Coelho wins 4WD at EOS Slovakia

Bruno Coelho has won 4WD at the fourth round of the Euro Offroad Series in Slovakia.  Having concluded the first half of the season last month in Daun with the first win of his campaign, the Xray driver today opened the second half of the season with victory when he wrapped things up in A2.  Similar to A1, Coelho’s only challenger would be Michal Orlowski but this time the Schumacher driver came undone on his own when he got it wrong at the table top on lap 3.  Dropping down the order, he would eventually pull off as team-mate Joern Neumann took advantage of other’s mistakes to finish second, 6-seconds down on Coelho.  With the prospect of a repeat of the double win he took at the Hudy Arena last year gone, Michal would manage to win A3 which would with his P4 from A1 at least see the reigning champion make the podium in 3rd place.  Having to defend greatly finishing A3 in second just ahead of Joona Haatanen and Jörn Neumann, it would be Martin Bayer who would claim the second step on the podium for an Xray 1-2.  Neumann ended the event in 4th position ahead of Haatanen and with Lee Martin completing the Top 6.

Reacting to his A2 win, Coelho said, ‘I had a fight with Orlowski for the first two laps but then he made a mistake at the table top and that gave me space to breath and I pulled away slowly’.  His 10th EOS 4WD career win, moving him to within 1 win off the championship’s most winning driver Neumann, the Season #6 champion was happy with his full points all from today but aired caution about the rest of the championship in terms of battling for the title. ‘We got the win today but time has started to work hard for the next EOS because it is on astro. I have not practiced on astro since the last EOS race last season’.  He continued, ‘I really have little experience of it and last year we struggled so we have a lot to do and need to work on finding a set-up for astro. The season is still open’.  With just a single round on Astro last year at Arena 33 in Germany, host of the next round, this proved tough for Coelho. While he qualified 3rd he came away with 10th in the final.  This year the extended 6 round championship included a trip to ERT Steyregg in Austria for the season finale with this also an astro surface track.

‘A defending race’, was Bayer’s reaction after the closing final.  Missing out on the podium last year having started his home race from the TQ, the Xray designer said, ‘I felt I was not driving like I should but I was defending my starting place and got 2nd overall which is a good result for the the team so I am happy for this’.

Summing up his finals Orlowski said, ‘At least I made the podium. Bruno deserved to win this weekend’.  Last year’s double winner in Xray’s backyard, the Pole continued, ‘the car felt great at the start of 4WD but after Q3 I wasn’t feeling good with it’.  He explained, ‘In A2 I had the same issue as in Q3. I’m not sure if it was the car or me but nothing felt good for me and I made a lot of mistakes. We always knew it was going to be hard to beat Xray at their test track but we are still alive in both Championships and the next round is astro turf which I feel very confident racing on.  Last year Xray struggled. I’m sure they will prepare more this time but I still think we will have a small advantage’.

In the Mod Stadium truck class, Neumann would take both the TQ and win ahead of EOS Daun winner Max Götzl with Joona Haatanen completing the podium.  In the new for Season #8 4WD 10.5 class, the win went to Tim Kunz ahead of Jan Zalewski and 2WD 13.5 class winner Pawel Ntkovca.

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Coelho wins A1 easily after early touch with Orlowski

Bruno Coelho took an easy and comfortable win in the opening A-Main of 4WD at EOS Slovakia, the Xray driver leading his team-mate Martin Bayer, Lee Martin and Michal Orlowski.  Starting from the TQ, the first lap saw a bobble from Coelho who went wide as he got up on two wheels allowing Orlowski to the front but it was short lived. Under pressure from Coelho, the Schumacher driver make a number errors leading to him touching the piping, and trying to get back on to the racing line there was contact with the Pole fairing off worst as his car flipped and needed to be marshalled.  From there, already with gap over the chasing pack, Coelho opened up the lead lap after lap ahead of Daniel Kobbevik until the Norwegian made a mistake with just 3-laps to go.  This allowed Bayer back up to second but he had Martin and a recovering Orlowski right behind.  Orlowski got by Martin but handed it back again with a mistake on the final jump as he attempted a final pass to get by Bayer.

Commenting on his A1 win, Coelho said, ‘On the first lap I got on two wheels and went wide trying to save it and this let Orlowski go by but I came straight back at him and put pressure on him and he started to make a few mistakes.  He touched the pipe and ended up on the outside and I had the inside but for the next corner he would have the inside but he tried to come back on the line and we touched. I think it was just bad luck for him or maybe good luck for me’.  He continued, ‘my car was very good and I did not have to force to make good laps’.  The only driver to run a 21-second lap looking to A2 he said, ‘I’ll try to not let him by this time on the first lap and the car I will leave the same’.

