The final day of Qualifying is here, and it's all over! After question marks of who would take the top spot at the end of qualifying, HB team driver and reigning World Champ Atsushi Hara has taken the second qualifying spot overall, with teammate Ty Tessman in 11th. How Qualifying Works There are 6 total rounds of qualifying, with every driver running 2 rounds per day. Each driver's best 4 qualifying rounds count towards their placement in the A and B Finals.
How The Finals Work Unlike normal club racing, every driver is aiming to make it into one of two Semi-Final races, which will have 8 drivers each. These are the Semi-Final A and Semi-Final B (known in the UK and EU as 'Christmas tree qualifying'). Below these races there are 1/2 A, 1/2 A, 1/4 B, 1/4 B and so on all the way to 1/1024. Each of these lower races will have the top 4 drivers each 'bump up' into the next race, so while it's possible to qualify in the 1/1024 Final and move all the way up into the Final, that's not the way anyone wants to reach the Final! It's much easier to do well in qualifying, make it into the Semi-Final and take your time preparing for the Final! The fastest (or luckiest) 16 drivers then make it into the Final - the 1-hour race that will determine the 2010 World Champion! Qualifying Round 5 was an okay run for Hara, putting in a safe time of 5th in the round. With 4 of the 5 qualifying rounds counting, he was in 4th overall and said that although the track conditions were rapidly deteriorating he would be driving at 'maximum attack' to try and secure a TQ run in the last round of qualifying. Teammate Ty put in a solid run as well, moving him up the order and putting him in 13th overall, well in contention to be safe into the Semi-Finals. Jesse Robbers put in a good run to move him into 35th overall, just a couple of places behind some of the top contenders for the overall win. complete Qualifying Round 5 results here Round 6 was the all-or-nothing round for Hara, and with a 3rd fastest time in this round he was a few seconds behind the TQ time but was able to secure second place on the grid for the Semi-Final! This was a very good result and the best we could hope for after Round 5, so it was a great run for Hara. Ty was able to secure 11th overall after qualifying with another fantastic run, while Jesse starts very well also, with a good chance to get into the Final. complete Qualifying results after Round 6 here
