Chassis – Team Associated RC8 B4.1
Engine – O.S. Speed B2105
Fuel – Rapicon
Tires – JConcepts Dirtweb 2.0
Radio – Sanwa M17
Servos – Sanwa PGS-XB II
Body – JConepts S15
Notes – Adrian is running ONG brand Shock Caps, Wing Button, and Power Switch.
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Day 2 of qualifying at the SIGP in China has opened with Infinity’s Kouki Kato laying down another TQ run, the Japanese driver carrying the form that saw him top seeding and Q1 yesterday into another very hot day in Xiamen. Managing to better his Q1 time by 3.5 seconds, Kato would lead an Infinity 1-2 as Bruno Coelho set the second fastest time 2.5-seconds adrift of his team-mate. Having opened qualifying with a P2 yesterday evening, David Ronnefalk looked to be close to challenging Kato this morning but on his fuel stop in lap his edgy looking Xray crashed and needing to be marshalled he lost over 7-seconds to drop back to record the third fastest time. After his P4 in Q1, round 2 would end up being a throw away for Pekko Iivonen, the Mayako driver entering the pits with caution after yesterday’s timing issues but finding a new bump that caused him to crash which he then followed up with a far more spectacular crash exiting the pits. This allowed Indonesian Infinity driver Jason Nugroho to record the fourth fastest time ahead of Team Associated’s young Korean talent Jung Hyunkyu with Mr. Mayako Joseph Quagraine completing the Top 6.
Summing up his second TQ run, Kato said, ‘My car was very easy to drive for the 8-minutes and we had a good pit stop with my dad and Ricardo (Monteiro). They did a super job. I just had one little mistake but the run was still OK.’ Looking to Q3, when he could potential lock up the overall TQ, 3 of 5 to count, the 19-year-old said, ‘I think I will leave the car the same.’ Asked about his eBuggy, he replied, ‘It is a little bit loose on the rear so maybe I will change the diff oil for the next one.’ Regarding tyre choice plans to still stick with the Sahara from Hotrace for now.
Reacting to his P2, Coelho said, ‘It was again tough, we still haven’t found out what is making the rear to be loose during the run.’ Last year’s SIGP podium finisher continued, ‘The electric is pretty stable and the set-up is the same so we need try find out what is wrong to make it a little bit easier for the mind. I need to be super careful driving, the rear is always catchy and basically the car is driving me and not me driving the car. I have no confidence and its is difficult to keep the pace for the 8-minutes.’ Asked about the comparison between his and Kato’s set-up he replied, ;we have very similar set-ups so I think there is something wrong on the car. The electric and the nitro have exactly the same set-up and for some reason the nitro just has some weird stuff so we need to find.’ Making it two TQ’s from 2 rounds in eBuggy qualifying asked about that he said, ‘All good. It was another clean run and the car is working pretty good so just keep it like that.’
Suffering a costly mistake in Q2, giving his thoughts on the run Ronnefalk said, ‘The grip seemed a little higher today so the car was a little more sensitive in the bumps for me and I had just one bad moment up there on the top right where I bounced and I wasn’t able to save it. So landed on the roof and it cost me quite some time.’ He added, ‘I was pretty close at the time with Kouki on the overall run so I would have been right there without that one. They didn’t do any mistakes and that’s what matters at the end so I need to improve a little bit the feeling of the package.’ Asked about changes to his buggy and running Hotrace’s Sahara tyre, he said, ‘I tried a softer tyre but it wasn’t working as good I thought cause the grip was higher and I didn’t expect that. That was what happened to me in eBuggy as well because it was very hard to drive and I traction rolled twice on the back straight and lost a load of time.’
