August 29, 2025

Kaerup is inaugural eBuggy Worlds Top Qualifier

Team Associated’s Marcus Kaerup is the Top Qualifier for the inaugural IFMAR 1:8 Electric Offroad World Championship, the Dane securing the honours in Portugal with a round to spare after Michal Orlowski TQ’d the penultimate round at the Barcelos Buggy Arena track.  With three consecutive TQ runs in Q2, 3 & 4, only Xray’s David Ronnefalk could deny the talented teenager from leading away the 12 buggy grid that will battle it out tomorrow to become the first ever eBuggy World Champion.  Going in the first group of potential title contenders, Ronnefalk couldn’t deliver the required TQ as last year’s Nitro Buggy Worlds Top Qualifier Juan Carlos Canas topped that heat with a time that was eventually be good enough for the 3rd fastest time.  With that result confirming Kaerup as the overall TQ, Q5 was now just an opportunity to chase 4-in-a-row as he was next up to run, but a mistake would bring an end to his very impressive run.  In the end Schumacher’s Michal Orlowski finally delivered his promised TQ run ahead of Ongaro, giving them the Top 2 for the round.  With the tension levels palpable going into sixth & final qualifier, many leading drivers desperate for a good result to make the A-Main cut, the focus was on who would line-up behind Kaerup, that battle for P2 between Orlowski, Ronnefalk and Ongaro.  In the end, Orlowski backed up his Q5 TQ with another, this time ahead of Kaerup.  Overall, Ongaro will start third ahead of Elliott Boots and Ronnefalk with Cement Boda completing the top half of the grid.  While currently an all European final line-up, there is still an outside chance for a US driver to fill the 13th spot via the B-Main LCQ race.  Ryan Cavalieri starts pole on that grid as the best American qualifier with P13.  The offroad racing powerhouse nation will get an opportunity for a stronger showing at the 2nd edition of eBuggy Worlds which it was announced will take place in the United States in 2027.

On his first World Championship TQ, Kaerup said, ‘I am happy with being in front and will try and drive away if possible but it is so close out there.  There are so many strong contenders so I feel it is going to be a long 10-minutes.’  With the TQ wrapped up allowing him to use the final qualifier to test ahead of the triple 10-minute finals, he said, ‘we changed some stuff but it didn’t work as we thought it would so we are going to go back.’  On how the track has evolved after the overnight rain and with the completion of Day 2 of qualifying, the 1:10 Offroad World Championship finalist said, ‘It is getting pretty bumpy out there, and there are some pretty big holes that unsettles the car.  I think if it is going to get patches for tomorrow I think it is going to be ok for us.’

‘Second is a nice starting spot, no pressure of the whole field behind me but now I am just curious what the track will be like for the finals tomorrow’, that was Orlowski’s reaction at the conclusion of qualifying.  The Schumacher team driver continued, ‘It is nice that the car is competitive in the high grip conditions, and now when it’s lower grip, without making many changes.  I saw many guys were thrashing on their cars changing stuff, we kind of decided to chill out and just drive what we have.’  Looking to the finals the former European eBuggy Champion said, ‘We just need to stay on top of the tyre choice for tomorrow.  We have such a big variety of tyres and we don’t know what the track might do.  It is meant to be quite warm tomorrow so we need to make the right choices and drive like I have been driving so far.’

Summing up his third place on the grid, Ongaro said, ‘Finally qualifying is over.  P3 is not bad a starting position, any thing can happen in the main so we are confident.  Considering from where we start I’m pretty happy.’  The Italian continued, ‘We have practice this afternoon so we will try something with different tyres, the car is actually pretty OK, we are just missing some grip.’  An interesting fact highlighted by the reigning Nitro World Champion is that he has never won any of his 1:8 World titles from pole position and as the current European 1:8 eBuggy Champion, the title was achieved from second on the grid.

‘One word, traffic’, that was how Top Seed Boots response when asked to sum up qualifying.  On his P4 starting position the former Nitro Buggy Worlds Top Qualifier continued, ‘yeah anything can happen from there, were kind of in the mix but would have been nice to be starting P2 which could have happened if I TQ’d that round but the same guy again cost me the TQ.  The car, everything, is feeling good.  We made a lot of changes to adapt to the conditions.’  On how he found today’s track, he said, ‘it wasn’t better for us, not with the set-up I was using from yesterday, it was completely different, but now we are on top of it and I was feeling good then.  They were saying I was quite a bit ahead of the TQ pace & comfortable, without that who knows but feeling good going into the finals.’

