Chassis Focus – Davide Ongaro (Team Associated)
Chassis – Team Associated RC8 B4.1
Engine – O.S. Speed B2105
Fuel – Energy
Tires – Matrix
Radio/Servo – Sanwa Exzes ZZ / Sanwa PGS-XR II
Body – JConcepts
Image Gallery
- Red RC Network:
- Red RC Events |
- Red RC
Canas opens Day 2 with another TQ run
Sworkz’s Juan Carlos Canas has opened Day 2 of qualifying at the IFMAR 1:8 Offroad World Championship with a TQ run, the Spaniard bringing his tally to 3 meaning only defending World Champion Davide Ongaro can deny him from becoming the Top Qualifying. With three from 6 to count, Canas took the fourth round with a new fastest time over the 10-minutes with Top Seed David Ronnefalk his closest challenger 4/10ths off. It was a good round for Xray with Bruno Coelho adding another P3 run to his tally after a rough ending to yesterday’s action. Despite a clean run from Ongaro, the Team Associated driver was lacking the outright speed of his main rival Canas finishing over 2.5-seconds off the TQ pace. It was a good round for Berkan Kilic, the Mugen Seiki driver posting his first Top 5 run ahead of the Canas’ team-mate & former Worlds Top Qualifier Elliot Boots.
While he came out top, Canas said for the first half of the run his car was ‘so difficult to drive’. Running everything the same as he did in Q3 including the same set of tyres, the back to back reigning European Champion put that difficulty down to the lower temperatures this morning, their heat running an hour & a half earlier than Q1 yesterday. ‘The car was stiff, the tyres are hard so you need 3-4 minutes for it all to warm-up. After the fuel stop the car was very good’. With three TQ runs on the board, he said they will use the next two runs to work on ‘some fine details’ to be ‘perfect for Saturday’. Asked about track conditions, ‘the grip is quite similar (each round) and the surface is ok, it is just the temperature that is causing changes’.
With Q4 his best round so far Ronnefalk didn’t expect to better his trip of P4 run from yesterday, ‘It was better than I thought when driving ’cause I felt I had a bit of understeer, I had two rolls where I lost 2-seconds or so during the run, luckily I ended up on my wheels, so it wasn’t that bad in the end. When we finished Max said it was a 10 40, I was like almost surprised, how did that happen, it didn’t feel like I was going that speed which is a good thing, you’re not feeling 100% but you’re still fast. Couple of small mistakes hit pipes on 2-3 laps and that was the 2-seconds I lost which ended up being the TQ in the end. Canas was just 3/10th ahead which is crazy over 10-minutes, you go 10-minutes on track with 50-second lap times with pit stop and everything and it comes down to 3/10th it’s super close out there. Bruno also had a good run but unfortunately he crash in the last lap. If I removed my bobbles and Bruno would remove his we would have been very close and a 38-39 (finish time) would have been possible’. Looking to Q5 the former World Champion said , ‘the feeling was not bad but a little bit of understeer I felt so we are going to have to check what to do for the next one. With this one now we have a 2-4-4 so I am set for the Top 4 with means a Top 2 starting position for the Semi. I am not going to touch car much cause it is in the ball park’.
Summing up his run and missed opportunity, Coelho said, ‘It went ok the car was really really good. I screwed everything up on the last lap basically. I flipped and lost 2-seconds otherwise I would be TQ but you know that’s the if! The current Electric Touring Car World Champion and former 1:10 Offroad World Champion continued, ‘The car is working good so I am really happy, that’s one more qualifier and two more to go. The car is on point and that’s what matters for the Semis. We are going to change small things next round, it’s getting much hotter so we need to adjust for that.’
Somewhat frustrated with the start to his day and having a deep discuss about his car with his father, Ongaro said, ‘It wasn’t bad on my driving because I didn’t crash and it was a clean run, all pretty much every lap was 49.0, 48.6, so the consistency is amazing. The thing is I need a few tenths more to be faster to find the 2-seconds that I lost. We have four good rounds so I am 99% in to the Semi so we have to use the last two qualifying as a test and of course try to do well. I think we are good for the long run but for qualifying we are struggling for the fast laps.’ Asked what he felt he was lacking he said, ‘I can drive super easy like this for 1-hour without mistakes but I am missing speed in some parts. We are improving for sure but they are fast. I watched his (Canas) lap time and he made 48.1 and then 49.4 so its strange to compare’.
View our event image gallery here.
