Neumann tops 4WD seeding at EOS

Defending champion Joern Neumann will be the top seed for Sunday’s 4WD action at Round 2 of Euro Offroad Series with the German topping timed practice from 2WD top seed Lee Martin who also set the early 4WD pace.  Fastest in the first timed practice Neumann further improved his 3-consecutive lap pace in the closing round as did Martin, the pair separated by just 0.047 of a second.  Making his EOS debut for Team C, Robert Batlle completed a good first day as he backed up his 3rd in 2WD practice also with a Top 3 in 4WD.

Running this weekend as a privateer in terms of chassis, Neumann opted to run the last practice with a used set of tyres joking he ‘didn’t want to have to pay for another new set’.  Instead adjusting his Durango by moving the shocks in a hole on the arm so as to increase steering he said the car worked as expected.  Set to go back out with the shock position for Q1, as he will have new tyres, he said he is confident that the fresh tyres will further improve the car.  Happy with his 4WD he said with the Berlin event now switching back to 2WD, tomorrow being made up of four qualifiers and triple finals, he said he hopes he can turn things around saying most of his problems was down to poor driving.

‘Always trust in Shin (Adachi)’ was how Martin summed up his final practice.  Having made many changes to his B-Max 4, he said they reverted back to the first set-up the ran and the car was really good allowing to him to improve his time by 3/10th between the two rounds.  Describing the car’s set-up as ‘pretty close now’, the Yokomo lead driver said the plan for Round 1 of qualifying is to ‘just charge the batteries’.

Also moving the front shock in one position on the arm, Batlle said he found the steering he was looking for although for the first few laps the car was a little tricky to drive. Happy with his day, the Spaniard plans to go up in the diffs oils in preparation for the first qualifier.

Ending up the highest seeded driver not to improve on his opening time, Martin Bayer still declared himself quite happy with how practice had gone.  The Xray driver said his pace was effected by his tyres which he was running for a third time but having improved the car’s steering with a front shock position and removing the sway bar the Czech driver thinks on new tyres all will be good for qualifying.

Fifth fastest Hupo Honigl said he ‘tried to push too hard all day’ and he ‘need(s) to calm down’.  Also suffering from a head cold, the new Serpent signing said his Durango set-up is good and the improvement needs to come from him.

Completing the Top 6 ahead of Martin Wollanka and fellow Swede Oskar Levin, HB’s David Ronnefalk was pleased with his performance.  Running behind Neumann for the start of the run he said he was happy that he was able to run with the champion. Losing contact with the German after a mistake at the double half way through the 5-minutes he said with 3-fast laps to his credit he used the rest of the run to see how hard he could push resulting in the 18-second lap time.  Running on new tyres he said he was surprised at how comfortable his D413 was and having some quick drivers to follow for the first qualifier he was pleased with his start to the weekend.

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