Asked about his qualifying Ronnefalk said, ‘I would sum it up as very disappointing to be honest.  Obviously I had the two good runs to start qualifying with, then I was on a very good run also in Q3 until the very last corner.  Today the weather has completely changed the track for everyone and I think in the first one my heat being the first top heat it definitely was the slowest, it was still wet out there.  The track was drying all the time so I think the fair thing for the qualifying today would have been to have a short practice round and run all the heats one time and then it would have been a little more equal’.  The former Nitro Buggy World Champion continued, ‘Our heat was always going to be a slower one being first out so that kind of cost me the possibility to do something today.  Basically the other two heats they had our heat to judge which tyre and compound they wanted to go with.’  Feeling he ‘probably picked the wrong tyre’ for Q5 he ‘just didn’t have the drive’.  For Q6 he went back to the soft compound that he ran yesterday and made some other changes he thought was going to be in the right direction but while the car was ‘pretty fast’ it was ‘difficult to drive’ that compounded by contact with Brandon Rose which cost him a potential fourth on the grid.  On the finals, the reigning European Nitro Buggy Champion, who won that title here at Barcelos starting from P5, said, ‘I think it is difficult in terms of it’s like pretty much one line.  I think it is going to be hard to pass unless someone makes a mistake so its all going to come down to whether you can keep you line or not with the guys behind you.  Fifth is not terrible but obviously with the speed I had in the dry before the rain today and all that happened today I’m disappointed for sure.’

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August 29, 2025

Chassis Focus – Gabriel Astorino (WIRC)

Chassis – WIRC SBX4-E
ESC – Hobbywing Xerun SR8 Pro G3
Motor – Hobbywing 1900 KV
Battery – Sunpadow 8000mAh
Tires – Matrix Blackhole
Radio/Servo – Futaba T10PX / Sanwa PGS XBII
Body – WIRC

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August 29, 2025

Kaerup again in Q4 as rain fails to dampen form

With overnight rain delaying the start to Day 2 of the qualifying at the eBuggy World Championship and presenting drivers with very different track conditions, it still wasn’t enough to prevent Team Associated’s Marcus Kaerup from making it three TQ runs in a row in Portugal.  With the start to the fourth round of qualifying delayed by an hour, Kaerup topped the times from his team-mate Davide Ongaro, the TQ pace over 17-seconds slower than the Dane’s best from yesterday.  With Q1 winner David Ronnefalk and Top Seed Elliott Boots both having bad runs, it would be the Schumacher pairing of Michal Orlowski and Daniel Kobbevik who completed Top 4.  Playing a pivotal role in Kaerup’s third TQ run, French eBuggy Champion Clement Boda enjoyed his best run so far with the fifth fastest time ahead of Tekno’s João Figueiredo whose time saw him top the fastest heat group.

Summing up his latest TQ effort, Kaerup said, ‘It couldn’t have been better could it.  It was a bit of a rough morning, I was here early to make sure that I had everything prepared for the rain but thankfully before my run Clement (Boda) won his run and gave me his tyres and I was able to TQ my heat.’  In turn giving his tyres to Joona Haatanen, he said,  ‘for his (Haatanen) run they had too much running, they’d already done 15-minutes and normally we do only 10-minutes on mediums and these were three compounds softer.’  Regarding the track conditions, the 17-year-old said, ‘It was way more difficult now.  You had to be so precise to be fast but also not make the car slide.  The two last corners before the line were critical, if you went too wide the car would just push out.  If you pushed it too much around the corner it would slide out, it was about getting it right.’  With Ronnefalk the only remaining driver that can deny him the overall TQ here in Barcelos,  he said, ‘David can still take my TQ but I will for sure go for the TQ in the next one.’

Ongaro explained, ‘that was completely different from yesterday but the tyre wear was ok.  I lost say 1 second and a half with a car that was crashed outside the track and when he come back on the track he put dust every where so my car just starting spinning.’  The Italian Matrix tyres back drivers continued, ‘I think we are now on our side with tyres because the track is losing a little bit of grip’, something he said is to their tyres benefit.  Looking to the penultimate qualifier, the reigning European eBuggy Champion said, ‘It will be a challenge again but we will try.’

‘Again one or two small mistakes and I cased a jump and lost around a second and that was the difference to TQ’, was how Orlowski summed up his first round of the day.  He continued, ‘We are always there, always in the Top 3, it’s good but the track turned upside down from yesterday and it was pretty hectic so I am glad to see us still at the top, now we just need to stay on top of the track development and how its changes.’  Asked how the track had changes after the light rain, he replied, ‘its really loose and its crucial to staying on the racing line.’  For the remaining two qualifiers, 3 of the 6 to count, the Pole said, ‘we will try and get some good scores to try and be in the Top 3 on the starting grid.’

