Tessmann last lap denies Boots in Q2
In a repeat of what he did in the final round of Truggy qualifying on Jared Tebo, HB’s Ty Tessmann snatched the TQ for the second round of Buggy qualifying at the Dirt Nitro Challenge with another blistering final lap, this time knocking Kyosho’s Elliott Boots from the top of the timing screen. Starting his final lap holding the P2 pace, the defending champion would run 2/10th faster than Boots to deny the former World Championship Top Qualifier his first TQ run at the DNC by just 0.022 of a second. An extremely close qualifier, Q1 pace setter Ryan Maifield would finish third just 3/10th of a second off having ended his run with the fastest lap of the round.
Chasing a third DNC Buggy title, Tessmann said switching to thicker shock oil on his D815 for the hotter temperatures of Q2 worked well with the Canadian happy with his buggy. Running Pro-Line’s M3 Lockdown tyre he said while they were maybe not the fastest tyre to run on they left his buggy feeling good to drive. Having a coming together with Boots in the warm-up and needing to pit to have his bodyshell seen to he said this left him with not a lot of practice laps making the start of the run ‘a little hairy’. With over 4-hours of a wait till the third & deciding round of qualifying Tessmann expects they will make changes due to the cooler temperatures of the night time run.
Only 13th fastest in Q1, Boots said his improved performance came simply from driving smoother. Happy with the speed of his car in Q1 he said ‘a few mistakes’ left him down the order but knowing he had a good car he didn’t make any changes to his Reds Racing powered MP9. Again running Pro-Line M3 Blockades, the British driver who qualified 4th overall on his DNC debut in 2013, said the plan for Q3 was to ‘just do the same again’ although he added ‘anything can happen on that track’ but he would ‘try to keep it clean’ for the 7-minutes.
Doing nothing to his TLR 8ight other than mount a fresh set of JConcepts Blue Chasers and instead using the long time between rounds to get some sleep having had to visit ER during the night due to a throat infection, Maifield said he ‘thought (Q2) went good’. He said ‘I did everything I could and I wouldn’t change anything over a couple of tenths’ referring to how close the top 3 ended up on the increasingly difficult track which he said is ‘getting tougher and rougher’. Running a completely kit stand 8ight, the 2013 Champion said the car was running fast, super consistent and reliable and he was looking forward to the final qualifier.
Maifield’s Team Losi Racing team-mate Dakotah Phend would finish fourth fastest again just missing out on an 12-lap run. The 18-year-old said it was ‘another solid run’ and making no changes to his Pro-line equipped example of the 8ight he ‘just went out there and drove (his) own pace’. Locked into the A-Main, last year’s podium finisher said for the final qualifier he would probably try a bigger pin tyre as testing for the Main that is set take place in similar conditions on Sunday night.
Having got caught out by an earlier than expected start to Q1, him pitting for fuel unaware the clock was already running and leaving him to end up 40th, Ryan Cavalieri would post the 5th fastest time. The Associated driver said his RC8 prototype had the pace and the run started off really good until he had a few bobbles leading to a few 39-second laps. Running AKA’s new Chain Link tyre he said for the final qualifier he might switch to their new smaller pin Rasp tyre which he feels will give more grip if there is more moisture in the track.
Setting the 6th fastest time, David Ronnefalk said overall his HB D815 felt ok and now he just needs to work on the small details. Suffering one crash and a small roll, he said as a result Boots passed him but following his former team-mate for a few laps he was happy with his pace. With his buggy pushing a little he put this down to a wrong tyre choice and for Q3 he will switch from AKA Catapult to the new Rasp, his engine tuner Adrien Bertin set to test the tyre for his protege during his run in the 35+ class.
Making a number of changes to his prototype Tekno RC buggy, Ryan Lutz set the 7th fastest time. Standing up the rear shocks one hole and raising the rear camber link he said they didn’t have the desired effect with the rear of the buggy dumping worse on power making the right hand corner before the big step-up particularly difficult. With the car pushing more and more as the run went on a last lap mistake would lose him a position to Ronnefalk and he hopes a ‘Tekno family discussion’ will help him come up with a better set-up for he final qualifier.
Eighth fastest would be Tanner Denney, the Associated driver putting his run down to better driving. The 19-year-old said he was on a solid run in Q1 until a last lap crash which dropped him to 15th. Driving a ‘smarter’ Q2, he said his RC8 Prototype ran well with him particularly happy with his choice of JConcepts blue compound Diamond Bar tyres which he said gave him ‘a lot of forward grip’. For Q3 he said will check over the front end of the car feeling it was binding a little and for the colder condition he will also go down in shock oils. Behind Denney, Agama’s Darren Bloomfield and Mugen’s Barry Pettit who where 5th and 6th fastest respectively in Q1 round out the Top 10.
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