Ongaro & Ronnefalk win Semi Finals at SIGP

Reigning World Champion Davide Ongaro and the driver he took over that reign from, David Ronnefalk, are set to battle it out for the win at the SIGP in China after the two Europeans won their respective Semi Finals in Xiamen.  Having just secured the overall eBuggy win on the return of the annual Chinese race, Ronnefalk would lead away the first of the 25-minute Semis winning from the WIRC of Italian Gabriel Astorino but the Swede struggled throughout his time almost a lap slower than the winning time of Ongaro.  Ongaro would comfortably win his Semi by 28-seconds over the Xray of Bruno Coelho with Joseph Quagraine’s Mayako completing the Top 3.  Afterwards Team Associated star Ongaro said, ‘It was good but it’s tough for everyone.  I think now the Semi (conditions) was better than yesterday, the track is slower today so we have to take what comes but lapped cars and the bumps it is going to be a difficult final.  You don’t have to rush to overtake others, patience will be important.’

While for Ongaro the Semi was a just a formality to joining direct Top Qualifier Mattia Polito on the start line for the 45-minute main, for Ronnefalk it proved an exercise in survival.  The 2016 World Champion said afterwards, ‘It was probably one of the worst Semis I have ever experienced I think.’  He explained, ‘I felt like I had no grip at all what so ever, no steering, and I if I tried something it would just catch the bumps and be really really bad.  It is super tricky because the car is so close to what the eBuggy was like, yes it was not an amazing sensation driving the eBuggy but at least it was going straight, so I just tried to stay on the wheels and make it through to the Main.’  Wrenching on his Xray as he gave his run down on the Semi he said, ‘What I am doing now is taking the front and rear end off my eBuggy and putting it on my Nitro Buggy to see what’s up with the car.  My eBuggy feels more balanced on the track, so well see for the Main and hopefully we can improve a little bit.’

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Ongaro takes Q4, but Polito is Top Qualifier at SIGP

World Champion Davide Ongaro finally delivered a TQ run at the SIGP when the Team Associated driver topped the final qualifier but it is fellow Italian Mattia Polito who is the Top Qualifier in China.  Going into the last round it was only Q2 winner David Ronnefalk who could deny Sworkz’s Polito the overall TQ but the Xray driver never looked a threat in Q4 as Ongaro went about laying down the fastest qualifying run of the event.  2.8-seconds behind, Polito also posted his quickest time but it was his TQ runs from Q1 & 3 that booked the 21-year-old’s direct spot into the 45-minute final here in Xiamen.  With his Q4 time giving him the tie break for second overall in the final qualifying order, Ongaro and 3rd place qualifier Ronnefalk will led away each of the 25-minute Semi Finals.  Backing up his Q3 Top 3 with another third fastest time in the last round, Coelho ends up fourth meaning the 3-time Touring Car World Champion joins Ongaro in the second of the scheduled Semis.

Reacting to securing the overall TQ, this his first time to the former 1:10 Offroad World Championship host track, Polito said, ‘I am really happy.’  Asked about the final qualifier he explained, ‘I tried different tyres, a different compound which was a little harder and it was fast for last 3-laps’, something that was backed by his last lap being the fastest of all four rounds of qualifying.  He added while, ‘they took time to come in at the start, for a long run I think this is a good choice.’   While a 10-minute ‘Top Qualifier Practice’ session tomorrow afternoon will be an opportunity to check if any final adjustments are needed for the track conditions, he said the plan for now is to leave his car unchanged for tomorrow and just put on fresh tyres.’  Asked about tyre wear he said as it is low ‘one set for the final will be ok’ and with fuel consumption ‘normal’ there should be no concerns there either.

Upbeat about his closing qualifying performance, Ongaro said, ‘Q4 was good, we made a few changes on the car for the balance and it was better, it was easier to drive.  We did the TQ in the last round in both eBuggy and Nitro so I am overall TQ in eBuggy and P2 in Nitro. I don’t care about the TQ in nitro, we are in the Semi which is OK, but for sure the feeling and the pace was way better at the end so finally we arrive to a compromise.’   Happy tyre wear and runtime won’t be an issue in the finals, Ongaro added, ‘I think consistency is the key for the main because the track will be even worse than today.’  Asked if he felt he was in a good place for the finals he replied, ‘Yes, maybe we arrived a little bit late but we arrived.’

Summing up his 3rd overall at the end of qualifying, Ronnefalk said, ‘In the last two rounds I have been lacking grip for some reason so I need to figure our why for tomorrow.  I need to check the diffs and that they are OK or maybe it was just a tyre choice.  I don’t know if Bruno stayed with the (Hotrace) Bangkok.  I tried the Amazzonia and on the polished parts of the track it was just spinning on me so I was forcing too much and then I ended up making mistakes but I was definitely missing to the others this time around so I need to go back to the Bangkoks that we know work before.’  On tyre wear he said, ‘we will be low by the end of the main but tyre wear is not an issue.’   Regarding runtime here he said he is ‘OK’ adding, ‘I saw that a couple of guys had issues early on in qualifying and I made some adjustments to my clutch setting and went to another venturi and then it better after that.  The last few rounds I didn’t see guys having issues so I think we are all pretty similar on runtime.’  On loosing out on tie break to Ongaro for the eBuggy TQ, he said, ‘It was very close between myself, Bruno, and Davide, but I had traffic on the last lap which cost me many seconds so then my chances were gone.  I was wishing for Bruno to take the TQ but unfortunately he had a mistake two corners before the loop so in the end Davide got it and had a better time so he is overall TQ in eBuggy’.

Asked how he felt Q4 had went, Coelho said, ‘It was very good until the last lap basically, on the last lap I hit something on the jump that my car jumped completely impossible to recover and I lost the TQ there but the cars are working pretty good and I am feeling, I will not say confident, but there are no excuses for tomorrow to not have a good result.’  Asked about tomorrow’s finals, the Portuguese ace said, ‘the finals will be a bit of a lottery because you can see nobody is really consistent.  Some guys are very good in one run, some guys are very good in another run and the main problem is nobody can understand why.  Some runs just go very well, I think because of the feeling we have in the track in that moment that make us much faster but as I say both cars are working pretty good, I just need to keep it on the wheels.’

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