Kaerup is 4WD Worlds Top Qualifier
Team Associated’s Marcus Kaerup is the Top Qualifier at the IFMAR 1:10 4WD World Championships, the Danish star securing pole position for the today’s finals with a third TQ run in the fifth & final round of qualifying as the 40th anniversary of the Worlds reaches its final day in Australia. With the running order reversed for Q5, the top seeded heat up first, Kaerup set the pace topping the group from Xray’s Dakotah Phend and defending World Champion Davide Ongaro. Overall however 2WD World Champion Broc Champlin, going in the second fastest heat, would get within 8/10ths of Kaerup’s time to secure a P2 for the round. In terms of how they line-up for the title decider the result means it is Ongaro who starts behind his AE team-mate with Phend and David Ronnefalk, who got a 5th for the final round ahead of Spencer Rivkin, locking in third and fourth on the grid. Winning 2WD from 2nd on the grid, Champlin faces a tougher task if he is to do the double at the Hills RC Offroad track as he completes the top half the grid in 5th.
Claiming his second TQ start of the week here in Sydney, having wrapped up an early TQ in 2WD, on his Q5 performance Kaerup described it as, ‘Pretty good’ adding ‘the car was good.’ He explained, ‘I think we made some good set-up changes for this morning. Maybe the diffs were too light again but we worked it out and got the TQ.’ Having struggled with his car set-up come the 2WD finals having been so strong in qualifying, asked about his 4WD, the 17-year-old said, ‘I think it’s way better than 2WD. I am way more confident also with this car than the 2WD so I think we’re good.’ Asked about the switch now to racing, he said, ‘the track has quite a few bumps now so I think it is going to be difficult.’
Commenting on his run Ongaro said, ‘It was good, the car was actually ok for the track conditions but I did two bobbles and I think I will start P3 for the main.’ On the mains and the Italian in fact starting P2 after getting the tiebreaker over Phend, he said, ‘Anything can happen. It will be tough for sure for everyone, we are all tight. I mean it is not over so we will see what happens.’
Reacting to his final qualifier, an upbeat Phend said, ‘It was a clean run so I am happy with that. Got a decent point which I needed to drop that 9. I’m happy with the car, it feels comfortable and I’m comfortable with the pace I was doing so we’ll prep it and get ready for the main.’ Asked his thoughts for the finals, the American said, ‘It is going to be tough for sure. The triple, landing on top of it you get a weird balance, and the same thing with that step-up. There is a lot of different lines through the step-up so it’s going to be pretty interesting, but we in it and we’ll give it everything we can.’
Claiming his first ever IFMAR podium finish 10-years ago in Japan in 4WD, on the final qualifier Ronnefalk said, ‘I definitely wanted to keep the car on the wheels because I knew maybe the other heats were going to be a little bit faster so I didn’t want to give the points away to guys being able to jump in front of me on the starting grid. I kept all four wheels on the ground for 5-minutes but had one lap were I was a little wide in the back and lost a second, that would have been a P2 but it would not change much for the overall standings.’ The reigning European Champions added, ‘Still happy to be in the Top 4, you definitely want to be in the Top 4, we saw in 2WD Batta started 4th and he ended up 2nd overall so it is all to play for’. On the racing, the Swede was another who expects it will be ‘hectic’, saying, ‘it’s a whole lot different than just driving a qualifier I think, so it’s going to be interesting to see and I am going to try to be there in case something happens in front, just like I did at the Euros earlier this year. That’s a good omen, I started 4th when I won the Euros, lets see how it goes this time.’
Asked to sum up his Q5, Champlin said, ‘I went on too new a tyres and lost a ton of time on the start which ended up hurting me, now I will start 5th instead of 4th.’ Finishing 4th from 7th on grid 2-years ago in Arizona, looking to the racing here in the finals, he said, ‘I think in the mains at least in the first main it will be decently smooth but I think every main after that will be complete chaos when everyone starts to send it. I think honestly my prediction is being fifth it is still doable to win.’ On his Schumacher buggy and any set-up changes for the finals he said, ‘I am going to try and get it to go through the bumps a little bit better.’