Video – Day 1 Round up
Americans dominate first ever EOS qualifier
The Euro Offroad Series’ first ever round of qualifying has been dominated by American drivers with Team Associated’s Ryan Cavalieri topping 4WD in both buggy & Short Course truck while Team Losi Racing’s Dustin Evans reigned over 2WD.
Cavalieri said his TQ run in 4WD Buggy was far from perfect but he was happy to end the opening day of the EOS pilot event at the top of the ranking. Having had no issues with any sections of the track in practice, the 2-time World Champion found himself struggling at the table top in Q1 resulting a number of mistakes. Not planning any changes to his Orion powered B44.1 for the second round of qualifying tomorrow he will instead adapt his line through the section. In Short Course Truck Cavalieri said he just drove his own race aware that his biggest challenger Joern Neumann had made a few mistakes lifting the pressure off him to push his SC10 4X4.
Having struggled with a lack of steering on his Tamiya TRF511X all through practice Lee Martin made a number of set-up changes for Q1 that transformed his buggy. This gave the European Champion a buggy with the potential to run a TQ pace but having been only 10th fastest in timed practice he had to contend with working his way from the back of the field and lost over 2 seconds when he tangled with a group of cars he was trying to pass. In the end the British ace finished 2nd fastest just one second off Cavalieri’s time.
Recording the fastest lap of qualifying with his Losi XXX4 Dustin Evans also experienced problems with traffic and ended up third just ahead of the Team Durango’s Joern Neumann who was the only other driver to record 14 laps.
Former European Champion and current 1:10 Touring Car World Champion Marc Rheinard was fifth fastest ahead of local hot shots Otto Ausfelt and Oskar Levin who are running the same chassis as the factory Tamiya driver. Despite little experience of electric racing Martin Bayer got his event of to an encouraging start by completing the Top 8.
In 2WD Evans headed a Losi TLR22 one-two as 16-year-old Levin showed his practice topping pace was down to talent. Evans who also set the fastest lap for 2WD buggy was full of praise for the local star saying he was an ‘awesome’ driver and he had to work very hard to get passed him only managing in the final laps of the run. Just 7/10th off Evans time, Levin said the run was clean but felt fellow countryman Mikael Johnsson, who ended up 10th fastest, held him up a little.
Cavalieri and Martin set the third & fourth fastest times respectively despite both their cars needing marshaling after crashes. Cavalieri made a mistake four laps into the run but Martin got it wrong on the first lap which cost him 3-seconds. David Ronnefalk was top Kyosho and delighted with his fifth position saying 2WD is not normally that good for him. In 4WD the Swedish teenager endured a tough day but he feels it is more down to him than the car and is hoping tomorrow when the classes are run separately, 2WD and Short Course in the morning followed by 4WD Buggy in the evening, that he will be able challenge for a place in the A-Main.
In 2WD Short Course Evans TQ’d by a convincing margin over the Losi XXX-SCT’s of team-mates Martin Bayer and David Spashett with US female racer Sarah Ernst fourth fastest driving an Associated SC10.
Day 2 of the Euro Offroad Series will see four more rounds of qualifying for drivers with the best 2 of 5 to determine the grids for Sunday’s finals. All drivers will get triple A-Mains.
Full results can be found here.
View the event image gallery here.
Kyosho enter Adachi for EOS pilot event
Kyosho are the latest manufacturer to put their support behind the new ‘Euro Offroad Series’ concept by entering Japanese ace Shin Adachi for the April 1-3 pilot event in Tomelilla, Sweden. The seven time Japanese National off road champion joins a host of top international drivers for the three day indoor clay surface event that will see official factory representation from Team Associated, Losi, Tamiya, Durango and Kyosho.
Responsible for the development of Kyosho’s electric competition cars, Adachi will join a strong local Kyosho squad. Teenagers Mikael Johansson and David Ronnefalk both hold European Junior Off Road titles and are the reigning Swedish national EP champions – Johansson the title holder in 2WD and 15-year-old Ronnefalk the champion in 4WD. Both up & coming talents will be hoping to put their knowledge of the Tomelilla track to good use and make their mark in one weeks time.
