Big surprise as Tollard takes final qualifier

The final round of qualifying at the IFMAR 1:10 4WD Offroad World Championship threw up a huge surprise this morning as TLR driver Cole Tollard topped Q5 in Arizona.  An event in which US driver were expected to lead the way, yesterday it was a European domination on Day 1 of qualifying with Top Qualifier Davide Ongaro who took the opening three rounds and Michal Orlowski closed the day with the fastest time in Q4.  Then, when a US TQ run finally materialised it wasn’t from an expected title contender.  With the final round of qualifying running in reserve order, Heat 14 was first to lay down their final attempt at improving their grip positions.  Marcus Kaerup delivered the fastest time ahead of Orlowski, the European Champions separated by 6/10ths of a second but over half a lap off yesterday’s fastest TQ pace.  Running in Heat 13 together with defending Champion Bruno Coelho, Tollard bettered Kaerup’s time by 3 seconds as all the drivers from the top heat watch on anxiously as their times tumbled.  Heat 13 would see Aydin Horne go to P2 for the round with Kaerup’s time finally giving him a P13 for the round.

Allowing himself a little fist pump at the end of his qualifying run, Collard summed up his impressive run by saying, ‘It was a good run’.  Although the 22-year-old has contested 1:8 Buggy World Championships before, this is his first 1:10 Worlds and he is in the final, a statement on hearing he reacted with a smile.  Asked about the run, he said, ‘I had solid runs with a 7,7 & 9 going into the last one and watching the A guys out there I could see they were loose so I though with a clean run I could better my score.  Coelho crashed in front of me but I made to not get involved and drove my own race’.  As a result of his TQ run he will line-up P4 for his World Championship debut.

The rest of the grid will see 1:8 World Champion Davide Ongaro on pole ahead of Orlowski with Reedy team driver Dustin Evans leading the American charge from third.  Behind Tollard, Spencer Rivkin starts a much lower than P5 with Coelho lining up P6 for his title defence.  Broc Champlin, unable to drop his 9 from Q2, starts 7th ahead of Horne.  Having set the pace in seeding practice, Dakotah Phend will start back in 9th, not a true reflection of his speed, with Kaerup completing the 10 car line-up that will complete for the 19th IFMAR World title at Hobby Action RC Raceway.

View our event image gallery here.

Champlin fastest in 3rd practice

The third round of practice at the 4WD Electric Offroad World Championship saw Broc Champlin set the pace, the Schumacher driver fastest over 3-consecutive laps ahead of Spencer Rivkin.  As expected US drivers are featuring strongly.  Ryan Maifield completed the Top 3 ahead of Dakotah Phend and Dustin Evans with defending Champion Bruno Coelho the best of the overseas visitors to Hobby Action RC Raceway with the 6th fastest time ahead of newly crowned European 2WD Champion Marcus Kaerup, David Ongaro and Michal Orlowski.  Commenting on his latest run Champlin said, ‘We made a lot of improvements that round.  I changed back to my testing set-up after making a few changes earlier than were not very good’.  Asked how he is getting to grips with the track, he replied, ‘you definitely need to be patient on entry into some of the corners.  It will be better with new tyres but I’ll make a small change to get a bit more bite on throttle and go from there’.

‘We’re circulating’ was Rivkin’s response when asked how he felt things were going three rounds in.  The Team Associated star continued, ‘I am driving to what the cars potential is.  I feel the track is still pretty polished but we make some tweaks and it is feeling really good & consistent on the whoops’.  He concluded, ‘the focus now is on being more disciplined out there’.

Summing up his practice runs so far, Maifield said, ‘It not bad, it’s going alright.  We are making small changes here and there so we’ll keep driving around and see what happens’.  Asked how he likes the track layout the 2017 World Champion said, ‘It flows well.  The surface floats around but it seems to be starting to settle down’.

Leading the TLR challenge, Phend said his practice is going ‘pretty good’ adding, ‘we are tinkering around here and there and able to put in solid runs but we are still waiting for the track to come around’.  The ROAR Champion who was just off the fastest overall time for the round set by Rivkin, said, ‘its important to hit your marks and to do that you need to be pretty patient out there’.

