August 3, 2017

Ronnefalk delivers in Q3 to hold overnight TQ in Sweden

Having thrown away potential TQ runs in the opening qualifiers, top seed David Ronnefalk finally delivered on his third attempt as Day 3 of the European Championship in Sweden comes to a close.  Second fastest in Q1 & 2, the HB Racing driver would run the fastest time of the day in his third qualifier finishing 3-seconds up on Q2 pace setter Davide Ongaro. A further 2-seconds off, Mugen’s Robert Batlle would break into the Top 3 for the first time having thrown away competitive runs with mistakes on the last lap of both previous qualifiers. Unable to translate his strong showing in controlled practice yesterday into a competitive time in the first two qualifiers, Carlos Durães came good for the end of day run setting the 4th fastest time ahead Q1 top qualifier Elliott Boots.

‘I’m super happy with Day 1 of qualifying.  Sure I was bummed to not TQ the first 2 but we got it done in the last one and we’ll build on that tomorrow and the rest of the week’, was Ronnefalk’s view of things at the end of the first day of qualifying with two more rounds left to run tomorrow. Having struggled with his car in Q2, the World Champion continued, ‘we changed a few things in the shock package and it was much better and we also changed the tyre. I went to a softer compound, the harder (tyre) was faster outright but the softer was more forgiving and that helped bring good lap times’.  Holding the overnight TQ, he continued, ‘I had a mistake on my second lap and got pissed with myself but told myself I need to get my shit together. Ongaro was running ahead of me on the track so I knew I had to close on him to get 1st for the heat. I am really happy I could do 39-seconds on my last two laps and apart from my mistake the run was super consistent. I was marshalling Elliott’s heat and when I saw him crash I knew it would be hard for him to beat my time’.

Ongaro also declared himself ‘really happy’ with the first day of qualifying.  The Team Associated driver said, ‘I had two mistakes.  The track now is not so good, there are a lot of bumps.’  Having planned to run a new set of AKA’s Moto tyre, the Italian said they decided against this, sticking with the same set he has used throughout the day including in the morning shakedown but he said the tyres where done and he struggled as a result.  With the tyres not coming in until they have had a run on them he will now have to use the first of tomorrow’s final two qualifiers to break in his unusual choice of tyre.

‘The last one was quite good but I had a mistake just before the cement’, was Batlle’s reaction to his P3 result in Q3. The former World Champion continued, ‘I had two mistakes on the last lap of both other qualifiers so I wanted to drive comfortable. I didn’t expect to crash there but I lost 4-seconds’. The Spaniard added, ‘I can do 40-second laps so we have the pace needed so I’m happy to drive safer and be more comfortable and consistent’.  Asked if he planned any changes for Q4, he replied, ‘we need to wait now on the weather because so many people tell me it will rain tonight but we are already working the set-up for the finals because I have 3 Top 10 results and the TQ is already gone for me’.

Serpent driver Durães said, ‘we made changes and the car worked better. I’m happy with how it was that time’.  The Portuguese driver added, ‘For Q1 we decided on the wrong tyre so for the second one we changed the compound and it was a little better’.  Switching to a soft AKA Impact tyre, he remained on that for his third qualifier, getting improvement from the set-up with the plan to continue in the same direction of those changes tomorrow but ‘it depends on the weather because I heard it will rain’.

‘Just a bit’ was Boots response when asked if it had been a rough round for him.  The Kyosho driver added, ‘I had a good first couple of laps but then had a mistake on the concrete after hitting a random bump and more mistakes followed from there really’.  The reigning champion said, ‘I’m still comfortable with the car, it was a bit better that time but it’s still not right’.  He concluded, ‘we’ve got to work on the set-up for tomorrow’.  Describing the track as ‘very difficult’, he said the combination of the ‘bumps and high traction’ mean you have to be very careful in your driving.

Completing the Top 6 Riccardo Berton didn’t like the change of bodyshell he made for Q3, the Kyosho driver saying it didn’t have good corner speed.  Pleased with his own driving saying, ‘I think I drive good again’, the Italian also switched tyres to a Pro-Line’s Suppressor but he didn’t like the feeling and will go for X2 Bowties for the penultimate round of qualifying. Behind Berton, Joseph Quagraine could post the 7th fastest time followed by Martin Wollanka, Neil Cragg and Jürgen Trieb.

View the complete event results here.

