Neumann also fastest in 4WD at EOS
Having set the pace in 2WD Buggy practice at the Euro Offroad Series earlier in the day, Joern Neumann repeated the feat in 4WD this evening in Poland. Taking his Durango to the fastest 3-consecutive laps in the fourth & final practice, the German will be the top seed for qualifying ahead of Xray’s Martin Bayer. Hupo Honigl posted the third fastest time while unable to improve on his P3 time Renaud Savoya end the day fourth ahead of Kyosho’s David Ronnefalk and Schumacher’s Tom Cockerill.
Neumann said driving his 4WD it didn’t feel like carpet racing but more like racing outdoor on dirt. Describing his DEX410 as ‘loose’, the 4WD World Championship Top Qualifier said he has had to adapt his driving to the ‘weird feeling’. While very different to what he is used to for carpet racing, he said overall its not a huge problem and for tomorrow he plans to just check over his buggy for the opening qualifier.
Bayer was happy with his XB4 describing it as ‘pretty good’. Together with team-mate Renaud Savoya who set the fastest lap of practice, the Xray pairing were the only drivers to run 20-second laps of the track. Looking for more steering in the slow corners the European Champion said they should be able to figure that out for the opening qualifier. Savoya said for P4 he didn’t have a proper feeling with his XB4 after he tried running a shorter wheelbase. The 3-time 1:8 Offroad European Champion, who is a relative newcomer to 1:10 electric offroad, said he will revert to his P3 set-up which should leave him good again for tomorrow.
Running Kyosho’s prototype 4WD chassis which made its debut at the Worlds in Chico last month, Ronnefalk said the buggy has the speed and he just needs to stay consistent without mistakes. Fitting a new set of tyres for the final practice, the 17-year-old said the first few laps where difficult but once the tyre bedded in the rest of the run was ok, him running a number of laps alongside Bayer.
Completing the Top 6, Cockerill said he struggled to get a good tyre balance in the early practices with his CAT having loads of steering yet not grip rolling. Feeling he improved his set-up in the first two runs, he said having used just the one set of tyres for the four rounds this left him with a lack of overall traction. Looking forward to qualifying he said with a fresh set of tyres on his buggy he ‘hopes’ all should be fine.
Behind the British driver young Polish talent Michal Orlowski took his Durango to the seventh fastest time followed by Team C’s Oliver Scholz. Also driving a Durango, young Czech racer Kaja Novotny was ninth with British driver David Poulter completing the Top 10 to book his place in the top heat of qualifying.
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