Asked about the contact with Coelho, Orlowski said, ‘the race started good. Bruno made a small mistake and I got by but then I hit the pipe and when I went back to the racing line we touched. It’s always different when you are racing and when you see it from the outside but I think it was OK. I’ll have to watch the video’.  He concluded, ‘I’ll just put new tyres on for the next one and race it again’.

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Coelho Top Qualifier at EOS Slovakia

Bruno Coelho is the 4WD Top Qualifier at the fourth round of the Euro Offroad Series.  The Portuguese driver secured a home pole position for Xray when he topped the final round of qualifying in Slovakia from team-mate Daniel Kobbevik and Lee Martin.  Having not had the best of starts to qualifying with the first two rounds going to Michal Orlowski, Coelho admitted himself that Q4 had gone better than expected as his time gave him the tie break over Orlowski who will start P2.  Behind the duo, whose pace is one level above the rest of the field here at Hudy Arena, last year’s Top Qualifier Martin Bayer will start third ahead of Kobbevik, Martin and Joern Neumann.

Reacting to his Q4 time, which was 1.9-seconds quickest than Orlowski’s best time set in Q2, Coelho said, ‘That was better than expected given I was on new tyres.  As I explained before our car is aggressive on new tyres so I started off very slow and even still I was on two wheels 2 or 3 times.  Michal was making a few mistakes in front so I was catching him and then the car started to get better and better. At the end everything went perfect and we managed the TQ’.  Looking to the finals, the EOS Daun winner said, ‘Orlowski is strong and is going to force a lot. Our pace is similar so I will try to defend my position’.

Commenting on this final qualifier, Orlowski, who won here last year from second on the grid, said, ‘After Q3 we found a small problem on the car with the shock which was probably caused by a crash I had in the warm-up.  With that fixed I went with new tyres. The car didn’t feel as good as yesterday so we will refresh everything for the finals’.  Looking to those finals he continued, ‘I will try to keep up with Bruno and put pressure on him and see how it goes. We are a little quicker than the rest so we should be able to break away which will make it easier to fight for the win’.

Bayer was pleased to be quickest behind Coelho and Orlowski and is confident he can fight to join them on the podium. On Q4 he said, ‘I was breaking in my tyres for the final because for me new tyres are very aggressive’.  A former double winner at his team’s home track, the Czech continued, ‘I feel I have good pace in the second group and I can fight for 3rd. I have the best starting position for that, it will be a good fight’.

Having enjoyed a podium double at the previous EOS encounter in Germany last month, Kobbevik was happy to secure fourth with a strong P2 finish to qualifying.  The Norwegian teenager explained, ‘we made the car more the same as Bruno’s set-up and it was good. Before it was super easy to drive but not fast’.  He concluded, ‘I have a good car for the final and I will try to stay clean as usual’.

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Coelho delivers in Q3 just ahead of Neumann

Bruno Coelho has finally delivered on his top seeding by taking the penultimate round of 4WD at EOS Slovakia but it was far from a perfect heat for the Xray driver.  With Daniel Kobbevik setting the pace, the young Norwegian would get the table top wrong with his car crossing the track and into the path of his team-mate costing Coelho over 3-seconds.  This put Lee Martin to the front before his Yokomo performed a back flip on the main straight and a short time later a bad landing on the table top led to a broken front arm. Now it was Joern Neumann, with two P10 runs from the opening two qualifiers, who was top of the timing screens but Coelho was on a hard charge back from his earlier incident snatching the TQ on the last lap as Neumann had a bad lap.  Behind, Orlowski would complete the Top 3 as he struggled on his 3rd run tyres while Martin Bayer struggled on new tyres but ended up P4 3-seconds back on his TQ’ing team-mate.

Commenting on his TQ run, Coelho said, ‘Everything was going right this time but then Daniel (Kobbevik) came across the track and I lost 3-seconds. For a moment I could see everything going wrong again but I forced to the end. As I expected the car was working very good, I had no mechanical issues, and at the end I could do enough to TQ the round’.  Looking to the final qualifier he said, ‘I have already accepted starting 2nd.  On new tyres our car is too aggressive. Martin was on new tyres that time and he didn’t have as good a run as before.  I will use the next one to break in the tyres for the final, if I can make the TQ it would be good for sure but the important thing is to get the tyres ready for the final’.

