Iivonen wins A1 eBuggy thriller at Philippine Masters
Mayako’s Pekko Iivonen pulled of one of the highlight drives of his career today in Manila as he took the opening round of eBuggy at the Philippine Masters after an epic final lap showdown with Top Qualifier Davide Ongaro. Having started the day by claiming a TQ run in the fourth & final round of qualifying at Round 2 of the Cayote backed Asian Buggy Championships, the Finn would like up P2 on the grid sandwiched between the two Team Associated’s of Ongaro, in front, and Alex Bernadzik, behind. At the start Iivonen and Bernadzik would come together and it looked like Ongaro was on for an even easier win than expected but the Italian would have a moment on lap 4, that for him proved costly. For the race’s record entry all watching on it would lead to them being entertain by a thrilling final lap, Scotty Ernst rising to the occasion on the mic and adding to the intensity. After Ongaro’s error at the end of the straight dropped him behind Iivonen, the two making contact, Bernadzik found his way to the lead to the cheers of the huge Australian contingent. It was short live however as a roll at the end of the straight allowed Iivonen to go to the front chased by Ongaro. As the clock ticked down, on starting their final lap Ongaro would go all out in on the front jump section sending it and jumping over the leader but at the next corner Iivonen made the inside line to hold the lead with a moment from the World Champion allowing hm to breath again if only momentarily. As they reached the back jump section Ongaro again tried tp pass in the air but contact sent the two tumbling. With Ongaro waiting for the leader to get turned around again in the right direction, they resumed for a 7-second dash to the line with Iivonen managing to stay in front to take a hugely popular win.
‘It was crazy’, that was Iivonen reaction after the race, the 22-year-old looking like he still wasn’t sure what had just happened. He continued, ‘I had a good lead after Davide made a mistake and then I got passed by Alex but he made a mistake and I was in the front again. Davide caught me and did the triple on the front and went a bit wide and I went inside and passed him and cruised to the finish line. It was tight racing for sure. I was feeling the pressure for sure.’ On his car, he said, ‘the car was super good, the best it has been. It was exactly the same as we had it for the final qualifier.’ With two more eBuggy encounters tomorrow, he said, ‘I will maybe go with a softer tyre compound but it depends when our run, we’ll see’. Explaining how he lost his lead, Ongaro said, ‘I was on three wheels and traction rolled.’ Asked if his last lap full send on the triple was something we was saving for the finish he replied, ‘No. I just thought in the moment lets try it and let see’.
