Q2 Update – Bayer holds overnight TQ

Martin Bayer holds the overnight TQ at the Hudy Arena after the Xray driver ended Day 2 of the Euro Offroad Series third round with a TQ run. Having battled with team-mate Bruno Coelho for the TQ in the opening 4WD qualifier, Bayer would get it done in the second round despite a third lap error to head another another Xray 1-2 this time ahead of Hupo Honigl.  With Coelho’s run full of errors, leaving him 9th, the second qualifier wasn’t the same strong dominance shown in Q1 with both Yokomo’s Lee Martin and Schumacher’s Michal Orlowski challenging for the TQ.  While Orlowski would drop out of contention with a big mistakes ending up 6th, Martin’s challenge was hampered by traffic as he got stuck behind Kája Novotný.  Improving his car through a slipper adjustment while the car still lacked the grunt he was looking for Martin was encouraged by the improved performance ahead of tomorrow’s remaining two qualifiers.  Behind Martin, former Champion Joern Neumann would post the fourth fastest time, the Serpent driver having a good run despite running in the second fastest heat.  Behind Neumann, Novotný would complete the Top 5.

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No surprise as Coelho leads Xray 1,2,3,4 in opening quali

There was no surprise in the opening round of 4WD qualifying at the Euro Offroad Series as Bruno Coelho led an Xray 1,2,3,4 at the Hudy Racing Arena.  Having topped seeding, the reigning Champion’s biggest challenge would come from Martin Bayer as the former event winner swapped the TQ pace with him throughout the 5-minute but in the end Coelho had the advantage by 1.3-seconds.  With Martin Wollanka and Kája Novotný setting the third and fourth fastest times, the best non Xray driver would be Lee Martin, the Yokomo driver fifth fastest but almost 7-seconds off the TQ pace.  Taking the 2WD win earlier in the day, Schumacher’s Michal Orlowski would complete the Top 6 running an almost identical time to Martin.

Reporting a lack of steering in the final practice after he made a shock change to his XB4 and saying he obviously had done something wrong, Coelho would find that he had but the C-hubs back on the car on the wrong sides.  With them corrected for Q1, he said, ‘the car was much better but it felt strange at the beginning as it was too aggressive compared to practice but I got back my feeling as the run went on and everything was good again’.  His returning confidence in the car highlighted by the fact he set the fastest lap of the qualifier on his penultimate lap and based on that he plans to ‘leave the car the same’ for Q2.

Setting the 8th fastest time in seeding practice, Bayer said he found afterwards that his drivetrain was too tight and with new bearings fitted for qualifying the car was ‘perfect’.  A two time 4WD EOS winner at the Hudy Arena said, ‘Leading Bruno was hard for me and I drove way too safe in the last laps but I’m still super happy with second’. Looking to Q2, which will bring Day 2 of the action in Trencin to a close, he said ‘the car is perfect so I just need to drive and enjoy it’.

Adjusting his speedo setting for more power for the opening qualifier Wollanka described his opening qualifier as ‘really good’.  The Austrian who finish runner-up to team-mate Coelho at the event last season, said he is preferring the track layout with 4WD having finished 7th in 2WD. Feeling his XB4 has too much steering he plans to change the front flex for Q2. Posting the 4th fastest time backing up his strong pace in practice, Novotný was pleased with his opening run. Getting ‘super close’ to a Top 3 run, the gap to Wollanka just 1/10th of a second, he said having ‘had a few small bobbles but nothing critical’ the plan for the second round was to ‘change nothing on the car and hopefully have a few less bobbles’.

‘I don’t have the instant power & pace out of the corners, in the curve of the turn its nice and smooth’, was Martin’s response to being so far off the Xrays. The former champion hopes modifying his slipper will help but added, its the Xray chassis layout that is giving them the distinct advantage they have over their rivals in 4WD but added the rest would soon catch-up but not this weekend.

