4WD victory for Orlowski at EOS Daun

Michal Orlowski has taken the overall 4WD victory at Round 2 of the Euro Offroad Series in Germany.  The Schumacher driver claimed only his second ever 4WD win when he once again took advantage of a mistake from Top Qualifier Bruno Coelho in the second of the A-Main encounters. Taking the win from Coelho in A1 following a late mistake from the reigning champion, this time the mistake came on the opening lap allowing Orlowski to lead at the end of the first lap, a lead he wouldn’t relinquish despite Coelho’s best efforts.  Posting the fastest lap of the race by 3/10th over Orlowski’s best, three more errors from Coelho prevented him from catching his rival.  With the large track at the new venue seeing no one manufacturer having a distinct advantage, like the result in 2WD, the podium was made up of drivers representing all different manufacturers with Yokomo’s Lee Martin filling the final step in Daun.

‘No words’, was Orlowski’s reaction to what is his fifth EOS win, three of which the reigning 2WD Champion took in 2WD.  He continued, ‘I was fast all weekend but qualifying didn’t start like I wanted and I was worried I might not even make the A-Main.  I got my confidence this morning (final two qualifiers) and my strategy for the final was to just stay behind Bruno.  I remembered from Warsaw (last season) that he can make mistakes’.  Orlowski’s maiden 4WD win came at his home race in 2016 when he also started behind Coelho who had taken the TQ but made mistakes in the finals.  Running a prototype CAT, the 16-year-old said, ‘using 3D printed parts with the big jumps here was risky but the car worked all weekend.  I am so happy to show the car works and to win after 2WD being so close is great.  It was almost a double, maybe next time’.

Finally managing a win in A3, Coelho summed up his 4WD performance, ‘the track was quite difficult this weekend and we struggled a little with the car.  Yes I made many mistakes but these came from how the car was.  All the time I was forcing to be on the top and pushing led to mistakes that cost me many seconds on the track.  Orlowski was one step higher than both me and Lee (Martin) here. Our car was not on point this weekend and we need to work harder for the next one’.  Retaining his lead in the championship standings, on his A3 performance, having lost the lead in A1 and A2 through mistakes, he said, ‘it was a good final. I made no mistakes.  Lee forced a little but I was able to pull away’.

‘That was the most fun race I had all weekend’, said Martin on finishing 2nd in A3 to secure his first podium of the season.  The former Champion continued, ‘I was just starting to catch Bruno a little and then messed up in the triple.  I took too long to get going at the start so that let him get away and he drove well out front but I’m still happy because I think we now have a good set-up for the next round’.  Summing up the weekend, he said, ‘Obviously I want to win but I’m happy get back onto the podium having missed it at the last round.  The car is still new and it only the 4th time to race it on carpet so we are learning all the time’. Behind Martin and also having his best race in A3, David Ronnefalk would finish 4th ahead of Hupo Honigl and Joern Nuemann.

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Orlowski wins opening 4WD A-Main

Michal Orlowski has won the opening A-Main of 4WD at Euro Offroad Series in Daun.  Starting from second on the grid the Schumacher driver went to the front following a mistake from Top Qualifier Bruno Coelho in the final 2-minutes of the race.  Holding a comfortable 1-second advantage over Orlowski, entering the wall section Coelho’s Xray would get stuck in the corner allowing the Schumacher driver to go through and come out with a 1-second advantage.  Coelho would try to chase down the Pole but made a number of mistakes in the process allowing Orlowski to cross the finish line 1.5-second clear.  In a distant third Lee Martin would complete the Top 3, team-mate Marc Rheinard, who started ahead of him, dropping down the order after an error on the opening lap eventually finishing 10th.

Summing up A1 Orlowski said, ‘It started not so good as I had a couple of mistakes at the beginning but we still had a big gap on third.  I was 1-second behind trying to keep up with Bruno and then he made a mistake at the end of the straight.  I tried to keep the gap to him but he made a few mistakes so in the last few laps I could take it easy and get to the finish’.  Having planned to be patient behind Coelho going into A1, asked about A2 Orlowski said, ‘I will do the same strategy and do my best and see what happens’.

Coelho said, ‘It started really good but then I touched the barrier and let Orlowski go by.  Having just laid down the fastest lap of the race the lap prior to his mistake he said, ‘I pushed really hard but wasn’t able to catch Orlowski.  For the next one I will try to put in a clean race’.

