Matsukura takes Q1 at EOS in Slovakia

Team Yokomo driver Naoto Matsukura has taken the opening round of 2WD Buggy qualifying at Round 3 of the Euro Offroad Series.  A two time Top Qualifier and race winner, the Japanese driver topped Q1 at the Hudy Arena by 2-seconds over practice pace setting Martin Bayer. The round saw four drivers go top of the time screens over the 5-minutes but they would all make significant mistakes Hupo Honigl eventually claiming third and David Ronnefalk fourth as the only other drivers to run 13 laps of the tough track.  Having had a troubled practice, breaking on both his runs, defending champion Joern Neumann’s event didn’t improve as he retired with a broke rear stub axle 3-minutes into the qualifier.

Matsukura was pleased to take the opening qualifier but said it was not perfect.  Having predicted after practice that running 5-minutes without a mistake was going to be near impossible due to the tracks tough jumps, Matsukura was right as his run include three mistakes.  Pleased with his B-Max 2 set-up, he said he will leave it the same for Q2 and instead try to ‘reduce the number of errors’ adding reduce was the key word as a totally clean run was too tall an order.

Laying down the pace for the first 5-laps, Bayer said the run ‘started good’ but his Xray developed understeer which in turn led him to over drive and make mistakes. Struggling by the end of the 5-minutes, he said a set-up change after practice had for the opening laps given him the little steering he was lacking earlier but it was not consistent and by the end he was struggling with ‘push, push, push’. Despite this the Czech ace said second for the opening round was good to have.

Honigl was somewhat disappointed with 3rd saying it was ‘OK’ but the Austrian felt his driving was not good.  Running a fresh set of Pro-Line’s controlled Wedge-Squared front and Pin Point rear on his Team C, he said the buggy is better second time round on the tyres so he is looking forward to a better Q2 performance both from the car and the driver.

‘Good for a long while’ was how Ronnefalk summed up his 4th for the round the Swede having been on target for a TQ run until the last minute.  With his Orion powered Kyosho leading the way, the 1:8 Offroad European Champion said on hearing the 1-minute to go announcement he decided to ‘take it easy’ but this ‘was a bad idea’.   Casing a jump it resulted in a crash that cost him almost 3-seconds. Dropping to fourth he would lose a further 6 second with a last lap error.  Changing the ride height and droop on his RB6 after practice, the 17-year-old said his buggy was much better on the jumps and he will leave it the same for Q2.

Running 12-laps, Austrian Martin Wollanka was fifth fastest.  Running in the top heat, the Xray driver was pleased with his run but for Q2 plans to make some changes to his XB4-2.  Looking to make the buggy more stable he will change to a heavier front shock oil and to try and keep steering he will run the wheelbase shorter.

‘Just kept crashing’, that was the response of Lee Martin to how his run had gone.  The Vice-World Champion said dropping the front link on his Yokomo as well as fitting a front wing to the bodyshell had made little difference to the level of understeer he is suffering.  While the British ace said it wasn’t a huge issue he just cannot carry the same corner speed as the ‘front motored’ cars.  For Q2 he will discuss set-up options with Yokomo’s new head of offroad development Shin Adachi.  Racing himself in the event, his first time doing offroad on carpet, Adachi said the racing is a very different experience to anything he has done before.

Behind Martin with the 7th fastest time was former team-mate Marc Rheinard.  The Tamiya driver, who is running in the 3rd fastest heat,  said it was a steady run adding he just took a caustious approach to the table top.  Admitting he is nowhere near fast enough he said considering the car they have for 2WD and the fact that they only have the option of running a ball diff it was pretty ‘OK’.

Setting the eighth fastest time in the first of the four scheduled qualifiers was Team C’s Torben Hojifeldt, the Dane followed by the Yokomo’s of 1:8 World Champion Robert Batlle and Yannic Prumper. who completed the Top 10.

2WD Buggy Q1 times
1. Naoto Matsukura – Yokomo – 13/5:17.721
2. Martin Bayer – Xray – 13/5:19.766
3. Hupo Hönigl – Team C – 13/5:24.467
4. David Ronnefalk – Kyosho – 13/5:28.940
5. Martin Wollanka – Xray – 12/5:01.157
6. Lee Martin – Yokomo – 12/5:03.349
7. Marc Rheinard – Tamiya – 12/5:04.833
8. Torben Højfeldt – Team C – 12/5:05.489
9. Robert Battlle – Yokomo – 12/5:06.748
10.Yannic Prümper – Yokomo – 12/5:11.173

View the complete event results here.

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