Boots takes opening qualifier in Italy
Elliott Boots has taken the opening round of qualifying at the 1:8 Offroad European Championships in Italy. Winner of the Warm-up Race, the Kyosho driver topped the first of the five scheduled 5-minute qualifiers by 1-second from the TLR of Marco Baruffolo. Just 2/10ths further back defending champion David Ronnefalk would completed the Top 3 despite two driver errors. Having topped yesterday’s seeding practice, traffic issues would leave Robert Batlle sixth fastest.
‘Went well’, that was Boots reaction to his TQ run. Following a heavy thunder storm that hit the track last night but which had clearly completed by morning, the British driver said the now dry again Ongaroring track was ‘a lot looser than yesterday’. Repeating the comments he made after practice yesterday that he is not the fastest driver in terms of outright lap times, said he was consistent. While ‘not (his) normal style’, the 2012 World Championship Top Qualifier said improving consistency was something he has been trying to improve this season. Suffering one bobble which he was able to save and running a bit wide on a few corners he said overall it was a ‘safe run’. Adjusting his MP9 set-up to be similar to that to that of fast Italian talent Riccardo Berton, including switching to the taller front shock tower, Boots said the car was working well adding his choice of Pro-Line’s Diamond Back tyre in X3 compound worked out well for the dusty conditions.
Baruffolo described his opening qualifier as ‘very good’. The 17-year old said while the track had ‘lost a lot of traction’ following last night’s storm and was getting bumpier with ruts starting to develop, he was ok with the latter adding ‘it is getting more like at the Euro Bs’. Crowned champion at that 2013 European B Championships, he said his Q1 was a ‘clean run’ and his choice of soft Grid Iron tyres was good as the dirt was still a little damp. Expecting it to ‘dust up’ for Q2, he will switch to softer Impact and run a stiffener in the wheels.
‘Was ok, I should have TQ’d but I had two driver errors but still I am happy to get good points for the first round’, that was how Ronnefalk summed up his opening qualifier. Chasing a third consecutive title on this his first season with HB/HPI Racing, the Swede said he didn’t change his Orion powered D815 from yesterday and it felt good. Just changing tyres, going for AKA City Beam in the front and iBeam on the rear, he said they worked well for the conditions but expecting the track to change a lot by the time Q2 comes around he expects to run a different pattern and will decide that closer to the time.
David Ongaro opened his home event with the fourth fastest time. With drivers getting a quick shakedown run to start off Day 3 of the event, the 14-year-old would make a number of changes afterward in preparation for Q1. Switching to a harder shock spring, softer clutch springs and lowering the rear upper camber link as well as switching to a larger restrictor on LRP engine, he said the changes worked well. The only issue for the Italian was traffic which led to a mistake that required his car to be marshalled.
Fifth fastest, Alex Zanchettin described his run as ‘quite good’. The Italian National Champion found the track ‘really slippery’ leading to him having ‘two little mistakes’. Running his 8ight 3.0 unchanged from yesterday and choosing Pro-Line Holeshot X3 tyres ‘to be safe’, the 20-year-old said for the first round of qualifying it was a ‘solid start’. For Q2 he will wait to see how the track changes but expects the only change he will make will be his tyre choice.
Completing the Top 6, Berton said he choose too hard a tyre. Running Blockades in X2 compound on his Orion powered MP9, the Euro B Champion said the car was loose and he had to adjust to a safe driving style. Managing a clean 5-minutes, the 16-year-old said considering his tyre choice 6th for the round was a ‘good’ start.
Batlle said ‘too much traffic’ was his only problem. Stuck behind a group of 6-7 cars he said trying to avoid bumping into any of them he crashed himself at the end of the main straight. Running in the first heat, describing the track as slower than the following heats, he said without the mistake he had a 5:10 pace, the TQ time an 8 laps in 5:11.142. Very happy with his Mugen, which he ran the same as yesterday including continuing on Procuit Hot Dice tyres, he said he has ‘enough speed’ and just needs a clear track.
Setting the 8th fastest time was Serpent’s Joern Neumann who like Batlle would also have traffic issues. The German lost 3-4 seconds as a result of a group of cars that bunched up towards the end of the heat but apart from this said the run ‘was alright’. Happy with his S811 Cobra 2.2 in practice yesterday but unable to get 3 clean laps in, he said reducing the rear toe-in today had made the car even better. Running Pro-Line Suppressor X2 tyres they worked well but with almost 3-hours until his next qualifier he said the track will be completely different and he will need to choose a different pattern. Behind Neumann, Mugen driver Bryan Baldo, who was fastest in timed practice yesterday, and HB’s Renaud Savoya completed the Top 10 in front of British pairing Lee Matin and Darren Bloomfield.
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