Karjala Pole Qualifying

105 cars participated in pole qualifying. The two Manticore M1A1s swept the front row, with Rainsford shattering the track record by a fair margin. With 90 seconds to go, Luciano Soveral was sitting third and I thought he was in the field. When those 90 seconds were up, three cars went faster than him and pushed the Brazilian out of the top 5.

Interesting to note that one-off cars swept the top 5 places.

Row 1

#27 Alexis Rainsford 1:31.642
#26 Erik Bohlender 1:31.811

Row 2

#32 Alvar Setterberg 1:31.840
#38 Andreas Ringdahl 1:31.844

Row 3

#90 Brian Sendack 1:31.867
#04 Juho Kivela 1:32.343

Row 4

#80 Lev Azarov 1:32.387
#59 Joonas Hannula 1:32.438

Row 5

#77 Esko Koskela 1:32.649
#99 Larson Jensen 1:32.701

How close was it? Here were the next six times... these cars will be in prequalifying.

#74 Scott Steudler 1:32.702
#1 Adrien Devereux 1:32.711
#85 Lev Vladimirovich Polzin 1:32.713
#4 Leonid Roderick 1:32.714
#290 Mika Paasonen 1:32.720
#999 Marcos Leonard 1:32.724

pepsibottle1 wrote:

He's running the 6-10 right now.

pepsibottle1 wrote:

your driver exploded anyway.

Alta wrote:

C-C-C-Combo Breaker!

also, the 90 is in the top 5! does this mean Brian Sendack is in?

BlueThunderfan wrote:also, the 90 is in the top 5! does this mean Brian Sendack is in?

nope, he's the one of the 5 who won't make it.

At least I won't have to worry about Sendack spinning me out like he did two years ago...

PackerMan71 wrote:At least I won't have to worry about Sendack spinning me out like he did two years ago...

If you make the race, there's still a chance of that happening

GamerAzuzu wrote:

PackerMan71 wrote:At least I won't have to worry about Sendack spinning me out like he did two years ago...

If you make the race, there's still a chance of that happening

At least I'd be in the race...

Not one series regular in the top 10. Yikes.

Wow, Adrien Devereux didn't even qualify yet.

JMac525 wrote:Wow, Adrien Devereux didn't even qualify yet.

What if he doesn't make it at all? OH BUDDAY

PackerMan71 wrote:At least I won't have to worry about Sendack spinning me out like he did two years ago...

Oh don't worry, Dan Mackay will be doing that instead, he stuffed your driver into the wall during the last chance pole qualifying.

I've been on vacation so I must have missed the car deadline posting. Sorry. I guess it's too late now.

Holy crap, one of my drivers almost made the field.

looks like my driver will do pre-qualifying then. Isn't is just so unbelievable that every single full-time driver will have to run the pre-qualifying races?

Schoffner Not Concerned About Full-Time Teams' Struggles

TM Master Cup Series supremo Terry Schoffner stated that he was not concerned about the struggles of many of the major teams during pole qualifying, compared to the staggering success of teams using the Omecha MA03 based entry.

"I think some people just forgot that this is a sport. Let the good people do well and send everyone who can't cut it home." Schoffner said.
"It's certainly done miracles for ticket sales. It's good to see that these small teams are competitive here."

Some of the manufacturer teams, such as Team Saar USA, Xenos Racing, and Majestic Motorsports struggled mightily in pole qualifying.

"It's not good for Gasnier's interest in the series that there are only three of our cars and so many cars nobody's heard of before." a Majestic Motorsports spokesman said.
"The TM Master Cup Series may need the local teams to be competitive, but it must also allow manufacturers to be competitive as well."

Drivers remained divided over the state of affairs. Team Saar USA driver Kevin Dwyer was quoted as saying; "The team didn't even bother with the third car because some rookie or some cheater would probably have taken it out anyway, and after last year, Saar isn't giving us the same level of funding."

Manticore Engineering, RUS Autosport Protested

The Manticore M1A1s run by Manticore Engineering and the Omecha MA03Rs run by RUS Autosport have been protested by many of the teams currently running the entire TM Master Cup Series schedule. The Manticore cars, which supposedly are a hybrid of the Calton-Morel Altair and the Omecha MA03, have been accused of being illegal all week.

"Manticore is three miles per hour faster than everyone else in the speed trap." Mike Rossiter, owner of BlackDiamond Racing said to the press.
"I think Alan Hodges, Carl Walter and John Calton have gotten real good at pulling something on everyone with that whole effort. You can't tell me that they're not bankrolling that team."

Alexis Rainsford, the defending Karjala Grand Prix winner said to the press that the Manticore cars were not running a qualifying setup as most of the other teams had done. Rainsford has been driving in Champ Car since the middle of last year, and this is her first run in a TM Master Cup Series car this year. True to form, Rainsford was also very scathing towards the criticism leveled at her and the team.

"We haven't done anything that anyone else hasn't already gotten away with without penalty. It's that simple." Rainsford said.
"If this car is illegal then so is every Saar made since 2005."

Interestingly, the Manticore M1A1 was designed by a few ex-Saar people, notable among them was renowned fabricator Jim Steiner, who helped design cars for Team Saar USA from 2004 until the end of 2010.

RUS Autosport's cars, based on the Omecha MA03, have had a design remarkably similar to the Saar Eagle. Reports are that a RUS Autosport team member photographed the Eagle and that the team attempted to re-create what the picture showed. Such a practice is not uncommon in other forms of motorsport, and has been done in Formula A and in Champ Car since the 1970s.

"We would be happy to sell them a Saar Eagle and let them run it for less than it would cost them to build that car, but it's unfortunate that both Saar and RUS Autosport can't have a mutually beneficial relationship. I'm sure that the fans of RUS Autosport would be pleased for them to have some solid funding." Team Saar USA owner Peter Keyes said.
"They wouldn't have had to go through the effort of making that car if the rules weren't insane."