Martin sets early pace in Berlin

Round 2 of the Euro Offroad Series takes place in Berlin this weekend with Yokomo’s Lee Martin setting the early practice pace in the German capital.  At the end of the three rounds of free practice, the British driver topped the times for fastest 3-consecutive laps with his new YZ-2.  Behind it was Martin Bayer, debuting Xray’s new XB2, who was closest 3/10ths off with new HB signing David Ronnefalk completing the Top 3.

Asked about the new car, Martin said he hasn’t done much in terms of set-up changes other than tweak the steering as the Shin Adachi built buggy has felt good from the first run.  With the original track causing some drivers issues at the crossover, organisers decided to remove it after the first round of practice with Martin endorsing the decision say ‘the track is better now without the crossover’.  With this weekend being the first time that racers are running pre-glued sets of the championship’s handout Schumacher tyres, the Vice World Champion said their big focus for now is to see how the cars changes with the amount of wear on the tyres.

Having only got his all new 2WD kit on Tuesday night and had just one day of practice with the car at the Hudy Arena, Bayer said they are still finding their way with how changes effect the car.  Having contested the previous EOS encounters with the XB4-2, which was based on their success 4WD platform, the Czech driver said the new purpose built 2WD chassis ‘feels fast’ and while it is still ‘early days’ he is ‘happy so far’.

Due to HB not yet having a 2WD buggy, Ronnefalk is running the same Team C buggy that he used earlier in the month to win the DHI Cup from Joern Nuemann and Michal Orlowski.  The Swede said while the EOS track has a little less traction than the DHI he is running the car unchanged and the first time he will touch the car is for the first timed practice for which he will rebuild the geardiff.  Like Martin, he also thinks the removal of the crossover has improved the track and while ‘not super difficult to drive’ he feels is going to make for good racing.

Driving the same car, new Team C signing Robert Batlle has been benefiting from Ronnefalk’s input in terms of setting up his TM2V2.  Having prepared for his first EOS outing of Season #4 at his highly impressive looking RBR36 Arena in Barcelona, the former 1:8 World Champion said while it seemed like a good plan at the time the difference between his astro turf and the carpet being used this weekend is ‘huge’.  Changing the car set-up completely over the 3-runs he said he is pleased with how it is now running and having run the same set of used tyres all morning he is confident of further improvement when he fits a brand new set for timed practice.

Switching between a Team C and Yokomo’s new YZ-2, Neumann said there was little between the two cars and it was his driving that was his biggest issue. Describing his early performance as ‘medium’, the championships most winning driver said ‘(I) didn’t drive very well’.  Planning to run the Yokomo in the first timed practice he will then decide which of the two options he will run for the rest of the event.  On the track layout, the German said it was ‘not my favourite EOS layout’ adding it ‘does not have a good flow’.

Making his first EOS appearance with new team Serpent, Hupo Honigl said overall his SRX-2 MM feels good but he needs more steering.  Although he got to run Serpent at last weeks Reedy Race of Champions in California, the Austrian said its difficult to come to the EOS with a new car and no practice.  Despite this, the former 2WD race winner, who threw away a potential second EOS win in Berlin last year, is confident that he can have a competitive car for qualifying and racing.

Another new car debuting this weekend is Schumacher’s new Cougar KF2.  Having only got his new car in kit form last night, the British manufacturer’s young star Michal Orlowski is very positive about his new chassis.  Suffering electric problems in the opening practice and not happy with the front end handling in the second, the 13-year-old said set-up help from Simon Moss gave him with a really good car for the final free practice with him describing it as easy to drive.  Schumacher designer Phil Booth is also on hand to provide support on the KF2’s debut weekend.

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