ONGARO! At the end of an epic day, one stands tall. It’s hardly fair when so many people have worked equally hard, displayed incredible skills, and put together a fine 3 days….but that’s how World Championship racing goes. One stands tall.  Everybody knows by now, that Davide Ongaro is the 2023 4wd IFMAR World Champion, adding it to his two 8th IC Offroad World Champs on the bounce. He’s the first to hold both titles simultaneously and did it on a track and in a category he rarely runs. Surely that puts him in the conversation alongside Bruno Coelho and Michal Orlowski as the best all-round driver in the world right now?

Q5: We get ahead of ourselves though – because when the day started qualifying was still underway. There’s not a lot of point in dissecting that qualifying round, except for two things. The vagaries of heat sequences and track conditions meant that the fastest guys got the worst of it. That will be important to remember come Saturday when the same story might be repeated in 2wd. And the second: Phend was undoubtedly quick enough to bring the heat come finals time – but his poor Q1 and Q3 put him in harm's way when those track conditions and heat order intervened - meaning he’d start from right down the back and have almost no chance. That too, might be worth remembering come 2wd qualifying. Counting on a big Q5 result is a dangerous game.

Q1: We figured it might be mistakes, and that proved the case. Ongaro made none. Orlowski made one right at the crucial moment - just when he was starting to mount pressure on the lead. A faultless drive from the guy who dominated qualifying and one hand on the trophy. Starting from the mid-field is always a lottery, but Rivkin proved good enough to navigate his way through to an important P3.

Q2: This was some race, and again the mistakes – and lack of them – were the decider. Ongaro baulked, and Orlowski had 2.5 minutes to hold it together to take the win. Nobody had been fast enough to run with him and Davide all day, so who was going to catch him?  Awaken the sleeping giant Spencer Rivkin; after a quiet week, he came roaring to life in this one, pace and pressure irresistible. Michal’s mistake was tiny, the slightest wrong angle on the tough turn one double. At this level, a multiple World Champ following, it was enough. Rivkin the win, and 4 drivers in the frame for the title with Champlin getting by Ongaro late to grab third and stay in the game.

Q3: Like most of us I only watched it on my phone and later TV. Those who were in the room proclaimed it as one of the all-time great races. Who’s to argue? Ongaro was fast, Orlowski pressured and then errored. And then Rivkin, again navigating from the mid-field brought blistering speed and immense pressure. It was the drive of a champion…except Ongaro refused to crack. As Darren Perry put it earlier in the day, he can drive a flawless 60 minute nitro final, why not a 5 minute EP race?  And that was the difference. He was fast enough, and good enough and managed the week better than everybody else.

At the end of the day, one stands tall.

AND THEN? We’re only half-way done, of course. Surely there’s never been a better-timed rest-day than tomorrow. Plenty of people needing to reset, and plenty more to recover from the emotional energy spent today before they can go again. By the sounds of it, the 2wd track will be very different, and we’ll get to see it (and likely the new Mugen 2wd buggy!) tomorrow. We’ll be back to cast an eye over the 2wd category tomorrow sometime on the rest day. We’ll need to talk about redemption and momentum – the two opposites that might just dictate the rest of the week.
Like we’ve said all year….it’s going to be awesome!

So…what did you make of 4wd Finals day? What did you see? What inspired you?

Thanks to Mitch on the Mic for the photo. Keep doing your thing Mitch!