Phend finally hits the top in Q4 Down Under

Having started out qualifying day at the IFMAR 1:10 4WD Offroad World Championships in Sydney with a P3, but then having two rough rounds, Dakotah Phend finally hit the top in Q4 heading a 1-2 for Xray as David Ronnefalk also ended the day with his best run.  With Team Associated’s Marcus Kaerup getting his second TQ run of the day in the previous round, Q4 would see the Dane DNF, his car coming to a halt 3-laps in.  While Kaerup didn’t have an explanation for the car stopping, Salton Dong from his electronics sponsor Hobbywing revealed afterwards that their data from car led them to believe it was a radio issue as a result of lost signal.  Overall it was a tough round for Associated after they topped the opening three qualifier.  Defending World Champion Davide Ongaro TQ’d Q2, but the Italian wouldn’t have a clean run and ended up 9th.  Kouki Kato would be their fastest driver in P7.  Behind Xray it would be Schumacher who were the next best in a repeat of Q3 when they finally got themselves somewhat into the mix.  Orlowski, who went to the top of the timing screens for most of the run, would complete the Top 3 ahead of Broc Champlin and Daniel Kobbevik.  Putting in the most consistent performance of the day Burak Kilic capped of a strong day with P6, his Mugen Seiki prototype never outside the Top 6 today having opening with a P2 run in Q1.

Reacting to his TQ run Phend said, ‘Finally I had a clean run.  The previous run in Q3 I had a good run going and just cased the step up a little bit and flipped, unfortunately that would have been a Top 3 run but it is what it is so I have two solid points now and I need to try figure out how to get a good point tomorrow.’  On the fifth & final qualifier he said,  ‘We will be at a little bit of a disadvantage with track conditions but we put ourselves in that position.’  On his car, the American said, ‘I made some changes to the car and it was the most comfortable I’ve been and I felt comfortable with the pace.  We’ll try to finish out strong and get a decent starting position.’

Ronnefalk was relieved after his P2 performance.  The Swede said, ‘It was very good.  The run before I changed a couple of things to make it steer a little bit more because what I saw in 2WD was the track got a bit polished when the sun was out but now it was like opposite, the track was really grippy out there and I struggled with the car being too aggressive in Q3.  It was one to throw out lets say.’  He continued, ‘I went back for the last one to what I had in Q2 because I knew the track was going to be faster and grippy without the sun being down.  I had a slow first lap because I was scared of making the same thing I did in Q3 so I was really taking it slow and that cost me like a second and I was just 2/10ths back, I mean it is easy to say afterwards, but I am just happy to get the points and not have to go into the last round needing points to make something out of it.  This should lock me in for Top 4 I think so we’ll see what happens in the last one.’  On that he added, ‘We are going to have the worst track cause it is the opposite running order so maybe you are going to see someone from the B heat in the mix, that’s why it was important for me to get point now.  A good team effort there with me and Dakotah 1-2 on the last lap.’

Orlowski described his effort as ‘OK’, continuing, ‘I was leading all the way until the last lap, it was close.’  He continued, ‘the only positive is that we’re getting closer with the car for my driving style but I’m very far behind on the points and I need a magically Q5 to line up somewhere on the grid to have a chance.’  Saying he was ‘disappointed with my driving so far’, asked what it was he was struggling with in his driving style, the reigning 1:12 World Champion explained, ‘I’m way too smooth.  Here you you need to drift around the corners and whenever my car goes sideways I let off and try and find the grip.  I’m trying to drive it like a touring car but its not the way around this track.’

Backing up his break through Q3 with another P4 in Round 4, Champlin said, ‘it was pretty good for the most part, unfortunately I got caught up with lappers at the end and that honestly probably cost me the TQ which changes the dynamic of everything.  I am going to have to TQ the last round if I want to start inside the Top 4.’  On his buggy the American said, ‘My car is awesome to be honest with you.  I am going to try an alloy steering part to get a little more steering and let it shred in the warm-up and the final qualifier when it’ll be wet.’  Asked if Q5 would be a do or die drive the new 2WD World Champion replied, ‘yes, it was the same in 2WD.’

‘No progress this time with what I did but at least I’m locked into the main even though that’s not what I am aiming for’, that was how Kobbevik summed up Q4 having posted a Top 3 in the previous round.  With Q5 an opportunity to better his counting scores, the 19-year-old said, ‘I will try to do some major changes and look at other cars in the team and look at my own car because it has been busy today so just make sure everything is ok after all the wrenching.’   Expecting ‘lower grip for sure’, he said ‘we are also be the first cars on the track, if they do 3-minute practice for sure it will be super low grip in the first one.’