Orlowski declared himself happy with 6th adding he didn’t drive very well leading to a couple of mistakes.  Admitting to feeling tired, the 15-year-old feels that his car has the pace to match the Xrays. With the car aggressive in practice a change for Q1 had made it ‘easy & fast’ and the aim for the day’s final qualifier was to make a clean 5-minute run and with a good nights sleep put in more of an attack in the morning’s remaining two qualifiers. With Hupo Honigl next up behind Orlowski, Neil Cragg would be the only other non Xray driver to make the Top 10 with his first ever qualifier with the Team Associated’s new B64 netting the 8th fastest time but the British driver did show strong early pace and but for a 26-second lap was on target to be best of the rest behind the Xrays.

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Coelho tops 4WD practice in Slovakia

With the action switching over to 4WD in Slovakia at the third round of the Euro Offroad Series following Michal Orlowski’s 2WD victory, Bruno Coelho showed beating Xray on home ground in the reigning champions class is going to be a challenge as he led a 1-2-3 in seeding practice.  Over the two rounds of practice at the Hudy Arena, Coelho would post the fastest 3-consecutive laps on the second run with Kája Novotný just 0.067 off and Hupo Honigl a similar margin off in third.  Best of the visiting teams would be Neil Cragg who laid down the fourth fastest time, Slovakia marking the Team Associated driver’s first 4WD outing of the season and the European debut of the B64.  For Michal Orlowski the switch to 4WD would see the EOS Poland double winner set the 9th fastest time, an improvement on where 2WD had started out yesterday.

Reacting to topping the times as was widely expected, Coelho said, ‘I had zero steering and was super surprised when I saw the timing screen after the run’.  Having rebuilt the shocks on his Hobbywing powered XB4 after the first practice to try and get it to land better he said this had left him with no steering saying, ‘normally our car has super steering’. Admitting his shock rebuild was somewhat rushed he said he must have done something wrong and he hopes to find out what before tonight’s opening qualifier.

‘Perfect. Right now its amazing’ was how Novotný summed up his XB4 after practice. The Czech National Champion adding he is ‘just loving the car’ and having left it unchanged between rounds it was ‘even better on the second run’.  Pleased with his three lap pace, the 20-year-old said running a clean 5-minutes was going to be difficult given the track layout but added ‘its offroad and I would prefer too many jumps than not enough’.

Honigl said, ‘I’m a bit surprised by my pace but I happy with that’. Leaving his car unchanged between runs and going on to set the fastest lap of practice, the only driver to manage a lap in 21-seconds, the Austrian said based on this he ‘wont touch it’ for the opening qualifier.  In terms of the track layout for 4WD compared to running 2WD on it, he said, ‘there are too many jumps which means you are more flying in the air than driving’.

Having not raced 4WD since last September,  Cragg was ‘pretty pleased’ with his second practice run.  Describing his first practice as ‘sketchy’, the British driver said a set-up change ‘transformed’ the car.  With no practice with the new car he said, ‘we are going to have to learn quick this weekend’ adding his pace in the second practice was ‘very encouraging’.  With only 3 of the new B64s running in Slovakia Joona Haatanen would also put his example in the top qualifying heat having set the 7th fastest seeding time.

Behind Xray’s Martin Wollanka, Lee Martin would post the 6th fastest time.  The Yokomo driver said his ‘car feels consistent as long as you don’t crash it’.  Sitting third in the championship standings, the former champion said while ‘4WD is always fast & furious’ in terms of the track layout ‘there is probably a bit too much going on’. Changing his shock set-up between rounds he said it improved the car but he still needs to work on improving the car through the middle of the corners.

