November 20, 2016

Coelho Top Qualifier in Warsaw as Orlowski takes Q4

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4WD Championship leader Bruno Coelho is the Top Qualifier for Round 2 of the Euro Offroad Series in Warsaw. Going into the fourth & final round of qualifying at the Warsaw Moto Show hosted event only team-mate Martin Bayer had a chance of denying the Xray driver the overall TQ.  While Bayer would set the early pace after a mistake from Coelho at the 1-minute mark, it was Michal Orlowski who would go fastest pipping the Czech driver by 6/10ths of a second.  Recovering from a difficult first two qualifiers on Friday, Orowski’s Q4 TQ would allow him to split the two Xrays on the starting grid as he secured second ahead of Bayer.  For Nurburgring Top Qualifier Lee Martin, an early mistake put end to any chance of improvement and the Yokomo driver will start 4th ahead of on form Kája Novotný who secures his best ever EOS qualifying position with 5th.

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Commenting on what is his 4th EOS TQ in 4WD, Coelho said, ‘For sure it’s a good position to start but everyone is super fast so it’s not going to be an easy final’. Fourth fastest in the final qualifier, the World Champion said, ‘I think the track felt different and had less traction and that led to some mistakes’. Unlike many of his rivals who saved tyres from one of their two sets of the handout Schumacher Minipins for the triple finals, Coelho said he just has the extra set allowed to A-Main drivers but didn’t see that as an issue.  Wrapping up the win at the opening round in Germany in A2 allowing him to sit off the third main, he said, ‘I didn’t save tyres. My approach for the finals will be not to make any mistakes’.

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As if they fixed his steering issues Orlowski replied, ‘we fixed the steering but now I had so much I had to be careful how I controlled the car’.  Suffering a crash of his own doing but then hitting another car that had crashed in front of him the Pole said, ‘after that I had to push as much as I could and it worked’.  After his troubles on Friday, he continued, ‘for sure P2 on the grid is better than Friday when I was just hoping we could make the main.’  Looking to the final, yesterday’s 2WD Top Qualifier and race winner said, ‘the aim is another podium.  I think Bruno is faster than anyone but I will try to be there if he makes a mistake’. In terms of his LRP powered CAT K2 he said ‘we will obviously make changes to reduce the steering’.

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Enjoying a much more competitive form this weekend than the season opener, Bayer said ‘I’m very confident with the car’.  He continued, ‘the speed is there and we can fight for (the) podium’.  On his final qualifying performance, the Xray offroad team-manager said, ‘I had a small mistake but it was enough as it was a tiny difference between me and Michal.  For the final the aim is to not to make any mistakes and not touch the boards at the first corner’.

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On Q4 Martin said, ‘We tried different stuff but I crashed early on so I resided to testing and pulled over a few times to let other drivers by’. Describing the changes to his YZ4 as ‘an improvement’, Yokomo former 4WD champion continued, ‘but we need to change other stuff to match the improvements and hopefully we are good for leg 1′. Asked about the track layout, it one of the EOS’ tighter tracks, he simply replied, ‘It’s going to be pretty fast’.

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Completing the top half of the grid ahead of team-mate Hupo Hönigl, Novotný was very happy about his pace, the 20-year-old Czech driver having been quick from the first practice.  The reigning Czech National Champion said, ‘my car has been awesome and I’m really enjoying the track which is much harder than the previous round’.  Getting a P2 behind Bayer in Q2, he said for the last qualifier the just refreshed the diffs in preparation for the finals as well as running used tyres to save a set for the finals.  Asked his aims for the race he replied, ‘the Top 3 are super fast but we’ll see’.

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View complete event results here.

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