Dario Balestri dominates first day of qualifying at the Nitro Touring Worlds in Gubbio

Photo: Red RC (source)

Balestri untouchable on the opening day of qualifying

A decade after claiming his first World Championship pole position, Dario Balestri is once again set to line up as Top Qualifier at the IFMAR 1/10 Nitro Touring Car World Championship, held at the Miniautodromo Internazionale Mario Rosati in Gubbio, Italy.

The Infinity driver opened the day with a very convincing Q1 run ahead of defending World Champion Jilles Groskamp, then stayed on top through all four qualifying rounds, each time ahead of a different rival. Expected rain led organisers to run a fourth round on the same day rather than push it to the next; a shower did disrupt Q4 late in the day, but the round was completed just before sunset.

While Balestri’s status as Top Qualifier is now locked in, the fight for the rest of the Top 4 direct qualifiers to the one-hour title decider remains open: Filippo Domanin (Xray) holds P2 ahead of Naoto Matsukura, who remains Balestri’s closest challenger overall, just ahead of Britain’s Kyle Branson.