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.’

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.’

Fuller tops opening seeding round in Texas

Sworkz’s Mason Fuller has topped the opening round of seeding at the IFMAR 1:8 Nitro Buggy World Championship in Texas.  Having shown good speed in yesterday’s free practice, as the event moved up a gear today with times now officially counting for something, the American racer laid down the fastest 3-consecutive laps to take the first of the two scheduled seeding rounds by an impressive 6/10ths of a second over Xray’s David Ronnefalk.  Having been the fastest over the previous two days’ 6 rounds of free practice, reigning World Champion Davide Ongaro would complete the Top 3, the Team Associated driver run over half his run with a damaged car.  Top Qualifier at the championship 2-years ago, Juan Carlos Canas posted the fourth fastest time, the Sworkz driver feeling he was hamper slightly by today’s track conditions as he ran in Group 13 of 15.  Nate Sutherland and Brandon Rose completed the Top 6 times.

Reacting to his fastest run time, an unfazed Fuller said, ‘It was pretty good and I feel like I was more consistent that run and just cruising around compared to yesterday when I was pushing more at the time.’  Asked if this was down to being more relaxed or the track more coming to his style, the 21-year-old said, ‘I mean I kind of drove more relaxed and I was faster.  The track is kind of low grip right now so I think seeding 2 we are going to be way faster.’  Trying a different tyre in the final free practice yesterday, ‘which wasn’t good’ and meant he was only 6th fastest, he explained, ‘for today I just went back to the original tyre and it was much better.’  On his car and changes for the predict faster track, he said, ‘The car was good but I am going to try a slightly different tyre that should be easier to drive for it (faster track) and that should be it.’

Summing his start to Day 3 of the championship, Ronnefalk said, ‘I was not bad, I felt pretty good coming out of the gate.  The first part of the run was pretty clean I would say.’  Despite setting the fastest lap of the round, he added, ‘I didn’t hit any perfect lap but it is very difficult out there to do that.  I did one and then caught traffic the next lap so didn’t get those three best laps together but 2nd place, I am very happy with the speed of the car.’  He continued, ‘After where we were after a running a harder tyre in the last one yesterday we just reverted back to the softer one and it suited my driving and my car better.’  Using the new Tokyo tyre from Hotrace, he said, ‘I was just missing a little bit of rotation off power in that one so that’s the only thing I will work on for the next one so I can square up the car a little quicker.’  On the track and how it is evolving the Swedish driver said, ‘I think it was a little different today.  It seems like compared from first day to second day it didn’t look like they watered it a whole lot in the night or morning, whatever they do, but then from yesterday to today it looks like they used more water or did in the morning instead of the night.  There was more moisture in the track for sure and it took a bit longer before the groove started to develop.  You could also see a lot more dust there before heats number 11/12, then it started to get a little more clean.  I was in the last one so we probably had the better track.’

Asked about his opening seeding effort, Ongaro said, ‘I hit a pipe and I broke the arm so I had no steering but it was not so bad’.  With Richard Saxton joking they would have to charge their star driver for a new arm, asked at what point of the run he did the damage, the Italian replied, ‘I think in the middle of the run.  Before that I was just behind David (Ronnefalk) and I think I was a little bit faster, not much, but the pace was good.’  With many drivers saying the track feeling has changed today, the Ongaro said, ‘It is different, completely different from yesterday.  So it’s a new race again.’  Asked in what way it was different he added, ‘I think now some parts has grip and and some parts have less.  The grip is less consistent around the lap.’

‘We put the tyre on we talked about yesterday and it was good but maybe my diff was too hard’, was how Canas summed up his opening seeding run.  Running two heats earlier than the 3 who set faster times than him for SP1, the Spaniard explained, ‘I think I got a track that was a little bit more green that the others so I think I had a little less grip but anyway I think I do zero mistakes in the 10-minutes so that’s good.  I just need to find a little bit of speed.’  Asked further on him trying the JConcept tyre combo that Burak Kilic used to top the final free practice yesterday, running them for SP1 he said, ‘It was safe but we need a bit more grip from the track to be perfect.  I will keep them (same tyres) for the next one and just maybe go down in the diff oil but we will decide near the time when we see the traction of the track.’

