Martin takes opening qualifier in Berlin
Top seed for qualifying at Round 2 of the Euro Offroad Series after topping practice yesterday, Lee Martin got 2WD qualifying underway this morning in Berlin by taking the opening round of 2WD qualifying. The Yokomo driver ran 15 laps in a time of 5:02.497 which was 4-seconds clear of David Ronnefalk while a much improved Joern Neumann completed the Top 3 just a further 4/10ths off.
Describing the opening qualifier as always being his least favourite as switching back from running 4WD and having no practice to open the day it’s ‘in at the deep end’, Martin was happy to kick things off with a TQ run. The British ace said his new YZ-2 felt good and was ‘easy to drive’ although it was slow compared to 4WD. Having initially been followed by both Ronnefalk and Robert Batlle before they both made mistakes, he said towards the end of the 5-minutes he started to get a little nervous as he didn’t have anyone to gauge his pace off leading to a few less than perfect laps. With Q1 out of the way and happy with how his equipment is running he said he will ‘continue as is for Q2’.
Ronnefalk was overall very happy with both his car and his own driving with just one mistake over the 5-minutes. Jumping short on table top while matching the pace of Martin and having just set his fastest lap, this lost the Swede almost 3-seconds. Towards the end of the run the HB team driver, who is running a Team C in 2WD, said the TM2 got loose in the rear and to cure that for Q2 he will go up in the geardiff oil.
Having struggled for pace in 2WD practice yesterday leaving him to start mid pack in the B heat, Neumann opted to run the Yokomo YZ-2 in Q1 having also ran a Team C in practice. The German said while he changed the car’s ackermann back to the standard kit set-up as well as running lighter oil in the diff, the improvement in form came mainly from his driving. Having driven ‘way too aggressive’ yesterday, the former champion said he found a good rhythm this morning and planning to leave the car unchanged he is more confident for Q2. The currently teamless driver could have been second were it not for traffic, a marshalled car being placed in his line causing a spin at the wall which cost him 2-seconds.
Running Schumacher’s new Cougar KF2, Michal Orlowski set the fourth fastest time and while ‘a good result’ the Polish driver said his car was ‘not very good to drive’. Lacking rear grip, the 13-year-old said it was very hard to drive and it was thanks to the fact he made no mistakes rather than pace that he got his time. Unsure what to change he said ‘for sure we have to try something’ with him planning to discuss his options with team-mate Simon Moss, the British driver taking 8th for the round.
Also debuting a new car this weekend, Martin Bayer took the Xray XB2 to the fifth fastest time just ahead of team-mate Martin Wollanka. The Czech ace said his run was fine except for a ‘stupid mistake’ on lap 2. Over jumping the table top his car ended up rolling out of lane to another section of track and needing to be marshalled back to the right piece of track he lost over 4-seconds. In terms of his car he said he had a good feeling with it and it was easy to drive however for Q2 he will make a small change to try and get a little more rotation in the corners.
Having run a Top 3 pace for most of the run, Batlle would end up 7th fastest after clipping the piping through the chicane on the penultimate lap costing him 4-seconds. The new Team C signing said his TM2 felt a little stiff and for Q2 he will switch to a lighter shock oil. Behind Batlle the Top 10 was completed by Moss, Miguel Matias and Team Associated’s Craig Drescher.
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