October 1, 2026

Ronnefalk doubles in Q5 as Ongaro fuel gamble fails

Xray’s David Ronnefalk has taken a second TQ run at the IFMAR 1:8 Nitro Buggy World Championship, the Swede topping Q5 by more than 2-seconds as his main rivals for the overall TQ honour here in Texas had their issues.  In the end it was Sworkz’s Juan Carlos Canas who was closest to Ronnefalk over the 10-minutes.  Up in the first of the Top 3 heat groups, Ronnefalk set the benchmark with a new fastest time of qualifying of 17/10:30.480, doing so as the only driver to run a 35-second lap of the Thornhill Racing Circuit.  Having posted his second TQ run in this morning’s Q4, it looked like running in Heat 14 of 15 that Mason Fuller was going to better the Swede’s time.  While looking very fast on track, the American Sworkz driver would make a number of mistakes that needed marshalling ending his quest to wrap up an early overall TQ.  Considering the time lost his P3 for the round was impressive.  With the top heat next up, all eyes were on Ongaro, the defending Champion having TQ’d Round 3 with a fuel stop but now gambling on trying to do the full 10-minutes without a stop.  With the noise of the rain on the roof covering the track drowning out the noise of the engine, Ongaro’s engine was to fall silent for other reasons.  His fuel gamble didn’t pay off and as he started his last lap his Team Associated came rolling to a halt.  With the Top 5 druver making 17-laps run it was Associated’s Spencer Rivkin in P4 and Sparko’s Noha Ben Mohamed who completed those position ahead of Ongaro who still took a P6 for his efforts.

Commenting on his second TQ run, Ronnefalk said, ‘It was pretty hectic there mid way through the run.  I had a lot of traffic and I probably had to go by five cars or so, so that was a bit scary.’  He continued, ‘I also had one moment on the back left with a lapped car and luckily I was able to keep the car on the wheels even if I went in to the infield and probably lost 2-seconds or so.  Then with 4-5 minutes to go I had clean air and I felt like the car was really really fast so I just needed to stay smooth and click off the fastest laps and was able to finish off very strong there.  I posted the quickest time so far this week and put some pressure on the guys coming up after me.’  On the track, the 2026 World Champion felt, ‘It got more grippy now, it was a lot more critical to drive and you could see that with all the other guys having a hard time fighting the cars.  I did too, it got a little soft towards the end so I just need to bump up the oils or something like that to just slow the movement down a bit.’  Asked if it is game on for the final qualifier Ronnefalk said, ‘Mason was very fast in that last one but had a couple of crash so I just need to post that good fast time before he is up and maybe I can put some pressure on him.  At the end of the day qualifying is not everything, there is a long way to go after that.’

‘It was perfect, I liked how the car was driving and behaving, everything was good’, was how Canas described the penultimate qualifier.  Making a suspension change and switching to a lower rear wing for the run, the 24-year-old now plans to use the sixth & final round to test a few more things saying, ‘I want to try things I have in my head.  I will change many things, tyres, shocks, many things.  I will try things that I think will be better and if it is not working I go back to the normal things for the Semi practice.’  On the wing change he said, ‘with the lower wing in the 180s there is more corner speed.’

Giving his thought on Q5 Fuller said, ‘I tried a different tyre which was better so that will be good for Round 6, I just had 3 wrecks so that kind of killed me.  Other than that the car is going to be good for the Semi I think.’  Asked if his Reds Racing powered buggy had become edgy to drive leading to his mistakes, he replied, ‘I think I just pushed a bit too hard and they were just dump wrecks.’  Quizzed on his tyre change, asked if it was a different tyre or just compound change he replied, ‘both’ adding when asked their name, ‘I don’t know if I can say what it was.’  Planning to use the same tyre in Q6 and ‘probably the Semi too’, the battle for the overall TQ is now a two horse race between himself and Ronnefalk.

