Ongaro comes good in Q3

Davide Ongaro finally came good at the Philippine Masters with the Team Associated driver topping the third & penultimate round of qualifying in Manila after a rocky start to the 12th edition to the race.  A crash with a turned over car in Q1 and his wheels struggling with the Asian heat in Q2, a new set of wheels for Round 3 seemed to put the double World Champion’s quest for another win in the capital city back on track.  Ongaro would post the fastest qualifying time so far heading home the Sparko of Ryan Pavidis with Ryan Lutz completing the Top 3.  Having TQ’d the opening qualifier and backed that up with a P2 in the second round, Alex Bernadzik would struggle on his third attempt coming away with a P4 ahead of top local Dino Jacinto.  After topping Q2, Joern Neumann would suffer a flame out in the final half minute but afterwards the German admitted he was struggling with the hotter conditions.  After two impressive Top 3 runs, Atsushi Hara said his chances of continuing that form ended on the first lap after he opened the heat with a series of first lap mistakes.

‘Finally it was good to drive and I had no traffic this time’, was how Ongaro described his TQ run.  He continued, ‘I was a bit lucky with a marshal on the straight but overall now I am happy and I’m getting used to the layout’.  Asked about his wheel issue, he replied, ‘our wheels are too soft for this temperature so we changed to different wheels and everything start to work.’  Looking to the final qualifier, the overall TQ wide open, he said, ‘We will try something different because now that we have found the problem and can try to improve the set of the car more.’

Pavidis was pleased with his effort explaining, ‘we put more grip back into the car and I was way more comfortable with it’.  The 22-year-old continued, ‘it is pretty racey now.  It’s not super quick but I can drive it.’  Running Hotrace’s clay compound Sahara tyre here at the Circulo Verde track, he said the only thing he will change on the car for the final qualifier is to fit a fresh set of tyres.

‘An improvement’, was how Lutz summed up his P3 run.  The Kyosho driver and current points leader of the Asian Buggy Championships having won the season opener in New Zealand, asked if the improvement was his or JQ’s idea he joked, ‘we’ll say it was his idea.’  Asked if he planned to go safe or try more set-up changes for the last round, he said, ‘we are going to try something in eBuggy and see how that feels and then we might transfer it over the nitro car.’

Reacting to his run Bernadzik said, ‘that was not very good’.  He continued, ‘I don’t know what it was but it felt slower and for the last one we will make a few changes to get more grip.’

Neumann takes Q2 at Philippine Masters

Day 2 of qualifying at the Philippine Masters kicked off with another of this year’s event rookies posting a TQ run as Sworkz’ Joern Neumann topped the second of the four qualifiers from Q1 pace setter Alex Bernadzik.  Having seen his Q1 run derailed when he collected another buggy that was on its roof and dropping him back to a P6, the German would have a similar scare in Q2 as he came upon a broken buggy towards the end of the qualifier but this time he got round it without much delay.  At the finish he had 1.7-seconds from a very quick Bernadzik who put in a strong recovery drive following his copybook mistake to the one he survived at the end of his Q1 run yesterday to hang on to the TQ.  Backing up his P2 from yesterday, Atsushi Hara would complete the Top 3 followed by defending Philippine Masters Champion Davide Ongaro, the double World Champion still yet to find his rhythm here in Manila.  The two Ryan’s completed the Top 6, Lutz finishing ahead of Pavidis.

Clearly pleased with his effort, Neumann said, ‘the car was good yesterday too but I hit a flipped car.  In practice this morning we made one small change and I might go a bit more with that change for the next one but the car is already good enough so the main focus is just to try and repeat what we did in Q2.  His first time to the Circulo Verde track he said, ‘It is really nice to drive.  They say last year’s track layout was more difficult but I still feel this is difficult so having a really good car is a big help’.

Asked about his run, the Australian taking his Team Associated to the only 35-second lap of the track in Q2, Bernadzik said, ‘I had the same crash as the first qualifier, I again went too hard over the the big mound and traction rolled’.  Happening on the opening lap and dropping him to last, he said, ‘the car came on really good towards the end’ a statement that was backed up by his impressive fastest lap coming on his final lap.  Only changing to a slight thicker rear sway bar for Q2, he said he plans to keep everything the same for the penultimate round of qualifying.

‘Not bad for an old man’ was how Hara summed up his P3 time.  The legend of the sport continued, ‘the car is really good, it is better than me, I am not consistent enough.’  His first major international 1:8 Buggy race in a number of years, he is really enjoying being back in the thick of it saying, ‘I have the feeling of racing I had at Worlds, I am so enjoying this’.  Asked if he planned any changes for Q3, the former Philippine Masters winner said, ‘I changed nothing from yesterday, I’m on the same tyres, engine, everything, I just need to work on my consistency not the car.’

Ongaro’s reaction after Q2 was, ‘we are struggling a lot’.  The Italian explained, ‘I think the wheels are too soft.  At the start it is ok then every lap it is more slow’.  With a one hour long final deciding the Philippine Masters tomorrow in some pretty hot and tough conditions, he has not choice but to change wheels saying, ‘we will change wheels for the next one and see if this fixes the problem.’

