Ronnefalk ‘Top Qualifier’ at Euros
17-year-old David Ronnefalk is the Top Qualifier of the 33rd running of the 1:8 Offroad European Championships, the rising Kyosho star securing the honor in style as he claimed his third TQ run of the French event in the fifth & final round of qualifying. Setting the third fastest time in Q5 behind Team Associated’s Yannick Aigoin, World Champion Robert Batlle ends qualifying 2nd overall with arch rival Renaud Savoya completing the Top 3 despite a disappointing final heat in which he could only manage the 12th fastest time. A great final qualifier to the fifth fastest time by defending Champion Darren Bloomfield ensures the very relieved TLR driver will line up in the Semi Finals, the performance injecting a new lease of confidence in the British driver for tomorrow’s big day.
Ronnefalk, who when he TQ’d the European B Championships went on to become the 2009 Champion, was delighted to claim the honor of Top Qualifier in the premiere event. Running his final qualifier after Savoya and Batlle, the only drivers who had a chance of denying him the overall TQ but failed, the Swede said he knew that he had the overall TQ before he started his run but added that he still wanted to finish qualifying in style by topping the round. Suffering one bobble after the ripples section, Ronnefalk said the run was otherwise perfect and without the moment he thinks he could have equaled his Q1 time, which remains the fastest of the weekend. Looking forward to the final, last year’s Runner-up, who made it clear at the beginning of the week that he is here for revenge, said his AKA shod Orion powered MP9 has performed perfectly all week and he expects it to be no different for the finals although they will use the Semis practice to ‘try a few ideas’.
Suffering a mistake on his final run when his view was blocked by a marshal attending another car, Batlle said missing out on the TQ was not a big problem. The Spaniard who is chasing a third European title said ‘everything is very close’ adding that being separated by 1 second after 5-minutes is ‘nothing’. A lot happier with his Novarossi powered MBX-7 having struggled earlier in the event to get comfortable with the buggy, he said they don’t plan any big changes for the finals with just a few final adjustments to try and make the buggy a little more consistent for the longer runs, the Semi finals being 20-minute affairs while the title deciding Main will be run over 45-minutes.
Savoya said he was ‘obviously disappointed’ by missing out on the overall TQ but added that it was better to try a set-up with the final in mind rather than stay with the same buggy to get a position that will make little difference to the outcome of tomorrow’s racing. Wanting to try something different the ‘Shark’ said they went a little too much with the changes. Trying a harder rear shock spring and harder Sweep tyres it made his Orion powered XB9 lack rotation and was forcing him to drive a safe run. Very happy with the buggy in Q4, which he TQ’d, he said they will revert to this set-up for the Semi practice as it was very consistent but they will make a few small tweaks to try and find a little more steering.
Ending qualifying fourth in the overall ranking, 2006 Champion Aigoin said his nVision powered Associated was the best it has been all week. Reverting to a previously used set he said they found a really good balance and he is looking forward to the finals. While decided on the tyre he will use, Procircuits Hot Dice, he is not yet sure which compound to use and will use the Semi Practice to do back to back comparisons. Asked about strategies for the finals, Aigoin said with tyre wear low and run time not a huge issue he said unless someone can do an Adam Drake on their run time, the final should be a straight race with the fastest driver the winner.
Enjoying by far his best qualifier setting the 5th fastest time behind Xray’s Martin Bayer, and less than a 1/10 of a second ahead of HB’s Teemu Leino, Bloomfield ‘woohoo’ reaction to the result summed up his relief. Switching to AKA’s Enduro tyre he said it transformed his Novarossi powered 8ight. While all his rivals buggies worked on a small pin tyre on the unique chalk surface track, his couldn’t get his chassis to work but switching to the big block Enduro pattern he said as soon as he hit the track it was a case of ‘oh yeh’ this is good. The tyre gave the 3.0 version of the 8ight much better steering and overall he was able to drive much smoother rather than having to use the throttle to control the steering. Bloomfield said he now needs to pick himself up after the disappointment of the past few days but with great encouragement from former World Champion and AKA front man Mark Pavidis he says he is confident he can carry his Q5 form into the Semi finals.
Round 5 Qualifying Top 12
1. David Ronnefalk – Kyosho/Orion – 8/5:21.42
2. Yannick Aigoin – Associated/nVision – 8/5:24.42
3. Robert Batlle – Mugen/Novarossi – 8/5:25.29
4. Martin Bayer – Xray/LRP – 8/5:25.33
5. Darren Bloomfield – TLR/Novarossi – 8/5:26.88
6. Teemu Leino – HB/LRP – 8/5:26.95
7. Jerome Sartel – Agama/Bullitt – 8/5:27.18
8. Andres Marcelino – RB/RB – 8/5:27.85
9. Joern Neumann – Durango/Picco – 8/5:27.96
10.Christoffer Svensson – Kyosho/OS – 8/5:29.76
11.Elliott Boots – Kyosho/Novarossi – 8/5:30.28
12.Renaud Savoya – Xray/Orion – 8/5:30.52
Top 16 (Direct Semi Final Qualifiers)
1. David Ronnefalk – Kyosho/Orion – 528 pts
2. Robert Batlle – Mugen/Novarossi – 523
3. Renaud Savoya – Xray/Orion – 523
4. Yannick Aigoin – Associated/nVision – 519
5. Jerome Aigoin – Kyosho/Novarossi – 515
6. Martin Bayer – Xray/LRP – 513
7. Lee Martin – Mugen/Beat – 513
8. Joern Neumann – Durango/Picco – 512
9. Renaud Monin – Mugen/Bullitt – 502
10.Jerome Sartel – Agama/Bullitt – 497
11.Elliott Boots – Kyosho/Novarossi – 496
12.Christoffer Svensson – Kyosho/OS – 496
13.Darren Bloomfield – TLR/Novarossi – 492
14.Neil Gragg – Associated/LRP – 490
15.Bryan Baldo – Mugen/Novarossi – 489
16.Miguel Mathias – TLR/RB – 487
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