Orlowski masters difficult conditions to take A1

With the sun now shining and the track conditions improving slightly over yesterday, it was Michal Orlowski who won A1 of the Euro Offroad Series here at the Arena33, taking full advantage of his pole position to win by a large margin. Behind it was Joona Haatanen who came through from 5th on the grid to take the runner up spot with Bruno Coelho falling back to 3rd. Fourth place would go to former champion Jorn Neumann who had a nice battle with eventual 5th place finisher Daniel Kobbevik with Paul Crompton who had a terrible first lap, recovered to complete the top 6. Asked about his run Orlowski said ‘the track is developing some dry spots’ which the Polish teenager confirmed in marshalling following his main, using the opportunity to inspect the track surface. With the now drying track, the Schumacher driver will switch back to his Cougar Laydown for A2 ‘so there is lots of work to do’, ending by saying ‘I’m glad I got the win, it makes my life easier in the next one’.

Young Finnish star Haatanen put in a master class of steady driving as he took his Associated buggy through the carnage to take a well deserved 2nd place, albeit some 5 seconds back on Orlowski. Changing to a softer rear shock oil he said it felt better that run but they are still looking for some grip summing up his run by saying ‘finally I had some pace compared to Michal and Bruno’.

Bruno Coelho described his run as just ‘ok’ having benefitted from the crash at the start between van Helmond and Crompton. Directly after he was able to run with Michal but admitted that was only because he was making lots of small mistakes and once the Polish driver got his head down he was able to pull away. Running in 2nd for most of the race, a mistake on the right side of the track saw the Xray driver get caught on a pipe which allowed Haatanen through to 2nd. For A2 he will make some changes to the car to try to make more traction.

Taking 4th place, Schumacher driver Jorn Neumann said that his race had started very badly having crashed on the first lap, losing about 1.5 seconds. Recovering from that earlier problem and with the top 3 already so far ahead he was pleased to have a good fight with Xray driver Daniel Kobbevik in the latter stages, the young Norwegian even make a solid attempt on the last lap but the German was able to hold on for 4th, something Jorn said ‘was good considering the tough conditions’. With Kobbevik in 5th, Crompton took a disappointed 6th, with Xray trio of Martin Bayer, Hupo Honigl and Max Gotzl covering 7th to 9th while Wesley van Helmond brought up the rear of the field.

View the complete event results here.

View our event image gallery here.

2wd grid complete for EOS Rd5

While it was Michal Orlowski who made it a clean sweep of qualifying in 2wd at the EOS in Germany, behind the Schumacher driver it was Paul Crompton who will start just behind the reigning champion. The Yokomo driver had to rely on his Q1 and Q2 results, having had a challenging end to qualifying. Starting just behind the Britain will be Wesley van Helmond, who again took 2nd for the round but lost out on tie break to Crompton. Bruno Coelho will start tomorrow’s triple A-mains from 4th on the grid with Joona Haatanen completing the top half of the grid.

View the complete event results here.

View our event image gallery here.

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.

Q2 Update

Round 2 of qualifying in the 2wd class here in Andernach saw a repeat of the top 5 seen in round 1, as Michal Orlowski once again took the top spot. Running a faster time by over a second than his Q1 time despite a costly crash, the Polish driver’s advantage over 2nd placed Paul Crompton increased to over 6 seconds as the Yokomo driver was again able to get the better of 3rd placed Wesley van Helmond by less than a second. The Dutch Schumacher driver ran the fastest lap of the heat but made a costly 4 second error in the middle stage of the race meaning he couldn’t take advantage of his pace. Bruno Coelho had a number of messy laps and ended up 4th with Jorn Neumann once again completing the top 5 for the round.

View the complete event results here.

View our event image gallery here.

Opening Qualifier goes to Orlowski

The opening round of qualifying in 2wd at the Arena33 in Andernach has gone to Michal Orlowski, although the reigning champion had to work hard for it. Paul Crompton would take 2nd in what were very difficult conditions, just ahead of Wesley van Helmond, Bruno Coelho with Jorn Neumann completing the top 5. ‘That was exhausting’ replied Orlowksi when asked how his run was, referring to the very low grip which the Polish driver felt was ‘way lower than expected’. Having to drive on ‘top of your game’ to avoid any mistakes he felt his car was having small moments at all times during the run. Continuing to use the laydown gearbox despite the stand up version proving it is better in these conditions Michal will discuss whether to switch with his crew and perhaps prep two cars and try the other version in the warmup of the next heat.

Paul Crompton put in a very solid run to take the 2nd spot some 3 seconds back on first, the Yokomo driver saying his car ‘is pretty good when its loose, it seems to have a little more grip than the others’. A driver that is more accustomed to these type of conditions he said that their Nationals last week was even more wet and slippery than here so the track actually feels pretty good to him ‘but maybe I’m more used to it’.

Third for the round went to Dutch driver Wesley van Helmond, the Schumacher racer leading the heat for a time but having one mistake on the last lap. Taking to the wet astro surface, Wesley joked that ‘we only drive in the Netherlands in these conditions’, before saying that he is always practicing on his local track in the rain. Feeling that the track won’t dry up today he expects it to get even slower but rather than chase the track conditions with setup he will just put on a new set of Schumacher tires for Q2.

Bruno Coelho had a bad start to Q1, rolling on the first lap which lost him some time but overall was content with the run. Very loose at the start, after a few laps the car and tires came in and it was considerably better to drive. The Xray driver says he will try to make the car more easy to drive for Q2 and aim to be more careful at the beginning of the run. Jorn Neumann would take 5th ahead of Joona Haatanen, Daniel Kobbevik, Hupo Honigl and Martin Bayer, with Marcel Schneider completing the top 10.

View the complete event results here.

View our event image gallery here.