Canas opens Day 2 with another TQ run
Sworkz’s Juan Carlos Canas has opened Day 2 of qualifying at the IFMAR 1:8 Offroad World Championship with a TQ run, the Spaniard bringing his tally to 3 meaning only defending World Champion Davide Ongaro can deny him from becoming the Top Qualifying. With three from 6 to count, Canas took the fourth round with a new fastest time over the 10-minutes with Top Seed David Ronnefalk his closest challenger 4/10ths off. It was a good round for Xray with Bruno Coelho adding another P3 run to his tally after a rough ending to yesterday’s action. Despite a clean run from Ongaro, the Team Associated driver was lacking the outright speed of his main rival Canas finishing over 2.5-seconds off the TQ pace. It was a good round for Berkan Kilic, the Mugen Seiki driver posting his first Top 5 run ahead of the Canas’ team-mate & former Worlds Top Qualifier Elliot Boots.
While he came out top, Canas said for the first half of the run his car was ‘so difficult to drive’. Running everything the same as he did in Q3 including the same set of tyres, the back to back reigning European Champion put that difficulty down to the lower temperatures this morning, their heat running an hour & a half earlier than Q1 yesterday. ‘The car was stiff, the tyres are hard so you need 3-4 minutes for it all to warm-up. After the fuel stop the car was very good’. With three TQ runs on the board, he said they will use the next two runs to work on ‘some fine details’ to be ‘perfect for Saturday’. Asked about track conditions, ‘the grip is quite similar (each round) and the surface is ok, it is just the temperature that is causing changes’.
With Q4 his best round so far Ronnefalk didn’t expect to better his trip of P4 run from yesterday, ‘It was better than I thought when driving ’cause I felt I had a bit of understeer, I had two rolls where I lost 2-seconds or so during the run, luckily I ended up on my wheels, so it wasn’t that bad in the end. When we finished Max said it was a 10 40, I was like almost surprised, how did that happen, it didn’t feel like I was going that speed which is a good thing, you’re not feeling 100% but you’re still fast. Couple of small mistakes hit pipes on 2-3 laps and that was the 2-seconds I lost which ended up being the TQ in the end. Canas was just 3/10th ahead which is crazy over 10-minutes, you go 10-minutes on track with 50-second lap times with pit stop and everything and it comes down to 3/10th it’s super close out there. Bruno also had a good run but unfortunately he crash in the last lap. If I removed my bobbles and Bruno would remove his we would have been very close and a 38-39 (finish time) would have been possible’. Looking to Q5 the former World Champion said , ‘the feeling was not bad but a little bit of understeer I felt so we are going to have to check what to do for the next one. With this one now we have a 2-4-4 so I am set for the Top 4 with means a Top 2 starting position for the Semi. I am not going to touch car much cause it is in the ball park’.
Summing up his run and missed opportunity, Coelho said, ‘It went ok the car was really really good. I screwed everything up on the last lap basically. I flipped and lost 2-seconds otherwise I would be TQ but you know that’s the if! The current Electric Touring Car World Champion and former 1:10 Offroad World Champion continued, ‘The car is working good so I am really happy, that’s one more qualifier and two more to go. The car is on point and that’s what matters for the Semis. We are going to change small things next round, it’s getting much hotter so we need to adjust for that.’
Somewhat frustrated with the start to his day and having a deep discuss about his car with his father, Ongaro said, ‘It wasn’t bad on my driving because I didn’t crash and it was a clean run, all pretty much every lap was 49.0, 48.6, so the consistency is amazing. The thing is I need a few tenths more to be faster to find the 2-seconds that I lost. We have four good rounds so I am 99% in to the Semi so we have to use the last two qualifying as a test and of course try to do well. I think we are good for the long run but for qualifying we are struggling for the fast laps.’ Asked what he felt he was lacking he said, ‘I can drive super easy like this for 1-hour without mistakes but I am missing speed in some parts. We are improving for sure but they are fast. I watched his (Canas) lap time and he made 48.1 and then 49.4 so its strange to compare’.
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