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August 3, 2017

Ongaro takes second qualifier in Sweden

Davide Ongaro delivered a TQ run in the second round of qualifying at the Euros in Sweden, the Team Associated driver going fastest from top seed David Ronnefalk.  Third fastest in the opening qualifier, the Italian would have a 1.5 second advantage over Ronnefalk, the HB Racing star again suffering costly mistakes over the 5-minutes. After almost a 5-hour wait between Q1 and the second of the day’s three qualifiers, Kyosho’s Riccardo Berton would complete the Top 3 as team-mate Elliott Boots had a tough round.  The reigning champion would end up 13th fastest after ‘loads of crashes’ with the Q1 Top Qualifier putting part of his struggle down to tyres saying, ‘they worked this morning but not now’.  Having opened qualifier with a P4, Mugen’s Juan Carlos Canas wouldn’t have a good Q2 getting a drive through penalty for stopping on track as he tried to allow a gap between himself and Ronnefalk at the start.

‘I’m really happy’ was Ongaro’s reaction to his TQ run, the Las Vegas Worlds star adding, ‘the car now works better than the first one after we changed the rear roll bar’.  The 15-year-old continued, ‘I just want to drive smooth and get to the finish without mistakes and in the end it was fast’. Describing the track as ‘worse than before’ he said it wasn’t too much of an issue yet and for the last of the day’s qualifiers he will just change tyres. Opting for the unusual choice of AKA’s Moto tyre, he will stick with it for Q3 but use a brand new set and use the track time to break in the tyre for tomorrow, the tyre proving quicker on its second run.

‘Another OK run I would say’, was how Ronnefalk summed up Q2.  The World Champion continued, ‘the car didn’t feel good in the warm-up laps and I crashed loads of time so I told myself to do the best I could, but after a couple of laps I crashed. I knew the speed was there so I just tried to keep it on the wheels but I rolled in a second crash an lost the TQ.  With 2 crashes 2nd is not bad’.  Asked about what he felt he needs to do to improve his car for his third attempt, the 20-year-old said, “me and Adrien and the rest of the team will have a chat about what to change for the last one because it is too difficult to drive right now’.

Improving on his P6 in Q1, Berton said, ‘That was a good run’.  Changing from X2 to X1 Lockdown tyres on his MP9, the 18-year-old said these ‘feel much much better’ allowing him to push more in the corner.  Also feeling the addition of anti squat improved the car, for the final qualifier of the day he plans to try a lower Kyosho body to try further improve corner speed.

Setting the fourth fastest time João Figueiredo was pleased after struggling in Q1.  The Kyosho driver said, ‘the car was really bad in the first one, the changes were not so good, but we went back to normal shocks and its better. It is still edgy but I think that’s now down to tyre choice’.  Having been running big shocks with emulsion caps he removed them for Q1 but didn’t like the feeling and now has reverted back to the standard shocks and towers.  Having run a medium compound Amazzonia tyre from Hotrace he will switch to a hard compound for the next one.  The Portuguese driver concluded, ‘the track has a lot of grip now so it is getting tricky out there’.

‘Definitely going better today’, was Bayer’s reaction to setting the fifth fastest time.  The Xray designer said, ‘I tested many things but have gone back to what I arrived here with on Tuesday’.  The Czech driver added he felt ‘the track is better today’ describing it as more clean and having less bumps after overnight work on it.  A former podium finisher, his focus now is on his shocks saying, ‘I still need to work on the shocks, the balance of the car is good but I’m not happy with my shock set-up’.  On tyre choice, having tried different options yesterday, he has returned to Pro-Line’s new Buck Shot tyre which he ran on Tuesday saying ‘they are really good’.

Bayer’s Xray team-mate Martin Wollanka would complete the Top 6 for the round.  Also a Euros podium finisher, the Austrian said his car is ‘working better and better each run’ but he was ‘not expecting such a result’. Trying to give himself room to the car in front of him at the start of the heat, he didn’t realise the clock had already started and the waiting had left him with a 43 second first lap costing himself around 2-seconds.  For Q3 he plans to go up in the front diff oil.

View the complete event results here.

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August 3, 2017

Chassis Focus – Juan Carlos Canas

Chassis – Mugen MBX-7R
Engine – Ultimate M3T
Tyres – ProCircuit Addictive P2 Compound
Fuel – Nitrolux
Radio/Servos – Sanwa/ Highest
Body – Ultimate
Remarks – Spanish upcoming talent Juan Carlos Canas is running the MBX-7R from Mugen, equipped with a number of option parts such as Ultimate shock pistons and bladders, high traction differentials and front & rear CVD’s. He is also using a 40g rear weight on the chassis and a JConcepts lexan wing.

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August 3, 2017

Chassis Focus – Davide Ongaro

Chassis – Associated RC8B3.1
Engine – LRP ZZ.21C Square Stroke
Tyres – AKA Moto Soft Long Run
Fuel – Runner Time
Radio/Servos – Sanwa
Body – JConcepts
Remarks – Young Italian star Davide Ongaro is running a B3.1 from the Team Associated powered by the latest LRP square stroke engine fitted with an old traditional style cooling head instead of the standard low profile one. His car is only equipped with a couple option parts, such as +5mm FastRace rear shocks standoffs and JConcepts titanium steering turnbuckles.

