Chassis Focus – Joseph Quagraine (Mayako)

Chassis – Mayako MX8-25 ‘Limited Edition’
Engine – O.S.
Fuel – Nitrolux
Tires – TZO 402
Radio/Servos – Sanwa M17 / Savox SB3292SG
Body – Mayako 2.0

Notes – JQ is running the upcoming 2025 edition of Mayako’s buggy, the kit set for release in January.   He is specifically running the Limited Edition kit which is shipped with all their option parts included.  While sponsored by Ultimate Racing for his engines, he is having to run a borrowed O.S. here at the SIGP.  Explaining in his own words why, ‘I grabbed the wrong engine box by mistake, and brought an old practice engine, so I borrowed an O.S.  See I told you I’m old and don’t race anymore.’

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Polito back on the top again in Q3

Mattia Polito was back at top of the time sheets at the SIGP, the Sworkz driver setting the pace in the 3rd & penultimate round of qualifying in Xiamen ahead of fellow countryman Davide Ongaro.  After TQ’ing the opening round, a bad set-up would lead to two crashes in the second round leaving the Italian with a P3 as David Ronnefalk TQ’d from Ongaro.  A crash on the first lap was the start of a rough Q3 for Ronnefalk, his Xray eventually ending up 5th fastest.  Out front, Polito just missed out on doubling up on being the only driver to run 13-laps of the challenging track, his only blotch in Q3 an off track excursion that cost him less than 2-seconds.  In the end he would have 2.7-seconds on Ongaro with Bruno Coelho enjoying his cleanest run yet to record his first Top 3 time.  Making his SIGP debut along with Ongaro and Polito, 18-year-old Gabriel Astorino had a strong run to the fourth fastest time 9-seconds off the TQ pace.

‘It was good and clean expect for one mistake’, was Polito’s reaction to Q3, him lucky that he didn’t need to be marshalled as he was able to drive his own way back onto the track.  With his car back working after they raise the rear end back up again, the 21-year-old added, ‘I want to try different shocks.  Before I used 6-holes but for the last round I will try 8-holes.  The rest I leave the same.’

Summing up his performance Ongaro said, ‘It was close with Mattia but then I had a stupid crash after the straight, so I lost about 3, 4 seconds, I was there with him anyway it was better definitely.’  Making diff oil changes after Q2 ask how these were, the World Champion said, ‘It was better for me.  The car is more consistent and for the bumps I think it is better.’  Looking Q4, the 23-year-old, ‘on the car I will make no change but we will try something different on the tyres.’

Looking a bit more upbeat that he was after Q2, Coelho said, ‘It was better than the one before.  I think I recovered like 15-seconds so its a big improvement, it is also easy to make 15-seconds less.  Still I did one big bobble which cost me the TQ, because I was super fast.  The progress is happening so lets try to keep that moving.’  On his car and any set-up changes he planned for the fourth & final qualifier, the former 1:10 Offroad World Champion said, ‘now we are just working on small changes.’

‘I’m happy because I had a good feeling with the car now’ was how Astorino summed his run to the fourth fastest time.  The Italian WIRC said a shock change after Q2 had left him with a buggy that ‘was much better on the jumps and the slow corners.’  For the final qualifier, he is considering a further shock change as well as his diffs as he feels he is going in a good direction with the changes made earlier.   Suffering one mistake in the run when he took a jump wrong, he said it didn’t cost him much time or result in him needing to be marshalled.

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Chassis Focus – Mattia Polito (Sworkz)

Chassis – Sworkz S35-4 EVO
Engine – O.S. Speed B04
Fuel – Energy
Tires – Matrix Nubela
Radio/Servo – Futaba T10PX / KO Propo RSx4S Power HC
Body – Xtreme Aria

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Polito takes Q1 ahead of Ronnefalk & Ongaro at SIGP

Having topped seeding on his SIGP debut, Sworkz’s Mattia Polito capped off an impressive Day 1 of official action in Xiamen, China, by topping the opening round of qualifying.  The Italian who executed a clean run to record the only 13-lap run took the first of the four scheduled qualifiers ahead of Xray ‘s David Ronnefalk and Team Associated’s Davide Ongaro, both drivers having mistakes that would prove costly due to the race’s supplied marshals.  While Polito put together a very impressive first qualifier, setting the fastest lap in the process, it would be contrasting performance from Xray’s Bruno Coelho who had many mistakes eventually claiming the fourth fastest time.  Behind, Mayako’s Joseph Quagraine put together a run that allowed him to the fifth fastest time but the Finn believes he as driver has more to give tomorrow.

