Canas on pole, Ongaro on for 3 in a row
The grid is set for the 2024 IFMAR 1:8 Offroad World Championship with Sworkz’ Juan Carlos Canas on pole position for the 1-hour showdown in Spain as World Champion Davide Ongaro starts right behind him attempting three in a row. Top Qualifier at these Worlds after topping four of the sixth qualifiers, the back to back European Champion showed he hasn’t lost any of his blistering pace as he dominated the half hour encounter. Pulling away early despite one or two mistakes, Canas would finish the half hour encounter 24-seconds clear of his nearest rival. That driver was Joao Figueiredo, the Portuguese Tekno driver putting in a super steady race and holding off the rising talent of Team Associated driver Marcus Kaerup. Unfortunately for Dakotah Phend what was looking like an easy progression to the Main Final came to nothing. Running longer stops than his rivals, the TLR driver ran out of fuel as he approached the end of his in lap for his second stop but missing the loop, this dropped him to the back. Luckily Phend would later get through by winning the 15-minute LCQ race after passing long time leader Joona Haatanen on the last lap having crashed on lap 1 to book the 13th starting spot on the grid. The second Semi would see defending back to back World Champion Davide Ongaro get the win but the Italian didn’t have it all his own way with David Ronnefalk taking the lead on the opening lap. The Swede however would hand it back a few laps later at the whoop section. Behind Ongaro, Mugen Seiki’s Berkan Kilic took second, he and his older brother Burak once again making the final as they did here in 2022. Sworkz Elliott Boots finished third ahead of 2016 World Champion Ronnefalk whose Xray makes it four different manufacturers in the first five grid spots.
Reacting to his pretty much text book Semi final that feature just one or two early mistakes, Canas said, ‘It felt good’. Asked how his car dealt with today’s conditions, it much cooler than qualifying, the widely tipped pre-race favourite said, ‘the first part was my mistake more than the car mistake but maybe for the final the wear will be more ’cause of the temperature. The tyre wear is super high for everyone, you see they all finished on slicks but I don’t think we will need a pit stop’. On run time he confirmed it was ‘OK’ adding they checked it in the Semi by going ‘one lap more than before’.
Asked about his Semi final performance Ongaro replied, ‘it was good but we are thinking about going to clay compound for the final. The normal compound is working great but I feel like when the thread disappears it is a bit too difficult to drive.’ He continued, ‘They told me that I was in front of Canas on the 30-minute prediction but I had two crashes that cost me some time. We are confident for the main, at least the car is working great now, we are close for sure as you know. I think the game will be on consistency because 1-hour here is long, fuel strategy and tyres is also key ’cause the tyre game is really difficult now.’
Set to start third on the grid, 18-year-old Berkan Kilic said his run came from ‘no mistakes’ adding, ‘I was just driving pretty clean and the others did 2-3 mistakes too much and I gained from that.’ Asked how he felt his car would be for the final, he replied, ‘the car is pretty good just the tyres are pretty gone but everyone has the same issue. The tyres look slick but we can do the distance no problem on one set, also my run time is pretty good 7:30 is no problem, maybe longer we will see’.
Making his first final since 2016, 2012 Top Qualifier Boots said, ‘We had a good start and didn’t want to do anything stupid or drastic and just get in the show. We were hanging in there at the start with Davide but when they tyres bedded in they became kind of grippy so I had to back it down to stop it flipping. We’ll make some adjustments for the main’. On starting 4th in the main, the British driver’s plan is to, ‘tip away at it’.
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