‘That one was pretty dang good’, was Rivkin’s reaction to his P4 for the round.  Opening the day with the 17th fastest time, the 2-time Electric Offroad World Champion, explained, ‘the first one today was actually OK.  I ended up running a test compound that the guys ran last night, Canas and Maifield, and just the way my set-up was for a little bit more traction with the conditions I was just a little bit slow and just needed more steering.  I went back to the tyres I ran in the other qualifiers then for that one and we are back kind of on the same pace we have kind of been at.’  He added, ‘I ran brand new tyres that run that were kind of scuffed in with the drill and my speed was adequite to my other personal best so I think we are definitely on the right track but feel there is more in the tank in terms of hitting my marks better with my driving and a couple of things clicking together with the car can be improved.  I think we are kind of peaking at the right time, there is still a lot more racing left.’  On the run time gamble, that didn’t pay off for his team-mate Ongaro he said, ‘A lot of people that run were trying to go 10-minutes that haven’t been going 10-minutes and its getting into some people’s head a little bit.  I haven’t pitted once in the qualifiers.  The Reds guys, Marco and the Reds family are here, are putting in a lot of time and effort with their drivers which is really nice so huge round of applause to them.’

‘The run was really good and I finished P5’ was Ben Mohamed reaction to his first Top 5 run.  The talent French racer added, ‘All my package is good, my car, my engine, my tyres, all is OK and I am happy how things are going’.  Describing the track layout as ‘challenging’ and ‘completely different’ to when he came here for the official Warm-up Race in May, the 17-year-old also highlighted he is happy with his engine package explaining, ‘With my Reds engine I don’t need to stop so lets see now how we do in the last one.’  Running Matrix Black Hole tyre, he said this has been pretty solid through the event but he might use Q6 to try something different for the Semi finals.

October 1, 2026

Fuller produces second TQ run in Texas

Sworkz’s Mason Fuller has opened Day 2 of the qualifying at the IFMAR 1:8 Nitro Buggy World Championship with a second TQ run, the American topping the round from team-mate Juan Carlos Canas and defending Champion Davide Ongaro.  Going in the group ahead of Ongaro and Canas, Fuller would be the only driver to run 17-laps of the Thornhill Racing Circuit this morning, Canas missing the mark by 1-second as he snatched P2 from Ongaro on his final lap of the fourth qualifying round.  Behind the Top 3 it was David Ronnefalk, who took Q1 yesterday morning, who set the fourth fastest time ahead of Xray team-mate Chase Lemieux both drivers running in Heat 13 of 15.  The Top 6 was rounded out by eBuggy World Champion Marcus Kaerup with US Offroad heavyweights Dakotah Phend, who had two DNF’s yesterday, and Ryan Maifield just behind him.

A driver who prefers to do his talking on the track, Fuller summed up his second TQ run with, ‘I had a few little mistakes with traffic and just going wide in places but I guess it was quick enough to do the TQ without a pit.’  With his last lap dropping almost a second, asked about this he said, ‘I just got in the dust a little bit and when you get in the dust it slows you down so much so that was why.’  Asked his thoughts on the track today, the 21-year-old said, ‘It is definitely better because they didn’t water last night so it started out pretty good, I think it will still get faster.’  On any planned car changes for the penultimate round of qualifying, he replied, ‘Eh we are going to try run a similar tyre and try & TQ cause that would be nice.’  With 3 of the six schedule qualifiers to count a TQ run in Q5 would lock Fuller in as the Top Qualifier.

Reacting to his best qualifier so far, Canas said, ‘We tried new things on the shocks and it was good, today I think it is working better, I mean the speed is better than yesterday.’  The Top Qualifier of the previous Worlds in his home country Spain, he added, ‘It is a little bit difficult to drive but not too much and the pace was good so we’ll keep working for the next one.’  Asked about his last lap on which he took 3/10ths out of Ongaro, he said, ‘I pushed because I knew I was close to him, so I pushed on the last lap to get it.’

