Kaerup again in Q4 as rain fails to dampen form
With overnight rain delaying the start to Day 2 of the qualifying at the eBuggy World Championship and presenting drivers with very different track conditions, it still wasn’t enough to prevent Team Associated’s Marcus Kaerup from making it three TQ runs in a row in Portugal. With the start to the fourth round of qualifying delayed by an hour, Kaerup topped the times from his team-mate Davide Ongaro, the TQ pace over 17-seconds slower than the Dane’s best from yesterday. With Q1 winner David Ronnefalk and Top Seed Elliott Boots both having bad runs, it would be the Schumacher pairing of Michal Orlowski and Daniel Kobbevik who completed Top 4. Playing a pivotal role in Kaerup’s third TQ run, French eBuggy Champion Clement Boda enjoyed his best run so far with the fifth fastest time ahead of Tekno’s João Figueiredo whose time saw him top the fastest heat group.
Summing up his latest TQ effort, Kaerup said, ‘It couldn’t have been better could it. It was a bit of a rough morning, I was here early to make sure that I had everything prepared for the rain but thankfully before my run Clement (Boda) won his run and gave me his tyres and I was able to TQ my heat.’ In turn giving his tyres to Joona Haatanen, he said, ‘for his (Haatanen) run they had too much running, they’d already done 15-minutes and normally we do only 10-minutes on mediums and these were three compounds softer.’ Regarding the track conditions, the 17-year-old said, ‘It was way more difficult now. You had to be so precise to be fast but also not make the car slide. The two last corners before the line were critical, if you went too wide the car would just push out. If you pushed it too much around the corner it would slide out, it was about getting it right.’ With Ronnefalk the only remaining driver that can deny him the overall TQ here in Barcelos, he said, ‘David can still take my TQ but I will for sure go for the TQ in the next one.’
Ongaro explained, ‘that was completely different from yesterday but the tyre wear was ok. I lost say 1 second and a half with a car that was crashed outside the track and when he come back on the track he put dust every where so my car just starting spinning.’ The Italian Matrix tyres back drivers continued, ‘I think we are now on our side with tyres because the track is losing a little bit of grip’, something he said is to their tyres benefit. Looking to the penultimate qualifier, the reigning European eBuggy Champion said, ‘It will be a challenge again but we will try.’
‘Again one or two small mistakes and I cased a jump and lost around a second and that was the difference to TQ’, was how Orlowski summed up his first round of the day. He continued, ‘We are always there, always in the Top 3, it’s good but the track turned upside down from yesterday and it was pretty hectic so I am glad to see us still at the top, now we just need to stay on top of the track development and how its changes.’ Asked how the track had changes after the light rain, he replied, ‘its really loose and its crucial to staying on the racing line.’ For the remaining two qualifiers, 3 of the 6 to count, the Pole said, ‘we will try and get some good scores to try and be in the Top 3 on the starting grid.’
‘Finally a better run’, that was Kobbevik’s reaction to his P4 run. The Norwegian continued, ‘the track was totally different with the slippery conditions but finally a Top 5 run. I think the track suited me and I enjoyed the grip. Yesterday I was always a bit scared because of the grip, I could sometimes traction roll so I was probably driving too safe. Today I could be more myself.’ Looking to Q5 he said while he expects the track to get better he will keep the car as is and try get another good result to add to his counting rounds.
Asked about his first Top 5 run, Boda said, ‘It was good, I think I am 9th overall so we need to do one more to get the Amain. It was a clean run without mistake.’ Asked about his first day of qualifying the 20-year-old said, ‘the last qualifying of yesterday was good, P7. The first one was super good, like Top 3, but on the last lap in the triple I made a mistake, I don’t know why, and in the second one I made a mistake so I have a 21 and a 24. We need to do the best in the next two.’
