Chassis – Team Associated RC8 4.1
Engine – O.S. Ongaro Edition
Fuel – Merlin
Tires – Hotrace Sahara
Radio/Servos – Sanwa M17 / Sanwa XRII (Steering) | XBII (Throttle)
Body – JConcepts S15
Remarks – Adrian is running World Champion Davide Ongaro’s ONG brand shock caps and rear wing button.
Having kicked off Day 1 of qualifying at the Asian Buggy Championships Finale in Indonesia with a TQ run, Kouki Kato repeated the feat at West Side Raceway as he opened the second day’s action at the top of the Q3 time sheets. The Infinity driver would set the new fastest time of qualifying by a massive 6-seconds, overnight track maintenance and a better tyre choice by the Japan National Champion contributing factors. With Q2 winner Naoto Matsukura setting the early pace in the 5-minute qualifier, until the first of two mistakes dropped him to P6 for the round, it was local racer Jason Nugroho who continued to be Kato’s closest rival. Setting a new fastest lap and getting very close to being the first driver to go 39-seconds, the Sworkz driver finished 2.6-seconds back on the Pro driver with the similar car of Christian Wolhuter completing the Top 3.
Asked about his run, Kato said, ‘My car was better. I changed to super soft tyre and it works good so I can make more push’. Content to leave his IFB8 unchanged for the penultimate qualifier, asked about track conditions, the 18-year-old replied, ‘this morning there was very high grip I think so better laps but I think the next round will be slower because the dust will come up and there will be less grip’. With this in mind and his car ‘working good’, he said the focus will be on working on his consistency as it is one area he feels there is room for improvement in.
‘I think it was OK, I am pretty satisfied with it’, was Nugroho reaction after Q3. Having had suspected radio glitches yesterday, he switched radio for Day 2’s qualifying explaining, ‘I switched back to my older controller and I think it was a bit different to my previous one so it took some time for me to readjust but I think overall it was OK.’ Asked if he felt the radio change cured his issues he said, ‘I had a similar problem at the start once again like yesterday when the car was out of the pit so I am trying to change to a different servo model to make sure it is the servo and not the controller.’ Suffering some traffic on the last lap, he said he was pretty happy with his result and his fastest lap time and planning to leave his car unchanged for Round 4 he said his big focus is to get the radio issue sorted ahead of tomorrow’s final, the Main here in Jakarta a 1-hour race.
His 3rd Top 3 run, Wolhunter summed up his latest effort by saying, ‘Yeh it was alright.’ The ABC Australia podium finisher explained, ‘I had a little bobble going onto the off camber. The track has changed quite a bit so it’s a lot dustier now and with the bars (tyres) when you are off line it’s very slippery so that cost me some time and then I made a little mistake on the double coming towards us so considering the mistakes I had I am still happy with the result’. Running Jekto J1 tyres on his buggy, he plans to continue with them saying, ‘I’ll stick with the tyre, the tyre is fast so I just need to stay on the line’.
The host of the Asian Buggy Championships first visit to Indonesia and responsible for the track build that has been praised by all the drivers, Adrian Wicaksono said, ‘Fourth was the best I could do, the Top 3 were so much faster than me but I was consistent, had zero mistakes and it got me 4th’. Asked how he felt his track creation is holding up, the Team Associated driver said, ‘I think this morning the track is slightly better because they did maintenance and some water last night. I think it was in much better shape then the last run yesterday.’ On his car he said, ‘I’m going to change the rear diff and try to go lower, in the tight hairpins I think my car is a little lazy so we will go down in the diff and see how it goes.’
Completing the Top 5 for the round, Rama Tribudiman summed up his result with ‘It was quite OK.’ With West Side Raceway his local track, he continued, ‘The traction was good this morning and my car was good but we are talking about racing against world class drivers. I am a newb you know but it was good fun out there.’ Raising the diffs in his Kyosho prototype for Q3, he plans to raise the front diff further for Round 4. Running the same car as Ryan Lutz and the rest of the Kyosho factory team used at the IFMAR World Championship in Spain, asked how he came about to having a car with the same upcoming parts releases on it, he explained, ‘I am not a special driver for Kyosho or anything but I am good friends with [Yuichi] Kanai (famed Kyosho buggy designer) so he gave me the parts to try.’
Chassis – Sworkz S35-4 EVO
Engine – O.S. Adam Drake AD3
Fuel – Merlin
Tires – Proline Electron M4
Radio/Servos – FlySky Noble 4 / ProTek RC 170SBL
Body – Kit
Remarks – Jason is running RC Project Shock Caps as well as the Italian brands front Shock Tower.
Day 1 of qualifying at the Asian Buggy Championships season finale in Indonesia closed with Naoto Matsukura hitting the top of the time sheets. With Infinity team-mate Kouki Kato taking Q1 as Matsukura found himself P7 after a costly last lap mistake, the No.2 seed made amends in the second of the 5-planned qualifiers to post the fastest 5-minute run so far ahead of the Sworkz of Christian Wolhuter, the young Aussie another driver to benefit from eliminating driver errors. Despite improving his Q1 time by 1-second Kato found himself P3 with the Japanese Champion feeling he didn’t have the right tyres for the condition of the last run of the day. A close 2nd to Kato in the opening qualifier, Jason Nugroho would run the fourth fastest time despite suspected radio problems. Seeding fourth fastest but not having a good Q1 attempt, Kyosho’s Rama Tribudiman completed the Top 5 with his second effort.
