Tessmann is Top Qualifier down under

Ty Tessmann is the Top Qualifier at this year’s 1:8 Offroad World Championships in Perth, Australia.  The former champion took qualifying’s top prize with the second fastest time in the final round of qualifying behind Davide Ongaro to deny defending Champion David Ronnefalk by a single point.  While Ongaro took Q6 by a considerable margin of almost 8-seconds, as the only one who could knock Tessmann off the top of the qualification ranking, Ronnefalk didn’t have the best of runs and needing only a Top 4 for the round to take the overall TQ ended up with a P5 leaving with 8 points compared to Tessmann’s 7.  With four of the six rounds of qualifying to count Ongaro’s second TQ run allowed him to drop a 16th from Q3 to end up 3rd overall.  Concluding qualifying with a P4 behind Spencer Rivkin, Ryan Maifield would move up to fourth in the final ranking ahead of Mugen team’s Robert Batlle with onroad star Naoto Matsukura completing the Top 6.

It’s getting a harder track out there, the step down in particular where a lot of guys were having trouble.”

Ty Tessmann

Taking what is his second Worlds TQ, going onto win the World title on that occasion in Italy, Tessmann took it in his stride saying, ‘we made a few changes and they were not good.  We tried to make the car more comfortable but did the opposite.  I drove around as best I could and I made no mistake, I’m pretty happy about that’.  The Xray driver added, ‘we know what to do to make the car fast again’.  Asked about track conditions now that qualifying is complete, the Canadian replied, ‘it’s getting a harder track out there, the step down in particular where a lot of guys were having trouble’.  Looking his Semi final he said, ‘we will watch and see how it evolves now that there is going to be longer runs between watering’.  Tomorrow is a day off from racing for the top drivers with the lower finals up to and including the 1/16 finals making up the schedule.

The TQ is nice but it’s not everything.  He can take this one and I’ll take the one on Saturday.”

David Ronnefalk

Summing up qualifying Ronnefalk said, ‘It went pretty good.  Everything that matters is your starting position in the Semi and I’m starting first in the B Semi’.  On his Q6 performance the HB Racing driver said, ‘I needed to get two good runs to make the Semi.  I had two mistakes at the critical step down and then hit traffic at the end which cost me the TQ.  I was 4/10th behind Maifield and that position would have got me the TQ. I passed Maifield but then hit the traffic’.  The Swede added, ‘the TQ is nice but it’s not everything.  He can take this one and I’ll take the one on Saturday’.  Asked his plan for the finals he answered, ‘the car is easy to drive so we will wait and see what happens with the track tomorrow after they run the lower mains’.

Preferring to do his talking on the track, Ongaro reacted to his TQ run by saying, ‘I’m happy’.  The Italian teenager added, ‘the track had a lot of traction now but the car was ok for this’.  Looking to the Semi final, his Associated set to line up 2nd on the grid behind Tessmann, he said, ‘I will try a harder compound (tyre) for Saturday but I just want to drive a clean 30-minutes to pass to the final, then we will see’.

We are still trying to get the car to work. We’ve been here 11 days and ran on 15 different tracks.”

Ryan Maifield

On his fourth in Q6, Maifield said, ‘It was alright. I was just trying to drive conservative. We had issues in the other round but got that sorted’.  The Mugen driver added, ‘we are still trying to get the car to work. We’ve been here 11 days and ran on 15 different tracks’.  One positive the Electric Offroad World Champion took from the final qualifier was, ‘David (Ronnefalk) caught me which allowed me to see where my car is lacking. It was good to see what we are missing’.  On Saturday’s Semi final he said, ‘We’ll just prepare it the best we can for Saturday and see what happens the track which will probably be something we’ve not seen before, but it’s all good’.

Batlle said his final qualifier ‘was so so’ but the Mugen driver pointed out he using the run to judge tyres for the Finals.  The Hot Race sponsored driver was using a set of their Alaska tyres which already had 40-minutes of running on them.  As a result of the mileage he said he lost about 2 to 3/10ths of a second per lap but running them was very beneficial for planning for the finals.  On his car he felt it was ‘better than before’ but added ‘we still have to work a little more to find more forward traction’.  On qualifying 5th overall, he said, ‘It s  good result. I am not a qualifying guy.  We are in the Semi which was the goal.  We need a little more speed for the finals but we have one day to think about this.  We will do our best’.

Coming into the event directly from almost 2-weeks of racing at and winning the 1:10 Niro Onroad World Championships in Miami, Matsukura was happy to qualify 6th overall to secure himself 3rd on the grid in the Semis.  The Infinity team driver, who has chosen to run a Mugen as the onroad World Champion manufacturer does not yet have an offroad offering, said Q6 was, ‘not too bad but I had a mistake’.  Using the run to test a harder tyre with a view to the finals he also made a rear shock change to the car but plans to go back to a heavier oil for the Semi practice predicting Saturday’s race temperatures will be higher.  He concluded, ‘All is good and in my Semi I will drive just to get to the final’.

