Back on top of the World after a decade, Ronnefalk gets 2nd World title
A decade after winning his first IFMAR 1:8 Nitro Buggy World title, Xray’s David Ronnefalk is back on the top of the world after taking the win at 20th running of the championship today in Hutto, Texas. After making his Semi Final look like just a formality on his way to securing pole position for the 1-hour final ahead of Top Qualifier Mason Fuller, the Swede looked to be carrying that form in the week’s deciding race. Out front and looking in control, with 2-minutes on the clock however a mistake in the whoops section and a subsequent error that caused chaos for a number of drivers, put him down to sixth with team-mate Chase Lemieux taking up the lead. A driver to really impress at these championship, given his limited nitro racing experience, unfortunately a pit lane exit infringement would earn Lemieux a drive through penalty, dropping him down the order but an engine cut at the 20-minute mark put amends to an impressive 1:8 Worlds debut and he eventually finished P8. With defending Champion Ongaro becoming the third different leader of the race it looked like the Italian was going to once again reign the world for another two years but even the best can make mistakes. With 25-minutes to run and a comfortable lead over Fuller, the Italian would hit the post on the back of the track, the impact immediately ending his 8 years reign as Champion. With Fuller now in the lead, holding it for 26 laps, a number of mistakes allowed a recovering Ronnefalk to close and with a faster pit stop go to the front. As Ronnefalk came in for his final stop, a hard charging Fuller had two mistakes and needed to be marshalled meaning Ronnefalk kept is lead. Fuller didn’t give up however and pushed his rival right to the finish, the separation 1.439 seconds after an hour of racing. Having found himself back in 12th early in the race after that chaos caused by Ronnefalk’s mistake 3-minutes into the race, Juan Carlos Canas managed to get himself back up to third to claim the final step on the podium 2-laps down on his Sworkz team-mate. As the reigning eBuggy World Champion, Marcus Kaerup would be the best Team Associated finisher as he claimed fourth ahead of team-mate Brandon Rose. While Kyosho’s Phi-Long Nguyen would suffer a run away during his Worlds Final debut, caused by a power switch failure, the teenager’s first refuelling at 12:30 couldn’t go by without an honourable mention.
Recalling his race, Ronnefalk said, ‘I had the plan to make the same start I did in the Semi which I kind of did for the first minute & a half. I tried to just stay in the front and pull away if possible to already make up that extra pit stop I would need to do over the 1-hour. But yeah after 2-minutes or so I went a little faster on the washboard and rolled it and lost the position to Chase. I didn’t panic or anything but then coming up to the triple in the middle, I felt like I was in the line but maybe I was in the dust, the rear end stepped out on me in the face and I cased it and obviously Mason and Canas were really close behind and I caused some carnage there, not my intention of course but it happened.’ Dropping further down the order he added, ‘I drove a bit crazy after that, Martin (Bayer) kept telling me to just focus and stay calm because when I am smooth out there is when I go fast. He had to remind me a couple of times that main because he could see I was pushing pretty hard. ‘ ‘It probably would have been impossible to get Davide unless something happened which is what happened and to win you need to finish and this time the day was not his day, it was my day, I have been on the other side of that before so what goes around comes around. I knew I had to make up a pit stop in the last 30-minutes because I was behind Mason and had to pit once more than him but with two stops to go I felt like I was in the position were I made up enough time especially with our quick pit stops, I felt like Dad and Martin did super fast stops all week and that was to my advantage this time. The final 7-minutes felt like the longest that I drove because he was fast and with 3-minutes to go I had 3-seconds or so and knew that it would be very difficult if I just stay in the line for him to catch up cause my speed was still good and when he is charging so hard it is difficult to stay clean on this track being so technical, I am just super happy to stay in front over the line.’ On Xray first 1:8 Buggy World title, the 30-year-old said, ‘It’s something of course I am very proud of, this is not a individual effort its a team effort and we have been working hard all year trying to figure out what we needed to do with the car together with Cicci, Chase here in the US and Dakota as well and obviously Martin and Juraj and everyone working really hard back at the factory. I gave them another European Championship title in 8th scale last year and I am super happy to be their first World Champion on the 8th scale nitro side.
Summing up his run to second place Fuller said, ‘I made a few changes, nothing crazy but just to get more stability out of it and I think it worked out, we were close.’ He added, ‘It started off pretty good, started 3rd and just tried to get out Top 5 and get away from the pack. Then David had an issue, he was out in the lead and then feel way back. Davide was way ahead so I was honestly just trying to hold the podium spot and then Davide and Chase had their issues.’ With one previous Worlds Final appearance, 2022 in Spain where he finished 10th, the Iowa racer continued, ‘I had a little lead but David was really faster, he caught up and I tried to hold the lead but unfortunately lost it with 10-minutes to go I think. I tried to catch him at the end but just came up a bit short. Summing the entire week, one in which he clear put himself on the world stage, the 21-year-0ld said, ‘I have never been this close to winning a world so I am still really happy overall. For sure I am hungry for more and we’ll get the head down and try again in 2-years.’
‘It was a good come back’ was how Canas summed up his 3rd place. The Spaniard explained, ‘Some guys had a crash in front of me and I though I chose the right line to avoid them but I ended up going out of the track and I went back to 12th or something. So after that I think I can only be happy to make Top 3 in the Worlds a the best level. I think it was a good result for me, for the team, and it looks like everything worked on point. If not you can’t make from 12th to 3rd, it’s so difficult. On his strategy he highlighted we was pleased to run 8:30, saying it was ‘the first time I make 8:30 in a final and that means the new engine from Reds is working really well.’ He concluded, ‘I am already waiting for the next one (World Championship).’
Returning to the driver stand to congratulate Ronnefalk on his win, the very driver he took the title off in Perth in 2018, explaining his shock exit, Ongaro said, ‘I was super relaxed and confident and I just hit the pole one time this week and it was in the worst moment. I think when I hit it I broke the steering servo and I cannot continue, that’s it.’ He added, ‘Go job to David and his team, we try again in 2-years.’ FEMCA will host 2028 IFMAR 1:8 Nitro Buggy World Championship meaning the race returns to Asia for the first time since Ongaro became the youngest winner of the sport’s top prize then aged 17.