A regular of the Philippine Masters and Asian Buggy Championships, qualifying third for his home race in 2024, this is Nugroho’s first race outside of his country in 2025 but the former National Champion has been keeping himself race sharp at home finishing runner-up in the 3 round National Championship. Asked about his P4 run this morning he said, ‘It went well. I tried to keep it safe. I made a few mistakes last night so I figured I had to play it safer. The car felt good but it might need it might need a little bit more off throttle cornering. Overall the shocks are good so maybe some geometry set-up and diff set-up change and all is good I suppose. Just play it safe and make no mistakes. It is very bumpy and hard to predict where the car will land after a bump.’ His first time to the 3 Circles track, asked if he is enjoying the bumps he replied with a diplomat answer calling it ‘a new experience for sure.’
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Chassis – Infinity IFB8
Engine – O.S. Speed B2105
Fuel – Maxima 25%
Tires – HotRace Sahara
Radio – Sanwa M17S
Servos – Sanwa PGS-XR II
Body – Infinity
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Infinity’s Kouki Kato has opened qualifying at the Sunpadow International Grand Prix with a TQ run, the top seed fastest over the 8-minute heat ahead of Xray’s David Ronnefalk and Infinity’s Bruno Coelho. While Kato TQ run was never in doubt there would be some issues with timing in the top heat as a result of the qualifiers being extended from the traditional 5-minutes to 8-minutes. With drivers forced to stop for fuel in the qualifier, a number of drivers would not have their laps counted as the came in to pit lane, Coelho, David Ronnefalk, and Jason Nugroho all effected by a problem with the loop under the paved pit lane entry. While there was some deliberations following the completion of qualifying with buggies being push back & forth over the loop on the main straight and in pit lane, it was finally decided to credit drivers with the missed laps meaning Ronnefalk got his second 3.162 seconds off Kato’s pace with Coelho joining them on 15-lap runs a further 1-second back. Showing P2 on the timing screen’s at the end of the run, Mayako’s Pekko Iivonen would end up 4th after the corrections with Adrian Wicaksono from Indonesia completing the Top 5.
Reacting to his TQ run Kato said, ‘I was able to make a good run. I ran a good pace and was consistent. I think it was a clean race and I had no issues with traffic.’ With the run bringing Friday’s action to a close, the reigning Japanese National Champion, that title defence coming up very soon, said he struggled a little with the fading light adding it was not easy to see in the distance. In terms of the track conditions, he felt Q1 traction was ‘a little low’. Heading into Day 2 of qualifying, 4 rounds on the schedule, Kato feels tyres are going to be his focus saying, ‘maybe we need to find a good tyre. Now I am using the (Hotrace) Sahara but sometimes the Bangkok is better so tomorrow I need to choose the right tyre for the time.’ Asked about eBuggy, him setting the second fastest time behind his team-mate Coelho, the 19-year-old said, ‘I made some mistakes, 3 mistakes for me. On the last lap I also lost 2-second. The car is ok so hopefully I will be better tomorrow.’
Pleased his corrected result, Ronnefalk said, ‘Nitro was good. I had a mistake in pit lane and also some traffic on the first laps and then of course the issue with the loop.’ With his pitman here in Xiamen, Adam Izsay, having given more details on his ‘mistake in pit lane’, highlighting the Swede crashed on the way in and then again on the way out, Ronnefalk laughed and replied, ‘You can mention that’. Overall the 2016 World Champion said, ‘the speed was very good but I had the mistake with a lapped car on the second lap and the shit in the pit lane, which I need to solve myself for tomorrow.’ On how the track is evolving he said, ‘I think it was better than the first day I was here cause it didn’t get as rough in the end of the day. They put a lot of glue, like they are doing again this evening, so I think it is holding up pretty well compared to what we expected.’ P3 in the first eBuggy qualifier, which was held just as the sun began to set, last year’s winner said, ‘Electric was interesting because Bruno and I were adjusting the sun blind because he needed it down but if it was down I couldn’t really see the track so we came to a compromise were I pushed his loose part up but then after three laps that part came back down and I couldn’t see the track. I had to stand tilted sideways which made it difficult for a few laps and I had a mistake because I was not focusing on what I should have been focusing on.’
