Open practice complete, Tessmann claims early bragging rights

An extended World Championship open practice, due to the fact there was no Warm-up Race, is finally complete with Ty Tessmann the fastest man in Sicily at the end of four hot days of practice.  Topping the final round of practice, it was the US National Champion’s time from the 2nd of the day’s three 10-minute runs that gives him the early bragging rights over European Champion David Ronnefalk and the defending World Champion Robert Batlle.  The highest placed improvement for the final practice came from Ryan Maifield, the US driver ending up fourth ahead of former team-mate Yannick Aigoin.

Running a 1:51.058 compared with his previous 1:50.743, Tessmann said he ‘maybe drove a little too hard’ in the final open practice but having reverted back to the stiffer chassis plate on his D812 he said changes to the buggy felt better.  Running Pro-Line’s Fugitive tyre, the 21-year-old said they felt good but for the first of tomorrow’s two controlled practice, the times from which will determine the seeding for qualifying, he will go to a harder compound of the tyre.  Overall the Canadian, who also posted the fastest lap of the day being one of only three drivers to break into the 36-seconds around the Naxos World track, declared himself happy with his pace heading into Day 5 of the event when things move up a notch and the event officially gets underway.

One of the drivers to run a 36-second lap, Ronnefalk said for the final practice he decided to try a completely different set-up which threw up a few surprises.  Making his Kyosho a lot better on some parts of the track, in particular the sweeper, he said it also made it more lazy through the chicane.  With the improvement in areas significant, the Swede said they now plan to start controlled practice with a mixture of both set-ups.

Batlle said he suffered a lot with traffic in his final practice but added he ‘feel(s) good’ with practice going a lot better than it traditionally works out. Describing the set-up he has reached on his Novarossi powered Mugen as ‘quite good’ he was also upbeat about his tyre options saying he had the opportunity to test all the various scenarios in terms of his Procircuit’s tyre wear. Asked if he planned any changes for controlled practice, the Spaniard said with the car going so well he would mostly leave it and just use the run to focus on going for a complete 10-minute run time.

Ending practice with his best three laps of the track Maifield described his final run as ‘a little better’.  The new Team Losi Racing signing said he know whats what he needs to do to go fast but could do with a little more help from the car.  Rated as one of world’s best offroad racers but having a World title so far elude him, the US ace said ‘its hard to set-up a car for asphalt and also get it to jump jumps’.

Former European Champion Aigoin said his all new prototype Team Associated RC8 was good the first time he put it on the track but since then he has used every run to try something new so as to build up knowledge of the new car.  Returning to the base set-up they came to for the car in pre-event testing for the final practice he said it was instantly competitive again.  For tomorrow the Frenchman said it was going to be just a case of making very fine adjustments.  Having run Pro-Line’s Surburb tyre he said he will run something else for the controlled practices as he needs to save his sets of Suburbs for qualifying.

Yannick’s twin brother Jerome also found a big improvement in the final practice to complete the overall Top 6 for the day.  The Kyosho driver and reigning 3-time French National Champion said going up in the diff oils for the last run gave him a much quicker car.  Still feeling he needs to find a little more from his Novarossi powered MP9 he said he is not yet sure what to change to find it.

Mugen’s Lee Martin would end up 7th, the British driver improving his time in the final practice.  Going up in the front diff oil, the British ace said the change made his MBX7R less twitchy allowing him to drive a little harder.  Saying he is ‘somewhere close now’ in terms of being in the mix for tomorrow he will just freshen up his car including fitting a new chassis plate and plastics with the first controlled practice set to be a system check of all the new parts.

Top Qualifier in Argentina, Kyosho’s Elliott Boots finally appeared towards the top of the time sheets as he set the 6th fastest time of the final round to end the day the day 8th overall.  Behind Boots was fellow country and newly crowned British National champion Darren Bloomfield, the Agama driver’s opening run of the day proving his best.  Flying the home nations flag, 13-year-old emerging Italian talent Davide Ongaro completed the Top 10.

Setting the fastest lap of the final practice round and the third driver to run a 36 second-lap, Dakotah Phend ended day 11th.  The TLR driver said a change to heavier diffs made his Orion powered 8ight a lot more stable with him able to drive harder and still be comfortable with the car.  The 17-year-old plans to make a shock change for the morning declaring himself confident for tomorrow.

View our event image gallery here.

Tessmann back on top in Sicily

Ty Tessmann jumped back to the top of the practice time sheets at the 1:8 Offroad World Championships in Sicily, the HB driver almost equalling his outright fastest time set yesterday.  After making a wrong tyre choice for the day’s opening run, the Canadian improved on his morning pace by over 2 & half seconds with David Ronnefalk closest over 3-consecutive laps from the 10-minute run.  Fastest first time round and bettering that time, defending World Champion Robert Batlle completed the Top 3 with a pace that was just 0 .005 off that of Ronnefalk.

