Levin & Neumann head practice

At the end of the first timed practice run for the opening round of the Euro Offroad Series it is TLR driver Oskar Levin and Team Durango’s Joern Neumann who head the respective 2WD and 4WD Buggy time sheets in the Czech Republic.  Driving his TLR22 Levin was some 6/10ths quicker than Neumann over his fastest three consecutive laps while in 4WD Neumann had an 8/10ths advantage over Durango team-mate Hupo Honigl.

Describing his buggy as ‘perfect’ Swedish 2WD National Champion Levin said the different sections make it hard to put in a clean lap everytime but overall he loves the layout which has been created by event host Michal Bok who himself was ninth fastest in 2WD driving Yokomo’s new B-Max2. 5th fastest in 4WD the teenager said considering the age of the XX-4 he is pretty happy but still trying different things on the buggy he is hopeful of improving on that in the final practice run of the day.

Very happy with his DEX410, Neumann said his DEX210 needs more work with the overall feeling of the 2WD buggy which is not 100% to his liking.  Team-mate Honigl was happy with how is 4WD buggy ran he was a little surprised by how much of an advantage Neumann had on him over 3 laps.  Although he ran the third fastest time in 2WD Buggy the former multiple European Champion was frustrated by an electric problem which he is having problems trying to find a cure for.  Also competing in the 4WD Short Course class, the Durango duo also set the top two times with a considerable gap over Team Losi Racing’s Mike Truhe who was third fastest.

Truhe who is suffering from an upset stomach said driving Short Course on carpet is very alien to him and he needs more time to adapt his driving style to suit.  In 2WD Buggy the former US Champion was left frustrated by traffic which hindered him from getting three clean laps leaving him only 15th fastest, but happy with the performance of his Orion powered TLR22 he is confident he has the pace to run at the front. TLR team-mate Miguel Matias faired better setting the 4th fastest time in 2WD.  Unlike Truhe the Portuguese driver is competing in the 4WD Buggy class taking his XXX-4 to the sixth fastest time just behind the similar car of Levin.

Third fastest in 4WD Buggy was Otto Ausfelt, although a TLR team driver the Swedish Champion runs a Tamiya TRF511 in 4WD and says his steering servo is getting a good work out as he is on full lock every corner.  Setting the 7th fastest time in 2WD he is confident a fresh set of the controlled dBoots tyres will bring him nearer to the pace in the sixth & final practice.

UPDATE

During the final round of practice the area surrounding Hrotovice suffered a major power failure leaving everywhere in darkness forcing race director Scotty Ernst to postpone the completion of the round till the morning.  Managing to get through all of 2WD Buggy groups before the loss of electricity Mike Truhe set a new fastest time meaning he will be top seed for tomorrow’s qualifying ahead of Hupo Honigl, Oskar Levin, Miguel Matias and Joern Nuemann.

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