Ongaro again in Q2 after back & forth battle with Phend
Davide Ongaro has made it 2 from 2 in qualifying at the 4WD Offroad World Championship. The Italian had a back and forth battle with top seed Dakotah Phend for the TQ as the round saw a huge improvement in form from defending champion Bruno Coelho. With an early mistake putting Phend on the back foot in Q1, the TLR driver was a mission to get the job done in Q2 but exiting the whoops he would roll promoting Ongaro to the top of the timing screen. A mistake however from the Team Associated driver on the triple before entering the main straight evened things out until a bad penultimate lap from Phend handed the advantage back to Ongaro. Having topped the second fastest heat, Coelho looked like he might have done enough to TQ the round but in the end he was over a second shy of the time laid down by Ongaro.
Improving on his Q1 time by 1.5 seconds, summing up Q2 Ongaro said, ‘I had a bobble on the first lap in front of the driver stand and then was short on the triple but overall it was good’. Asked if the track was getting faster the former European 2WD Champion replied, ‘No, I think we are getting used to the track’. Having run a second set of his tyres for the run, he will now complete the day’s remaining two qualifier with second run tyres. Asked if this was a concern, he said, ‘I am able to push to get back any time I lose with a bobble so I think it will be fine’.
Summing up his second qualifying attempt, Phend said, ‘I had one mistake after the whoops so considering that I’ll take a second’. Agreeing that himself and Ongaro are very close on pace, when asked about his tyre strategy for Q3 the US driver wasn’t giving anything away saying ‘we’ll play it by ear and see how the track is’.
‘Slowly getting there’, was the reaction from a much happier looking Coelho. The Portuguese driver continued, ‘the conditions changed a lot and the track is getting faster and faster each time’. Asked if the track changes were starting to suit his Xray he said that they changed the car which made it better. He said, ‘I didn’t feel I had the speed for the TQ but was very confident that time. Up to now I didn’t have any confidence which makes it hard to race’. Looking to Q3 the back to back reigning Electric Touring Car World Champion said, ‘we still need to find more speed but we are on the right way now’.
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