Concluding the second half of qualifying with a much improved run of Top 4 finishes, Rivkin said, ‘I didn’t change the car the last three rounds and I don’t want to touch it because I got good consistent results but I think to get a taste of more speed we need to make changes’.  The former Electric Offroad World Champion continued, ‘It is not the fastest but it is consistent and it drives around better than others. We will examine a few things we can change on the car ad made an educated decision on what’s best and go from there’.

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Chassis Focus – Robert Batlle

Chassis – Mugen MBX8
Engine – Ninja B04
Fuel – Corally
Tires – Hotrace Alaska
Radio/Servo – KO Propo/Highest D1000
Body – Mugen

Remarks – Robert is running a ‘standard’ MBX8 here in Perth with the only alteration Mugen have for the car being a prototype rear wing mount.  Positioning the wing more forward in the car and also higher, the 2012 World Champion said it is designed to make the car ‘rotate a little more’.  Robert is unsure if the mount is something Mugen plan to release, saying it was created specifically for the Worlds track.

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Ronnefalk opens final day of qualifying with second TQ run

After a tough day yesterday, David Ronnefalk has opened the final day of qualifying at the 1:8 Offroad World Championships with a TQ run.  Having kicked off the event with a TQ in Q1, the HB Racing driver topped the times for a second time in the penultimate round ahead of last night’s Q4 winner Davide Ongaro.  Building on his big improvement in the fourth round, Spencer Rivkin completed the Top 3 being just 0.034 behind Associated team-mate Ongaro.  Robert Batlle would be the best of the Mugen runners setting the fourth fastest time ahead of top Xray for the round CJ Jelin while Jared Tebo once again completed the Top 6.  Having held the overnight TQ, it was a rough round for Ty Tessmann who made a number of mistakes that resulted in being 7th fastest – his first time being outside the Top 6.

‘It feels like back to where we should have been yesterday’, was Ronnefalk’s reaction to his TQ run.  Having broke in Q3 and then had an engine issue in Q4, he added, ‘we had some back luck yesterday but got a good night sleep and rest for today’.  The defending World Champion continued, ‘I just had a roll on the step down on the right side where I broke yesterday but I was able to save it. Other than that it was clean’.  On his car he said, ‘I think we could have went on the different tyre.  I ran (JConcepts) R2 Reflex and probably should have ran R2 Detox but I can’t complain because it was a TQ run’.  With a P70 from Q4 as one of his counting scores, 4 of 6 round to count, the Swede concluded, ’Now I got to go out there in the next one and make sure I put it in the Semi’.

Commenting on his run Ongaro said, ‘It was good. I just had one mistake, I flipped, which cost me 3-4 seconds’.  Running an unchanged package from when he put in a TQ run in the second of yesterday’s runs, the only difference the Italian reported was, ‘there is one new bump at the step up step down’.  Asked about the final qualifier, he replied, ‘I drive again at the same time like yesterday. In the evening after they water the track so we will leave the car as is because it worked good last night’.

‘A lot better run for sure. We picked the right tyre and right compound’ was how Rivkin summed his best qualifying run so far.  Running JConcepts Stocker in O2 compound, the American went on to say, ‘there is still a lot more improvement to be got from my driving. I had a bobble that cost me maybe 2-seconds but I am excited to drive the car now and not have to change it.  The next one I can just go and drive and pick the tyre accordingly’.

Batlle, who was second fastest behind in Ongaro in Heat 1, described his performance as ‘not bad’ but added, ‘I think we again had a slower track. Ours was so dusty’.  Having had issues with how his car was squatting yesterday, the former World Champion said, ‘I think the car was a little better today. I had to push less to go fast but we still having the squat issue. It’s cost me about half a second (a lap) and if we can find that we can fight for the win’.  Comparing the rear of his car with that of team-mate Ryan Maifield, afterwards he said, ‘Ryan and me run quite a different set-up and he is not having the same issue so I will try to get a set-up somewhere in the middle of the two’.

Having impressed with his opening qualifying run in which he was 4th fastest, Jelin was pleased to be able to back that up with a P5 in Q4 after issues in Q2 and Q4.  Suffering an engine flame-out last night, the 14-year-old changed engine, pipe and fuel tank for Q5 and was pleased with his performance.  He said, ‘the run itself was really good. I picked up the pace half way through and kept it to the end. The car was really consistent and easy to drive. It was a good run’.  Looking to the final qualifier, drivers having almost a 7-hour wait between runs, he said, ‘I think we will leave it the same, tyres, everything’.

A rather upbeat Tebo said, ‘that was really good’.  He added, ‘We made no changes again.  My package felt awesome but I just crashed again.  I think I was leading but at the table top on the left I hit the jump weird and crashed. I got into my rhythm again but at the double I jumped too far to the right and came up short for the triple’.  The multiple Electric Offroad Champion, for who the nitro title has eluded him, said, ‘I was really on pace and had a Top 2/TQ run. I just need to get a clean run finally’.

Asked about his run Tessmann explained, ‘we tried a different tyre and it was super good for the first 4-minutes but then I had a couple of mistakes.  I had to be marshalled 3-times. They were all mistakes on my own. If it had of been a clean run it would have been ok’.  The former Champion concluded, ‘it sucks as it was the best track we’ve had and we threw it away’.

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