Complimenting Kilic on a solid day, the 21-year-old replied, ‘It was a really good day and really consistent.  I have never been out of the Top 6 all day.’  Despite his positive day, the Turkish driver was a little frustrated with his Q4 saying, ‘the last one there was so much traffic and the referee did not say anything so me and Broc were stuck there and lost, I think for me, a Top 4 run.’  He continued, ‘but we are in the final.  I’m super happy with the new car and my electronics are just on fire here.’  Asked about his set-up he said, ‘I didn’t change anything on the car at all, I just drove it.’  With one more qualifier to go he said, ‘tomorrow we will try to make another Top 3 run to start more in front but with the new car already in the A-Main it’s a great result here.’

Kaerup takes opening 4WD qualifier ahead of Kilic

Team Associated’s Marcus Kaerup has TQ’d the opening round of 4WD qualifying at the IFMAR 1:10 Offroad World Championships, the 2WD Top Qualifier fastest from the Mugen Seiki prototype of a very focused Burak Kilic.  As things hot up both on and off the track in Australia, running in the second fastest heat group it was Kilic who laid down the benchmark for the top seeded heat as they took to the track in the hot midday conditions.  With reigning World Champion Davide Ongaro leading them out, initially it was Xray’s Dakotah Phend who set the pace before Kaerup went to the top with his team-mate Ongaro holding P2.  While Kaerup set the fastest lap while in the process of executing a clean run, we would see mistakes from both Phend and Ongaro.  With a roll over, Phend eventually got P3 2/10ths of a second off Kilic.  Also with a roll over, Ongaro would finish P5 just 0.002 off the Xray of David Ronnefalk.  The round would finish with 3 Xray drivers in the Top 6 however young Polish talent Bartek Zalewski would be DQ’d in post race tech for an unmarked battery promoting Schumacher’s Daniele Kobbevik to 6th.

‘The car was pretty good, the conditions out there are pretty intense’, that was how Kaerup summed up Q1.  The 17-year-old continued, ‘I caught Davide and kind of followed him and then when he crashed I was able to go on.’  He continued, ‘the track is pretty slick now, it’s getting more and more dry.  I don’t know if I am going to change (set-up) for the track conditions but the temperature is quite high today compared to all the other days so maybe we will chase that a bit but I am looking forward to the next run.’

Very much in game face mode today, Kilic wasn’t saying a whole lot after his run.  The Turkish racer said, ‘It was really good my car and my electronic worked great.  I was maybe not fastest but I was just trying not to make mistakes and that was the goal.’  The 21-year-old continued, ‘for sure Q2 we try to go faster and for sure try without mistakes but it’s really difficult to go without (mistakes).’  In terms of car set-up on his new Mugen he said, ‘we will stay with everything like yesterday, after the last practice it was really decent, so I will just focus on my driving and clean runs.’

Phend described his opening qualifier as ‘A solid run’, adding, ‘I feel like my race pace is really good, I just had a bobble there.  I got on the gas a little too hard and washed out.  I’m happy with a Top 3 for the first one especially with the mistake so we’ll clean it up and try get a solid point for Q2.’  Regarding car changes for the second round, the reigning multiple ROAR National Champion said, ‘we’ll maybe make a small change to the rear end but we’ll talk with the team and figure out if we can get a little more stability out of it but I think we are pretty close.’

Reacting to his first qualifying effort, Ronnefalk said, ‘I’m pleased with that cause I was struggling a little bit with the rear end being loose on power a lot more that run than the run before.  I really had to be super careful on the exits and that required full focus for the 5-minutes.’  The European Champion added, ‘I wasn’t really going fast lap time wise but I kept it on the four wheels and in the end that made fourth.  I made a small change for that one but I also think the track is different now, drying out all the time throughout the day.  I will probably go back to what I had yesterday and go again in Q2.’

Ongaro was content with his car in Q1 saying, ‘It was good but maybe the car was too soft on the rear.’  The Italian continued, ‘I was a bit nervous on the first laps so I slowed down a bit but actually it was good.’  Asked about his roll over during the run, he said, ‘yeah a 28.9 lap so I lost almost 3-seconds.  I just landed short on the left side double.’