, Indonesia. This was the same that was used for FEMCA race last year which was won by Mr. Atsushi Hara (Hot Bodies). It is interesting to note that at this race, the direction was run reverse from the FEMCA Race; it was now run counter-clockwise!
Thursday, April 27, 2006
At the time when I hit the track, my car felt very good. My last set-up from the World track in Ancol seemed to work well on this track. I was able to make a 34.500sec lap time which was the fastest lap of the whole race; after that day the track conditions degraded and traction became very loose. From that day I didn't change anything setup-wise and just keep on practicing on the track.
Friday, April 28, 2006
Friday was another practice day. This time, I only made one change to the rear shocks, going from 400 to 500 which allowed me to go through bumps and jumps better. I was still the fastest on the track this day.
Saturday, April 29, 2006
Saturday was qualifying day, and the venue used was the 1 best heat.
In my first round, my engine was a bit rich so I could not get enough power down to be in the front row. I ended up 3rd in the overall result.
In the second round, I came in 1st overall but still my time was slower compared with the first round.
In the third round, I took 1st place again. However, the track did not allow us to go faster than the first round so overall I ended up in 3rd position.
Sunday, April 30, 2006
In the semi-final A, I started in 2nd position and took the lead in the first lap. But I found myself with a 10sec penalty for a jump start⦠my bad. After a stop-and-go penalty I was back in 8th place and at the 7min mark I was in 5th position. I was thinking not to push too much because I could easily take 4th position and have enough to make the main final. But at the 10min mark, I was taking the lead! So after the 20min semi-final I finished with 1 lap ahead to the 2nd place car (and also 1 lap ahead with the semi-final B winning car) so I was to start in 1st position in the main final!
After the start in the final I got caught in traffic and was pushed out to a pile of sand⦠I couldn't see my car with all the dust around!!! Suddenly after that, I was in 10th position. This time I was having a very hard time to make a pass. Since I had very high confidence in this race, I just kept relaxed and tried very hard to make clean passes of each car in front of me. This paid off and by the 13min mark I was in 2nd place. However, I think I wasted too much time at the beginning of the race, because the 1st place car was already almost 1 lap ahead of me. I tried very hard to catch up him up and at the 50min mark I was able to close the gap from 30sec to 10sec. Honestly at that time, I felt that 2nd place was is good enough for me because the rear end of the car was starting to skid around maybe due to worn tires. |
|
(click to enlarge) |
| At the 53min mark, the race director announced that I was taking the lead. I just realized that the leaderâ™s battery was dead, so he had to go to pit lane to change the battery! After this, I drove as hard, fast, and smooth as I could and took the chequered flag. |
|
(click to enlarge) |
This race was the first big win for XRAY XB8. And now I lead the Indonesian National points standings! I was very happy with the car. I believe that I have fulfilled my mission to promote the XB8 to the next level in Indonesia and showcase the XB8â™s highest performance level.
Stanley Wangsanegara
Team XRAY International
Bandung - Indonesia |
|
