April 29, 2023

Ongaro locks in overall TQ at Philippine Masters

Davide Ongaro is the Top Qualifier at the Philippine Masters, the Team Associated driver making it three TQ runs in a row in the third and penultimate round of qualifying in Manila.  With 2023 marking the return of Asia’s premiere 1:8 Offroad race, the former champion looked his strongest in Q3 playing a tactical game of taking the rolling heat start just behind main rival Batlle.  Pushing the Mayako driver, Batlle would have a bobble but worse was to come.  Coming up on the same buggy that cost him the TQ run in the previous round, this time the driver opened but as Batlle went by he raced him and ran into the former World Champion causing him to end up on his roof and rob the event of a potential TQ showdown in the fourth & final round.  After the on lookers got over the disappointment of the incident, their attention turned to Ongaro who suddenly looked to be having issues with his buggy but everyone was looking to be in same trouble, the track turning to an ice rink as an almost unnoticeable light rain shower very briefly fell.  This played into the hands of the driver at the sharp end of the second fastest heat with Jason Nugroho ending up with a P2 for the round in between Ongaro and Batlle with up & coming Australian talent Jak Parsey fourth.

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April 29, 2023

Batlle denied again as Ongaro goes 2 from 2

Still the fastest driver on track, Robert Batlle was once again denied at TQ run at the Philippine Masters with Davide Ongaro there to collect the top spot to make it 2 from 2.  With Saturday’s action kicking off with Round 2 of qualifying, Batlle looked set to deliver on yesterday’s speed but this time rather than lose out due to his own error, the Mayako driver had traffic issues on the penultimate lap.  The contact resulted in a 40-second lap time allowing Ongaro to take it by 6/10ths of a second.  Behind, a great run from Jackson Beale saw him secure the third fastest time ahead Daniel Miranda, Dino Jacinto and Harry Simms.  After a strong Q1 performance, 13-year-old Jak Parsey would suffer two flame outs while Sworkz’ Micha Widmaier, P2 in yesterday’s opening round, had ‘a bad run’ which left him only 9th fastest.

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April 28, 2023

Ongaro takes Q1 after late Batlle mistake

Davide Ongaro has taken the opening round of qualifying at the Philippine Masters but only after a late mistake from top seed Robert Batlle.  The last lap error would not only cost Batlle the TQ but also allow Micha Widmaier to jump him on the timing screen at the end of the 5-minute qualifier.  The only driver to lay down a 38-second lap time in the first of the four scheduled rounds of qualifying, Batlle had a comfortable gap over his rivals and was taking a cautious approach to his final lap when he caught some dirt on the track causing the first of two mistakes that left him with a 49-second final lap!  Behind the Top 3, Aaron Dexter, who is running in the second fastest heat, would post the fourth fastest time ahead of local Manila driver Dino Jacinto with young Aussie Jak Parsey completing the Top 6.

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April 28, 2023

Batlle sets pace at Philippine Masters

Robert Batlle is the top seed for the Philippine Masters, the factory Mayako driver topping the single round of controlled practice from Davide Ongaro on the challenging Manila track. With Race Director Scotty Ernst making the call to reduce the counting consecutive laps from the traditional 3 to 2 given the challenge of putting together 3 clean laps, Batlle’s best effort was 1:57.225 compared to the 1:58.176 of the race’s former Champion Ongaro. Sworkz Micha Widmaier made it an all European Top 3 followed by local driver Daniel Miranda with Australian Jackson Beale completing the Top 5 from fellow countryman Jak Parsey.

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April 28, 2023

Philippine Masters – Track Focus

The Philippine Masters is back and is live in Manila today with a track best described as ‘challenging’.  Located in the capital city, the very 3D looking track is the creation of top Philippines driver Edward Sio, one of the people behind the Philippine Masters since its inception in 2015.  Having to move the track location a few hundred metres from its previous home, one of the stand out features of the move is the massive three story driver stand.  With the new track built during Covid restrictions, the reason for the massive structure was to meet the then guidelines on the spacing of people so each floor was used as pit area to ensure everyone was spaced apart.  Made from the same dirt of the original track, the build took 45-days.  Building the track to how Edward wanted it and rolling it to a flat surface, they then dug up around a foot into the top layer to allow for the all important bonding of final race surface.  Giving the 30 degree plus temperatures in Manila, just spraying the top layer would not last as the top layer would eventually break and reveal a dusty dry dirt.  Instead they soaked the loose 1-foot deep top layer with a mixture of molasses and glue before rolling to the finish they wanted.

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April 26, 2023

Philippine Masters returns & kicks off all new Asian Buggy Championships

The excitement is building in Manila ahead of this weekend’s Philippine Masters which returns following a forced Covid break of more than 2-years.  Asia’s premiere 1:8 Offroad race, a capacity entry will battle it out in both nitro Buggy and Truggy to become the latest champion of the established event.  Adding to the excitement of the weekend is that the Philippine Masters will kick off the brand new Asian Buggy Championships that has been created by Scotty Ernst, a figure who was instrumental in helping take the Philippines Masters from a local race to one which has brought some of the worlds best drivers to the capital city.  This year is no exception with back to back World Champion Davide Ongaro leading the entry for Team Associated.  While the Italian will be here to embrace the country’s tagline, ‘It’s More Fun in the Philippines’, he is also here to win but will have to work for it as he will be joined by former World Champion Robert Batlle.

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April 24, 2023

Balestri wins EFRA GP

Dario Balestri took the 1:8 win at the EFRA GP race in Leno, Italy, over the weekend, the Infinity driver leading home the ARC of Silvio Hächler and Capricorn of Mirko Salemi.  In qualifying, it was Balestri who took the TQ ahead of fellow World Champion Simon Kurzbuch with Francesco Tironi, Hächler and Toni Gruber making up the Top 5 places on the grid.  In the 45-minute final it was Balestri who control the race taking victory from Hächler, a late mistake from team-mate Tironi ending the potential for an Infinity 1-2 finish.  Having come through from the last chance final to secure P11 on the grid, Salemi came through to complete the podium.

Image: Dario Balestri [Facebook]

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April 18, 2023

Pesenti & Fankhauser win at Swiss Nationals opener

The opening round of the Swiss Nitro Onroad Nationals took place at Lostallo with Mattia Pesenti and Patrick Fankhauser coming away with the wins.  In 1:8 it would be the ARC of Silvio Hächler who would top qualifying ahead of the Mugens of former World Champion Simon and Remy Hasler with Pesenti’s Xray fourth.  In 1:10, Fankhauser’s Infinity was the Top Qualifier ahead of the Xray’s of Philipp Bühler and Traugott Schär.   With a 2023 rule change meaning no direct qualifiers for the Main, the semi finals would see the demise of Kurzbuch.  In the 45-minute final, Hächler would experience gearbox issues allowing Pesenti to take the win ahead of the pole sitter with the Infinity of Luca Martinelli completing the podium.  In 1:10,  it was a dominant performance from Fankhauser who secured the Round 1 victory ahead of Schär and the Xray of Stefan Wütrich.  Round 2 of the National Championship will take place in Aigle on May 5-6.

View 1:10 Podium here

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