Coelho fastest in 4WD practice at EOS Slovakia

Bruno Coelho has set the pace in 4WD practice at the Euro Offroad Series in Slovakia this evening, the Xray driver putting in the fastest 3-consecutive laps from the day’s earlier 2WD victor Michal Orlowski.  As in 2WD, the duo had a clear advantage over the rest of the field with Daniel Kobbevik best of the rest in P3 followed by 2WD podium finisher Lee Martin, Martin Bayer and Jörn Neumann. Running two rounds of free practice followed by the two seeding rounds, it was Orlowski who set the benchmark in CP1 but in CP2 Coelho was able to better that pace by 45/100ths of a second.  The advantage over Kobbevik was more than a second, with 3rd through 7th covered by half a second.

Summing up practice, with the first qualifier set to bring Day 2’s EOS action at the Hudy Arena to a close, Coelho said, ‘I’m feeling confident with the car and it is quite easy to drive’.  Winner at EOS Daun last month, his first win of the season, he continued, ‘on new tyres the car is very aggressive but on used tyres it is very good. I think I can run good times on 3rd run tyres. The last practice I was on second run tyres and I set my my second fastest lap on the final lap’.  Having topped 2WD seeding but missed out on the TQ to Orlowski, he added, ‘It is super close with Orlowski again.  We made many small changes each practice and at the end it worked out a big change to how we started but I am really happy with the car’.

Asked how he felt practice had gone, Orlowski paused before answering, ‘Bruno is quick. I am quick. He is making mistakes. I am making mistake so it is going to be the one who doesn’t make as many mistake who is going to TQ.  There is a big gap between me & third (place pace) so my aim for Q1 is to try and make no mistakes’.  Asked about his car, the reigning champion & current points leader said, ‘We left the car the same as last weekend (when he raced the XRS race here in Slovakia) and then we tried a crazy set-up for the last practice but it didn’t work out.  We will go back to the set-up from before and add one small change to that’.

After a tough 2WD race, Kobbevik summed up 4WD practice as ‘better than 2WD’.  The young Norewgian said in the first practice his XB4 felt difficult to drive having the opposite issue to his 2WD in having a lot of steering.  He also said he had to use the first practice to get back into the feel of driving 4WD again. Changing the front hubs on his car, the EOS Daun double podium finisher said this made the car ‘a lot smoother and easier to drive’ adding he is ‘happy with the car now and (he) just needs to get more used to it’.

‘Not too bad’ was Martin’s description of how he felt practice had gone.  The Yokomo driver continued, ‘the steering is a little too inconsistent. Sometime I turn in and it does it and then the next time it doesn’t which makes it hard to judge’. He added, ‘the lap times are not too bad and not too far from Orlowski and Bruno, and that with a car I am not comfortable with yet’.  Asked if he knew what changes he would make to try improving the steering feel for Q1 he replied, ‘I need to discuss it with Shin’.

View the complete event results here.

View our event image gallery here.

Orlowski gets his win, only just

Michal Orlowski has finally registered a win in his Euro Offroad Series 2WD title defence but only just.  Having secured his third consecutive TQ of the season at the fourth round of the championship yesterday at the Hudy Arena, the Schumacher driver duly delivered victory in A1.  Looking on target to wrap things up in A2 after main challenger Bruno Coelho came off worst when he made contact with his out of shape Schumacher, the Pole threw away that win on the last lap handing it to Lee Martin.  This set-up a 3-way fight for the win in A3.  Under pressure from Coelho, Orlowski cracked on lap 5 allowing the Xray driver to take the lead but now it was going to come down to a race against the clock.  Orlowski’s A1 winning time was the target and while Coelho pulled clear at the end he was 0.143 of a second shy meaning a very relieved Orlowski becomes the season’s fourth different winner.  Finishing A3 in second, Martin would also tie on points but with his time the slower of the three A-Mains, he had to settle for the final step on the podium.

With his third consecutive win at the home of Xray moving him into the lead of the championship for the first time this season, Orlowski said, ‘I made it hard for myself but this time I guess luck was on my side compared to the previous three rounds’.  The 17-year-old continued, ‘I got the win not how I wanted to do it. Everyone makes mistakes and it is what it is. We showed the car has amazing speed but didn’t show it could win, today we did.  I can’t wait for people to get their hands on this car’.  Asked when he expected the British company’s new kit to be available he couldn’t be any more specific than ‘soon’.  On his A3 performance, he said,  ‘I tried to make a gap and maintain it but this time Bruno put a lot of pressure on me and I cracked under it.  I tried to recover but was counting in my head to see if Bruno was going to beat my time so it was not the best run for me’.

