At last, practice is over. Seeding is done. Qualifying is upon us. There were a bunch of clues and interesting things from today's seeding rounds, and we will get to that in a minute. First, though, this:

"You can't always tell what a lap means to someone by looking at the scoring screen."

Mike Garrison is racing at these World Championships. I've never met Mike, but I hope one day I will. One of the things I've really enjoyed from this World Champs is following Mike's experiences through the short stories and reflections he posts each day. World Champs sometimes throw up these really interesting angles that are different to what we see at the main media outlets (as much as you better believe I'm reading and watching everything I see at those channels). For me, at this World Champs, Mike's stories have caught my attention. Go have a read.

In his reflection at the end of seeding he was unpacking this idea that we have talked about here at Action RC loads of times - everybody comes to a World Champs with a different story, a different reason. And many of those aren't visible in the timing screen. Thanks for the reminder Mike, thanks for your stories, and good luck with the rest of the Worlds week. I'll be watching and reading along to see how it unfolds.

Now, the clues.

___________________________________

ONGARO OF COURSE

After a relatively quiet S1, Davide Ongaro reminded everybody just how big the task is with frankly bonkers speed in S2. There are others within touching distance, but the defending champ is clearly not going to lie down.

___________________________________

MISTAKES WILL COST

It's still the story: this track is hard. It is biting so many people right through the field, including the best in the world. Three laps is one thing, but a mistake-free ten-minute run is going to be no easy feat. It's perhaps nowhere more evident to my eyes than in the stutter bumps and the five-pack into the front straight. Just the tiniest different line or throttle input can send an otherwise perfectly behaved car tumbling and ruin a lap, or a run. And worse, you might make no mistake, but get caught up in someone else's tumble. I looked through the top 15 or so from S2 to see who went mistake free (or almost). Canas put a full strong run together. Maifield, too, was solid if still lacking the last bit of pace he is chasing, but just about everybody else in the top 15 had mistakes. That puts a premium on a clean run tomorrow and Thursday. Along with....

______________________________

FUEL MILEAGE

11 1/2 minutes. It's a long, long stint. But that's what is needed to get through a ten-minute qualifier without a fuel stop. I'm definitely no expert on this, so apart from making that observation, and thinking about the potential value of a saved 6-7 seconds, I can't say who's most likely. I've seen some people say the track layout will favour good fuel mileage, but others say it will be super hard to go the distance. What's your take?

_______________________________

THE BACK FOOT

The race hasn't properly started yet, so it's a stretch too far to say anybody is in trouble. It's a clean slate tomorrow. But....there probably are a few drivers who haven't quite had the practice pace we anticipated, and go into quali at least a little on the back foot. I'm fascinated to see who turns it around over the ten minutes distance. I'm looking at people like Polito (seeded 30th), VanDalen (25), Rivkin (27), Coelho (37), Boots (46), Figueiredo (53), and Wiggins (57) among others. Who steps up tomorrow? That's a fascinating question.

________________________________

TIME TO GO

Round one of qualifying kicks off at midnight, Australian time. While I'm tempted by an overnighter on finals day, there is no way that's happening tonight. By the time we wake up here, nearly two full rounds will be complete and we will have the first real picture of what lies ahead. All about Ongaro? Or a new hero rises? It's time to go