Bayer TQs opening EOS 4WD qualifier
Having set the pace in practice last night in Slovakia, Team Xray’s Martin Bayer backed it up this morning at the Hudy Arena with a TQ run in the opening 4WD qualifier at the Euro Offroad Series. The Czech driver topped the times by over two seconds from Yokomo pairing Naoto Matsukura and Lee Martin as mistakes by defending champion on the last two laps dropped Joern Neumann from a TQ run to 5th for the round.
Posting the fastest lap of Q1, Bayer was ‘very happy’ to start off his stronger of the two main EOS classes with a TQ run. Describing his LRP powered XB4 as ‘real twitchy’, he said compared with yesterday there was ‘less traction’. Fighting with Matsukura for the TQ pace and recovering from an earlier error on the table top, the pair would have a coming together on track with the Japanese driver coming off worse. Bayer said this was regrettable but added he couldn’t just sit behind him as he was effectively racing the clock.
The incident didn’t seem to bother Matsukura too much with his main issue after the race being his own driver errors which he said he needs to elimiate. Pulling off a rather impressive cartwheel in the closing laps, he said his car was ‘a little difficult to drive’. The 1:12 World Champion also had some issues at the table top. With new carpet having been fitted overnight to the face of the up ramp, he said this has changed how his buggy jumps it throw the front end of his B-Max 4 more upwards into the air. For Q2 he will make some little adjustment to his set-up to try make his buggy easier to drive.
‘Very lucky’ was how Martin summed up his run to the third fastest time. On his first landing after the start of the heat, British ace said his buggy made a strange noise indicating the spur gear was about to let go. Driving with a very light throttle finger he was able to nurse it to the finish benefiting from crashes by his rivals to go from running a 7th quickest pace to claiming third. Highlighting how lucky he was, on crossing the finish line he gave maximum throttle resultling instantly in the spur gear stripping.
Setting the fourth fastest time Hupo Honigl said his Team C felt broken adding it ‘drives terrible’. The Austrian said the problem is how it deals with the landings something he believes is due to the asphalt surface under the carpet. Just trying ‘to keep it on its wheel’ he said he was ‘far away from trying to go fast’. For Q2 he plans to make some major set-up changes.
Neumann said he threw away the round with his mistakes on the last two laps. Describing his Durango DEX410 as ‘for sure better than yesterday’, the German said the buggy is ‘not so easy to drive’. struggling with a loose rear end he will trying cut extra oins from from his front tyres for Q2.
‘So So’ was how Team Xray’s Miguel Matias summed up his run to the 6th fastest time ahead of team-mate Renaud Savoya. The Portuguese driver said he had to drive with great caution as his XB4 was very edgy to drive. For Q2 he will ‘loosen up the car’.
Savoya said what he already finds to be a twitchy class for him was even more twitchy due to being on fresh tyres. Describing 7th as an ‘OK’ run, the French driver for the last three laps his XB4 was pretty good although he did loose time trying to avoid hampering Neumann. Planning to leave his buggy set-up as is for his second qualifier he said with used tyres he is very confident.
Kyosho’s David Ronnefalk would post the 8th fastest time followed by fellow Swede Oskar Levin, who said the result was better than how the run felt, while Xray’s Ales Bayer completed the Top 10.
4WD Buggy Q1 times
1. Martin Bayer – Xray – 13/5:08.617
2. Naoto Matsukura – Yokomo – 13/5:10.760
3. Lee Martin – Yokomo – 13/5:11.380
4. Hupo Hönigl – Team C – 13/5:13.206
5. Joern Neumann – Durango – 13/5:14.718
6. Miguel Matias – Xray – 13/5:16.295
7. Renaud Savoya – Xray – 13/5:16.851
8. David Ronnefalk – Kyosho – 13/5:18.929
9. Oskar Levin – Team C – 13/5:19.740
10.Ales Bayer – Xray – 13/5:20.688
View the complete event results here.
View our event image gallery here.