‘A solitary, lonely 3rd place’, was how Martin summed up his race.  Finishing over 4.6-second off the winner, the Yokomo driver continued, ‘I was faster than guys behind me a little bit and slower than the guys ahead a little bit.  I need to find more speed’.  Asked what changes he planned for this the former Champion replied, ‘I will tweak something but haven’t decided what yet’.

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Coelho 4WD Top Qualifier at EOS Daun

Bruno Coelho is Top Qualifier for the second round of the Euro Offroad Series in Germany, the Xray driver return to his dominant 4WD form after a difficult 2WD race at the new Sporthotel & Resort Grafenwald venue.  Winner of the season from the TQ, the reigning champion clinched his 12th EOS career TQ when he made it three from three in the third round of qualifying with Michal Orlowski once again his closest rival.  Topping the fourth & final qualifier, Orlowski will start second with Marc Rheinard making it three different manufacturers at the front of the grid ahead of his Yokomo team-mate Lee Martin with Hupo Honigl completing the top half of the grid.

Commenting on the Q3 run than put the TQ beyond the reach of his rivals, Coelho said, ‘I was able to make no mistakes that time, the only trouble I had was contact with other drivers’.  Finishing only 10th in 2WD having dominated the season opener in Poland, he continued, ‘Its not easy here because the car is not perfect like the last races so we are still working to improve the car’.  Popping a camber link off his XB4 in Q4, he added, ‘this track is about no mistakes so I will just try to start clean.  Orlowski is going to make a lot of pressure in the final so it will be a difficult race for sure.  Until now though things are going much better than in 2WD but I don’t know how it will finish’.

Again missing out on the TQ as he did in 2WD to Neil Cragg, on his Q4 run Orlowski said, ‘It started off good. I was new tyres and had a big mistake at the hairpin but got marshalled pretty quick.  I pushed to get back to the front and when Bruno broke I just kept doing my laps’.  On the finals, the Polish teenager said, ‘I am going to use the same car, the same set-up.  I will try to make no mistakes and be patient behind Bruno and I hope for the best. I know I am quick’.

Taking a somewhat surprise 3rd on the grid thanks to a second in the final qualifier, Rheinard said, ‘All my qualifiers were good. I was on new tyres for the last one so it was twitchy. I had some bad laps at the beginning but towards the end I was pretty quick’.  Asked his thoughts on the track, the 4 time Onroad World Champion back here in the same venue for next weekend’s Euro Touring Series second round, he said, ‘It challenging but it has some nice jump combinations. The one after the wall is tough.’  On the finals the German said, ‘everyone is doing mistakes so its going to be interesting finals, hectic for sure’.

Demoted to 4th by Rheinard after a tough final qualifier, Martin said, ‘I just crashed too much’.  The former champion continued, ‘the finals are going to be just mayhem’.  The Brit said ‘I’m feeling groggy today’, concluding, ‘I’m just going to drive around and see how it goes’.

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Coelho doubles up in Q2

Bruno Coelho has capped off what started out as a tough day in 2WD by ending Day 2 of the Euro Offroad Series in Germany with a second TQ run in 4WD.  Having taken the opening qualifier, Coelho looked to have thrown away Q2 with a costly 5-second mistake in the second minute.  This allowed David Ronnefalk to go top of the timing screens but the he too would get caught out by the challenging Daun track.  Top seed Michal Orlowski then took a turn as the TQ pace setter but he couldn’t complete the run without a mistake allowing a hard charging Coelho to get back to the front to finish 3/10th up on the Schumacher driver.  Having failed to start Q1, Marc Rheinard would complete the Top 3, with his Yokomo team-mate Lee Martin having a tough second run and ending up P7.  Retiring from Q1, Ronnefalk would stop clock with the fourth fastest time ahead of Hupo Honigl and youngster Daniel Kobbevik.

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Coelho back in business as 4WD qualifying gets underway

After a disastrous result in 2WD, coming into the weekend as points leader but finishing up 10th, Bruno Coelho is back in business as Round 2 of the Euro Offroad Series switched to 4WD with the Xray driver taking the opening qualifier. Second fastest in seeding the reigning champion would top the times from Lee Martin and Hupo Honigl with a number of drivers hitting problems in the first of the four qualifiers.  Having just secured his first EOS win earlier in the evening, Neil Cragg was on a TQ pace in the second fastest heat when he took a corner off his car.  At the start of the top heat, Marc Rheinard never left the line due to a dead speedo, while David Ronnefalk suffered a thermal shut down and Michal Orlowski lost drive with a minute to go while in the mix for the TQ.

