Kaerup rules in Portugal to become first eBuggy World Champion

Marcus Kaerup is the first ever 1:8 Electric Offroad World Champion, the 17-year-old taking his first World title with a dominant performance today at the Barcelos Buggy Arena in Northern Portugal.  Taking Team Associated’s tally of IFMAR World titles to 34, Kaerup secured the victory when he backed up his impressive opening A-Main win over Michal Orlowski by again ruling proceedings in A2, this time ahead of none other than back-to-back-to-back 1:8 Nitro Buggy World Champion Davide Ongaro.  Having announced his talents to the world by making the finals of both 2WD and 4WD at the 2023 1:10 Offroad Worlds in Arizona and again at last year’s 1:8 Nitro Buggy Worlds in Redovan, this week the likeable Dane delivered on what was widely tipped as he made first entry into the sport’s history books.  With Kaerup taking the top step on RC’s newest World Championship podium, it was Orlowski with the A3 win, and Ongaro, who got to stand either side of him.

‘It’s crazy unreal.  I don’t know what to say’, was Kaerup’s response when asked had the significance of what he just achieved had even started to set in yet.  On his A2 drive he said, ‘I got a good start and Michal crashed so I was able to pull a small gap but I made a small bobble so they caught up again.  After that I was then able to hit my lines and find the rhythm early on and get away.’  Asked how he dealt with the pressure of closing in on the biggest prize in the sport, he replied, ‘On the second to last lap I cased the quad and I was asking Brent (Thielke) when the hell does this end.  And he was like ‘there is 30-seconds to go, don’t worry, don’t worry’ and I was like ‘OK’ and thankfully I got across the line first.  The relief then was crazy.’  Marcus is the son of former European Electric Touring Car Champion Jonas Kaerup, who unfortunately wasn’t in Barcelos to witness his son’s win but did however get to share the momentous occasion via an RC Racing TV’s livestream studio link up.  Joking that his dad never achieved what he just did Kaerup said he was looking forward to celebrating with him when he gets home.  Thanking Team Associated for their support, asked how long he has driven for the American brand he replied, ‘all my life.’  Pointing out the AE logo replacing the ‘ae’ in the surname of his race body name decals, he added, ‘it was a calling from when I was born’.  On achieving Associated’s 34th World title he said, ‘BT is going to be busy on Monday morning a new batch of ’34’ t-shirts’, to which the AE Team Manager, and avid cyclist, said, ‘first thing Monday morning we are going cycling, a celebration ride for my new World Champion’, this a tradition Thielke apparently has with his title winning drivers.

Reacting to claiming the runner-up spot, Orlowski said, ‘For sure not what I was hoping for but at the end of the day it’s 1:8 scale, we don’t have a car yet and we are such a small team against guys racing this class only.  Coming here from the Touring Car Euros I really felt the tiredness today, a little too much maybe, we need to recharge the batteries.’  The reigning 1:12 World Champion and one of the the sport’s most versatile racers, he continued, ‘all in all I guess if I look back at it we are happy to finish second, of course one spot higher would be better but I am really proud of finishing on all these podiums in all these classes.  Now I need some holidays.’  Finishing second in A1, on his A2 he said, ‘we made a change to the car and I think the pace was better but it was very hard to drive, still Marcus was super fast so I don’t think I would have been able to put enough pressure on him.’  On his win of the third encounter, which he looked to have thrown away with a late mistake approaching the final minute only for Ongaro to have a mistake too, he said, ‘A3 was good.  I made a small adjustment to the car.  It was really good on the flat stuff but really struggling on the bumps but it was still good and I was pulling away and feeling good but I just cased the triple.’  He added, ‘I had no idea how long was left, it was a mistake on our side, we should have been using the headset from the beginning but I thought it would be uncomfortable for me.  I am not used to using a headset but with no announcements what so ever and everyone else using the headsets I think this information during the run is a benefit.  The next time we will be using the headset, I will get used to having it on my head, so we have better information and know when to push, when to drive smoother.  I just didn’t know how long til the end and lost my concentration for a split moment.’

‘Probably the worst race weekend ever’, was how Ongaro summed up his championship effort.  The reigning 1:8 Nitro Buggy and 1:10 4WD Buggy World Champion explained, ‘We never struggle like that at a World Championship race.  I was a bit unlucky at the end, I don’t know if I hit a bump but my car just flipped so OK P2, P3, it’s pretty much the same but it would have been better P2 cause Marcus won.  First & second would be good but anyway P3 considering where I started on Tuesday when I was 45th or 50th place I can say I am happy. We will come back stronger for sure.’   Asked about his finals, on A1 the Italian said, ‘we went with the same tyres as the shakedown this morning which I think was super fast but the conditions of the track were completely different so I lost a lot of grip and then I had some bad luck with one guy especially on the rostrum.  For the next two I just say ,OK just leave that behind and focus on trying to do my best, and this is the best result I can do today.’

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