October 3, 2026

Tebo progresses to final day 1:8 Nitro Buggy Worlds

Jared Tebo will progress to the main day at the IFMAR 1:8 Nitro Buggy World Championship in Texas, this the legendary American offroad racer’s 1st World Championships as a privateer.  His tenth Nitro Worlds, racing last as a factory driver in Redovan in 2022, the 39-year-old found himself 54th at the end of qualifying in what he himself described as ‘a rough qualifying’ but taking the win in his 1/16 final he now gets to be part of the Main day here at Thornhill Racing Circuit for the 20th edition of the World Championships.  Not just racing this week but also here with his family running his growing JTP business’ track side shop, Tebo, who is known for being his own biggest critic, joked ‘this is my first Worlds wearing with a bunch of hats.’  Asked how the week had gone the multiple 1:10 World Champion said, ‘I just haven’t really flowed with the track.  I haven’t really felt the rhythm and wasn’t sure if it was my car or my driving so I was kind trying stuff on my car but still just not driving that well.’  He continued, ‘My last qualifier went well and I had kind of a 15-20 run going but crashed twice on the last lap and ruined it and that’s kind of why I am racing today.’  Taking the 1/16B final win ahead of 2012 World Champion Robert Batlle, this the Spaniard’s 12th Worlds appearance, he said, ‘I felt I probably drove the best I have driven that race so yeah all positive and looking forward to tomorrow.’

Asked if he was happy enough with his performance given his ‘privateer’ status and also running his shop, he replied, ‘I am not happy with my results at all but I am trying to be.  I had a little high expectations coming in.  I practiced a lot and made a point to try practice with Mason Fuller a bunch.  I was running his pace at all these different tracks and he’s TQ and I am 54th, you know, so that’s been discouraging, obviously I want him to do really well but I expected myself to do better.  I am hard on myself but I’ve got to realise that I am here for JTP, my family, and our shop.’  Also progressing from Tebo’s final will be Pelle Culmsee and Nate Sutherland who finished 3rd and 4th respectively.  In the 1/16A Final, Lee Setser took the win from the TQ ahead of Cole Kasten, Bryan Baldo (organiser of the last two Worlds), and 2023 2WD World Champion Tater Sontag who all progress to the 1/8 Final tomorrow, the remaining entry now down to the final 56 drivers.

October 2, 2026

Fuller ‘Top Qualifier’ in Texas with 3rd TQ in final quali

Sworkz’s Mason Fuller is the 2026 IFMAR 1:8 Nitro Buggy World Championship Top Qualifier, the American securing the honours with a third TQ run in the sixth & final round of qualifying in Texas.  Going into the decider it was down to a two way battle between Fuller and Xray’s David Ronnefalk.  With two TQ runs a piece, Ronnefalk would be the first to present his best effort in Heat 13 of 15 and the Swede delivered by knocking 2-seconds off his Q5 topping time, that run having been the fastest run around Thornhill Racing Circuit.  With Fuller next to go, and having the advantage of not needing to do a fuel stop, he would better that time by 6/10th with a new outright fastest time but with Heat 15 still to run a better time from any of the 12 cars in that group would give Ronnefalk his first Worlds TQ.  Sworkz’s Juan Carlos Canas clearly stepped up to the challenge, the Top Qualifier of the last World Championship, he was on target to TQ the round.  Having just put in a blistering 35.765 second lap, with the crowd still audible in awe of that time, unfortunately the Spaniard would fall foul of the same track roof support post that cost him a strong Q3 run the previous day.  With his car getting caught in a screw at the post, his efforts were for nothing.  While ROAR Champion Seth Van Dalen topped Heat 15 for a P3 for the round, with Fuller taking the Q6 TQ from Ronnefalk this is how they would finish up in the final rankings.  As the defending Champion and winner of Q3, P6 the best he could manage in the final quali, Davide Ongaro completed the Top 3 ahead Canas, and he will line up behind Fuller in the Semi A and while Canas lines up behind Ronnefalk in the Semi B on Saturday.

Reacting to securing the Worlds TQ, Fuller said, ‘That was pretty insane cause I thought David would have it because the guys were going really fast in the last heat.  Juan probably should have had it but made a last lap mistake so yeah I am very happy with the TQ.’  Asked now about switching his focus to finals, the 2022 World Championship finalist said, ‘well now I won’t have as much fuel advantage so I am going to have to find a little more speed I think.  We will make some changes and try to be faster but I think we can be close.’  On those changes, he explained, ‘I just need to make it a little bit easier to drive so I drive a bit harder.’  On tyre wear, having run JConcepts Space Bars in the final qualifier, the 21-year-old said it is not an issue here adding, ‘actually I preferred the slicks on that run.  Those are like reruns on these tyres and I think they were a bit faster.’

Summing up his effort to try and secure at first Worlds TQ, Ronnefalk said, ‘It was a very good run, I knew exactly what needed to be done to get TQ, in the end TQ won’t matter, but it always nice feeling to get a TQ, I never TQ’d one so that would have been cool but you know I gave it everything in that one.’  He continued, ‘I knew that Mason’s pace was strong from the run before so I had to do a bit extra to put the pressure on him.  I think that’s exactly what I did and it can down to half a second or so.  There is not much more I could do having the pit stop to do and he went the full 10-minutes.’  Having won his World title a decade ago in Las Vegas, he added, ‘For me I don’t have any issues and full of confidence knowing my pace is very strong because I pulled back 4-5 seconds on him in the run.  If I can do that in 10-minute I should be OK for the longer runs as well.’  On planning his Semi Final he said, ‘I’ve been running tyres throughout qualifying I know I can run in the mains.  I went on a harder compound that last one, just to see how it was like, and to try pick up more speed as the track got gripper but I think there is a little more potential in the softer one so maybe if I have had those I could have had a better shot at it.’  He concluded, ‘I was a good battle throughout qualifying, Mason drove great all qualifiers I think we were both in the Top 5 pretty much so a great job to him & his team and look forward to do battle on Saturday.’

Chasing a fourth consecutive World title here in the United States, asked first about his Q5 gamble to try run the 10-minutes without a stop, Ongaro said, ‘We looked at the lap times and it was super consistent on a 36 but just missing 6-seconds of fuel.’  I was on 10:33 and you take away say 5-seconds (for pit stop) that’s 10:28 so I was there, so I think the car is there and we just need to adjust the front end which is too edgy to drive but overall was good.  We are not worried.’  Asked about the Semi Final, the Italian replied, ‘Like I said we will change the front and see how that is the Semi practice and that’s it.’  On tyre and the wear, he said, ‘on these ones we have almost 40-minutes and they will like this (starting to turn to slicks) we were fastest so maybe this is something we need to work on.  I don’t know if we wil need to switch compound for Saturday which will make more grip on the track.  Overall the balance is good and we just need to find a little more speed with the car.  Own run time, the Semi 30-minutes, he said, ‘for me I just go 7:30.’

‘Everything was perfect just my mistake from my side’ was how Canas summed his dramatic Q6 exit, his reaction to the marshal having quickly become an internet meme.  Moving on from the incident, him crashing full throttle into the pipe after his car was finally released from the infringing screw, asked about his Semi final preparations the 24-year-old said, ‘I feel the car is super good and I feel super comfortable so I will just break in some tyres for the Semi Final.  Everything is ready, I mean car, tyres, everything was on point.  I just need to put my perfect Semi Final together.’

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 drivers making 17-lap runs 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.’