The EOS pilot race has attracted a quality entry with 2-time World Champion Ryan Cavalieri, Reedy Race winner Dustin Evans, European Champion Lee Martin, former European champions Marc Rheinard, Hupo Honigl, Jorn Neumann & Peter Pinisch and Petit RC race winner Paul Bradby all making the trip to Sweden. For your chance to be part of history in the making visit the race page where you can find further details on the event and registering your entry.
Cavalieri leads Associated’s challenge at EOS pilot event
Two time World Champion Ryan Cavalieri is to contest the ‘Euro Offroad Series’ pilot race with Team Associated confirming that one of the biggest names in off road racing will travel to Sweden for the April 1-3 event. The 24-year-old reigning 4WD US National Champion will team up with former European Champion Peter Pinisch and Petit RC Race winner Paul Bradby as part of the Team Associated challenge in Tomelilla where they will go head to head with official team entries from Losi, Tamiya and Team Durango. Last week Team Losi Racing confirmed 2011 Reedy International Race of Champions winner Dustin Evans will make the trip from Colorado to contest the indoor clay event. Commenting on the latest big name driver announcement, EOS Race Director Scotty Ernst said:
We are so excited that Team Associated are sending Cavalieri to our pilot event and together with Losi confirming Dustin Evans’ entry it is a massive endorsement for the EOS and what we are trying to create for 1:10 Off Road in Europe. The quality of the entry is going to make for great racing and with most of the top guys also doing Short Course Truck I think we can really showcase this class which back in the US has done great things for our hobby.
In addition to the regular 2WD & 4WD buggy classes, the 3-day schedule will also include Short Course Truck. 2WD Short Course will be restricted to using stock RTR electronics with the speedo & motor choice open in 4WD. One interesting SCT entry is that of three time 1:12 World Champion David Spashett who is now responsible for looking after Losi’s racing affairs in Europe and will attend next month’s event to support team drivers Dustin Evans and Martin Bayer.
The EOS pilot race will set the stage for a full multi round series beginning in November, and already over 170 entries have been received including current European Champion Lee Martin and his Tamiya team-mates Marc Rheinard & Viktor Wilck, Team Durango’s Hupo Honigl & Jorn Neumann and Kyosho’s young Swedish star David Ronnefalk. For your chance to be part of history in the making visit the race page where you can find further details on the event and registering your entry.
TLR confirm Reedy Race winner for ‘Euro Offroad Series’ pilot event
Team Losi Racing have confirmed 2011 Reedy International Race of Champions Invitational winner Dustin Evans will travel over from the US to represent them at the ‘Euro Offroad Series’ pilot race in Sweden which runs from April 1-3. The 25-year-old from Denver, Colorado, is the latest big name driver to join the growing entry list that already includes current European Champion Lee Martin, former champions Marc Rheinard, Hupo Honigl & Jorn Neumann, Petit RC race winner Paul Bradby and young Swedish star David Ronnefalk.
The driver responsible for taking Losi’s all new 22 chassis to victory on its race debut, when he won the Spektrum Offroad Challenge in December, Evans will race both buggy and Short Course at the inaugural EOS event and will be joined at the indoor clay track in Tomelilla by TLR’s European 1:8 Offroad ace Martin Bayer from the Czech Republic.
Also making the trip across the Atlantic for the inaugural EOS event is top US female off road racer Sarah Ernst. The daughter of legendary race announcer Scotty Ernst, Sarah recently enjoyed her biggest accomplishment to-date when she made the 2WD Mod Buggy A-Main at the Spektrum Offroad Challenge and she will be looking to build on that when she makes her European 1:10 debut next month.
The creation of the EOS is the result of over a year of lobbying by a number of top off-road racers to get ‘Euro Touring Series’ founders Uwe Rheinard and Scotty Ernst to bring the profile and fun element of their hugely successful electric touring car series to 1:10 off-road, a category which is enjoying a strong resurgence in Europe. Catering for 2WD & 4WD Buggy and Short Course Truck, the timetable for the 3-day pilot event starts on Friday with open practice and the first round of qualifying followed by five more rounds of qualifying on Saturday which will determine the grids for Sunday’s finals with triple Mains for all competitors.
Entries for the EOS pilot race, that will set the stage for a full multi round series beginning in November, have already passed 160 and for your chance to be part of history in the making visit the race page where you can find further details on the event and registering your entry.