Summing up his run to P5 as ‘decent’, Lutz added, ‘It was a clean run overall’.  One of the drivers who is part of the Invisible Speed car set-up courses, the Kyosho driver said it is time to ‘put the book into practice’ with Invisible Speed founder JQ also offering advise on how to work around what the Finn said is the American ‘not having the right tyres with him’.  Asked what his issue is, Lutz said, ‘I need to find a way to carry more corner speed’.

Having freed up the rear on his Sparko buggy for Q2, Pavidis said while it felt better the lap times were not good.  Losing over 5-seconds with a mistake on his second last lap when he landed hard and ended out in the dust leading to his crash, he said he is ‘not sure what to do for the next one’ to improve his car.   He concluded, ‘I will probably make it a bit more safe so I can push.’

Bernadzik takes opening qualifier at Philippine Masters

Alex Bernadzik got his Philippine Masters debut off to the dream start, the Australian Team Associated driver TQ’ing the opening qualifier at Asia’s biggest annual 1:8 Offroad race.  The 2023 Australian National Champion claimed the first of the four scheduled qualifiers as the only driver to record 9-laps of the challenging Manila track despite a late driver error.  Behind it would be Atsushi Hara who set the second fastest time as he makes his return to 1:8 Buggy competition at the event he has won on previous occasions.  With the 12th edition of the Philippine Masters counting as the second round of the Asian Buggy Championships which kicked off in New Zealand in February, it was Round 1 winner Ryan Lutz who complete the top 3 for Q1 ahead Davide Ongaro and Philippine Masters’ rookies Ryan Pavidis and Joern Neumann.

Second fastest in yesterday’s seeding behind Neuman’s Sworkz, summing up his first qualifying attempt Bernadzik said, ‘It was a really good consistent run up until the second last lap’.  Suffering a roll over on the back double, that mistake would cost him around 4-seconds but such was his advantage he could still hold on for the TQ.  Having changed his car for this morning’s free practice, he said he didn’t really like how the buggy felt and so he reverted back to yesterday’s set-up for Q1 and right now he has his plan wouldn’t be to change too much in the buggy.  Instead he said he will keep with his tyre program, his TQ run achieved using with JConcepts Silver Ellipse tyre.  Asked his thoughts on the much hyped Circulo Verde track he replied with a grin saying, ‘It is really  good.  The photos don’t do it justice’.

A guy who is really enjoying life at the moment having returned to competitive touring car action at the World famous TITC last month and now 1:8 Buggy here at the Philippine Masters, Hara said his Sworkz was ‘really really good’. The former World Champion did however say he drove a little nervous adding ‘I’ve not been there (major international race) in a long time’. One of the first drivers to arrive in the Philippines for the race and able to just a few extra miles under his belt before the majority of drivers arrived, he feels this helped a little with his set-up data. Coming with a variety of different tyre options from his sponsor VP Pro he said the harder M1 compound is proving really good but admit he doesn’t have a huge amount of them with him. Asked if this could present a problem he said he wasn’t too concerned about qualifying other than making the A-Main as he said the prospect of running the 1-hour main is his goal for the event adding ‘I don’t remember the last time I raced for 1-hour so I really excited to have have the chance again cause not many races outside the Worlds are an hour final.’

Lutz summed up his opening qualifier with ‘it was OK’. The Kyosho driver went on to explain, ‘the rear didn’t feel settled and we realised after the rear shocks were over pressurised.’ The American added he plans to change his rear shock set-up feeling ‘the oil was a little light to start with’. After making years of trying to make the Philippine Masters fit his schedule, having final got the chance to drive the track Lutz said, ‘it’s an awesome track and a lot of fun to drive’. Asked if he felt he had it mastered yet he replied, ‘I’m not carrying the right speed in the centre back section so that’s something I can work on improving.’

No stranger to the Philippine Masters, winning the race last year on his return following the world pandemic, Ongaro was a little frustrated by the incident that denied him a buggy double in Q1. Only arriving in the country last night from Italy, Ongaro missed seeding only getting to his the new track design this morning in free practice. Placed in the top heat given his back to back World Championship status, having taken the opening eBuggy qualifier ahead of Neumann and Hara, he started out looking like doing the same in Nitro Buggy. That was until lap 3 when he collected a car which rolled in front of him at the start of the main straight. Recovering with the fastest lap of Q1 he would finish just 25/1000th off Lutz. Asked about this year’s track layout he replied, ‘I prefer last year’s because it had more jumps so there are now less places to make a difference but overall it is still a great track’. For Day 2 of qualifying, the Italian set to be more rested, he said he only plans ‘just a new set of tyres’ having used the same set for all of todays free practice and the opening qualifier.

Enjoying his first experience of racing in Asia, this only his second race outside of the US, Pavidis said Q1 ‘was good but I made a mistake.  Without that I would have been up there’, but added, ‘it’s easy to get in a wreck here’.  For Day 2 of qualifying the 22-year-old Sparko driver said he will work on trying find a little more pace.  Asked how he planned to achieve this, the son of former World Champion Mark Pavidis said ‘I’ll free up the rear of the car the car a bit so it can rotate better’.  Finding he had less grip for Q1, he said he has learned that the morning has the best traction and once you get to noon the traction falls off.