Kilic tops final free practice at Thornhill

Mugen Seiki’s Burak Kilic shot to the top of the times for the sixth & final round of free practice at the IFMAR 1:8 Nitro Buggy World Championship in Texas, the Turkish driver closing out Monday’s action with a 3-consecutive lap time of 1:51.195 around the Thornhill Racing Circuit.  The round would see big changes at the top with Sworkz’ Juan Carlos Canas, Top Qualifier in 2024, setting the second fastest time ahead of American Xray pairing Dakotah Phend and Chase Lemieux, the former struggling with his bad at the end of the day and retiring early to his bed to rest it.  Tekno’s Daniel Pariente posted his first Top 5 run just ahead of Mason Fuller, the Sworkz driver having posted the second fastest time in the previous round.  While his FP5 time of 1:51.133 still stands as the fastest run of free practice, defending World Champion Davide Ongaro would use the final practice to test if he had been going the right direction with his set-up after his FP5 run and taking the set-up in the opposite direction the 7th fastest time verified he had been on the right route with set-up.  The round would also see David Ronnefalk drop outside the Top 3 for the first time, sticking with the same harder compound tyre he ran in the fifth round, with temperatures dropping for FP6 it was too hard and the lacking pace resulted in the 10th fastest time for the Swede.

Asked where his FP6 speed came from Kilic replied, ‘I just changed tyres and my car set-up a little bit, and of course my driving style, and it worked out, it was good.’  Asked about his two other runs today, the 22-year-old replied, ‘the first one was actually pretty OK.  The second one was not so nice and then I changed my whole car and tyres and it was pretty good now.’  On what he was lacking earlier on, he said the main thing was steering but now he had found lots of steering and lots of grip, but asked about which JConcept tyre he had achieved this with he replied with a smile, ‘I will tell you after the race.’  Asked if the car was now where he wanted it, he replied, ‘I think I will look to get more steering to go into the corner a little bit more that’s all.  Overall it is pretty good.’   On the track layout, the 2024 World Finalist, said, ‘the layout is good, I just don’t like the whoops cause it is really difficult, but overall it’s really good.’

Summing up his strong finish to free practice, Canas sadi, ‘We have been trying many new things from JConcepts and finally we put on something more normal and it worked quite well.’  He continued, ‘Yesterday and today the car was good but we were just trying new things and Burak also tested other things and it looks like that works super good so we will go with that tomorrow.  If I don’t like that I have the tyre that I used now that looks good.’  The reigning European Champion added, ‘Now it is just the small details but the most important thing is the tyres and we are in a good way there with Burak P1 and me P2.  We are working in a good way.’  On the track, Canas said, ‘I love it, this kind of track I love.’

‘I knew the pace was there and I just needed to find it,’ was Lemieux reaction to P4 in FP6.  With Billy Fisher as his pitman, he explained, ‘ We made a couple of changes with the car and tyres and I am just getting more comfortable with the track each run.’  A driver better known for his 1:10 Offroad exploits being a two time ROAR National Champion but also just coming off a podium finish at the 1:8 Nitro Buggy Nationals, on the track he said, ‘I think the track suit me more, it’s kind of like 1:10 scale which is what I run the majority of.  Obviously the driving of the car is still very different to a 1:10 car but the style of the track is tighter like a 1:10 track would be.’  Asked what he is still chasing in his car set-up, the 20-year-old said, ‘honestly small things.  In the beginning it was kind of out in left field a little bit but we brought it back to where it needs to be and at this point I am pretty content with the main parts of the set-up but just looking for small adjustments to really get it exactly where I want it.’  On tyres Lemieux is running the new Tokyo from Hotrace.

Asked about his final run, Pariente said, ‘It was pretty good’ adding, ‘we changed to a softer compound, softer oils in the shocks, and a harder sway bar on the rear and it was super good’.  One half of the Spanish Pariente siblings who have been making big impressions with their respective manufacturers, Adrian driving for Sparko, asked how he was finding the track layout the Tekno driver said it was ‘super different’ to what they have in Spain but added he ‘likes it’.  Summing up his performance so far he said, ‘I am happy but I still want to improve but yes I am happy’.  Looking to tomorrow’s seeding rounds, the 21-year-old said ‘We will start with what we have now and after the first one we will probably go up on shock oil.  The weather is very important for the shock oil choice.’