‘It’s tough’, was how Coelho summed up how he felt practice us going.  The Xray driver explained, ‘we are missing a bit of steering in the 180 corners and sometimes we are lacking a bit of stability but I think we are slowly getting there’.  For the final round of practice before Day 1 of the Championships ends with two seeding rounds, the World Champion plans to adjust the set-up to try get more stability.   He said he is loosing the rear of the buggy a little and they need to solve that problem first.

View our event image gallery here.

‘Silly to bet against Rivkin’ – Tebo

Former 2WD and 4WD World Champion Jared Tebo says it would be ‘Silly to bet against Rivkin’ retaining his 2WD World Championship title as the event gets underway in Arizona.  Having announced 2023 will be his final season as a Pro racer, Tebo believes Rivkin’s advantage at his home track of Hobby Action RC Raceway will be too much for his rival adding ‘he’s also good at 1:10’.  Winning his first title in 4WD in Japan against all time great Masami Hirosaka in 2007 and then adding the 2WD 10-years ago when the USA host its last 1:10 Offroad Worlds, Tebo thinks one surprise over the next week could be Aydin Horne.  ‘I thought he was one of the fastest at Warm-up but he maybe struggled with his nerves.  I think he could upset Rivkin.  I also think Aydin has been at a tyre disadvantage but they’ll all be on the same here and that will be a leveller.  I want to see Aydin do good’.  Another fellow countryman to impress him with his pace at the Warm-up was Broc Champlin, ‘Broc took time to get the Schumacher working on dirt but he’s found it now’.

Asked about Coelho’s 4WD title defence chances he said, ‘I think for the European guys it is going to be tough.  Dirt on slicks – it’s weird to drive.’  He continued, ‘Bruno struggled at the Warm-up and Ty (Tessmann) also struggled.  Both are great drivers so I’m not sure their car is for the track.’  Of the other European’s he said, ‘(Michal) Orlowski is a wildly skilled driver but I think the conditions are going to be tough for him’.

Reflecting back on his own 1:10 career, his last race in the category being the 2020 Reedy Race of Champions, Tebo is proud of the era of racing he, together with Ryan Cavalieri and Ryan Maifield, made famous, ‘we were all in our prime together’.  He is also grateful to have been able to race against some legends of the sport like Brian Kinwald, Masami and Mark Pavidis.  Asked for his standout moment he replied, ‘the 4WD Worlds in Japan.  It was just a tough time personally in my life.  I was going through a lot of life changes and struggles but that day was the best I have ever driven in my career.  To battle with Masami, at his last Worlds and in Japan was very special.

2023 IFMAR 1:10 Offroad World Championship coverage presented by Ruddog

The first of four World Championships Red RC will attend this year, our coverage from 1:10 Offroad in Arizona is being supported by Ruddog.  Founded in 2006 by Sven Rudig, himself an avid offroad racer, Ruddog is steeped in offroad racing history being a distributor for 31 times World Champion manufacturer Team Associated and iconic offroad tyre brand JConcepts to name but a few.  In addition, they have developed their own product ranges such as Ruddog Racing, a new line of electronics offered by the German company that already has a European Championship title to its credit in touring car.  Revolution Design Racing Products has established itself as a designer & producer of high-quality tuning parts and are popular upgrades among offroad racers.  Red RC’s trackside coverage of the 1:10 Offroad World Championship will kick off on September 10th with the start of the 4WD action and conclude on September 16th when the 2WD Champion is decided.

World Championship Schedule
4WD Buggy
September 10 – Open Practice and 2 rounds of controlled practice
September 11 – 1 round of controlled practice and 4 rounds of qualifying
September 12 – 1 round of controlled practice, 1 round of qualifying and Mains

2WD Buggy
September 13 – Track Closed, 2WD Buggy Tyre purchase and tyre tech
September 14 – Open Practice and 2 rounds of controlled practice
September 15 – 1 round of controlled practice and 4 rounds of qualifying