May 17, 2019

Pole position at EOS Andernach goes to Michal Orlowski

Michal Orlowski has sealed the TQ spot here in Germany for the 5th round of the Euro Offroad Series, as he once again topped the timing sheets in the third round of qualifying putting the pole position of the reach of his competitors. His Schumacher team mate Wesley van Helmond managed a clean run to take 2nd for the round some 2 seconds back and only 1 second ahead of Joona Haatanen with Xray team mates Bruno Coelho and Hupo Honigl in 4th and 5th respectively. Orlowski said after that it ‘was very tough with the track changing every run’, continuing ‘the first laps of every run we have to learn the track again’. Admitting to making a number of mistakes, the reigning Champion switched over to the stand up transmission in Q2 and has been happier since. Planning to keep the car the same for Q4 as well as continuing with the same tires since the start of qualifying, he is aiming for less mistakes despite what he believes will be lower traction in Q4, set to take place just as it will get dark here in Andernach.

Taking 2nd for the round to put him in contention for 2nd on the grid with Paul Crompton, Wesley van Helmond said the run was the ‘same as the first, with no mistake’. Feeling that the traction is getting worse and therefore the track getting slower he said ‘I like it, the slower the track the better’. Aiming to make some changes to the car to go for the TQ in the last round he wants to get ahead of Crompton but needs a faster time which will be a difficult task as the track continues to cool down.

Joona Haatanen was 3rd in Q3, the Finnish teenager claiming things were going ‘much better, but not yet good enough’. Having changed the rotor in his Reedy motor prior to Q2, the Associated team driver said that it was a good choice however they are still missing the traction, both forward and side bite, with the car getting sideways out of the corners. Feeling optimistic he summed up everything, saying ‘it’s getting better each round, we will try to figure out something’.

Bruno Coelho was disappointed to have only gotten 4th for the round, saying ‘the car is difficult, I am making too many mistakes’. Also feeling the track is getting slower with each run as traction drops further, he has tried many different things ‘but nothing seems to work’. 5th for the round was Hupo Honigl, the former race winner edging out Paul Crompton who ended the penultimate round of qualifying back in 6th.

View the complete event results here.

View our event image gallery here.



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