‘Finally a better run’, that was Kobbevik’s reaction to his P4 run.  The Norwegian continued, ‘the track was totally different with the slippery conditions but finally a Top 5 run.  I think the track suited me and I enjoyed the grip.  Yesterday I was always a bit scared because of the grip, I could sometimes traction roll so I was probably driving too safe.  Today I could be more myself.’  Looking to Q5 he said while he expects the track to get better he will keep the car as is and try get another good result to add to his counting rounds.

Asked about his first Top 5 run, Boda said, ‘It was good, I think I am 9th overall so we need to do one more to get the Amain.  It was a clean run without mistake.’  Asked about his first day of qualifying the 20-year-old said, ‘the last qualifying of yesterday was good, P7.  The first one was super good, like Top 3, but on the last lap in the triple I made a mistake, I don’t know why, and in the second one I made a mistake so I have a 21 and a 24.  We need to do the best in the next two.’

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August 28, 2025

Kaerup doubles to hold overnight TQ at eBuggy Worlds

Team Associated’s Marcus Kaerup produced another TQ run at the eBuggy World Championship to hold the overnight TQ in Portugal after backing up his TQ from Round 2 with another fastest time of the event in Q3.  The Danish teenager topped the final round of Day 1 of qualifying at the Barcelos track from Schumacher’s Michal Orlowski, his advantage over the Pole 1.5-seconds.  On a potential TQ run in the previous round until a late driver error, Sworkz’ Juan Carlos Canas posted his first Top 3 of qualifying just 0.034 shy of Orlowski.  The big surprise of Q3 was Ryan Cavalieri, the multiple 1:10 Offroad World Champion steering his Mayako right into the mix with the 4th fastest time.  Behind the American, Noha Ben Mohamed showed his run to the fifth fastest time in Q2 wasn’t a one off as he again recorded a P5 with Davide Ongaro completing the Top 6, the Italian again suffering a mistake over the 5-minutes.  Taking the opening qualifier, David Ronnefalk ended the day with a 10th after a mistake on the final run to the loop.  Despite this, the Swede sits P2 in the overnight qualification ranking thanks to his third fastest time in Q2.  For his Xray team-mate Dakotah Phend it was a tough day, the American having started out the day with a 6th in Q1 but ending up 20th for Q2 after a mistake and then suffering a DNS in the day’s final round due to a mechanical.

‘Definitely a great run, I lost a couple of tenths in traffic but I managed and brought it home’, that was how Kaerup summed up his latest TQ run.  With little else to report on his run or buggy set-up, asking him how he felt the track is developing, he replied, ‘the quad is getting quite beat up so you got  to adjust the line because the tyre we are running on is not suited for a lot of dust so you have to watch you line because if you hit the dust the car is going to feel different for the next couple of corners.’  With the forecast showing a 20% chance of rain in the morning, asked about that Kaerup said, ‘I’m not too worried because we have a good rain tyre if it comes down to that.’

While most drivers would say they had an unlucky mistake, Orlowski said he had ‘a really lucky mistake’.  He explained, ‘We made a change and definitely had more pace but we had a really lucky mistake.  I tumbled over and it could have been a marshal and 3 or 4 seconds lost but it was a second or maybe less so I was really lucky. I had another bad lap so if it was perfectly clean I would have been close to Marcus but the car is too difficult to drive and I see from the drivers stand it is not doing what we want it to do.  The track developed a little bit and went away from where the set-up was in the morning and yesterday evening so we need adjust the car for tomorrow.  We have some good ideas we are confident about but let’s see what the weather does.’

Happy with his finish to the first day of qualifying after the disappoint of Q2, Canas said, ‘Q2 was my mistake, I think the pace was exactly the same and the time without the mistake would have be the same (as Q3), but I can do nothing about it now.’  On his car performance the 2024 Nitro Buggy Worlds Top Qualifier said, ‘I’m going slow but finally I am getting confidence.  I am driving the car at about 95% so I will try something on the car for tomorrow.’  He added, ‘I also need to improve a little bit my driving so I will watch videos tonight and see how the other guys are driving.’

Asked where his surprise turn of speed came from Cavalieri replied, ‘Honest I don’t know.  Yesterday was in the right direction just missed a little bit of set-up from Pekko (Iivonen) and we’ve all been working really really hard and been sharing as much information back and forth. I just felt like yesterday and the day before we were strapped on time.  We could never really prepare the every time and we missed a few laps on each run so today we went through the car and I had a few things in the rear end that was a little bound up so I freed up the rear end and the car honest from then has been awesome.  We made a small change now that I got comfortable with the driving I said I need a little more steering, a little more responsive, and the pace was good.  It took me a few laps to get adjusted to it but overall it was just overall fast.  I was 60th the first day on the track, got down to 24th yesterday and we shot up today quite a bit. It’s good to show up today.’