With Ongaro in a deep engine discussion all in Italian with his father and mechanic, he explained afterwards that they were talking about engine set-up for trying to do a run without a fuel stop.  He explained, We are working with Kouki (Kato) who is doing 12 (minutes) so I think my driving style is a little suited to the 10-minutes because I am not like super aggressive, so lets try it.  We have two good scores, I need one more and P5 will be the last one which is faster for us so we try it.’  On Q4, he said, ‘Yes it was good.  We use the same car as yesterday but I think they fixed some holes on the track and the dust off that was just a little bit everywhere so we had a little less grip than yesterday but I think it will come up soon.’

‘It was a good run, clean, no big mistakes’ explained Ronnefalk.  He continued, ‘I had one moment when I came down the straightaway and I just braked a little bit in the dust and got inside of the pipe like 3 laps from the end and lost I think a second which would have put me very very close to Canas and Davide.’  He added, ‘I mean we were the fastest guys doing a pit stop.  Fuller didn’t do the pit stop obviously but he was driving very good too.  Maybe I drove a little bit to cautious.  I had a six from yesterday I wanted to better and now I got a 4 which is better but I’d like to improve that a little but more.’  Asked about the track, the last World Champion to be crowned on US soil when he won in Las Vegas in 2016 said, ‘It was not as bad as yesterday morning as they didn’t water in between qualifying round. It was definitely a bit more similar to Round 2 of yesterday but from now on its going to get more grippy again.’

‘It was solid’ was the response of Lemieux when asked how Q4 went.  He continued, ‘The felt pretty good, pretty similar to yesterday maybe a little less grip but it is good enough to do some testing for the Main and the Semis so that is what is on my mind next.’  For sure I still want to go out there and TQ but I think now is the opportunity to do some testing for the finals ahead and give ourselves the best shot to make it count most when it matters most, you know.’  On what he is looking for in terms of a finals car, the 20-year-old said, ‘Mainly just consistency and easability to drive.  That is how my car has been all of qualifying and I have been happy with it but still looking for just that extra little bit of pace but your car also can’t be hard to drive in an hour long final which is going to come down to mistakes.  That’s going to be the biggest factor.’

October 1, 2026

Ongaro comes good in Q3, Ronnefalk holds overnight TQ

Defending World Champion Davide Ongaro has concluded the first day of qualifying at the IFMAR 1:8 Nitro Buggy World Championship in Texas with his first TQ run, but it is Xray’s David Ronnefalk who holds the overnight TQ at the Thornhill Racing Circuit.  After topping seeding yesterday, Ongaro would not have the best of starts to qualifying as he managed only P5 while Ronnefalk topped Q1.  Worse was to come in Q2 as Ongaro posted the 8th fastest time.  With the frustration starting to show on the Italian’s face, while Sworkz’s Mason Fuller impressed with the Q2 TQ, the Ongaro smile would return in Q3 as the Team Associated driver just managed to pip the Xray of an impressive Chase Lemieux to the top of the timing sheets.  Lemieux has put in a strong day posting a P4 on his first attempt which he duly backed up with a P3 in the second one before closing out the day with a very competitive 2nd fastest time.  Overall it was a good end to the day for Team Associated with Spencer Rivkin putting together a P3, the leading drivers breaking 17-laps for the first time.  For Fuller, new tyres left him struggling a little in Round 3 and he ended the day by adding a P4 to his TQ & P3 while Tekno’s Ryan Maifield, who surprised with the 2nd fastest time in Q2, completed the Top 5 ahead of Ronnefalk.  The Swede felt he had a really fast car in Q3 but admitted he got carried away and this led to a number of mistakes that put him sixth for the round.  Elsewhere having looked to have found his way in Q2, America’s pre-event title favourite Dakotah Phend, like he did in Q1, ran out of fuel.  European Champion Juan Carlos Canas had been on a strong final run but the Spaniard had a costly last lap his Sworkz getting hooked up on one of the track’s roof support posts leaving him with a P9.