Summing up his qualifier, at the end of which he said he was shocked to hear over his headset from his pit man that he was showing in last place, Coelho said, ‘In total I missed 5-laps. I only had a small bobble and the run was pretty good. The lap time was there, I had the fastest lap time of the qualifier.’ He continued, ‘The car was a bit difficult to drive but was very fast, it was a pity the laps were not counting. Luckily there was more people having a problem which means there was some problem with the loop which the organisation is trying to fix for tomorrow.’ Back on his Buggy he said, ‘We didn’t find a little more stability on the nitro but it was fast so I was happy.’ Asked how far apart his Nitro and eBuggy are in terms of set-up, his eBuggy taking the Round 1 TQ, he replied, ‘they are very close. Weight distribution is different but we need to find out why the nitro is more difficult to drive than the electric because the nitro has the pace but is not amazing the pace, I mean I am little bit faster but nothing almost, so there is no reason for it to be so difficult to drive because sometimes when you are a second faster it is ok to be difficult but if it is only zero something there is something we can still work on. The electric one is very easy to drive and fast so I am pretty happy with it.’
‘Nothing special to really say’ was Iivonen’s thoughts after Q1. The Finn continued, ‘The car felt the best it has actually been. I have been the whole day with Bangkok (tyres) and I think Sahara would have been faster so tomorrow I will test that and see if it will be the case. If that’s the case then my car is actually quite good and should be on pace.’ With his car standing out on track as the darkness fell, he explained, ‘It was actually getting quite dark already and it was good that I had the Glow Stick RC antenna on my car and that was the only thing I saw when I was driving, it was good.’ On eBuggy, in which he also got a P4, he said, ‘I made a small mistake on the back and got the worst out of it and lost a third place there otherwise it was quite good. The pace was better and also that car is much better than before.’
Another first timer to the 2017 1:10 Offroad Worlds track along with Kato, Iivonen, young Korean talent Jung Hyunkyu, and fellow countryman Nugroho, Asian Buggy Championships podium finish Wicaksono was pleased with his Top 5 opening effort. Describing the track as ‘challenging’, the Team Associated driver said ‘it has been a while since I drive on a track like this but I think it not only requires speed but also requires consistency & patience on top of set-up of course.’ Happy with his run, he said he had only one bobble in which his car turned over itself so he didn’t need to be marshalled and he didn’t lose much time.’ Owner of the West Side Raceway offroad track in Jakarta, asked if he was happy with where he was on car set-up, he replied, ‘No, no, still many thinks to work on but I think the last few days I worked mainly on shocks but I think I need to work on the diffs a little bit. Although it is bumpy and dusty on the outside, I think the racing line is starting to groove so I think I need a little bit thicker oil in my car.’
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Chassis – Team Associated RC8 B4.1
Engine – O.S. Speed B2105
Fuel – Rapicon
Tires – JConcepts Reflex
Radio – Sanwa M17S
Servos – Reedy RS4008A
Body – Matrix
Notes – Jung’s car is fitted with a number of parts from his World Champion team-mate Davide Ongaro’s brand ONG. These include Shock Caps, Rear Weight, Rear Stand Off, and Wing Plate. His buggy is also built using T-Works Titanium Screws.
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Japan’s Kouki Kato is the top seed at the SIGP Offroad Race in Xiamen, the Infinity team having the early advantage in China on the challenging 3-Circles track as team-mate Bruno Coelho managed to set the second fastest 3-consecutive laps. Over the two rounds of controlled practice Kato would set his best time in CP1 while Coelho would top the second round improving on his earlier time but unable to better that of Kato. Fresh from his double win last weekend at the new Hongyu GDC track in Guangzhou, Xray’s David Ronnefalk completed the Top 3 with his opening effort. Building his confidence on the bumpy track, Korean youngster Jung Hyunkyu took his Team Associated to the fourth fastest time ahead of Mayako pairing Pekko Iivonen and Joesph Quagraine.