Chassis Focus – Ryan Cavalieri (Sparko)
Chassis – Sparko F8
Engine – Nova Engines B3R Evo
Fuel – TNR
Tires – TZO
Radio/Servo – Sanwa M17 / Savox SB-2290 SG
Body – JConcepts
Image Gallery
Welcome to my World (Quali Day 1) – Marcus Kaerup
After 8 rounds of practice over 3 days with the emphasis being on 3-laps, the time finally arrived for racing proper to start with 3 rounds of qualifying making up Wednesday’s schedule. Placed in Group 13 of 15 after Tuesday’s seeding, Ruddog Racing’s Marcus Kaerup kicked of the first of the 6 rounds of qualifying with 9th place just behind Dakotah Phend. Bigger mistakes in his second effort however meant he stopped the clock in the 15th fastest time but the 16-year would go on to closing out the day with a 12th for the third round. With his Ruddog RNX22.3 powered Associated RC8B4.1 doing what he wants it to do, the big take away from the day for this Danish talent is the need to tidy up his driving and charge his headset!
‘We started out great with a pretty decent qualifying in the first round, 9th with some mistake so it could have been a lot better. Second qualifying I was pretty confident going into it after the first one but once again a stupid mistake, also on the last lap, so two mistakes and that was pretty annoying with still 15th for the round. In the last one the car felt really good but coming up to the left on the 180 on right side I hit the pipe and rolled over, so a stupid mistake again and I needed to be marshalled’. Asked about his mistakes and if it was from the pressure of the occasion or just his determination to prove a point, he said, ‘it is just over doing it, clipping a pipe or shorting a jump, just basic things that are not supposed to happen’.
Asked about his car he said, ‘I haven’t been doing much to the car really, no changes, I am really just checking screws after each run to make sure they are tight’. On track conditions Marcus said, ‘It has been pretty consistent, for sure the last heat had the most grip of the day’. Looking to Day 2’s qualifying action, three more rounds on the cards around the challenging RC Redovan track, he said, ‘We will probably just change tyre component for the different times of the day but I think the car is good so we don’t need to change it’. Asking his stand in pit man Brent Thielke how his driver was doing, the Team Associated Team Manager said, ‘he needs to remember to charge his headset’. The American having to revert to good old shouting up at his driver as a form of communication for Q3 due to a dead headset.
Canas holds overnight Worlds TQ
Day 1 of qualifying at the IFMAR 1:8 Offroad World Championship is complete and it is Pre Race favourite Juan Carlos Canas who holds the overnight TQ in Spain. The Sworkz driver made it 2 out of 3 when he backed up his Q2 TQ performance in the final run of the day, however it wasn’t a perfect Q3 from the Spaniard. In the end however he took another max points haul ahead of World Champion Davide Ongaro. Opening qualifying with a TQ run, Ongaro’s Team Associated holds P2 overall with Bruno Coelho with a pair of Top 3 times from Q1 & 2 sitting 3rd. It wasn’t a good Q3 for the former 1:10 Offroad World Champion, a number of errors after a wrong tyre choice leaving him with the 6th fastest time. Instead the Top 3 for the round was completed by Dakotah Phend, the TLR driver continuing his rise to the front as the top US contender sitting fifth overall behind 2016 World Champion David Ronnefalk.
Summing up his second TQ run, Canas said, ‘I make a mistake, I put on new tyre and at the beginning it was a little loose and I pushed too hard and I have my mistake, it was my mistake.’ The 22-year-old said after the mistake, while helped by the tyres coming in, ‘my mental approach also changed so I am happy about that but not happy with run as not a clean run. I am happy about the speed I show after the mistake’. Living a 4,5 hour drive from the track asked about the second day of qualifying, the final 3 rounds on the schedule, he replied, ‘Tomorrow is one new day, anything can happen. It will be a colder track because we have less temperature so we will see what happens but my plan is clean runs and be confident for long runs’.
Over a second off Canas, Ongaro said, ‘That was more windy I think. I had a really bad stop lap because they made a mistake catching my car and on the back section, the two doubles, wind catch my car and I fly on the double. I had a 57 (seconds) lap which cost me a lot because we normally have a 54 on the fuel stop lap. Anyway I am happy in the P2 for the third round because we are still the fight for TQ. If not no problem, the race is on Saturday, so I don’t care really.’ Asked more about the wind and whether he felt he could do anything with his car for it, the 23-year-old said, ‘If it is a problem then yes we need to look but think it will not be the same in the morning because the wind always come on the last round like yesterday. So we see tomorrow, without the wind my car is good so all good otherwise.’
Packing up after a very positive day, a very happy Phend said, ‘That went great, probably my cleanest run so far, just really concentrated on hitting the marks every lap and being super consistent and we found a little bit of speed that time as well so we are closing the gap. Probably still half a second or so on the speed but the consistency feels good and car feels comfortable at the speed I am doing right now.’ Asked what he changed to find the speed he explained, ‘we changed the front springs, different camber links and different shock, lot of little changes now and we’re getting closer and closer. For Day 1 I’m pretty happy how it went we got better every run and all three rounds were really solid driving, Donal is awesome in the pits.’