‘Really good’ was how Tessmann described his latest run which was 0.163 shy of the best time recorded over the four days of practice at the Naxos World track.  Freshening up his OS Speed powered D812 and using the opportunity to fit a more flexible chassis he said the main focus of the run was tyre testing. Changing from Pro-Line’s Suburb to Lockdown tyre, the Suburb being a harder compound, he said both felt really good but most likely he will stick with the Suburb as his tyre of choice for qualifying.  Asked about the chassis change he said the extra flex made the car feel a little soft and he will revert to the stiffer version for the final round of open practice this evening adding it makes the car better out of the corners and give better overall stability.

Changing back to the first of the two cars he has been using, the car which he used to win at the Italian Job Race at the IBR Padova track last week as part of his preparation for the Worlds, Ronnefalk said it was ‘a lot better’.  Describing the car as ‘more safe, more consistent’ the 18-year-old was able to run his fastest round of practice.  Still running on AKA’s Catapult tyre, which he said he is set on for qualifying, he said he is very happy with how everything is working.  Asked about his plans for the final practice the back to back European Champion said while there is no need to change anything on the car they will still use the track time to ‘try something’ different.

Batlle used the practice to continue to evaluate his Mugen on worn tyres.  Using a set of Procircuit Hot Dices which he said had already done 30-minutes of running he was pleased with how his Novarossi powered MBX7R ran and the lap times it was able to produce.  Happy to be Top 3 in practice, he said overall he could do with finding a few tenths as he is having to push the car a little harder than he would like to to run the times.  Overall he said the biggest change they will make for the day’s closing run would be to run a different engine so as to have a spare ready to go should it be needed later in the event which officially gets underway tomorrow with two rounds of controlled practice.

Fourth fastest, Ryan Maifield was pleased with the improving performance of his Novarossi powered TLR. Having improved in the morning and again in the second practice, the American ace said he was making steady progress now. Describing his JConcepts equipped 8ight as feeling consistent he added that he has ‘a good vibe with the track’.  Planning some small changes, he said there are a couple of things that he would like to get the car to do better but overall he was happy.

One of Italy’s big future hopes, 13-year-old Davide Ongaro enjoyed a strong showing setting the 5th fastest time.  Racing since the age of 5 and running an identical package to World Champion Batlle, he said a switch to heavier shock oil and a harder insert in his Procircuit Hot Dices tyres improved his Novarossi MBX7 a lot.  Less edgy and with improved corner speed the 2013 European B Championships Top Qualifier plans no further changes to his set-up but will use his final practice to test Procircuit’s new and as yet unnamed thread pattern.

Completing the Top 6 was Dakotah Phend.  The 17-year-old Team Losi Racing star said his Orion powered 8ight was better than this morning but added it still ‘felt a little tippy’.  Planning to ‘work on that for the next one’ he said most likely they will make a shock oil adjustment to make it a little less edgy.  For his senior team-mate Adam Drake, who was fourth fastest in the morning, changes to his 8ight gave it more speed but the driver ‘drove like shit’.  Getting caught up in a pack of cars early on Drake said he didn’t drive well adding he was more comfortable in the first practice.  He will make a few little changes for the third run but said the main improvement needs to come from the driver.

Making a bad insert/tyre combo in the morning run, Xray’s Martin Bayer had a better second outing posting the 7th fastest time.  The Czech driver who has stuck with AKA’s Catapult tyre but played around with its preparation said he still thinks he hasn’t got the combo perfect as he looks for a bit more traction adding that some improvement can also come from his LRP powered XB8’s set-up.

Lee Martin would set the 8th fastest time.  The Mugen driver made a series of changes the biggest of which was in the engine department.  Changing the venturi on his Beat engine as well as changing his gearing, his mechanic Jon Dell said the car had much better ‘punch’ which helped a lot with the lap times.  Also going up in the rear diff from 8 to 15K oil it gave the car more turn in but for the next run they will go up in the front diff to take some of that away again.  Overall Dell said their focus is on consistency rather than outright lap times.

Having set Top 3 times in morning Darren Bloomfield and Ryan Lutz had issues in the second round.  For Agama’s Bloomfield the run lasted only 5-laps as he broke the plastic end off a front shock.  Trying to get the chicane faster he said he got carried away resulting in a broken car.  The renewly crowned British National Champion said a change from Beta’s Cube to Freeride tyre improved the car with it more tamed and he will stick with them for the next one.  Unfortunately for Team Durango’s Lutz a bad set-up change and ongoing brake issues meant he couldn’t build on his earlier performance.

View our event image gallery here.

