Ongaro from Kilic as qualifying gets underway in Manila
With qualifying getting underway at the Philippine Masters in Manila this morning, it was Team Associated’s Davide Ongaro who topped the first of the 4 scheduled qualifiers from Mugen Seiki’s Burak Kilic. Having topped yesterday’s seeding from Infinity’s Kouki Kato, Ongaro completed 9-laps of the Circulo Verde Track over the 5-minute qualifier with Kilic, the only other drive to make 9-laps, just 1-second off. It was to be a frustrating start to qualifying for Kato as he crashed on his opening lap and needed to be marshal. Losing 4-seconds, the fired up Japanese driver would go on to set the fastest lap by an impressive margin as he recovered to salvage a P5. Making it an all European based Top 3, Italy’s Mattia Polito managed to go ahead of Kyosho’s Ryan Lutz on the final lap. Seeded No.8, the American lost 3/10ths of a second to the Sworkz driver on their 8th lap giving Polito 3rd for the round by just 0.048. Behind them reigning Asian Buggy Championships Champion Christian Wolhuter completed the Top 6, this weekend’s second round of the Cayote backed championship the Australian Sworkz driver’s first outing of the season.
Having opened the day first with a TQ run in eBuggy, on his nitro heat Ongaro said, ‘It was a safe run and I just tried not to crash. We used new tyres which for me was a bit to edgy so I tried to drive smooth and save the car in some spots which is still not the best but I think for the second round the tyres will be better.’ With 14-car heats, the World Champion said he had to deal with some traffic but he played patient adding ‘driving super fast here is not easy with a lot of drivers on the track, anyway it is what it is for everyone so we have to take what it is. For Q2 we just try to repeat.’
‘I’m ok with that, I just need more steering but the car is good,’ that’s how Kilic summed up the first qualifier. The Turkish driver continued, ‘I think I will maybe change to a softer compound (tyre) for the steering. I just need a little more steering on the tighter corners but overall the car was good and my driving was really good. Just 1-second behind Davide is good.’ Overall a clean run, with ‘just a few small bobbles’, he said while he finds the track is changing ever run, softer tyres should put him in an even better position to challenge Ongaro in the second of today’s qualifier.
Polito described his performance as ‘really, really good’ but added they need to set the engine better for the next one as he felt it was running a little too rich. A clean run and feeling the track had a little more grip, he said while he wanted to push more he played it safe so as to have a good round to his credit. Given that approached paid dividends, he will try to repeat it again in Q2.
Describing his Q1 effort as ‘solid’, Lutz, who took a P3 in Q1 of eBuggy, added, ‘The cars are feeling much better than yesterday and the changes that I have made have been good so now I hope I can make myself be more consistent.’ On his driving, this the popular US driver’s second trip to the Philippine Masters, he said, ‘It’s just my inputs, I am just too erratic at times. I pull too much trigger, not enough trigger, that’s my biggest issue right now. The cars are a lot better, the tyres have been great.’ Asked what he felt was the biggest improvement to the buggy over yesterday he replied, ‘small progressions and I think taking out some bump steer in that last one, it maybe made the steering a little more consistent for me.’
Asked about his first lap mistake, Kato said, ‘I made a crash in the middle section and lost a lot of time. I just touched the pipe and needed to be marshalled.’ The 18-year old continued, ‘the car was good and I could still set the fastest lap so the speed is there. I just need to make a clean run.’