Summing up his A3 win, Coelho said, ‘I know I could not only finish 1st. I had to have a quick time.  Orlowski made a mistake and I got through but I was not really able to keep the pace like I wished.  After a while I was doing good speed again but in the end it was not enough for the overall win. Congrats to Orlowski for the win’.  The former 4WD World Champion added, ‘overall I’m happy with the car which is working well. It was my mistakes in qualifying that cost me’.  With today’s 2nd place replacing one of the two 7th place finish the EOS Poland winner is carrying, the 25-year-old believes the final two races are going to require extra effort saying, ‘we race on astro for the next race so we need to work hard to prepare for this so we can can fight for the title’.

Ending up with 3-points just like Orlowski and Coelho, Martin said he was, ‘unlucky not to be second I guess but also lucky to get a good leg 2 result’.  The Yokomo driver added, ‘I’m happy with the podium but I’m always gutted to lose on a tie break’.  The former back to back 2WD Champion continued, ‘the grid around the corner hurt my overall time but the two guys ahead were really good this weekend’.  Claiming a TQ at the opening round and a win in Daun, Martin said he is ‘gutted’ this is his last EOS outing of the season.  The 8-time EOS race winner explained, ‘Unfortunately I can’t attend the last two because my schedule does not allow. I have to race the British 1:8 Nationals in order to qualify for the Worlds next year. I’m gutted I’m not able to race because they are on astro and I’m normally good on astro’.

View the complete event results here.

View our event image gallery here.

Orlowski throws away A2 to hand Martin last lap win

Michal Orlowski threw away the chance to wrap up his first win of his EOS title defence with a last lap error which handed Lee Martin the A2 win.  Having won A1 with relative ease after an error from main rival Bruno Coelho, Orlowski would again get a break in A2 but this time the situation stemmed from the Schumacher driver getting out of shape causing Coelho to make unavoidable mistakes that saw the Xray driver flip and get passed by Martin.  Struggling to make back up the lost positions, Coelho decided to pull off, a decision that could be his making in A3. As Orlowski clocked off the laps and looked on target to sew up his 3-consecutive EOS win at the Hudy Arena, the large comfortable gap between himself and Martin remained static but then on the last lap Orlowski had a lapse in concentration. Turning in too early he put his car on its roof allowing Martin’s Yokomo to go through and take the win setting the stage for a three way battle for overall victory in A3.  Behind, Martin Bayer completed the Top 3 ahead of Adam Izsay.

Reacting to his A2 win a very happy Martin said, ‘the gap the whole race was basically where I started and he started on the grid’.  The championship leader continued, ‘you are almost going 100% so you can’t take big risks to try and make time.  I saw he (Orlowski) was not jumping the table top so I was settling for 2nd because he was going safe. Then he had a lucky crash, well lucky for me, unlucky for him. I’ll take it’.  Winner at EOS Daun last month, his first in 3 seasons, the British driver said, ‘I now have a 1 and a 3 which should get me a podium so I’m going to go all out for the win in A3’.

‘I threw it away. I only have myself to blame’, was how Orlowski described his error.  He explained, ‘I was looking at the finish line and relaxed too much. I turned in too early and clipped the corner’.  Quick to put the error to the back of his mind, the Pole continued, ‘there is still one more to go and Bruno has to beat my time from A1 which was pretty good. It was a clean one.  I’ll be at the front and able to control the race.  I just have to try make sure Lee doesn’t win and keep Bruno behind me’.

Coelho described his contact with Orlowski as ‘bad luck’.  The EOS Poland winner added, ‘My car was very good because I was on new tyres and I was attacking a lot. It was hard to make a pass because I didn’t want to make contact but then Michal made two mistakes and we touched on the second one and I flipped’.   With Orlowski throwing away the race in the same section of track in which Coelho’s race challenge came to an end, the former 4WD World Champion said, ‘Still open and if my car is still like it was in the last race I will be going for the win. I stopped to save my tyres so I think I am in the best position for the final’.

View the complete event results here.

View our event image gallery here.

Orlowski takes easy A1 win in Slovakia

Michal Orlowski took a rather easy win in A1 of 2WD at the Euro Offroad Series in Slovakia this morning after two mistakes from key challenger Bruno Coelho gave the Schumacher driver breathing space to move one step closer to his first win of the season.  Starting on the TQ, Orlowski was pressured by Coelho over the opening laps forcing the reigning champion to drive defensively but still the duo pulled clear of the field.  On lap 5, Orlowski finally got his break when Coelho lost almost 1-second with an error.  A second error at the table top 3-laps from the finish would allow Lee Martin, who eventually got by Martin Bayer, to get close but Coelho edged out the gap to 4/10th by the finish while up front Orlowski had already crossed the loop over 5 and a half seconds earlier.

