TALK IT UP TUESDAY: David Ronnefalk talks HB switch

0 Nov. 10, 2014, 10:18 p.m.

11/11/2014
By Aaron Waldron

LiveRC.com

Welcome to LiveRC's weekly column, "Talk-It-Up Tuesday!" Here we spend a little time talking with industry icons including racers, manufacturers, team managers, developers, promoters, and everyone in between! Sit back, relax, and go behind the scenes as we interview them all!

After signing with Kyosho at just twelve years old, David Ronnefalk was as diehard a member of the Red Army as anyone - and the pairing enjoyed incredible success both in his home country of Sweden as well as internationally. Five terrific years netted multiple National and Nordic Regional Championships, as well as back-to-back European titles, but at the end of the 2014 season and after running into tough luck at the IFMAR Worlds, when his buggy flamed out in the semifinal, David shook the off-road world when it was announced that he was jumping ship and heading to new World Champion HB and HPI Racing.

AW: Congratulations on the deal with HB! What was the main factor that prompted your switch?

DR: Thank you. Ever since I started my career my goal has always been to be a professional driver, and we have known that 2015 would be the year I finished school and just want to proceed with the plan I've had. This requires that your sponsor have the same plan and ability to make it possible, or you have to make some changes if you want to work with what you love to do.

After a lot of thinking and analysis of what my opportunities were, I came to the conclusion that the offer from HB was the only option I had that would give me the chance to be a full time driver. One more thing was that in the offer from HB I would be able to get involved in the R&D side of the team at some level. This is something that got me very excited and I'm really looking forward to work with the whole team.

AW: Was it a difficult decision to leave Kyosho after such a long and successful relationship?

DR: Of course, this was a decision that took some time to make, as Kyosho were the ones who picked me up after my EC-B win back in 2009. Kyosho have been the brand I’ve been using since I started driving and I have got so much help from them throughout my career. But they understand the situation so there are no hard feelings between us at all.

AW: When did you start discussing your switch to HB?

DR: I've got some questions from HB/HPI Racing in the end of June but I didn’t want to make any decisions until after the Worlds.

AW: What do you think about going from one of the largest teams in the pit area to one of the smallest?

DR: I see it as a challenge, working together with everyone at HB to help the brand grow even more.

AW: After racing with the support of the most successful team in history for 1/8-scale off-road, do you anticipate 2015 and beyond to prove a greater challenge?

DR: Of course it will take some time to get used to all-new platforms, though I'm sure they are great products and I think we will have great success together in the future!