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Orlowski pulls off impressive Hudy Arena win to extend EOS lead

Michal Orlowski has pulled off an impressive 2WD victory at the Hudy Racing Arena in Slovakia to extend his lead in the Euro Offroad Series. Coming into the third round on the back of his EOS Poland and DHI Cup wins, the Schumacher driver’s weekend didn’t get off to the best of starts as he struggled in seeding ending up only 21st fastest. The opening round of qualifying didn’t bring much improvement either but from Q2 the Polish ace would turn things around eventually qualifying his LRP powered Cougar KC 3rd behind Top Qualifier Lee Martin and Bruno Coelho. With marshalling dramas writing off a good A1 result, Orlowski again put himself back in the game with an A2 win but he was to save his best for last. First making light work of Coelho and then capitalising on Martin running wide, the Yokomo driver coming back at him 2-laps later only for the pair to tangle, he would take A3 and with it his third 2WD EOS win at the very same venue where he took a breakthrough first international win 2-years ago. Winner of the event last year, reigning champion Martin would finish 3rd in the decider behind Neil Cragg to take 2nd overall, his season still void of a win. With his A3 challenge ending on the first proper run down the straight as he flew off the track, Coelho completed the podium In Slovakia, this weekend still ending up one the 4WD World Champion’s best 2WD performances.

‘At the beginning I had planned something different. I was prepared to wait for mistakes but when Bruno went wide I thought to go for it’, was how Orlowski described his attacking approach to the race. The 15-year-old continued, ‘Lee had a small mistake and I got by and then I just wanted to do what I did in A2 and get a gap.  Then we got together but Lee showed good sportsmanship.’  With Joona Haatanen and Neil Cragg joining the battle after the contact, Orlowski said this helped him pull away from Martin but he continued to ‘push harder’ looking to have a big enough lead should he have a mistake himself.  He added, ‘in the end everything worked out’.  Describing it as a ‘really up & down weekend’, he said, ‘the end result was very good for our new car which was only released a couple of weeks ago and to give it its first win especially here I’m really pleased’.  He added, ‘I didn’t get the TQ, I felt I could have, but still I extended my lead (in the championship) and I’m looking forward to the next race.  My aim there will be to seal up the championship.’

‘I drove one good race, he drove two’, was how a disappointed Martin summed up today’s outcome.  Complimenting his rival saying, ‘he drove good’, he continued, ‘my car was great and my biggest excuse for not winning was I ran out of tyres’. Describing his RC Concept powered YZ2 as ‘great on new tyres’ he said, ‘unfortunately it was a little harder on used tyres’.  Admitting to being ‘a little gutted’ to win out on win he concluded,  ‘When the car is that good I normally drive better in the finals but it’s hard to settle into a rhythm when you have 9 buzzing bees chasing you.  My luck will turn soon’.

Coelho said while he ‘had a bad start again’ in A3 he was pleased to end up on the podium in a class he publicly admits is his weakest. The defending 4WD EOS Champion, he said, ‘I race 6 classes and this is my worst, 2WD (driving) style is not my style but we are focusing more on it now and have done a lot of work on the car.  The last races we had 2 cars in the final and now we have 3 with one on the podium so we are getting there. The reason we didn’t challenge more for the win is because of my mistakes and not the car but I am learning the style needed every race. I will try to be better for the next round’.  Behind Coelho, team-mate Martin Bayer would finish fourth ahead of Team Associated’s Neil Cragg. Having got his EOS campaign off to the perfect start with a win at the Nurburgring, which would be his home race, Marc Rheinard would end up sixth, the Yokomo driver as in Poland unable again unable to find his form.

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Orlowski moves into contention with A2 win

Michal Orlowski has put himself right back in contention to extend his championship lead of the Euro Offroad Series after the Schumacher driver won A2 of 2WD at the Hudy Racing Arena in Slovakia.  With the Pole void of any good luck in A1, losing 8-seconds due to poor marshalling, in A2 the teenager would call in his lucky stars twice as he took the win over Top Qualifier & A1 winner Lee Martin.  A bobble from Martin early in the first lap would bunch up the field with Orlowski finding a way passed both Martin and Bruno Coelho to go to the front where he would stay to the end but the EOS Poland winner almost threw it away on the last lap. Jumping the left side double double badly his Cougar KC went tumbling but somehow landed on its wheels allowing him to continue to finish ahead of Martin and Martin Bayer to set the stage for three way A3 shoot out that will decide the overall winner. For Coelho, while he would get by Martin’s Yokomo for a time, a mistake at the end of the straight that sent his Xray flying off the track would start a series of errors that would leave him to finish 4th but along with Martin and Orlowski he still has a chance at notching up his first outright EOS 2WD win in A3.