Putting it to Ongaro, ‘the smile is back’, the 25-year-old responded, ‘Yeah I mean I wasn’t happy before, not about my consistency but my package overall was a little bit not comfortable.  Now we changed a few things and maybe the rain helped a little bit with our tyres but I think we are now going on the right way.’  Asked what was the biggest thing they discovered to improve the car for Q3, he said, ‘we improve a lot with the car because before when I was going into the corner it was like locking, not going around like I like, but now I can do the corner more easy like my driving style.’

‘Really good’ was how Lemieux summed up his run that was just 0.173 off Ongaro’s TQ and fastest time of the day.  The son of former top international touring car racer Paul, the 20-year-old explained, ‘I didn’t make any mistakes and it was another 99 consistency run which I am trying to do every time.’  He continued, ‘Ongaro was very very fast that time and just got me by a tenth but we are heading the right direction and I feel very very comfortable with my car, the track, and tyres.  I am very confident for tomorrow, I feel good.’   On any car changes for Day 2 of quali, the current ROAR 1:10 National Buggy Champion said, ‘In the morning it is always very difficult to know what to do.  It’s like you need two or three different cars for each track condition.  In the morning it is super dusty and loose, and then you run different compound tyres or thread as in the middle of the day its pretty grippy, and at the end of the day it is very hooked up.  It’s hard to say what we are going to do for tomorrow but we’ll see when we get there.’

Reacting to his Top 3 run, Rivkin said, ‘Definitely finding some speed and consistency out there, I am definitely a slow learner and building confidence & pace into the car and comfortability is huge.  Big props to My who crew that’s helping me, Brent (Thielke) and dad.  It’s definitely a grind to say the least.’  The Arizona driver added, ‘We have a lot of team-mates here that are being very helpful.’  Asked what he had been lack from the outset, the 2 time 1:10 2WD Buggy World Champion said, ‘for sure just confidence and the car being edgy and hard to drive, but now it is being more one to one and feeling more in the track.  I just feel I wasn’t in the track and now I am more in that window of feeling where the car is going and how fast it is, under braking, confidence, the whole monty.’   He concluded, ‘We ended the day good so now we can get dinner, eat some ice cream and go to bed and get at it tomorrow.’

Asked about his run, Fuller said, ‘I don’t know if the new tyre was the best.  I felt like it took a while to break in, I was just a bit slower that round cause I ran a perfect race pretty much but just slow.’  Asked if he changed compound, the Iowa driver replied, ‘Nope same tyre just the first run on these so I guess now we know to probably run some balder tyres and hopefully I have got some more pace.’  Sitting pretty good at the end of Day 1 of qualifying with a 1,3 and 4, Fuller said, ‘now we can test for tomorrow and try and get more speed’.  Asked where he expected to get that speed from he said, ‘I think it is just the tyres because the last one (Q2) it was good and that’s the only thing I changed.’

First explain what happened in Q2, Maifield said, ‘I didn’t change anything on the car, ran the same tyre, but it felt really soft and I tried to manage it best I could and then I crashed in the double double single coming onto the straightaway with 3-laps to go.  I salvaged a Top 15 run, not great, probably would have been 6 or a 7 without the crash so not really on pace.’  He continued, ‘For Round 3 we left the car alone again but just changed to a completely different tyre and it definitely had a little more pace.  I put in a clean drive and still was a little off but overall it was a solid run and I know kinda now were I stack up.  I have 3 points worth talking about but hopefully I get ride of that 13 tomorrow and then just reset.’  Looking to Q4 he said, ‘We are going to put some fresh parts on this thing so we can liven her up a bit and go back to work.’  Switching to a JConcepts Spacebar in a new still to be named compound, he says he will most likely stick with that for tomorrow but added ‘it depends on the track with the rain, weather, so we are just going to have to play that by ear.’

