Ongaro fastest as 4WD gets underway in Australia
Defending World Champion Davide Ongaro has set the early pace as the 4WD action gets underway at the IFMAR 1:10 Offroad World Championships in Australia. Having just missed the A-Main cut in 2WD, after two rounds of 4WD free practice it was the Italian who leads the way from 2WD Top Qualifier & Team Associated team-mate Marcus Kaerup. With the first practice more a sighting run for the drivers on the freshly prepared track, racing now running in the anti-clockwise direction and the jump surfaces reworked for that change, the second round was more indicative of form and it was good to see Xray, after their struggles in 2WD, back in the mix. Dakotah Phend would post the 3rd fastest time based off 3-consecutive laps with team-mate David Ronnefalk managing 5th fastest. In between them, Daniel Kobbevik led the Schumacher team as team-mate & newly crowned 2WD World Champion Broc Champlin was brought back down to reality with only the 18th fastest time. Describing his opening two practice runs as ‘alright’, Champlin said they are ‘still trying to get the car into a better window’.