The leading Junior driver here at the inaugural eBuggy Worlds, Ben Mohamed summed up his latest effort as ‘another good run’ adding, ‘it was a little better in the 5-minutes so it was very good.’  The 16-year-old electric racing specialist, who joined Sparko at the beginning of the 2025 season, is happy with his Buggy set-up opting to leave it unchanged all day and that is his plan again for tomorrow adding he will just try and keep doing what he is doing, a formula that has worked well for the French driver today.

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August 28, 2025

Kaerup takes Q2 in Portugal

Team Associated’s Marcus Kaerup has taken the second qualifier at the 1:8 eBuggy World Championship, the Dane redeeming himself following a disappointing first effort to top the times from Top Seed Elliott Boots.  Ending up with a 41 for Q1, Kaerup would take Q2 in a new fastest time bettering David Ronnefalk’s opening TQ time by over 1-second.  Ronnefalk would back up his TQ run with a P3 for the round with Boots just getting the better of him by 0.049 of a second after the British driver produced a better final lap.  Schumacher’s Michal Orlowski posted the 4th fastest time ahead of young French talent Noha Ben Mohamed who steered his Sparko into the Top 5.   It was a frustrating run for a number of leading title contenders.  Davide Ongaro lost almost 3-seconds with a mistake on lap 7 of 9 but still salvaged a 6th such was his pace, Juan Carlos Canas had a final lap mistake that cost him 4-seconds, and Dakotah Phend lost any chance of a strong Q2 with a mistake on his second lap.

Describing his TQ run as ‘really good’, Kaerup said, ‘I found my ryhthm right from the first lap and just keep it on and made it work.’  Asked about Q1 the 17-year-old replied, ‘the less said about that the better’ before continuing, ‘I got off to a really good start but overshot a jump and then I just lost my head.’   Overall, the 1:8 Nitro Buggy and 1:10 Electric Offroad World Championship finalist said he has the car and package to get the job done and it is just a matter of him putting it together with the goal for Q3 to repeat what he did in Q2.

Commenting on his run to the second fastest time for the round, Boots said, ‘That was a bit better, super close, just a little time off him (Orlowski), less than half a second but I had a little traffic I had to get through so I lost a few tenths there.’  The Sworkz driver continued, ‘Its still a second which is a good counting round and well just go again and hopefully have better luck with traffic, it would be nice.’

‘Not a good run I though the car was a little looser that time but overall a pretty consistent run.  He added. ‘I had Canas behind me starting the clock and we were pretty much dead even, I think I was a little faster the first 2-3 laps and then I caught traffic so he gained on me and probably ahead and then he caught the traffic I had to go through and he kind of slowed down the last couple of laps.  Unfortunately this traffic cost me a possible TQ, I didn’t feel I had any clean laps out there.  It’s the same for everyone but its what happens when you divide 36 people in the three top heats.’  The subject of the heat make-up following seeding has been a point raise by a number of drivers, the current process effecting both fast drivers as they caught traffic and slower drivers as the have to open to let drivers through.  Looking to the day’s final qualifier, 3 more on the schedule for tomorrow, Ronnefalk said, ‘I am going to adjust a little bit to see if I can get a bit more grip.  I don’t know if it as a bit more dusty but I felt my car being a little bit loser so I need a little bit more traction for the next one and it will be all good.’

‘OK, small mistake’, that was how Orlowski summed up his second qualifying effort.  The Pole continued, ‘Now I need to try and find more comfortability and speed from the car because I need to fight for the first win.  We’ll test something now for Q3 as I have driven two good scores and I know I have the pace to be there but we need to find something to drive and be there in the Top 3.

Asked about his impressive Q2 run, Ben Mohamed responded with ‘zero mistakes’.  Having had a less competitive Q1 due to driver errors, he himself describing that run as ‘bad’.   The 16-year-old is pleased with how his buggy is working and having changed nothing between Q1 and Q2 he said that is the plan again for today’s third & final qualifier.   Pleased with his Top 5 run he hinted he believes he has more to come.