October 1, 2026

Fuller takes Q2 in Texas

Despite a mistake, Sworkz Mason Fuller has TQ’d the second round of qualifying at the IFMAR 1:8 Nitro Buggy World Championship at Thornhill Racing Circuit.  Running in the second fastest heat, the American just missed out on a 17-lap run posting a time of 16/10:00.219 to beat Q1 winner David Ronnefalk, the Xray driver having went fastest in Heat 13 from team-mate Chase Lemieux, this the Top 3 order for the round.  A qualifying round that would see mistakes from many drivers, having opened with the second fastest time in Q1 Tekno’s Ryan Maifield would need to be marshalled on his second attempt and with 4-seconds lost he ended up P13.  While finishing top of the timing screens in Heat 15, Juan Carlos Canas’ effort was only good for P4, the Spaniard like Ronnefalk having the disadvantage of needing to do a fuel stop to get through the 10-minute run.  After a torrid Q1 in which he ran out of fuel, a much happier Dakotah Phend would run the fifth fastest time just ahead of 2-time 1:10 Offroad World Champion Spencer Rivkin who was the best Team Associated for the round.  For defending World Champion Davide Ongaro he was again not happy with his car, the Italian only managing P8 to go with his P5 from Q1.

‘With a mistake I was not expecting to get the TQ’, that was Fuller’s reaction to taking the round.  He continued, ‘I am super happy again, the car was good, and for the next one I am going to throw on a new set of tyres ad hopefully we can repeat.’  On his mistake, asked if he was pushing, he said, ‘I really wasn’t I just jumped a little bit too inside the curb and rolled over with too much grip.’  Looking to the third & final qualifier of the opening day here in Texas, a massive rain shower having just hit facility but racing continuing under the covered track, he said, ‘We are starting (the group) with Race 7 so we are going to be up pretty soon but yeh the grip will be a little bit higher for sure so a new set of tyre should be better for that.’

Asked how he felt Q2 went, Ronnefalk responded, ‘Overall it was good.  P2, I will take it, it was very close and the track was fast.’  The 2026 World Champion continued, ‘I had just a bad moment to catch some traffic in the middle of the track before the washboard so just kinda screwed up my line going into the washboard right after the guy let me by in the corner before that, and made a mistake and made a bobble over the washboard.  Luckily I saved it but I lost 4-seconds or so.’   The Swedish racer added, ‘I saw that Mason also had a crash but he didn’t pit and I did.  Like I said before I know I cannot crash and they can’t crash either and now we all ended up crashing I think.  I am very happy with my pace, I saw the forecast before going into the pit and I was probably 3-seconds up which shows our speed is great.’  Asked if he was tempted to try run the full 10-minutes without a fuel stop he replied, ‘I am a little to close for comfort for that and like I said before it makes my mind free just knowing that I can go for it.  My pit stop has been very quick, like in the 42 (seconds), so I think that is right where I need to be.’

‘Made really big improvements on the car but honestly didn’t drive as good but my pace was much better’, that was Lemieux’s reaction to running the third fastest time.  The Wisconsin driver continued, ‘I had a couple of crashes, maybe 4 or 5 seconds worth of crashing, I think everyone did crash that time out but I am feeling really confident with the car.’  The 2026 ROAR Nationals runner up added, ‘I feel like my driving is solid and I just need to clean up the mistakes.’  On changes for Q3, he said, ‘we are going to make changes for sure to make the car easier to drive as the grip keeps coming up, you just need to make you normal diff changes, and maybe lower the ride height a little bit just to calm it down.’

On his run to the fourth fastest time, Canas said, ‘I think the pace OK and we need to look at Ronnefalk because he is the fastest of course that did a fuel stop and we will keep working to have the pace of him.  The other guys are fast but they are not refuelling.’   Asked if not refuelling was a option for him to try the Spaniard immediately replied, ‘No, no, no.’  On his car the 2024 Worlds Top Qualifier explained, ‘It is working good, maybe it was soft on the tyre setting because at the beginning it was much easier to go low 37 (lap times) but not at the end so that means something is soft, I don’t know if shocks, diff or tyre, but I think it is tyre.  We have other harder compounds and we tried them on Monday and they worked really well so maybe we put these on for the next one.’

