Tebo bounces back in Q4
After under par performances in the second and third round of heats Kyosho’s Jared Tebo bounced back to take his second TQ run of the day with a new outright fastest run in the penultimate qualifier. The American was one of three drivers to record a 13-lap run in the final qualifier of the day topping Team Associated’s Neil Cragg by 7/10th with Ryan Maifield third fastest a further 1.6 seconds adrift.
Having TQ’d the opening round of qualifying, Tebo said changes to the drag brake and droop on his Orion powered RB5 for Q2 led him to change to a stiffer set-up for Q3 which left him with a buggy that was really difficult to drive. Reverting back to his Q1 set-up for Round 4 he said things felt good again and the lesson from the day is he needs to learn to leave it as is and stop over thinking about how he might be able to improve the buggy.
Although he took third in the second qualifier Cragg still considering himself to be off the pace but in Q4 the former Champion said he felt competitive. Really happy with the set-up on his B4.1 he said he was able to push harder and that was reflected in his lap times coming tumbling down.
AE team-mate Maifield, who set the fastest lap, was frustrated at again missing out on a TQ run. The American ace is the only driver to run in the Top 3 of all four qualifiers and feels their early running order in the morning’s final round of qualifying is going to make it very difficult to top the time sheets therefore denying him any chance of overall TQ honours.
Missing the cut for a 13 lap run Lee Martin took his Tamiya around the Vaasa track in the fourth fastest time. The European Champion said the TRF201 felt really good with his earlier understeer dialled out. Feeling the car can now take more power he plans make changes to his Speed Passion electrics but will wait to see how conditions are in the morning before deciding whether a motor change is required or just an adjustment to his speedo settings.
Having made a change to his Losi TLR22 for Q3, which he said did not suit his driving style, up & coming US talent Dakotah Phend went back to his previous set up and was again the fastest of the Team Losi drivers. Setting the fifth fastest time and set to make the A-Main on his electric buggy World debut, the 14-year-old said he will use the morning’s final qualifier to try a small set-up change which he hopes with give him a little more traction.
‘I just choked it’ was how Ryan Cavalieri summed up his Q4 performance. On target for a second TQ run he threw it all away in the final minute of the top heat. Trying to run too tight over the jumps he got it wrong after the big double and together with poor marshalling lost almost 6-seconds to drop to sixth fastest.
Peter Pinisch pulled off another solid run to record 7th for the round with Team Durango’s Joern Neumann, Associated’s Steven Hartson and Losi’s Dustin Evans completing the Top 10. Fastest in Q3 Naoto Matsukura had two bad laps which left him 23rd and now the rapid Japanese driver is dependent on the final qualifier to ensure himself a place in the elusive Top 10.
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