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August 28, 2025

Ronnefalk TQs opening qualifier at eBuggy Worlds

Xray’s David Ronnefalk has TQ’d the opening round of qualifying at the inaugural IFMAR 1:8 Electric Offroad World Championship in Portugal.  Winner of his fourth European 1:8 Nitro Buggy Championships title at the Barcelos track earlier this month, the Swede took the first of the six qualifiers from the similar car of Michal Orlowski, the Schumacher team driver only half a second off at the end of their respective 5-minute qualifying efforts.  Having been missing from the radar over the previous 2-days of practice, qualifying would see Davide Ongaro turn up with a Top 3 run ahead of Top Seed Elliott Boots, the Sworkz driver having a late issue with traffic on his run.  Boots’ team-mate Juan Carlos Canas opened his account with the fifth fastest time with Dakotah Phend continuing to be the top non-European as he steered his Xray to P6 ahead of Infinity’s young Japanese protege Kouki Kato.

Reacting to his TQ run, the reigning European 1:8 and 1:10 Offroad Champion running in Group 8 of 10, Ronnefalk said, ‘That was a good start and what you want from the first couple of runs of qualifying to have points that count for the overall early on so you have room for set-up changes or improvement towards the end.  It give you a bit more margin and you can drive a little more relaxed towards the end of qualifying.’  The former European eBuggy Champion continued, ‘It is not normally my strongest part of the race, qualifying, but I think I have improved a little bit in the last month or so.  The car and everything has been feeling really good so I just had to keep it on the wheels and step back a little bit to do that and luckily it was enough for TQ.  They were not far behind but it worked out in the end.’  For Q2, he said, ‘we are keeping it the same, gluing up a new set of tyres, the same ones, and it should be good.  I haven’t touched that much from the start of the race up until now and I don’t think I am going to have to either as the track is fairly consistent now that they put some concrete in the jump section.  The landing after the quad is a little more grippy than before.  The car balance felt like it was right where I wanted it now and I can just work on my driving.’

Orlowski wasn’t overly impressed with his own performance for the midday qualifier, saying, ‘It was OK, the car is really good, the whole balance, everything is good, but I drove better in the morning practice.  Now I started off pretty OK had a slightly slower second lap and I had three really slow laps in a row without any major mistakes’.  The Polish ace continued, ‘It was clean run but maybe I think a little too clean.  I wasn’t pushing enough.  I don’t want to push much but in the morning (practice) I did a lot better.’  For Q2 the reigning 1:12 World Champion said, ‘as the race goes on we are not making changes now, we are happy with where we are, I was just driving way too cautious this time round.  I am sure I have the pace to top some rounds.’

A much happier looking Ongaro reacted to his P3 with, ‘Definitely way better, we found some speed finally.  Now that the base set-up is good we need to find some little things that can help me more but I’m super happy.’  The Nitro Buggy World Champion continued, ‘I think my pace was the same as David (Ronnefalk) but I crashed on the warm up lap so I had to let everyone go and I was last so the last 4-laps I found like 5-cars in front of me so instead of crash and make some mistakes I stayed behind them and lost maybe one second or more.’  Planning to change the centre diff oil for Q2, asked what the big change was that brought him into contention today, the Team Associated driver explained, ‘When I built the car I put a thing on the car that was supposed to be the same but it was different and that thing changed the caster, camber, everything.  So when I say ok this is different I put the original one on and the car from then started to work.’

Boots felt his run ‘could have been a bit better’.  The British driver explained, ‘We just wanted to go for a steady run and start off on the right foot and got a fourth which is not terrible but I think we were on pace for TQ, there or thereabouts, but I had a problem with traffic.  Pekko (Iivonen) crashed a pipe and bounced out and hit me, just one of those racing things.  Without that I think it would have been Top 2.’  For the next round he will not change anything saying ‘the car felt good and I just need to try be a bit luckier with traffic and get called through.  Hopefully I can get a clear space for most of the run which would be great.’

‘I don’t expect that was P5 when I came off the driver stand’, was Canas’ reaction after Q1.  The Spaniard continued, ‘I feel that my driving is not really good so it would be slow but finally it was Top 5 and that’s good, it’s less work for the next one.’  On his buggy set-up he said, ‘this morning in practice I tried some things and it didn’t work so I went back and tried to make a safe run to get some points’.  For Q2, based on the rising temperature, he will change tyres and ‘some little things’ on the car but he feels the biggest area for improvement will come from his own driving.

Summing up the first qualifier, Phend said, ‘It was a pretty clean first round, I had a couple of small bobbles and probably lost around a second, a second & a half, or so but good to have a first clean run in and a decent point but yeah I just need to find a little more speed for today,’  On the track, the ROAR National Champion said, ‘I think it has a little less grip than it did the last couple of days so I think everyone is going a little bit slower.’

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