Martin is Top Qualifier in Austria

Lee Martin is the 2WD Top Qualifier for Round 3 of the Euro Offroad Series in Wels, Austria.  The Yokomo driver, who now moves a step closer to securing his first EOS championship title, claimed the top spot on the grid for the A-Main when he posted his third TQ run of the day in the fourth & final round of qualifying at the ‘Modellbau Wels’ hobby show.  With only HB’s David Ronnefalk able to deny Martin the extra bonus championship point for claiming the overall TQ, the British ace wouldn’t have to rise to the challenge with the Swede crashing after just two laps.  Happy to run second behind star of event Michal Orlowski, Martin would on the penultimate lap be gifted the final qualifier as the young Schumacher driver made a mistake.  Ending the round second fastest, the incident would also cost Orlowski 2nd on the grid to Ronnefalk who only posted the 10th fastest time of Q4.

His second consecutive 2WD TQ of EOS Season #4, Martin said going into the final qualifier his focus was Ronnefalk and once he saw his rival crash the pressure was off. Admitting that Orlowski pace this weekend is very strong, he said once Ronnefalk’s challenge was over he just focused on putting in a clean run having in the previous qualifier thrown away a TQ run with a mistake.  He said while both Orlowski and Ronnefalk had faster lap times he said he ‘would like to think (he) had a fast lap there if (he) needed it’.  Asked about the finals, the Berlin race winner said the fast nature of the track layout meant passing was going to be a ‘risk versus reward’ situation.  He also added that he had his reservations about the the first lap over the corner table top as drivers try to best cut the corner.

Using the final qualifier to scrub in a set of the championship handout Schumacher tyres, Ronnefalk said he thought a few hard warm-up laps would have been enough to break in the tyres but that wasn’t the case.  Struggling with his Red Workshop B52 Associated conversion being ‘very hard’ to drive on lap two he traction rolled off the track losing 4-seconds with a mistake on the next lap costing him a further 4-seconds.  Once the tyres came in, the 19-year-old, who set the fastest lap of the round, said the car was very good with him feeling he has ‘a good change now for the finals’.  Describing the car as ‘fast and good to drive’ he said ‘the first final should be interesting’.

Starting from third on the grid after throwing away a TQ run when he cut the corner table top too much and his rear wheel caught the wood, Orlowski said he ‘hope(d) overtaking is not too difficult’.  Clearly enjoying how his Cougar KFII is performing this weekend, the 13-year-old said the plan for the finals was to just ‘push hard’.

Starting fourth on the grid will be Martin Bayer.  Fifth fastest in the final qualifier the Xray driver said his XB2 was ‘way too easy to drive’ causing him to over drive it resulting in small mistakes.  Admitting Martin had great consistency and Orlowski & Ronnefalk are very fast, he said he hoped to be able to fight with them but added it would be a challenge.  Set to make a rear set-up change he hopes a more aggressive car will give him the speed he needs.

Behind touring car ace Yannick Prumper, Serpent’s Joern Neumann starts 6th.  Copying team-mate Hupo Honigl’s set-up for Q3 he said the buggy is much faster.  Asked how he feels he can do in the final from the middle of the pack, the German said maybe with some luck he could hope for a Top 3 finish.

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