Tessmann back on top in Sicily
Ty Tessmann jumped back to the top of the practice time sheets at the 1:8 Offroad World Championships in Sicily, the HB driver almost equalling his outright fastest time set yesterday. After making a wrong tyre choice for the day’s opening run, the Canadian improved on his morning pace by over 2 & half seconds with David Ronnefalk closest over 3-consecutive laps from the 10-minute run. Fastest first time round and bettering that time, defending World Champion Robert Batlle completed the Top 3 with a pace that was just 0 .005 off that of Ronnefalk.
‘Really good’ was how Tessmann described his latest run which was 0.163 shy of the best time recorded over the four days of practice at the Naxos World track. Freshening up his OS Speed powered D812 and using the opportunity to fit a more flexible chassis he said the main focus of the run was tyre testing. Changing from Pro-Line’s Suburb to Lockdown tyre, the Suburb being a harder compound, he said both felt really good but most likely he will stick with the Suburb as his tyre of choice for qualifying. Asked about the chassis change he said the extra flex made the car feel a little soft and he will revert to the stiffer version for the final round of open practice this evening adding it makes the car better out of the corners and give better overall stability.
Changing back to the first of the two cars he has been using, the car which he used to win at the Italian Job Race at the IBR Padova track last week as part of his preparation for the Worlds, Ronnefalk said it was ‘a lot better’. Describing the car as ‘more safe, more consistent’ the 18-year-old was able to run his fastest round of practice. Still running on AKA’s Catapult tyre, which he said he is set on for qualifying, he said he is very happy with how everything is working. Asked about his plans for the final practice the back to back European Champion said while there is no need to change anything on the car they will still use the track time to ‘try something’ different.
Batlle used the practice to continue to evaluate his Mugen on worn tyres. Using a set of Procircuit Hot Dices which he said had already done 30-minutes of running he was pleased with how his Novarossi powered MBX7R ran and the lap times it was able to produce. Happy to be Top 3 in practice, he said overall he could do with finding a few tenths as he is having to push the car a little harder than he would like to to run the times. Overall he said the biggest change they will make for the day’s closing run would be to run a different engine so as to have a spare ready to go should it be needed later in the event which officially gets underway tomorrow with two rounds of controlled practice.
Fourth fastest, Ryan Maifield was pleased with the improving performance of his Novarossi powered TLR. Having improved in the morning and again in the second practice, the American ace said he was making steady progress now. Describing his JConcepts equipped 8ight as feeling consistent he added that he has ‘a good vibe with the track’. Planning some small changes, he said there are a couple of things that he would like to get the car to do better but overall he was happy.
One of Italy’s big future hopes, 13-year-old Davide Ongaro enjoyed a strong showing setting the 5th fastest time. Racing since the age of 5 and running an identical package to World Champion Batlle, he said a switch to heavier shock oil and a harder insert in his Procircuit Hot Dices tyres improved his Novarossi MBX7 a lot. Less edgy and with improved corner speed the 2013 European B Championships Top Qualifier plans no further changes to his set-up but will use his final practice to test Procircuit’s new and as yet unnamed thread pattern.
Completing the Top 6 was Dakotah Phend. The 17-year-old Team Losi Racing star said his Orion powered 8ight was better than this morning but added it still ‘felt a little tippy’. Planning to ‘work on that for the next one’ he said most likely they will make a shock oil adjustment to make it a little less edgy. For his senior team-mate Adam Drake, who was fourth fastest in the morning, changes to his 8ight gave it more speed but the driver ‘drove like shit’. Getting caught up in a pack of cars early on Drake said he didn’t drive well adding he was more comfortable in the first practice. He will make a few little changes for the third run but said the main improvement needs to come from the driver.
Making a bad insert/tyre combo in the morning run, Xray’s Martin Bayer had a better second outing posting the 7th fastest time. The Czech driver who has stuck with AKA’s Catapult tyre but played around with its preparation said he still thinks he hasn’t got the combo perfect as he looks for a bit more traction adding that some improvement can also come from his LRP powered XB8’s set-up.
Lee Martin would set the 8th fastest time. The Mugen driver made a series of changes the biggest of which was in the engine department. Changing the venturi on his Beat engine as well as changing his gearing, his mechanic Jon Dell said the car had much better ‘punch’ which helped a lot with the lap times. Also going up in the rear diff from 8 to 15K oil it gave the car more turn in but for the next run they will go up in the front diff to take some of that away again. Overall Dell said their focus is on consistency rather than outright lap times.
Having set Top 3 times in morning Darren Bloomfield and Ryan Lutz had issues in the second round. For Agama’s Bloomfield the run lasted only 5-laps as he broke the plastic end off a front shock. Trying to get the chicane faster he said he got carried away resulting in a broken car. The renewly crowned British National Champion said a change from Beta’s Cube to Freeride tyre improved the car with it more tamed and he will stick with them for the next one. Unfortunately for Team Durango’s Lutz a bad set-up change and ongoing brake issues meant he couldn’t build on his earlier performance.
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