Video – Sunday Controlled Practice Rd1

Batlle tops opening run of final practice day

Reigning World Champion Robert Batlle topped the opening practice on the concluding day of the extended practice at the 1:8 Offroad World Championships in Sicily.  With overnight repairs making for a slightly dustier track for the first of the days 3 scheduled 10-minute runs, the Mugen driver topped the time sheets with a time of 1:52.525 compared with Ty Tessmann’s 1:50.580 outright fastest time which was set in yesterday’s closing practice.  Running in reseeded heats today based on each drivers fastest times from the opening three days of practice, behind Batlle it was Darren Bloomfield who was second fastest just 0.163 off over 3-laps with Ryan Lutz completing the Top 3 for the run.

Batlle used the run to test tyres running both a new and a used, almost slick, set of Procircuit’s Hot Dices.  Overall the Mugen driver said there was little difference between the two indicating the issue of wear on the high abrasion track does not pose much of a problem.  The Spaniard also used the track time to work on his driving trying ‘more aggressive laps’. Cautious not to get lost with set-up he said for the next practice he will try just some minor adjustments to his Novarossi powered MBX7R.

Making one of the most significant improvements on his previous time, improving by 1.5 seconds, Bloomfield said he was a little surprised by how competitive his time was saying he ‘thought it was (the run) worse than it turned out’.  Moving out the front shock position on his Bullitt powered Agama, the former European Champion said he has been pretty happy with the car from the start of the event and they have just been making small changes each run but continuing in the same direction with the set-up.  Openly declaring himself not a big fan of the 3-consecutive lap timing saying he doesn’t go into the run focused a stringing 3-laps together he said with 3 Top 10 runs based on overall times to his credit he is very happy with where he is at.  Suffering a broken bodyshell after a bad landing he said in addition to fitting a new shell for the next run he will also look at possible changes to try a make the rear end a little more stable.

‘Getting there’ was Ryan Lutz’s response to his opening run of the day.  The Team Durango driver said he has been having lots of little issues which he hopes are now sorted.  Fitting new brakes for yesterday’s final run he said they melted into the diff.  With a fresh brake set-up installed for this morning he said on the starter box they looked a little loose so he dialled that out on the radio but about 5-laps into the practice they kept locking up but on inspection afterwards he is hopeful they are now bedded in and are good for a problem free run.  In terms of the buggy set-up he said the few laps it was running without issues it felt pretty good.

Setting the fourth fastest time Adam Drake described his start to the day as ‘better than yesterday’.  In the first of the two practice runs the TLR driver didn’t even complete a full timed lap after he got hooked up on a pipe with the stays holding it in place breaking a front hinge pin on his Novarossi powered 8ight.  Making no changes for the second run he said the conditions were too hot for the set-up he was running.  Saying it was nice today to be running with guys of a similar speed after the heat reseeding, he said small changes had made the car easy to drive and with the solid run his confidence was growing which he feels will help him to improve on his speed in the next run.  In terms of set-up he will try going up in the front diff oil as well as running less toe.

A change of tyre left Tessmann only 5th for the round.  Running in the opening heat, the Canadian switched to Pro-Line’s Ion tyres but said due to the dust created by the overnight track repairs they did not work very well.  Apart from choosing a different tyre for the next practice, the US National Champion said they will mainly just freshen up the D812 shocks and diffs for the next run.

Completing the Top 6 was Jared Tebo.  The Kyosho driver described the run, his fastest of the event so far, as ‘better’ adding they ‘just got to keep the progress going’. Making just small changes to his Orion powered MP9 for his next run he will fit a different engine.  In terms of his pace he said the biggest improvement was going to come from his driving as he gets more and more comfortable with the high bite conditions.

Running Associated’s all new prototype RC8, a car which team manager Brent Thielke says is still very much in the early stages of development and most likely to see a lot of changes before going into production, Ryan Cavalieri posted the 7th fastest time.  The multiple 1:10 Offroad World Champion described his latest run a ‘really good’.  Describing his new car as ‘more predictable and easier to drive’ he said he didn’t change the car from yesterday instead finding time by attacking the track more.  Running medium compound AKA Catapult tyres he said he really happy with the tyre which other than one run on Enduros he has stuck with throughout the practice.  Planning to freshen up the car for the second of the day’s three practices he will also stiffen up the oils for the hotter conditions, today already feeling a lot warmer than previous days.

Behind Cavalieri was former long time team-mate Ryan Maifield.  Maifield said he ‘went a little crazy’ with the set-up on his TLR for yesterday’s final practice which didn’t work out.  Going back to his base set-up for this morning but going up in oils he sad they are now headed back in the right direction. Running JConcepts Diamond Bars tyre he said these are what he plans to use on the longer runs and so if he can get the car good on this now it should set him up well for later in the event.  Team Losi Racing team-mate Dakotah Phend, who should have been classified in the Top 6 yesterday but was instead 15th after the official timing didn’t count his final run time, no reason for the error being given, tried a different shock set-up today which he said didn’t work out.

Elsewhere European Champion Davd Ronnefalk looks set to revert to his original car which he used to top Day 2 of practice.  Having run his second car yesterday and this morning the Kyosho star said he doesn’t feel confident with that car and will now switch back.

View our event image gallery here.