PRE-WORLDS SUNDAY WRAP: DONNELLY DOUBLES UP!

A3 of 4wd put an exclamation point on what has been a fabulous day of racing here at Hills Off Road RC for the 2025 IFMAR Worlds Warmup.

Going into that last race, any of six drivers - Marcus Kaerup, Lachlan Donnelly, Spencer Rivkin, Chase Lemieux, Daniel Kobbevik, and Michal Orlowski - were in the mix. Lachlan Donnelly, the local 20-year-old Team Associated driver got the best of a frenetic five minutes to take the overall, Rivkin second, and Lemieux rounding out the Warmup podium.

That makes it a double win at the Warmup event for Lachlan Donnelly, an impressive performance against some of the world’s best. The main question this result raises? Does Lachlan Donnelly put himself in the conversation for the main event later this year?

That’s the warmup race itself done but the main aim here, of course, is learning and development ahead of September when all the world’s best will converge on Sydney for the 40th anniversary IFMAR 1/10th Offroad event. Most of the teams are sticking around for several days of testing work and that, perhaps, is where the real magic will happen in terms of preparation and development. Oh to be a fly on the wall over the next few days.

For now, though, let’s take a quick tour through the on-track action.

We’ll get to on-track action in a moment, but before that, a couple of world exclusives here at Hills Off Road RC today.

FIrst, the real story of interest is the prototype platforms from both Schumacher (Kobbevik, Orlowski, Rindernecht) and Team Associated’s Spencer Rivkin in use this weekend. It’s very early days for both, and they’re learning rapidly with very little track testing before arriving here this week. The days of testing following the event will be critical for both in developing the platforms expected to replace the CAT L1R and B74.2 respectively. There are no body-off photos this week, but plenty of eyeballs watching on track.

The second exciting piece of information came from an interview with Cayote’s Oscar Jensen, with the announcement that Japanese dual world champion Atsushi Hara is likely to be in attendance at the World Championships later this year. Hara’s presence, potentially as a racer and with Cayote, adds another level of excitement to an event that already holds so much promise.

Let’s get to the on-track qualifying activity.

Q1: DONNELLY CONTINUES

It might be a new day, and a new class, but Lachlan Donnelly continued his run at the top of the charts, going fastest in Q1 this morning. Marcus Kaerup went second, coming home strong after a slightly slower start than Donnelly, Kaerup picking up the pace late. Kouki Kato continued his strong run this week, building on fast practice times to be an impressive P3, Daniel Kobbevik fourth fastest from fellow Schumacher pilot Michael Orlowski – the pair also building in pace through the run with that prototype platform, Spencer Rivkin in a similar situation for Team Associated.

Q2: RIVKIN IN A THRILLER

Spencer Rivkin put that new AE prototype 4wd to good use, taking a narrow win over Lachlan Donnelly, and Schumacher’s Orlowski and Kobbevik. It had been that duo who led deep into the run with their new car, only small late-race errors in the front double-double section dropping both out of the lead. Chase Lemieux returned to form with P5, XRAY teammate Ari Bakla in six as the European manufacturer continues its preparations here this week. Margins continue to be almost improbably close, only two seconds separating the top seven in this round. Meanwhile, it’s been a troubled start to the day for Poland’s Bartek Zalewski – transponder and electronics glitches causing timing troubles for the young XRAY star.

Q3: DONNELLY DOUBLES UP

Lachlan Donnelly came out best in a Q3 thriller, he, along with Spencer Rivkin and Marcus Kaerup split by tenths the whole run long. Lachlan resisted a last hot lap by Rivkin to hold on for a second qualifying round win ahead of his AE teammates. Chase Lemieux again came through late to get around Kobbevik, with Batta continuing a strong run and Orlowski still thereabouts in 4wd.

Q4: KAERUP TO THE FRONT

Deep into qualifying, but the story of tight margins and multiple front-runners continues. This time around it was Kobbevik, Rivin, and Kaerup that duked it out all the way through Q4, swapping positions and split by the tiniest of gaps. Marcus Kaerup it was who held his nerve, driving a beautiful final minute to edge away to a win ahead of Rivkin and Kobbevik. Donnelly recovered to P4 after an early error, Lemiuex in five, Orlowski sixth.

That leaves us with three in the fight for TQ this afternoon. Donnelly holds two wins and a second, but with both Rivkin and Kaerup sitting on one win and each also holding a second – it can go any of those three ways. Sure it’s a practice, warmup event – but as for the story of this race itself, we are poised for a fantastic afternoon.

Q5: KOBBEVIK!

Daniel Kobbevik finally did what he’d threatened every since practice began on Friday morning – put together a superb five-minute run for a one-second win over Kaerup, with Michael Orlowski a further 0.4 away. That all resulted in Donnelly securing the #1 starting spot from Kaerup, Rivkin, Kobbevik, and Orlowski. Controversy after qualifying finished, with a penalty applied to Jarod Ment, dropping him out of the A final and promoting US teammate Aydin Horne into the top ten. For Horne and US teammate Davey Batta, the three A finals would add more value to their learning opportunity this week.

A1: KAERUP SUBLIME

Lachlan Donnelly had the better of the start, until Marcus Kaerup put a superb pass on the Australian – setting the scene for a race-long duel between the pair. Kaerup was too strong, and just made it past the line for a solo victory lap, the countdown catching Donnelly by three-tenths. Orlowski got around Rivkin for P3, Kobbevik recovering to P5 after an early error.

A2: RIVKIN TAKES ADVANTAGE

It was once again the Donnelly vs Kaerup show, but this time Rivkin in the mix as well. As the race evolved the battle up front allowed first Kobbevik and then Lemieux to recover, making it a five-car freight train. Inevitably the leaders tangled, Rivkin from the some-times magical third spot emerged from the mele first ahead of Lemieux as Kaerup sportingly waited on Donnelly. Kobbevik bought back into it as well but got caught at the line, leaving Rivkin and Lemieux to fight it out over the final tour. A drag-race to the line and Rivkin held on – sending it to a four-way battle for the overall in A3.

A3: DONNELLY DOES IT AGAIN!

For the second day in a row, Lachlan Donnelly has driven a superb A3, setting the fastest time of the three A finals to get the best of a tie-breaker. He fended off a ferocious attack from Kaerup before a small bobble upset the order – gifting Donnelly a small lead and the opportunity to focus on the fast times he needed to win the tie-breaker. Rivkin recovered best, running home three seconds back from Donnelly, Kobbevik in three, and Lemieux in fourth. All that left Donnelly, ahead of Rivkin and Lemieux for the overall.

As far as the Worlds Warmup is concerned, that brings the formal on-track activities to a close. We’ve heard from Team Associated, XRAY and Schumacher that the teams will stay on all week for an extended test session. For Team Associated and Schumacher, that involves extended development of the new prototype 4wd platforms along with exploring some 2wd development pathways, for XRAY the chance to have their international and Australian teams look at forward planning and development leading to September.

One final observation – both Yokomo and Kyosho teams, though small, have been impressive in the hands of Logan Toia (NZ) and Fuma Saito (Japan) respectively. We can only hope both teams return with a full-strength factory squad for the Worlds come September.

Huge props to all the Hills Offroad Club officials and volunteers whom made this event possible. It's been a valuable learning experience, and will result in an even better World Championship event. The facilities, track itself and team of dedicated volunteers are all to be thanked.

Bring on the Worlds.