Q3 Update – Another TQ for Orlowski

The third round of 2WD qualifying at the EOS Season opener saw the duel between Michal Orlowski and Lee Martin continue with the duo again having the edge over the field at the Nurburgring. With a TQ run a piece going into the penultimate qualifier, it was Orlowski who was first to double up as the Schumacher driver laid down the fastest 5-minute time of the day joining Martin as the only drivers to complete 19-laps. Setting the fastest lap of Q3, Martin’s Yokomo would end up almost 5-seconds off the TQ pace after a costly 19-second last lap from the British driver.  Producing his best run so far Joona Haatanen would complete the Top 3 as the best of the drivers to run 18-laps.  Behind the Associated driver Jörn Neumann, Neil Cragg and Daniel Kobbevik completed the Top 6.

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Martin takes Q2 ahead of Orlowski

Lee Martin has topped the second round of qualifying at the Euro Offroad Series season opener at the Nurburgring.  After a close 2nd behind Michal Orlowski in Q1, the Yokomo driver got the better of the reigning champion the second time round becoming the first driver to do 19-laps of the short tight track.  Behind, Vice-Champion Neil Cragg improved on his opening attempt to set the third fastest time in front of the Xray’s of Daniel Kobbevik and Bruno Coelho with Jörn Neumann completing the Top 6.

‘That was better’ was Martin’s reaction to his TQ run.  The EOS’ second most successful 2WD racer with 5 wins & 5 TQs to his credit, he continued, ‘Me and Michal are pretty close. We both made a small mistake on the same lap. It was a car race’.  Having reported his shocks pressurised in Q1, he said, ‘my car felt much better this time.  We just redone the shocks but we also found the front bulkhead was cracked and it was effecting things so we changed it.  The car feels both consistent and fast’.

Orlowski said, ‘I started out quite fast because I was on second run tyres but then I had an error on the double and rolled over and lost 1-second’.  Winner of three races on the way to his title last season, he continued, ‘After this I was on the back foot and Lee had closed on me. In traffic the gap went up and down but on the last lap I knew I had to push hard but made a mistake in the middle of the track.  2nd is still good and I now have a tyre gain so I’m happy to take it’.

Describing his P3 run, Cragg said, ‘It was a steady run. No heroics’.  Coming away with a P6 for Q1, on that the Team Associated driver said, ‘the first one was terrible. Everyone had a terrible first one.  It’s tough out there.  The track is too small for 11 cars’.  A driver who made the break through onto the EOS’ winners roll of honour last season, on his car’s performance he said, ‘we still need to find a couple of tenths.  It is not as supple as last year.  It’s fast but no good enough to win at the moment and we are here to win.  He concluded, ‘I might as well get this excuse out there now while I’m at it but this is also my first time back on carpet for a few months’.

A podium finisher last season, Kobbevik was pleased with his fourth for the round especially after a tough start to qualifying.  The Norwegian said, ‘I had a big mistake on the first lap in Q1 and the rear spring cup came off.  This time I had just a few small mistakes and otherwise it was a smooth run.  This run I was surprised I had no traffic’.  On his Xray XB2C, he said, ‘the car was pretty good after first practice so we have done nothing to it.’

Having crashed out in Q1 thus having to start at the back of the 11 car field, Coelho said, ‘I had a bad start with traffic’.  The newly crowned Touring Car World Champion added, ‘The track is very small and it is easy to make a mistake. There were two guys ahead of me and they both made mistakes which cost me more time. I had one mistake at the end myself but the rest of the race the issue was traffic.’

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Orlowski takes opening EOS qualifier at Nurburgring

With the Euro Offroad Series back at the legendary full size Nurburgring venue as part of the Blancpain GT Series weekend, Season #8 of the Euro Offroad Series is underway with the opening round of qualifying in Germany going to defending champion Michal Orlowski.  The Schumacher driver topped the 2WD times from Yokomo’s Lee Martin despite a messy final minute of qualifying from the Pole who suffered 3-mistakes around the short and tight 16-second lap times track.  Managing to almost equal his fastest lap of the 5-minutes on his final lap Orlowski would just pip Martin for the TQ by 0.156 of a second.  Behind, Martin Bayer would complete the Top 3 for Xray with team-mate Bruno Coelho breaking a link on his car in the stages of the qualifying while on target for a Top 3 run.  Joern Neumann opened the weekend with a P4 run ahead of Team Associated’s Joona Hataanen and former Nurburgring Top Qualifier Neil Cragg.

‘Until the 4-minute mark it was an almost perfect run’, was how Orlowski summed up the first of his four scheduled qualifiers.  He continued, ‘I hit traffic and started doing mistakes.  I lost 6-seconds because I crashed 3 times but I was able to come back on the last lap.  The lap time is so short, traffic is a big problem’.  Asked his thoughts on the track layout, he replied, ‘I like it. It has a nice flow. It’s not too difficult, it’s not too easy but there is not enough space for everyone’.  In terms of his car, the World Championship Top Qualifier said, ‘We weren’t on the pace in practice but we made a few changes for Q1 and they were really really good so now we will work on our tyre strategy as last year and go from there’.

Commenting on his opening run, Martin said, ‘I didn’t drive great. I just kind of tensed up.  When Bruno crashed I took my eye off the car and I crashed’.  Top seed after practice, he added, ‘I couldn’t see who I was racing with’.  Pleased with the performance of his car, the British driver said, ‘we did a lot of work with the car over the Summer and the corner speed is really good now’.  More specific on the opening qualifier he added, ‘the shocks pressured up, because it’s hot down here (the track located in the Ring Boulevard’s events hall) but I’ll get Shin (Adachi) to fix that for Q2’.  Martin also felt the car is getting very hot and added he will ‘put more fans in’ for the next one’.  On the track layout, he said, ‘It’s tight and technical but I don’t mind it’.

‘Quite hectic’ was Bayer’s view on Q1.  3rd overall in last year’s EOS standings, he continued, ‘everybody crashed a lot and nobody knew who is who. Still I arrived with 3rd which is a good start but the traffic is very difficult.  The size of the track suits 8 drivers not 10 or 11’.  Officially debuting Xray’s new carpet edition buggy, he said it all appeared to be working well and the big challenge for now was readjusting his driving back to carpet after a busy season of outdoor racing over the Summer.

Neumann’s reaction to his P4 time was, ‘it was ok. Not super fast but consistent’.  The Schumacher driver said they made a series of changes to the car for Q1 but he planned to go back to what he had run in practice, describing the car as ‘more lazy now’.  Commenting on the track, he said, ‘It’s so so.  It small and it is slow and maybe it has too many jumps. It has lots of rollers and there is no need (for them)’.

‘Not too bad, the only problem was my own mistakes’ was Haatanen’s thoughts on the first qualifier.  The Finn continued, ‘at the end I was looking good for second but crashed at the double at the end of the straight away and it cost me second place but overall it was a pretty good first run given the last time I raced on carpet was at the last EOS’.  On his car he said, ‘it is ok just the driver needs to be better but I will change the set-up a little for Q2 for smoother landings’. Regarding the track, the 15-year-old said, ‘It’s small. I don’t like that there are 11 cars in the heat. Guys wont give room so it kind of sucks’.

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