4WD Practice Update – Neumann Fastest

Having set the pace in 2WD Buggy practice Joern Neumann opened the first 4WD controlled practice by setting the pace, the Durango driver 9/10ths of a second faster than his closest rival over 3-consecutive laps.  Chasing his 6th consecutive win in the class this weekend in Austria, the defending champion said while he was able to top the time sheets he was not entirely happy with his Speed Passion powered DEX410.  Developing understeer over the duration of the run he said this was not good because qualifying was all about the full 5-minutes rather than just 3-laps and he would need to try something different for the final practice.

Once again the closest to Neumann on pace with the second fastest time, Team Xray’s Martin Bayer was pleased with his XB4 saying it was ‘going good’.  Happy with the base set-up he established in free practice the Czech who made led a few laps of the A-Mains on his EOS debut at Round 2, said he will make a few very small changes for the second practice just to try and make the buggy a little more comfortable to drive.

Running the same set-up as Bayer except for his front shocks, team-mate Renaud Savoya set the 8th fastest time.  The French 1:8 Nitro ace said for the first two minutes his Orion powered example of the XB4 was good but after this the front end became too soft giving the buggy a lack of feeling.  Planning to run a heavier oil for his next practice he said it should allow him to run a much better pace.  A newcomer to the 1:10 Offroad scene Xray had three cars in the Top 10 with team driver Jiri Mara setting the 5th fastest time.

Hupo Honigl set the third fastest time the Austrian describing his Dual Sky powered Durango as being ‘OK’ but he just didn’t get three good laps together.  Liking the track, he said while it was pretty easy to drive it was not easy to drive it at always at 100%.

Backing up his competitive showing in 2WD practice, Team C’s Oliver Scholz took his T4 V3 to the 4th fastest time.  Having changed his set-up through out free practice and again for the first timed run, the German teenager said the buggy has been getting better every run.  Running a fresh set of the controlled dBoots Nano Bytes tyres, he said he will again run a fresh set of tyres for his next run so as to have two sets of scrubbed tyres for qualifying.

Completing the Top 6 was former European Champion Peter Pinisch, the Team Associated driver saying his 4WD was ‘much better than his 2WD’. Having lost a wheel on the straight and crashed his Centro converted B4.2, the Austrian says the buggy is badly tweaked and this is the reason he could only manage the 14th fastest time.  On his B44.2 he ran used tyres in the first time practice and to get a proper comparison will run a new set of tyres for the second run without making any set-up changes.

Setting the 10th fastest time, Kyosho’s David Ronnefalk said it was ‘the best he could do for the set-up he had’.  The Swede said he ran too hard a shock and will go softer for his next run which should allow him to push his Lazer ZX5 harder.  Having run tyres with the other pin removed he will also try the tyre as it comes out of the packet in the final practice.

Having impressed in 2WD Buggy, Robert Batlle struggled with his 4WD Yokomo.  The Spaniard said the buggy was just too soft and he could not run string two corners together without the buggy rolling.  Need to create a completely different set-up he said he doesn’t think he will have time to get it all done for the final practice.  16th fastest, the 1:8 World Champion said making the Top 10 and therefore a place in the top heat for qualifying was now a tall order.

Complete event results can be found here.

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