‘I’m actually surprised because I had so many small mistakes trying to get used to 4WD again after 2WD’, was Coelho’s reaction to his TQ.  Top Qualifier and winner of the season opener, he continued, ‘for sure it’s a good start after how 2WD went but the car is not perfect. It is very difficult to drive and I think Orlowski is faster.  We will work on it for the next one to get it better’.

Summing up his opening run to the second fastest time Martin was frank with his thoughts saying, ‘It felt like an animal.  The front tyres are still shit, they are still not a stagger. The cars are super twitchy to drive and it always wants to go up on two wheels’.  The Season #4 Champion continued, ‘A 2nd is good but I don’t think anyone is racing the track, they are just trying not to crash’.

Honigl was happy with his P3 saying, ‘I knew there was going to be a lot crashes so I just tried to get my head down and make no mistakes.  When I got into my rhythm I was able to push and still with no mistakes so I’m really happy’.  Asked about the switch from 2WD to 4WD, he said, ‘My car (4WD) is really easy to drive. I set it up to be easy instead of fast in practice’.

Posting the fourth fastest time, Honigl’s team-mate Martin Bayer described his XB4 as ‘edgy’ adding ‘sometimes it was on two wheels’.  Fresh from finishing on the podium in 2WD, he said, ‘I saw others making mistakes so I drove slow and made no mistakes’.  On his car he said while it was ‘quick in the corners’ it was ‘too difficult to drive’ and he will make changes for Q2 to make it easier.  Behind Bayer, young team-mate and Round 1 podium finisher Daniel Kobbevik would post the 5th fastest time.

Completing the Top 6, Joern Neumann described his run as ‘OK’.  The new Schumacher signing said, ‘I need to get used to 4WD again.  2WD you can push hard but in 4WD you have to be careful because you have so much steering’.  He added, ‘I was good towards the end (of the heat) so the next one should be better’.

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Cragg gets his first EOS win

Neil Cragg finally got his first win of the Euro Offroad Series, the Team Associated driver taking the TQ and win at Round 2 in Daun, Germany.  Winning the opening A-Main from reigning champion Michal Orlowski with that result reversed in A2, the pair would go into the final encounter battling for the overall win.  Cragg would lead early from Orlowski but in the same spot where he gave up the lead in A2, Cragg together with Orlowski would roll delaying third placed Lee Martin and allowing Martin Bayer to go to the front.  Coming under pressure from Martin before a mistake from the former Champion and then an all or nothing last lap from Orlowski, Bayer would hold on for the win denying Orlowski the overall win.  Bayer’s second podium of the season, the Xray driver will leave Germany as the new championship points leader while team-mate and Round 1 winner Bruno Coelho leaves with a 10th place, a result he will be hoping is his season throw out.

‘I’m super happy, I have never been close to winning one before’, was how Cragg summed up his first EOS win, the British driver now in his third season of the EOS.  He continued, ‘I have to thank Associated and CML for this (win).  I was off the pace the last one but since then they have worked really hard so thanks a lot for that’.  On A3 he said, ‘they were all over me at the start but I was still feeling comfortable.  Michal crashed at the jump but within half a second I crashed too. Idiot.  I knew Michal had to win because I had the faster time so I was hoping Lee and Martin would stay in front.  A big thanks to Lee Roy and Bayer for helping with the win. I was a little lucky but you make your own luck’.

‘It was close but I made a mistake at the famous table top’, was Orlowski’s reaction after the race.  The Polish driver continued, ‘I knew I had to win and did my best and almost got it. Neil deserved to win this weekend’.  On his battle with Bayer for the lead, he said, ‘Bayer controlled the race well and I was hoping he would crash. I needed one more lap to pass him. Still, second is a better result than Warsaw’.

A very happy Bayer described his A3 win as ‘excellent’.  The Czech driver said, ‘I was lucky they crashed but there was huge pressure to hold them behind me.  I knew they both had nothing to lose.  Lee needed to pass me to make the podium and so did Michal to get the win.  They forced maximum and holding them behind was really difficult, I am extremely happy for this’.  On hearing he now leads the championship standings, he said, ‘It sounds awesome, it’s just great. 2 races and 2 podiums, I’m really happy with this’.

Discovering his Yokomo had a broken hinge pin after A2, Lee Martin said with a new one fitted for A3 his car was ‘really good’.  Getting caught up with Cragg when his fellow countryman rolled out of the lead, he said, ‘I was super unlucky when me and Neil got together which let Bayer into the lead.  He drove a pretty good race and unless he made a mistake there was nowhere to pass’.  Dropping behind Orlowski after a mistake on his last lap, Martin concluded, ‘It has been a very unlucky weekend so far’.

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