Fuller produces second TQ run in Texas
Sworkz’s Mason Fuller has opened Day 2 of the qualifying at the IFMAR 1:8 Nitro Buggy World Championship with a second TQ run, the American topping the round from team-mate Juan Carlos Canas and defending Champion Davide Ongaro. Going in the group ahead of Ongaro and Canas, Fuller would be the only driver to run 17-laps of the Thornhill Racing Circuit this morning, Canas missing the mark by 1-second as he snatched P2 from Ongaro on his final lap of the fourth qualifying round. Behind the Top 3 it was David Ronnefalk, who took Q1 yesterday morning, who set the fourth fastest time ahead of Xray team-mate Chase Lemieux both drivers running in Heat 13 of 15. The Top 6 was rounded out by eBuggy World Champion Marcus Kaerup with US Offroad heavyweights Dakotah Phend, who had two DNF’s yesterday, and Ryan Maifield just behind him.
A driver who prefers to do his talking on the track, Fuller summed up his second TQ run with, ‘I had a few little mistakes with traffic and just going wide in places but I guess it was quick enough to do the TQ without a pit.’ With his last lap dropping almost a second, asked about this he said, ‘I just got in the dust a little bit and when you get in the dust it slows you down so much so that was why.’ Asked his thoughts on the track today, the 21-year-old said, ‘It is definitely better because they didn’t water last night so it started out pretty good, I think it will still get faster.’ On any planned car changes for the penultimate round of qualifying, he replied, ‘Eh we are going to try run a similar tyre and try & TQ cause that would be nice.’ With 3 of the six schedule qualifiers to count a TQ run in Q5 would lock Fuller in as the Top Qualifier.
Reacting to his best qualifier so far, Canas said, ‘We tried new things on the shocks and it was good, today I think it is working better, I mean the speed is better than yesterday.’ The Top Qualifier of the previous Worlds in his home country Spain, he added, ‘It is a little bit difficult to drive but not too much and the pace was good so we’ll keep working for the next one.’ Asked about his last lap on which he took 3/10ths out of Ongaro, he said, ‘I pushed because I knew I was close to him, so I pushed on the last lap to get it.’
With Ongaro in a deep engine discussion all in Italian with his father and mechanic, he explained afterwards that they were talking about engine set-up for trying to do a run without a fuel stop. He explained, We are working with Kouki (Kato) who is doing 12 (minutes) so I think my driving style is a little suited to the 10-minutes because I am not like super aggressive, so lets try it. We have two good scores, I need one more and P5 will be the last one which is faster for us so we try it.’ On Q4, he said, ‘Yes it was good. We use the same car as yesterday but I think they fixed some holes on the track and the dust off that was just a little bit everywhere so we had a little less grip than yesterday but I think it will come up soon.’
‘It was a good run, clean, no big mistakes’ explained Ronnefalk. He continued, ‘I had one moment when I came down the straightaway and I just braked a little bit in the dust and got inside of the pipe like 3 laps from the end and lost I think a second which would have put me very very close to Canas and Davide.’ He added, ‘I mean we were the fastest guys doing a pit stop. Fuller didn’t do the pit stop obviously but he was driving very good too. Maybe I drove a little bit to cautious. I had a six from yesterday I wanted to better and now I got a 4 which is better but I’d like to improve that a little but more.’ Asked about the track, the last World Champion to be crowned on US soil when he won in Las Vegas in 2016 said, ‘It was not as bad as yesterday morning as they didn’t water in between qualifying round. It was definitely a bit more similar to Round 2 of yesterday but from now on its going to get more grippy again.’
‘It was solid’ was the response of Lemieux when asked how Q4 went. He continued, ‘The felt pretty good, pretty similar to yesterday maybe a little less grip but it is good enough to do some testing for the Main and the Semis so that is what is on my mind next.’ For sure I still want to go out there and TQ but I think now is the opportunity to do some testing for the finals ahead and give ourselves the best shot to make it count most when it matters most, you know.’ On what he is looking for in terms of a finals car, the 20-year-old said, ‘Mainly just consistency and easability to drive. That is how my car has been all of qualifying and I have been happy with it but still looking for just that extra little bit of pace but your car also can’t be hard to drive in an hour long final which is going to come down to mistakes. That’s going to be the biggest factor.’