‘This time was the first time the car was good’, was Neumann’s reaction after making a huge improvement.  The Schumacher driver continued, ‘Before the car was very edgy but now it was now smooth like normal.  We couldn’t find the issue so Trish rebuilt it and now it was good’.  Using his second set of tyres in Q3, the multiple EOS Champion is looking to end qualifying with a strong finish. He said, ‘I will push it in the next to try and start 3rd or 4th but maybe I can get second if I TQ (the round).  We will see’.

On his lack of pace Orlowski said, ‘It was the third run on the tyres and the car felt very bad because of the different tyre wear side to side.  We will check over the car to be sure it is the tyres’.  He continued, ‘I knew some guys were going on new tyres but I was hoping Joern would take the round. It’s frustrating he lost it on the last lap’.  Chasing a clean sweep here at the Hudy Arena, he said, ‘I have new tyres for the next one but I guess Bruno will too’.

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Orlowski again in Q2 at EOS Slovakia

Michal Orlowski has opened the final day of action at EOS Slovakia with another TQ run in the second round of 4WD qualifying.  The Schumacher driver would once again top the times ahead of Martin Bayer as top seed Bruno Coelho had another difficult run, this time ending up P5 behind Daniel Kobbevik.  With two big errors in Q1, Lee Martin’s second attempt was much better and the Yokomo driver posted a P3 time albeit over 5 and a half seconds off Orlowski’s TQ pace.

Commenting on run, which was 7/10th of a second fastest than his Q1 time, Orlowski said, ‘It was a good run but it’s always tough to get into a good rhythm first thing in the morning after a good night sleep’.  Chasing another double here at the Hudy Arena having secured his first 2WD win of the season yesterday, the Pole continued, ‘I had a bobble on the first lap when I over jumped the final jump which lost me about half a second. Once I had a comfortable gap over Martin (Bayer) and Bruno had a mistake I was just looking to put in clean laps and I was hoping I would not have trouble with traffic’.  With 4WD wins at the Nurburgring and Warsaw, the championship leader said, ‘That was the second run on the tyres and I think it felt a little slower than yesterday. We will make a small change to the car for Q3 for the 3rd run on the tyres’.

‘Just another run without mistakes and the others crashed’, was Bayer’s summary of Q2.  The Xray designer continued, ‘I am doing 5-minutes without mistakes that need marshal but I am still not happy with my consistency as I am making little errors’.    Top Qualifier of the race last year, the Czech driver said, ‘I don’t have the speed to fight with Michal and Bruno but I’m aiming to lead the other group. It’s a bit like in Formula 1’.

Martin described his Q2 run as ‘the same as Q1 but without the 2-mistakes’.  He explained, ‘I had two mistakes in Q1 and one was a big one. I ended up in another section of track’.  On his P3 time, former champion said,’I could have pushed a little harder but it’s risky when I do’.  The British driver also had a problem with his rear diff going off over the run saying, ‘there is a new diff going in. Shin is on the case now’.

‘Another rough round but this time it was because of the slipper’, was how Coelho summed up his first qualifier of the day, two more rounds left to run before the A-Mains get underway.  The Xray driver continued, ‘yesterday I traction rolled because of the new tyres but now the slipper seized and it was hard to make the jumps. The throttle was sensitive and I was over jumping.  I knew something was wrong from the start but I know from yesterday the car is good so we will just fix the slipper and should be good again for the next one’.

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Q1 Update – Convincing TQ run for Orlowski

Michal Orlowski posted a convincing TQ run in the opening round of 4WD qualifying at the fourth round of the EOS in Trencin, Slovakia, this evening.  The Schumacher driver, who was the no.2 seed for qualifying, opened with a rough first lap but then settled in taking full advantage of two mistakes from top seed Bruno Coelho. With Coelho and Orlowski a step above their competitors at the Hudy Arena, Coelho’s first mistake came on the fourth lap allowing Orlowski to go by and set the pace from the front.  At the end of the 5-minutes it would be Martin Bayer who would finish P2 almost 4.5-seconds off Orlowski’s pace.  Despite a second and lengthy flip later in the run, Coelho would salvage a P3 from the run being the only driver to register a 21-second lap.  Backing up his 2WD A-Main appearance earlier today, Hungarian teenager Adam Izsay took his Xray to the fourth fastest time followed by No.3 seed Daniel Kobbevik and Hupo Hönigl.

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