Kaerup goes fastest in final practice
Team Associated’s Marcus Kaerup has wrapped up practice at the 1:8 Electric Offroad World Championship, the Dane laying down the fastest 3-consecutive laps of the Barcelos track in Portugal in the 7th & final free practice. Ending Day 1 of practice fourth fastest, in this morning’s two final free practice runs Kaerup bettered that time ending up 1-second faster with his FP7 time. Behind it was Schumacher’s Daniel Kobbevik who set the second fastest time just ahead of another of the morning’s big improvers Pekko Iivonen for an all Scandinavian Top 3. Setting the pace yesterday, Dakotah Phend would not improve on his FP4 time but the Xray driver still ends free practice in P4 with the that time ahead of Polish duo Bartek Zalewski and Michal Orlowski.
Announcing after his strong FP5 run yesterday evening that he planned to talk with Team Associated Team Manager Brent Thielke about potential changes for today, asked if he did, Kaerup replied, ‘We had a dinner at McDonalds, a very fine place, and we discussed some stuff and we made a big change but I don’t think the boss allows me to mention this.’ Asked what the change was like for him in terms of car feel, the 17-year-old said, ‘the car became a lot more comfortable to drive and was fast still.’ On the track’s infamous quad, which he planned to attempt today, he said, ‘I didn’t try it. Some people are quading, some are tripling, but I am still tripling, singling, and I think it will do.’
Reacting to his run Kobbevik said, ‘the pace was already good yesterday and I did some changes for today and they improved the car’. Asked about the changes, the Norwegian said, ‘I made changes to the diffs and to harder shocks and it made it easier to drive. My 3-laps in the morning was 3-seconds faster than yesterday so I am very happy.’ Ask his thoughts on the track layout, he replied, ‘It is good fun, it is difficult with the quad in the middle but the rest is good flowing so it is enjoyable to drive.’ Moving in to seeding next, the 20-year-old plans to keep his car ‘mostly the same’ and ‘just try to do three laps again’. With much interest in the Schumacher team attending these inaugural eBuggy Worlds with their star drivers Michal Orlowski and Kobbevik despite not having their own car, speaking to Schumacher engineer Trish Neal about the project he said the British manufacturer is working towards its own car for sometime in 2026. Racing himself here in Barcelos, Neal said the are working on suitable parts supplier adding while touring car and 1:10 Buggy is easy for them in terms of production, 1:8 Buggy is different and new so they need time to get the supply chain right. He emphasised the focus is on a eBuggy first chassis, the eBuggy market while less popular in high end competition, an important one in terms of sales for all manufacturers.
Pleased with how his morning had gone, Iivonen said the big improvement for him came with a shock change on his Mayako for the final practice. He added, ‘the change worked well, the tyres were spot on, and it was nice to turn some laps and get clean ones in. I almost drove the whole run clean so it’s looking really good’. Asked about the significance of the shock change, the Finn said, ‘I think it made a big difference and now the car is more settled, easier to drive, and it just goes around the track faster.’ He continued, ‘the only thing now is the quad but I made it in my run when I made my best lap, I did the quad perfectly, it took 1-second off my time but it is hard to make the quad every time so well see in the seeding which is the best way to do it.’
Still using practice for what it is intended, summing up his morning, Phend said, ‘I think it went decent, like I said we are just tinkering with the car and making small changes. I am feeling pretty comfortable out there, pace wish as far as qualifying and the 10-minutes for the mains.’ The American added, ‘we are keeping an eye on the weather as it is to be cooler the rest of the week compared to yesterday.’ To start seeding he plans to run his car unchanged but just switch to a softer compound because of the weather.
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