Changing to a softer compound tyre for Q2 having struggled with a low grip in the first round, Matsukura said he was much happier with his buggy which now had more steering and overall traction. With this resulting in him being able to get his fastest lap back down in to the 40-seconds, the Japanese driver feels there is potential for better to come as the run contained this two mistakes over the 5-minutes. Looking to Q3, he said, ‘I think the first run in the morning will be a little dusty cause they water the track but we will start with the same car set-up and tyres’.
‘No mistakes this time, driver did ok this time, I’m very happy’, was Wolhunter’s reaction to finishing just 3/10ths off Matsukura. He continued, ‘I ran the exact same set-up just without the mistakes and I was able to keep consistent. It was a good battle between us two, unfortunate that I just couldn’t get there but I am very happy with the result’. Looking to Day 2 of qualifying the 18-year-old said, ‘I’m happy with the set-up as it is now and I don’t think we need to make too many more adjustments on the car, it is just about still getting to know the track and the conditions and how they change over the day. Q2 was a positive finish to today so I’m looking forward to the three rounds tomorrow.’
Describing his Q2 performance Kato sad, ‘It was good driving but the car is still a little bit loose in the rear so maybe tomorrow I change something.’ Asked if it was the change of track conditions or something else he replied, ‘I changed the car in the settings and it was not good so tomorrow I will change tyres.’ Influenced by his team-mate Matsukara going to a softer tyres and topping Q2, he will run the same softer compound as Matsukura for the 3rd of the 5 rounds.
Summing up his drive to P4 for the second of the 5 rounds, Nugroho said, ‘That was not great.’ The Jarkata driver continued, ‘As soon as I came out of the pit for the warm-up there was something wrong with my radio or steering servo. I though it was maybe interference with poles (in the driver stand structure) but I lost steering and had to bring my car in and we reset the connection. After that I moved to the left side of the drivers stand to be safe but the view was completely different and I had to readjust where I brake, how I turn, the line I choose so I was just trying hard to keep up the pace and not make any mistakes.’ Having had similar problem yesterday causing him to change both the steering servo and the receiver in his car, the Sworkz driver will now try to change the steering control module on his transmitter for Saturday’s second day of qualifying adding ‘hopefully tomorrow will go well.’
Chassis – Infinity IFB8
Engine – O.S Speed 05
Fuel – Merlin
Tires – Hotrace Sahara
Radio/Servos – Futaba 10PX / Futaba CB701
Body – Kit
Remarks – Naoto is running the same buggy as he used at the recent World Championship in Spain.
Having set the pace in seeding practice, Kouki Kato carried that form into qualifying to TQ the opening round at the season finale of the Asian Buggy Championships in Indonesia, but only just. While putting together a perfect error few 5-minute run, the Infinity driver didn’t have the same outright pace as the morning with local Sworkz driver Jason Nugroho coming to within 0.1 of a second of denying him the top spot. With visiting drivers still finding their way in terms of how the track conditions change over the day, another local to open qualifying with a strong showing was track owner & builder Adrian Wicaksono who took his Team Associated to third ahead young Australian Christian Wolhunter.
‘A good consistent 5-minute run but I need more pace’, was how Kato summed up Q1. Over a second off on his best lap time compared to when he topped seeding in the morning, the 18-year-old Japanese driver felt he lacked the traction to push his IFB8 and for the day’s second and final qualifier he plans to make the switch from the Hotrace’s Bangkok tyre to their Sahara bar tyre. With Infinity leading a 1-2 in seeding, while Kato stayed top in Q1, team-mate Naoto Matsukura could only manage P7 as he had a costly crash on his final lap losing over 8-seconds.
Reacting to his P2, Nugroho said, ‘I wasn’t expecting that much pace due to the track conditions’. The 24-year-old, who set the fastest lap of Q1 as the only one to run 40-seconds, continued, ‘I was close but hit a pipe and in the dust was all over the place and just lost it by that much, just 0.1 seconds! Congrats to Kato for the first TQ’. Expecting the track will be more challenge for Q2, he said he hopes he can drive around the conditions and stay ‘nice and neat.’ Planning to leave his Drake O.S powered buggy’s set-up unchanged for the second qualifier he will also continue with his choice of Proline Electron M4 tyres.
With his track building efforts proving a hit with visiting drivers, racers from 12 different nations making the trip to Jakarta, Wicaksono put his P3 down to consistency rather that outright pace. He said, ‘My single lap time was off the top guys but I think I kept it consistent and made zero mistakes and that is why I got third’. Running Hotrace Sahara Supersoft he said, ‘It is more dusty than usual with the amount of racers we have for this race so maybe for Q2 I will use a small pin tyre’. Asked about changes to his buggy set-up he said. ‘I plan to keep the car the same but the engine needs a better tune, the bottom end was a little rich in that one’. One of three track in Jakarta, asked about the West Side Raceway build Wicaksono explained that the dirt used here was brought in from a different part of the country. With a lot less tyre wear racing on this red dirt it also handles rain better. Getting his inspiration for the layout from Supercross and the Philippine Masters track build, he is pleased with the reaction to his natural clay layout and is happy that each round is giving drivers a new challenge to contend with which he feels is how offroad should be.
Chasing another podium to round out his 2024 Asian Buggy Championship campaign, Wolhunter was ruing a mistake in Q1. He explained, ‘The set-up on the car was very good. We changed the rear diff and raised the rear arms up one and that made it easier to drive and more consistent. Race wise it went really well until I had a 7-second crash that kind of sucked so to get a 4th with such a crash is pretty good, I just need to do better on the driving next time’.