Monday was the Final day of Practice at the 2016 IFMAR World Championships in Las Vegas and this day would be used for seeding the drivers into Qualifying which will happen over the next 3 days. It was also Opening Ceremonies and Pro-Line Team Picture Day! As you can see from the above picture, I believe the Pro-Line Team to be the largest team at the event full of the best drivers from all around the World!
The word of the day was “Cold”! It was a much cooler day, especially in the morning, and everyone was asking us for Pro-Line Sweaters and M4 compound tires. We didn’t plan to bring this stuff because we all expected to be roasting in the hot desert sun! Luckily Tim is driving out early Tuesday morning and will bring the M4 tires for the guys who want them for qualifying. But M3 tires were still working really well and our guys did a great job in seeding to be right there at the top. After it was all over, Ty Tessmann would take the 2nd fastest Top 3 consecutive lap time of the day with Pro-Line’s Elliott Boots, Dakotah Phend, Riccardo Berton, Jared Tebo, Neil Cragg, Adam Drake, Mike Truhe and Kyle McBride all looking super fast and posting top 20 times.
Most of the guys are still running M3 Hole Shots with a few exceptions. Ty is running Pro-Line’s new ElectroShot Tire in M3 compound and he is trimming the leading center bar on the tire for more forward bite in the loose conditions. Elliott found some M4 Hole Shots and ran those for both practice rounds and really loves them. And Riccardo Berton went super fast on M3 Blockades. But the 3-lap thing doesn’t mean anything anymore as qualifying is for a full 10 minutes, which will reward consistency instead of just being fast over a few laps. I think we will see the Pro-Line team rise to the top because the longer runs are what our team is focused on.
Opening ceremonies went off without a hitch and was made more dramatic with the WWE style doors and fog for the teams to enter through. It definitely created a fun atmosphere that everyone seemed to enjoy. But now it is time to get down to business with the start of Qualifying!!