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August 3, 2017

Boots TQs opening qualifier after last lap tangle from Ronnefalk

Elliott Boots has TQ’d the opening round of qualifying at the 1:8 Offroad European Championships in Sweden.  The reigning champion took the first of the five scheduled qualifiers at the Gröndal Ring from top seed David Ronnefalk, the Swede costing himself the TQ after tangling with Neil Cragg on the last lap, the final separation 2/10ths of a second.  Behind the two established title contenders, Davide Ongaro would open with a P3 run ahead of fellow up & coming teenager Juan Carlos Canas. The big turn around from his pace in controlled practice yesterday would come from Darren Bloomfield, the former champion posting 5th fastest ahead of 2015 Euro B Champion Riccardo Berton.

‘Better than expected’, was Boots reaction to his opening qualifier.  The Kyosho driver continued, ‘I didn’t think it was a good run. I had a mistake on the straight which needed a marshal and I had a few sketchy laps’.  The British driver said however he did benefit from having ‘a clear track most of the run so I stayed out of trouble’.  Having struggled yesterday to decide on which tyre to use, he would choose Pro-Line’s X1 Suburb tyre for Q1 saying, ‘they felt pretty good, it made it easier to drive which I was looking for. It’s still edgy but that’s just the track’.  In terms of his MP9 set-up, he said, ‘we changed a few things and went back more to our basic set-up and it was good’.

Ronnefalk summed up Q1 as ‘overall a good run’.  The World Champion added, ‘on the last lap I caught cars which was bad timing. I thought I was alright and I would be ok to pass but I was too close to Neil (Cragg) and we touched in the air. It was totally my fault and I’m sorry for that. It was a good run till then as my laps were all 40-seconds before that’.  Having ran all his practice runs in the No.10 spot of the tracks rather large driver stand, he said it took a bit of time to get used to being over on the opposite now in the No.1 position, he continued, ‘Overall I just wanted to put in a decent run. It’s a bummer but 2nd is still good if you look at the big picture’.  In terms of his car, the HB Racing driver said, ‘I felt the shock package was too hard in the shakedown this morning but we left it as it was because the temperature would go up and it came good’.  On tyres he used JConcepts’ Metrix tyre for Q1.

‘Good, we improved the tyre and the car’, was Ongaro’s view of his first qualifying attempt.  The Team Associated driver said switching from AKA Enduro tyre to their Moto had made the car more easy over the bumps.  Feeling the rear of his car is rolling too much for Q2, the World Championship finalist will change to a harder rear roll bar.  While making ‘2 0r 3 small mistakes but nothing major’, the Italian was happy with his driving over the 5-minutes.

Fourth fastest Canas reported the feeling of the track was more aggressive today making his Mugen more difficult to drive.  The Spaniard also had to deal with brake issues with the brakes set too much to the front and this gave him issues at the end of the straight as they locked up braking caused him to lose steering’.  For Q2, the 2016 Euro A Finalist & Euro B Champion will switch to a harder front rollbar to improve the steering.  On his driving over the 5-minutes, the 15-year-old said, the approach for today is too be ‘very smooth & safe’ to get into the Semi and then tomorrow he can push.

Bloomfield described his P5 time as, ‘Pretty good compared to yesterday’.  The Agama driver continued, ‘we changed quite a bit but the biggest change was to go back to the standard shock caps’.  Having run prototype Emulsion caps he said the lack of rebound with that set-up had caused the car to be lazy and ‘not very accurate’ but now with 50% rebound it ‘stops all that rolling around’.  Also going down in the centre diff oil, the British driver said with it now ‘driving more like a front wheel it’s more driveable’.  Having crashed 4-times in the warm-up for his heat, he said ‘when I came in for fuel I told myself don’t crash and see where I end up’.  With no set-up changes planned for Q2, he will ‘clean it and watch what the track is doing’, drivers in the Top 3 heats having almost 5-hours between their first and second runs due to a change in the running order for Q2.  Bloomfield said because it was a brand new car just a few days ago he’ll use that time to check over everything.

‘It was a safe run. Sixth is not so bad’, was Berton’s view of Q1.  The Kyosho driver continued, ‘the car was better than yesterday.  We changed back to the CP1 set-up because it worked better’.   For Round 2 of qualifying the teenager will run anti-squat saying ‘the other Kyosho drivers are using it and like it so it should make my car better on the bumps.  Behind Berton, Mugen’s Robert Batlle posted the 7th fastest time ahead of Xray’s Martin Bayer and TLR’s Renaud Savoya with Yannick Aigion completing the Top 10 with his Xray.

View the complete event results here.

View our event image gallery here.