Giving his thoughts on Q2, Phend called it, ‘Better’ adding ,’we made some tyre changes, made some car changes, and I feel like I am racing on the same track as everyone else now were I wasn’t before.  So we are in the ball park now.’  Asked what his issue with buggy was before, the Michigan driver replied, ‘Grip and balance so I feel like I have both of those things now, so now we are at the fine tuning stage I’d say with everything.  That was the first laps I felt good, I felt I had speed, I still had a mistake so I need to kind of clean that up and be right in it.  At least we got a decent point out of that one.’

September 30, 2026

Ronnefalk from Maifield in opening Worlds qualifier

Xray’s David Ronnefalk has taken the opening round of qualifying at the IFMAR 1:8 Nitro Buggy World Championship in Texas, the Swede topping the 10-minute run from the Tekno of Ryan Maifield.  Having expected he might have been at a disadvantage for the first of the six scheduled rounds of qualifying at Thornhill Racing Circuit by running in Heat 13 of 15, even with a fuel stop Ronnefalk topped the round by 3.4-seconds over Maifield, the American the big surprise of the morning.  Three of the Top 6 would eventually come from the 3rd fastest heat group with Maifield and Ronnefalk’s team-mate Chase Lemieux also in there, the young American opening his championship with a P4 run just behind fellow countryman Mason Fuller who topped Heat 14.  For defending Champion & Top Seed Davide Ongaro, it would only be a P5 first run, the driver being delayed exiting the pits after his fuel stop but overall not happy with his tyre choice.  Running in the top heat alongside Ongaro, Sworkz’s Juan Carlos Canas completed the Top 6.

Reacting to his TQ run Ronnefalk said, ‘It was good.  I knew that the track was going to be a few tenth slower than the heats after me based on yesterday and that the track was getting faster and faster so I knew the key for me was just going to be to put it together, not crashing, and then where ever I finished I would take it, because from now on from Q2 I think everyone will be on a more equal track. ‘  The last driver to win the World title on American soil back in 2016, he continued, ‘I knew this run was the one run where I have a small disadvantage but at the same time my car was feeling very good yesterday in the first round.  We knew after yesterday that I was missing a bit of rotation in the first one so we adjusted a few things for this morning knowing the track was going to be similar to that.’  Asked if it felt during the run that he was on a good one, he replied, ‘For sure.  In the start I was a little slow, it took me a couple of laps to get going and we decided to pit because we were a little close to make 10 (minutes).  But stopping also frees up my mind knowing that I go for a pit and then I don’t have to think about it on track.’  The fourth place finisher in 2024 at Redovan, Spain, he added, ‘I knew some of my competition would go for 10-minute for sure, like this guy over here Chase (Lemieux) but I knew some might be on the limit and they would have to think about how they use the throttle input.  That’s not how I like to drive so I just pitted and went as fast as I could on track and it paid off.  I had great speed and was able to TQ by 3-seconds even with a pit stop.’  Looking to Q2, he concluded, ‘That a big confidence booster, as well knowing that the speed is great and I didn’t have to force anything because I still felt I had a bit of time there in the tank.’

Summing up his effort, Maifield said, ‘Everyone thought I was sleeping in practice but I knew what I was doing.  Top 3 laps don’t matter in 10-minutes.’  The Arizona racer continued, ‘I thought it probably went as I was expecting.  My last practice run I kinda put it all together and made some changes to the car I thought I needed and my 10-minute pace was awesome’.  Finishing on the podium at the official Warm-up Race alongside Ongaro and Canas back in May, he added, ‘so I knew going into Q1 I didn’t need to touch the car, just put some fresh tyres on it and maintain what I was doing.  Obviously I was not as fast as Ronnefalk but it was nice to just get a solid run in and see where I stack up speed wise.’  Running JConcepts Overdose tyre, the 1:10 Offroad World Champion continued, ‘everyone was so worried about the Top 3 laps I just didn’t care and now that I know the car is consistent through 10-minutes, very drivable for me, fuel mileage is great, I can start focusing on getting a little more speed.’  On run time, having gone the full 10-minutes without stopping, he said, ‘It was no problem.’