‘I was really lucky at the start. I actually went wide at the first jump and don’t know what happened after that but I came out in the lead’ was Orlowski’s recollection of the how he got the race lead. A former winner at the Hudy Arena and setting the fastest lap of the race he continued, ‘I knew I was faster than Lee so I tried to make a slight gap on him. Lee & Bruno came together which helped but I still wanted to have space for if I made a mistake which happened on the last lap’.  Lining up behind his two rivals for the overall win, on A3 he said, ‘we’ll see what happens’ but with Martin’s TQ reducing his lead to 3-points he said this is going to be an important race for the championship.

‘It’s all down to leg three’, was Martin’s reaction after A2.  In search of his first EOS win of the season, giving his view of the start he said, ‘I jumped a tiny bit too long and for the first time this weekend the car double bounced on landing and got up on 2-wheels. I managed to save it but there where cars down inside’.  He continued, ‘Michal got a bit of a lead out of it but I caught him up but then had a few bobbles and hit wheels with Bruno and we both hesitated.  Once things settled back down Michal was too far gone to catch without a big mistake, which almost happened’.

Coelho said, ‘I had a terrible start.  Lee made a mistake and I was waiting to see where his car was going to go but then everyone overtook me but luckily nobody crashed me’.  Coming out third, he said, ‘I was able to catch Lee and overtook him but then at the end of the straight I had a mistake and went off the track.  I tried to recover but ended up making more mistakes.  We have one more go’.  In order for Coelho to notch up a first EOS 2WD victory he needs to win in a faster time than that which Martin achieved in A1.

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Martin cruises to A1 win in Slovakia

Lee Martin cruised to victory this morning in the opening A-Main of the 2WD at the Euro Offroad Series in Slovakia.  Top Qualifier at the third round of the championship, the Yokomo driver was handed a comfortable lead when his closest challenger Bruno Coelho made an error half way into the race that required him to be marshalled. With this setting up a battle for second between Michal Orlowski and Coelho, up front Martin had the track all to himself eventually crossing the line with a wining margin of almost 2.5-seconds. Also benefiting from Coelho’s mistake, Orlowski looked on target for 2nd but with three laps to go he too would make a mistake only in his case poor marshalling meant he lost a massive 8-seconds. Allowing Martin Bayer to go by, Orlowski would try to salvage a Top 3 at the the last corner as he dived down the inside of Bayer but he would roll dropping a further place as Marc Rheinard got by for 4th.

‘It’s never easy just because you have a bit of a lead, it takes just one mistake to give it away again’, was Martin’s reaction adding, ‘Its never easy either with Bruno behind’.  Pushed hard early on by Coelho, the reigning 2WD Champion said, ‘There was never an opportunity for him to make a move and then after his mistake I got a bit of breathing space which meant I could cruise for the last few laps. I quite enjoyed the race as it’s a really good track when you find your rhythm’.  The winner of Xray’s home event last season, he said for the plan for A2 was simple to ‘try again’.

‘I was just waiting for a mistake from Lee but ended up touching the tube which flipped my car’, said Coelho after the race. The Xray ace continued, ‘then I had a small fight with Orlowski but he also had a mistake but by then there was no chance to catch Martin’.  Describing his XB2 as ‘working super well’, the 4WD World Champion said, ‘I never particularly liked 2WD and always had to force the car before to keep up but now I don’t have to.  It’s a huge improvement”.  Setting the fastest lap of the race as the only driver to break into the 21-second lap times, he will be hoping to make Martin work harder for the win in A2.

Bayer was pleased to get third from 5th on the grid, the Czech driver who recently moved to Trencin saying with this like a home race he was that nervous at the start that his hands where shaking. Although he would make ‘a good start’, ‘small bobbles’ would drop him back the order after which he said he just focused on trying to ‘stay on four wheels’.  Admitting he got lucky with the ‘bad marshalling for Orlowski’, the Xray Offroad Team Manager and former EOS race winner was happy to take away a third for the leg.

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