‘The track for the first qualifying was really difficult but we don’t make mistakes, just little errors but it was fast.  Difficult but fast’, that was how Polito reacted to his TQ round.  Leaving his buggy unchanged from seeding, he summed up the first meaningful day of the SIGP as ‘good’. Having also topped eBuggy seeding, he said his P3 in the categories opening qualifier was down to a mistake, and also him not being super happy with his tyre choice for the electric buggy.  With three more qualifier on the schedule for tomorrow (Saturday), he said, ‘I think the plan is to start the same as we finished today and maybe in electric we might change the tyres, we will see in the morning.’

Ask how his Q1 went, Ronnefalk replied, ‘It was going really well, I had a couple of those small little mistakes nothing major in the start and I saw Bruno gapped me a couple of corners but I was just trying to stay on the wheels which is most important obviously.  I saw Bruno had two mistakes so then I knew from dad telling me on the headset that I was close to Polito.  I was within 1-second at one point I think and then I had a couple of cars I went through but the very next corner after passing them I just came in a little too hot a flipped over.’  Not normally a huge loose of time he explained, ‘I flipped over right in front of the marshal’s feet but I still lost 10-seconds cause the marshal was waiting for all the cars to come by before he grabbed mine.  This is always the thing when you have marshals that haven’t really marshalled cars in their life.  I think the two mistakes Bruno did he lost 23-seconds.  That why it is so important to stay on the wheel.  Even with a 10-second mistake I saw Ongaro had the same on the last lap so I ended up second.  I’ll take it.’  The 2016 World Champion concluded, ‘both my cars felt really good, I changed my nitro so it is almost like my electric, only small differences but mainly the same, it is just a matter of staying cool, calm and collected up there.’

A driver we have come to expect will be the hence mark at most international races, Ongaro was a little more upbeat at the end of the day following Q1.  The Italian described the opening qualifier as ‘better than the last round of seeding’ but added, ‘I had a crash on the last lap and lost 11-seconds. It was my fault so it wasn’t the marshals fault but I lost a lot of time there.’   Looking to Day 2’s qualifying action he said, ‘for tomorrow we have a better car, we are improving step by step.  Compared to yesterday today is a lot more comfortable for sure.  The Top 5 are super close so I think the key on this track is don’t flip and have a car that is easy to drive.  So lets see for tomorrow.’

‘Very poor driving from myself today’ was Coelho response after qualifying.  Winner of the SIGP Onroad race earlier this year, he continued, ‘both cars were working pretty good, I was pretty fast but in both categories I struggled to keep the concentration I believe and I made some rookie mistakes for sure.’  With 3/4 of qualifying rounds still to run, he stated, ‘We are confident in the cars for tomorrow and for me today was just an off day.   Tomorrow there is three more qualifiers to go in each category which I hope everything will go well for.’

Having attended the last SIGP hosted in 2019, the track now running in the opposite direction on the very same layout to the 2019 edition, JQ described his opening nitro qualifier as ‘good’ despite one mistake.  He continued, ‘My car was very easy to drive and I see a lot of people struggling, so I am quite happy with the that.  I honestly feel that I need to work on my driving.  I am a bit too careful everywhere so driving wise I need to improve a lot.’  Asked if he felt he was driving too cautious due to the tricky track conditions, the Finn replied, ‘No, it’s because I am old and haven’t driven.’  On his buggy set-up he said, ‘car wise I don’t feel like I need to change but I will change because I am changing every run to learn and just test things.  I’ll keep changing things and drive better but I’m happy, everything is good.’  He concluded, ‘basically I am confident enough for a lexan wing now.’

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