On his effort Fuller explained, ‘I just wanted to get a clean run in, no wrecks, and then I went 10-minutes and that was good, so I accomplished what I wanted.  I got a safe run in 3 and I’ll take it.’  Asked if he felt there was more there, the 21-year-old replied, ‘Yeah,  I definitely wasn’t pushing at the start and really either at the end so there is definitely more but I will probably try and get a few more safe runs in and then later push.’ – 3 of the 6 rounds to count on determining the finals.  On run time, asked if he was comfortable for the 10-minutes, he said, ‘So far I have been so no worries there so far.’  Describing the track as being ‘pretty loose that run’, he added, ‘but we’re predicting its going to be much more high grip for Q2 & 3.’

Pleased with his opening qualifier, Lemiuex summed up his P4 with, ‘It was really good, the pace in the car was a little slow but my mindset was just to go for a nice smooth consistent run and not make any mistakes and just get myself a really good solid run for the first one and build off that confidence.’  Another driver to run all the way through, the 20-year-old said, ‘All year I have been getting really really really good mileage from my FX engines and we are plenty on the good side to do 10-minutes so it is pretty good for us.’  Taking set-up advice from Ronnefalk, asked about the changes for Q2, he explained, ‘I’m just trying to make the car easier to drive.  That was my biggest issue having to drive real easy because it was so aggressive.  So just trying to tame it down for the next one.’

Giving his reaction to the first qualifier, Ongaro said, ‘It was like yesterday in the first practice, it was for sure different from yesterday evening, we just need to find the right tyre that works good.’  Aside from the wrong tyre choice the Italian added, ‘I lost like almost 2-seconds on the pit lane because I had to wait for one guy that was on the straightaway so when I went out I had to wait.  Then I had one crash and a small bobble so I lost a lot of time but anyway the tyre was wrong.’

September 30, 2026

Ongaro Top Seed at Nitro Buggy World Championship

Team Associated’s Davide Ongaro is the Top Seed going into qualifying tomorrow at the IFMAR 1:8 Nitro Buggy World Championship, the defending World Champion setting the fastest time in the second of the seeding rounds today in Texas.  Having set the pace in free practice yesterday, in the opening seeding round the Italian broke a front arm but on a much faster track for Round 2 he produced the fastest 3-consecutive laps of the three days being the only one to break 1:50 with a time of 1:49.983.  Xray’s David Ronnefalk would be his closest challenger on the hot track running 1:50.126 but the 2016 World Champion seeds P3 behind Sworkz’s Mason Fuller.  Fastest in SP1 from Ronnefalk, the points system puts the American second in the seeding ranking as he completed seeding with the third fastest time.  Again fourth fastest in the second seeding round, Juan Carlos Canas seeds P4 for Sworkz while a big turn around in form from Kyosho’s Phi-Long Nguyen sees the youngster claim 5th with Nate Sutherland completing the Top 6.

‘For me Top Seed means nothing but we have the car to do well and just need to find the litte details’, was Ongaro’s reaction to topping the seeding.  He continued, ‘I was just trying to find a car for the 10-minutes which I found in a good way I would say.  We found 70% of the car for the 10-minute because at the end it was a little bit too soft.’  Chasing a fourth consecutive World Championship title here this week at the 20th running of the Nitro Buggy Worlds, he added, ‘I was driving with David (Ronnefalk) and I saw his car was doing the same as mine so it means for me driving after after 5 hours from first one that we need to change something for sure for tomorrow but in general we are good  for quali.’  On the track being at its fastest this evening he said, ‘It definitely has more grip.  I think the morning has less and and each night there is more grip but for this we just need to go to a harder compound and maybe up in the diffs.’