Laughing at getting another 4th for the round, Top Seed Ronnefalk said, ‘but this time I had really good speed, the changes we made from Q2 to Q3 improved and the tyres worked well from the start of the run that time. I felt really good, unfortunately I touched the pipe at the bottom left chicane, the fast one, and the car just went on flying out into the fence and that was 4-5 seconds lost.’ With Bryan Baldo crashing in front of him he lost further time, ‘he crashed right in front of me with three laps to go, he was going to let me by, he was going to go wide but he just rolled at the bottom left. That was unfortunate, it was not his fault, but I was just at the wrong spot and the wrong time so I lost anther 3-seconds or so. All that considered I still made it over for a 13-lap run. I know it could have been a lot better and the 6-seconds or so cost be a shot at the TQ. Anyway it feels good now ’cause I was kind of lacking the speed in the first two and it feels like I got the speed I had yesterday back.’ Asked if he had any issues with the wind, he said he did notice it in the warm-up but in the run he did not have any problems.
Having opened with a strong P5 showing in the opening qualifier but suffering a rough Q2 Tekno’s Joao Figueiredo managed to round off the day with a second Top 5 run. Explaining his Q2 effort, the Portuguese driver said, ‘we made a small change and we figure out we probably had the car too stiff overall.’ Going back to a softer set-up for the last one and making some adjustments on his tyre inserts, and ‘it paid off, the car is pretty good now it is just missing a little speed.’ Asked if he knew where he was loosing that speed he said, ‘We are probably going to play around with the clutch because I think it is not on point. It feels smooth and everything but I did some laps behind some guys and they are pulling 1-2 out of the corners. We just need one more Top 5 and think when that averages out we will be good.’
View our event image gallery here.
One a piece as Canas takes Q2
It is one a piece for the World Champion and European Champion in qualifying at the IFMAR 1:8 Offroad World Championship, the later, Juan Carlos Canas taking the second round of qualifying ahead of Round 1 TQ winner Davide Ongaro. Posting a new fastest time, Canas’ Sworkz would stop the clock 3/10ths up on the World Champions Team Associated as Xray pairing Bruno Coelho and David Ronnefalk joined them on 13-laps runs. While it has been the European drivers leading the way at RC Redovan, TLR’s Dakotah Phend continued to close the gap, the American posting a P5 for the round.
It was a clean run but I had traffic again’ was Canas’ reaction to topping Q2. Asked how much the traffic affected his time, the Spaniard said, ‘I don’t know but maybe 1-second or more.’ With some drivers reporting the track feeling different given timing in the day, the pre-race favourite said, ‘I didn’t change my car and I feel the same grip on everything.’ Pleased with how his car and taking the approach “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it” he said he plans to finish out Day 1 of qualifying with an unchanged set-up.
Ongaro was happy with his car but less pleased with his driving saying, ‘I had two stupid mistakes by myself, I crashed outside the pit lane and hit the wall and on the same lap on the chicane in the middle of the lap I lost half a second’. The Italian continued, ‘Overall I am happy, I am super confident with car and can drive easy on 48 (second) pace.’ With three from 6 rounds to count, he plans to finish out the day with the same car and with a good result then use tomorrow to try some changes and ‘find our limits’.
Describing his run as ‘very clean’, Coelho continued, ‘towards the end I felt the car was a bit soft. I don’t know if it was the tyres but now it is pretty hot so the tyre probably got too soft. I also have high tyre wear now so we think they were not the perfect compound for now. For the last 2-minutes the car was difficult to drive’. He continued, ‘it should be colder, for sure we are going to try different things but I think the track is coming where it will completely change the compound of the tyres. From now on I think the game of the tyres starts. The track is getting oily now, you can see people using clays now and starting to get faster. Our set-up is there and it is all about tyres now.’
‘Another decent run I would say’, was how Ronnefalk summed up Round 2. He explained, ‘I told the guys coming into today three rounds in the Top 4 I would be happy then I had a mistake on the pit lane in the first round and then this time I was super careful coming and going out but I still messed it up. The pitstop itself was fast so I can’t blame pit guys but I lost 2-seconds on that pit lane, I got stuck on the tube on the exit. That’s free time you can’t afford to give away if you want to TQ. Obviously it won’t have been enough to challenge for the TQ but I would have been within 2-seconds again. Another Top 4 this round is still a good score I would say’. For Q3 the Swede ‘will try some stuff’ feeling with four rounds left he should be able to get one more strong run to lock himself into the Semis.
Upbeat about his latest performance, Phend said, ‘That was a solid, really clean run, didn’t have a bobble, we are in the ball park where we need to be car wise. We are just kind of fine tuning and tinkering trying to find more speed. I feel like I am driving pretty safe out there so when I know I can get more comfortable and I can hopefully push the pace more. We are just going to keep working on the car and get a third round in and then tomorrow then we can really start to throw stuff at the car and see what we come up with. Asked if he had been on the back foot in practice, the 2022 12th place finisher said, ‘Yesterday was a little bit of a rough day, we made a lot of progress the first two practice days but went backwards yesterday in seeding but glad to turn it around so far today so we’ll try to keep in rolling and aim to get in Semi and go from there’.
View our event image gallery here.