A driver of few words, asked about seeding Kouki said, ‘The first one was very good but for the second one we made some camber changes and also changed the engine which took time to get right but I think we will go back to the CP1 set-up for the first qualifying.’ Pleased to have to deal with less traffic today, yesterday’s session open by class making for a lot busier track, the 2025 Asian Buggy Championships Champion said it is still hard to get around without mistakes. Running on Hotrace’s Sahara tyre, he added, ‘3 laps is already hard to make consistent so 5-minute is going to be very hard’, those were his thoughts before finding out qualifying will in fact 5 rounds of 8-minute heats!
Second fastest in Nitro but the Top Seed in eBuggy from defending class Champion Ronnefalk, Coelho said, ‘The second one was better for nitro, electric was pretty good in both seedings.’ The Portuguese driver, who is an SIGP regular both for the onroad and offroad events, added, ‘In nitro the first round was a bit tricky, the second round I had much more confidence so like I said yesterday it’s all about being consistent and not doing any mistakes.’ He continued, ‘The track is getting more and more bumpy. Yesterday at the end of the day it was really tough to drive on the track. They fixed it overnight but I heard they are not going to fix it until Sunday now which means the track is going to get worse and worse over the event so we need to be ready to have car easy to drive and have the shock package well set-up for the tough conditions that are coming. We also need to keep calm and learn the new lines that are coming.’ On his buggy set-up changes between rounds he said, ‘we changed quite a lot, we went more in the direction of the electric car. As we have two cars and the platforms are very close, so we tried two directions to know which one to go with and then we decided to go in the electric direction.’
Summing up his seeding performance Ronnefalk said, ‘The first nitro run was good. I was a little behind Kouki I thought but the pace was pretty strong and then we changed a couple of things for the last one to try a little bit on the tyre and the shock package and it wasn’t any better so we are just going to go back to what we ran in the first seeding and it should be all good.’ The Swede continued, ‘I just find out that, I mean I should have known, but I got to know they are 8-minute qualifiers so I guess we are going to see some pit stops in the qualifiers.’ He explained, ‘the lap is pretty long, you have an out lap, and then like if cross at like 7:50 you probably need like 9:20 to be safe on fuel.’ On his eBuggy he said for the first run his shock package was too stiff for the bumps, which made the car very sensitive, and he also had a lot of traffic in his heat. Redoing the shocks for the second one he said ‘it was a lot better.’
Giving his reaction to seeding, Hyunkyu said, ‘It’s not bad for me. My car is better compared to yesterday but I need to do more work to find a good set-up but I think we are on the right way for sure but its still quite off pace compared to Kouki, Bruno, David, and Pekko as well.’ He continued, ‘I will try some different things for qualifying and we will see how it goes. Having spent time in Italy with his World Champion team-mate Davide Ongaro testing at the Ongaroring as well as running a round of the Italian National Championships, asked if last year’s SIGP Champion was offering him any set-up advice, he replied, ‘I spoke with Davide yesterday and he gave me some pretty good advice but I need to figure things out by myself. I am driving here, he is advising from watching my videos.’ The 14-year-old continued, ‘I think the tyre is pretty important and I don’t have many set of bar tyre, I think everyone else is using the bar tyre right now, so I will just try to find the best set-up with JConcepts. I think it is good right now but bar is better. I only have a few sets of bar tyres so I save them for tomorrow.’
Asked how seeding had gone for him, Iivonen replied, ‘Not too bad but I just need to find a bit of pace to catch Bruno and Kouki. I think the car is quite easy to drive so it should be easy to make the apparently 8-minute qualifier, with one pit stop in there, but I think with a bit more steering and support in the rear the car will be super good. I am looking forward to the qualifiers. On his eBuggy, the Finn said, ‘electric was kind of the same, I just need to find a bit but pace wish electric is a bit better than nitro at the moment.’
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