Fuller closes gap as Ongaro continues to set pace in Texas

Mason Fuller continues his rise up the practice rankings in Texas today, the Sworkz driver closing the gap to World Champion Davide Ongaro with the second fastest time in the fifth round of free practice at the 1:8 Nitro Buggy World Championship.  Again it was the Team Associated of Ongaro who topped the times around the Thornhill Racing Circuit, the Italian finding more than a second to lay down the fastest 3-consecutive laps we have witnessed yet.  Just 4/10ths of a second off, Fuller bettered his best time by 2-seconds with a run that put him ahead of Xray’s David Ronnefalk and Associated’s Marcus Kaerup.  The second fastest American driver, Brandon Rose took his Team Associated to the fifth fastest time for the round with the Xray of much favoured USA title hopeful Dakotah Phend completing the Top 6.

‘I was surprised to be that close’, was the reaction of Fuller after setting the second fastest time.  ‘We are just trying different stuff and tried a different tyre that one.’  He explained, ‘We went with a Silver Eurobar which I never tried before.  It was pretty much the same as the Spacebar which is also new.’  On other changes to his buggy he added, ‘we went a little stiffer in the shocks and that’s it, otherwise just tyres.’  On how he feels the track is continuing to develop he said, ‘It’s getting a little more grip, that was definitely the fastest run, I mean everyone went faster that one.  It is not changing as much now its just a little more grippy to run.’  Asked if that suited his style, the 21-year-old replied, ‘I guess so because I have been getting better each run.’  For the sixth & final free practice he said, ‘Now I am going to try a harder tyre which I haven’t tried yet, that’s the only thing I am changing.’

On his new fastest time, Ongaro said, ‘It was OK, we changed tyres, the compound not the thread.  It was working better but I think it was still a bit too soft.’  Having reigned over the 1:8 Nitro Buggy class since his Worlds win in Australia in 2018, he continued, ‘Like I said before we are just trying to find when is the time for Clay and when not to use Clay which makes a lot of difference on this track, but anyway the run was good.’  On FP6, he stated, ‘I think for the last one we will change something on the shock set-up and maybe tyres to try medium in Clay.  Maybe we also will make a change in the 12-minute run too.’  Regarding how the track is continuing to evolve, Ongaro pointed out, ‘Yesterday the last one was slower compared to the second one, the one in between the two was the fastest one, so I don’t know who it will be this evening, lets see.’

Ronnefalk summed up FP5 with, ‘That was a little worse’.  He explained, ‘I tried a couple of things on the car and it made it a little bit too pushy and instead of just driving around I forced it a little bit too hard so I had a couple of crashes.  I also had some bad traffic so wasn’t really able to get 3 of best laps together.  I had one really good one, a 36.9, so the speed is there.’  He continued even if it was the worst run so far I still managed 3rd for the round on the Top 3 consecutive laps so that just tells me that we are still right there.’   On his set-up change, the Swede said, ‘some stuff was better but I felt that the car was a little too pushy in that run.  Off power in the slow corners I was not having the steering that I had before so tried to punch it around the corner instead and then I ended up making a couple of bobbles because of that.’  He concluded, ‘So yeh I just need to keep some of the changes I made but go back on some of the others for the next one.’

Asked how he felt his event was going so far, Kaerup said, ‘We are doing pretty good.’  With Kurt Wenger as his mechanic this week, the Dane continued, ‘We’ve been working on the car a lot, and tyres especially.  It is important having the right compound and thread pattern out here.’  Having only run Hotrace’s Sahara tyre so far, he plans to use the final free practice run today to test the Italian manufacturer’s new Tokyo pattern.  He explained, ‘the Sahara has been working really good but a lot of the fast guys like Ronnefalk are on the Tokyo so I thought I might as well give it a shot before we head into qualifying or the important stuff.’  On the World’s track layout, he said, ‘It’s an awesome track, really really cool, really challenging especially the whoops.  I think it has caught many people off guard.  But yeh so far we are just trying to manage and get the consistency down which is going to be super important for qualifying.’  As the reigning 1:8 eBuggy World Champion and 1:10 4WD Buggy World Champion, asked about adapting to racing nitro, the 18-year-old said, ‘It is my least favourite class I would say, not because the car is bad or because the engine is bad, it is just because you need to have a special feeling for it.  In all engines there is a small delay, it’s not like an electric car that goes as you want it so it is a completely different driving style which I have to adapt too especially when the track is loose, its more difficult, but now the grip is coming up and I think it is getting more  and more towards what I like.’