Ongaro crowned World Champion Down under

Davide Ongaro is the new 1:8 Offroad World Champion.  The Italian became the youngest winner of the sport’s top prize with an impressive and dominant performance in Australia, to win the 1-hour final by 3/4 of a lap from Top Qualifier Ty Tessmann.  Ongaro initially battled with pole sitter Ryan Maifield after defending champion David Ronnefalk hit problems early and then Tessmann made a mistake that dropped him from 2nd to 5th.  Pulling clear of the field only alternate mistakes saw the order of the Top 2 change.  With 15-minutes on the clock, Maifield had a 4-second advantage and was looking strong but on the difficult track he relinquished that advantage on the top right side of the track and Ongaro went to the front.  From there he would take control of the race, his advantage at the midway point almost 7-seconds.  As he continued on his way to securing Team Associated’s first nitro World title, allegations of his car having a giro being proven unfounded afterwards, behind the battle hotted up between Maifield, Tessmann and the recovering Ronnefalk.  With one less stop to do than his rivals over the hour, Tessmann would secure his 4th consecutive Worlds podium taking his Xray to second, 9-seconds clear of Maifield’s Mugen.  For Ronnefalk his reign would end with 4th place the task of coming from dead last after 3-laps too much of a mountain to climb.

Once I had a good distance over Maifield I just tried to drive safe without mistake.”

Davide Ongaro

With a reaction to his achievement more akin to if he had just won a club race back in Italy, Ongaro said, ‘It was a really difficult, long race.  The first minute the car was not so good but after it was really good. Once I had a good distance over Maifield I just tried to drive safe without mistake’.  Having shot to prominence at the Worlds 2-year ago but lost out on a podium finish when his fuel pressure pipe came off, when asked what today’s win meant, the 17-year-old replied, ‘I’m really, really happy. I want to thank all my family, my friends and all the team in Italy and my sponsors too’.

It was tough out there the whole time. There was not an easy moment.”

Ty Tessmann

‘It was tough out there the whole time. There was not an easy moment’, was how Tessmann summed up the race. The Canadian continued, ‘I had a crash early on and had to battle in traffic for a while so by the time I got through that he (Ongaro) was too far ahead’. The 2014 World Champion added, ‘I thought my car ran good and my engine. We had no mechanical failures but Davide drove a great race and congrats to him on the win’.

This is my best finish at an 8th Worlds which just shows how tough it is. I think I have had pole 4-times but this is my first podium.”

Ryan Maifield

The only one to mix it with Ongaro in the final, Maifield said, ‘the beginning was really good and I though I had a really good shot. I made a mistake but caught Ongaro really fast’.  The American went on to say, ‘my car got difficult to drive because the dust came up a lot.  I tried to drive without mistakes but it was really hard. I also had to take my sunglasses off at one stage.  I tried to take at least 2nd but I didn’t drive a World Champion race, it was so hard’.  Commenting on the race while Ongaro’s car was being inspected for a giro, he said, ‘Davide drove a great race and I hope it was a clean win for him. It’s been a long week but I’m happy for my companies. This is my best finish at an 8th Worlds which just shows how tough it is. I think I have had pole 4-times but this is my first podium.  I’m not stoked with 3rd but I’m happy with it’.

It was just too hard to be that close to the limit on the longer run.”

David Ronnefalk

Explaining his early dramas Ronnefalk said, ’It was a weird start. The grease from the bearings got in the clutch and was making it slip like crazy. I couldn’t make it over the triple.  We did the same procedure as always and burned off the grease beforehand’.  Having to pit after his mistake, with pitman Adrien Bertin holding his car down so he could burn off the excess grease, he said he ‘thought it was broke’.  The Swede ‘came out dead last’ after his unscheduled stop but tried to ‘give it a go’ but the dusty track made it difficult to hit his lines and he ‘couldn’t catch Maifield and Ty’.  He concluded, ‘Davide did a great job. I couldn’t catch him after my problems. He deserved it for sure but at least I gave it a shot. It was just too hard to be that close to the limit on the longer run’.

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