After flying 30 plus hours back to Shanghai from Brazil, with an overnight stay at home, I flew out the next day right after school straight to Japan to race at AOC held at the famous Yatabe Arena. Crazy!
The jetlag was still there, but I was actually quite excited to switch mode from nitro to electric. The HB Team had already arrived a day earlier and since I did not have time to build my own cars, Hara-Tune helped build me couple of chassis ready to race.
I did not find it too difficult to get back into electric driving but after the first day, it was clear our team was off pace compared to others. All three of us (Jilles, Andy and Myself) struggled with the changing conditions of the track and simply had difficulties finding pace. I can only say it was frustrating!
I did not drive too well either and only manage to qualify into the C Main, while my teammates only made B. The issues I had were simply not finding the right setup in the changing conditions, which made the car difficult to drive. Under steer and traction rolling was the story of my race.
It was definitely a disappointment this year as I expected myself to make the A Main like last year. However, we take away from this race some valuable experience and next year, we will need to arrive much earlier to learn the track conditions. Despite the poor results, I always have a good time in Japan and it was great to see friends there. I’ll be back!