Ronnefalk summed up SP2 by saying, ‘There was a lot more grip out there for that round, already 5, 6 heats before us you could see a lot of guys already matched our Top 3 from the first round.  So we knew the track was going to be a lot more grippy and we adjusted a few things on the car.  Like I said earlier I was looking for a little bit more rotation in Round 1, then with the grip I was quite sure that the track would give me that rotation so ended up making a few other changes and it worked really well.’  He added,  ‘It felt very comfortable out there and I was able to string my fast laps together which is a good sign cause the track is definitely not easy.’  With Ongaro topping him by just over a 1/10th of a second, Ronnefalk said, ‘we were driving pretty close to each other in the last half of the run and could kind of see how our speed was against each other and it was good overall and I am happy with the performance.’  Asked about consistency as the focus changes from 3-laps to 10-minute run times, he said, ‘I felt great that round but in the first qualifier I wont be in the top group (running in heat13/15) lets say so know I will get what JCC got in the first round this morning but I think I was just suffer from it in the first round a little bit so it is extra key to keep the car on the wheels for the first quali.  After that I think we will have more of an equal track moving forward.’  He concluded, ‘The speed has been there from the first practice really so I’m feeling good for tomorrow.’

Summing up his second effort, Fuller said, ‘Can’t be too disappointed with third.  The track was insanely different so we over 2-seconds faster but the car was still good so I am happy with it.’  Asked about his car over a full 10-minute qualifying run, the 21-year-old said, ‘It was pretty good, especially in the morning run so I think, hopefully, it will be good’.  On carrying his 3-lap pace through to a full qualifier, 3 of the six rounds making up Wednesday’s action, he said, ‘I think everyone will be a bit slower but overall the pace should be about the same.  We’ve done a lot of 3-laps but I hope the consistency will be there.’  On track conditions, the back to back Silverstate Champion said, ‘It always resets in the mornings and then gets better throughout the day.’

Canas explained, ‘I was looking for a little bit of pace and not only the fastest 3-laps and I feel comfortable, maybe the buggy was a little soft in the rear but tomorrow the grip will not be like now so I will keep the car the same.’  On grip levels he said, ‘All the days are the same.  In the morning no grip and after you have grip.’  Feeling he was slightly hampered by running in Heat 13 of 15 in seeding, the Spaniard is looking forward to running in top tomorrow along with Ongaro, ‘tomorrow I am in Heat 15 so I can see the times of the other guys and compare directly my speed.’  The European Champion is also confident his consistency is better that his 3-laps adding, ‘I feel comfortable and don’t need to push too much for going 37 flat.  And if tomorrow is going like that I think we can make Top 5, that is the main goal.  If you go Top 12, 15, it is quite difficult especially in this track because it is impossible to overtake I think.’

‘A rough start but we made some changes and made it more aggressive and it was pretty good there’, that was Nguyen reply when asked to sum up seeding.  The 15-year-old continued, ‘we struggled in free practice trying to figure out the tyres, testing a different set-up we came here with, and me trying to drive better but I think we are getting close now.’  On the track layout, the 2 time FEMCA Champion described it as ‘pretty fun’ adding ‘it is very fast and flowy’ but cautioned ‘you have to have the right set-up or it is very hard to drive, tricky.’  With the JConcepts supported driver finding himself running the Silver Overdoses tyre in SP2, on his consistency for qualifying Nguyen responded with, ‘that’s why we have got to make the set-up change.’  Asked what changes he has in mind, he flagged the chances of rain arriving in Hutto.  While the track is covered, the atmospheric changes from rain will completely change the characteristics of the track with him concluding, ‘we will see how the track is and then decide what we need to change.’