Orlowski fastest in practice at EOS Daun (2WD)

Practice for Round 3 of the Euro Offroad Series in Daun, Germany, saw reigning champion Michal Orlowski set the fastest time in controlled practice.  The Schumacher driver set the 2WD pace with his time from the first of the two practices from Lee Martin, the Yokomo driver putting in his best three consecutive laps in the second of the runs.  Young Norwegian star Daniel Kobbevik would complete the Top 3 ahead of Xray team-mate Bruno Coelho. Having claimed his maiden EOS victory at the event last year Neil Cragg was fifth fastest with Associated team-mate and joint championship points leader Joona Haatanen rounding out the Top 6.

Summing up his controlled practice pace, having started the day 4th fastest in the single round of free practice, Orlowski said, ‘It was really good and I’m glad the car works very good now’.  Explaining his fastest time coming in the first controlled round, the Pole said, ‘I moved battery position from back to front between the rounds and preferred how it was before. I will go back to the position it was in the first qualifier’.  Going into the weekend searching his first 2WD win of the season, he concluded, ‘I think I have learned the track already.  The key to the TQ is going to be no mistakes’.

‘Pretty good’, was how Martin described practice.  The British driver added, ‘the car is consistent and the lap times are pretty good but it’s going to be quite difficult being punched on this track for 5-minutes I think. A pipe or ripple in the carpet can catch you out.’  One of a number of drivers who came into the event directly from racing on dirt at the Reedy Race of Champions last weekend in California, he said, ‘It’s a little different from last week but the car is pretty good. We’ll tweak it throughout the day and try make it easier to drive but I think it’s the track that can catch you out especially the double double’.

Describing the track as a ‘cool layout’ and liking its ‘high speed’ flow, Kobbevik said, ‘I’m happy with how it’s going so far. I haven’t raced since the last EOS (Poland back in November).  The car is working well and the only thing I’ve done was change the battery for each run’.  Looking to the first qualifier, all four rounds on today’s schedule, the 14-year-old said, ‘I will leave the car as it is and just try to drive more smooth for the 5-minutes’.

The 2WD winner at Round 2 in Warsaw, Coelho said, ‘Controlled practice didn’t start too good. I hit a board and broke the steering so I missed the first run.  I suffered from missing that track time in the second run and could only make 3 or 4 consecutive laps without mistakes’.  The Portuguese driver added, ‘the car is very good and for the first qualifying I will work on trying to make no mistakes’.  Asked about the track layout, he replied, ‘It is very fast.  The table top is quite difficult to get the landing right but overall I like it (the layout)’.

‘I am really pleased with the 2nd practice’, was how Cragg summed up controlled practice.  The former World Champion continued, ‘we made a few changes to the car after the first one and it was much better’.  He explained, ‘the car was decent before but we did some work on the shocks for the flat landings and that improved it a lot’.  Asked if he planned more changes for Q1 he replied, ‘I’ll probably leave it for the first one and see how it goes’.

Winner of the season opener, claiming his first EOS victory at the Nurburgring back in September, Haatanen said, ‘After the Reedy Race I am just getting used to being back on carpet but I think it’s going not too bad’. The Finn added, ‘the car feels OK so I just need a little more time to learn to drive on carpet again. We are getting there’.

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