‘Finally I didn’t crash at the start of the run’, was Orlowski’s reaction after the race.  His third consecutive TQ of the season but still missing the first win of his title defence, the Pole continued, ‘Bruno was pushing hard in the beginning and I had to drive defensive. I was glad he made a mistake, it made it easy for me and I could get into my rhythm’.  Looking to A2 when he could secure his third consecutive Hudy Arena win, he said, ‘I was on tyres from Q4 in the first one and will run a new set for A2.  We will make a small change on the car for this (the new tyres) because new tyres are more aggressive’.

Summing up his race, Coelho said, ‘Orlowski was stronger and was pulling away slowly.  I was trying to catch him but was not successful. I had to force and ended up making two mistakes. I wanted 1st but sometimes it is not possible.  The next one I’m on new tyres so hopefully I can do better’.  Following yesterday’s controversy over Xray laps of the track on Thursday, the Portuguese driver wanted to highlight he wasn’t even in the country at the time of the incident – something RedRC can confirm as we met him in Vienna Airport as we waited on the delayed arrival of Race Director Scotty Ernst’s flight.  The Touring Car World condemn his team’s actions and didn’t hold back in expressing his opinion that the EOS should have taken tougher actions.

On his race, Martin said, ‘It was a good race.  The Top 2 pulled away as myself, Bayer and Joona lost time battling.  If I had got passed earlier maybe I could had a better change of at least racing with Bruno.  My pace is comparable so for the next one I just need to get by Bayer quicker’.  The Yokomo driver concluded, ‘It could all happen up front  in the next one because Bruno has to go for it in this one’.

View the complete event results here.

View our event image gallery here.

Orlowski to chase first EOS win from 3rd consecutive TQ

Michal Orlowski will chase the first win of his Euro Offroad Series 2WD title defence from his third consecutive TQ start tomorrow in Slovakia.  The Schumacher driver claimed the TQ honors at the fourth round of the season takes to Bruno Coelho taking the final qualifier at the Hudy Arena.  Having taken Q1 and Q3, only Martin Bayer who took Q2 could prevent Orlowski from taking his EOS career TQ of 2WD.  With his TQ run, which he almost handed to Lee Martin through a last lap mistake, Coelho will line up second on tomorrow’s grid ahead of Xray team-mate Bayer.  Coming into the weekend leading the points standings, Lee Martin will line up 4th with Joona Haatanen completing the Top 5 with a badly needed P4 run in the final qualifier. In a rather diverse A-Main line-up, Adam Izsay will start sixth ahead of young up & coming Polish talent Bartosz Zalewski, Daniel Kobbevik and Bartłomiej Kramża with former champion Jörn Neumann just scraping in ahead of top female racer Jessica Pålsson on the tie break.

Frustrated with his Q4 performance opting to eventually pull off with one minute to remaining, Orlowski said, ‘I was on new tyres and crashed on the first lap. I tried to get back to the front but made another mistake’.  He continued, ‘this is my 3rd TQ in a row this season, I don’t have any wins yet but I hope I can change that tomorrow. I will just go out and do my thing’.  The Pole added, ‘Bruno is starting second but I feel I have a small pace advantage on him. I watched his car after I pulled off and it didn’t look as safe as my car.  Last weekend I TQ’d here (at the XRS race). He started second and I pulled away’.

‘It was a good clean run except for the last lap’, was Coelho’s reaction after finally delivering on his top seed form from practice.  The EOS Poland winner added, ‘If you remove my mistake on the table (top) it was a nice run but everyone is doing many mistakes. Me, Lee, Orlowski. I think the final is more than open. It doesn’t matter if you start 1st or 4th’.  Aiming to give Xray a home win he said, ‘I will force a little from the start to try pass Orlowski. We have the same pace so I need to be aggressive from the start’.

Bayer summed up his 3rd place on the grid as ‘beautiful’ adding ‘I’m third behind the two fastest guy so hopefully that puts me in the best place if they fight too hard’.  Feeling his quickest days as a driver are behind him, the Xray Offroad Team Manager concluded, ‘I’m super happy with my speed & pace and feeling of the car.  Everything is perfect’.

Winner at EOS Daun, Martin summed up the final qualifier by saying, ‘I’m gutted I crashed at the table top. That was the best the has been for sure’.  Finishing 7/10ths of a second off Coelho at the end of the 5-minutes, the Yokomo driver said, ‘I am still losing time on the left side of the track.  Bruno is very good there, the same with Michal but I heard the layout is the same as when they raced here last weekend. Anyway I start 4th and a lot could happen up front and Joona is behind me and he likes to be racy at the start.  We’ll see what happens’.

A very relived Haatanen said, ‘I was nervous for that one.  Q3 was bad.  I was giving room to Bruno and clipped the pipe and broke an arm.  After that I was nervous I was even going to make the A-Main.’  On his Q4 performance, the Team Associated driver said, ‘It wasn’t perfect as I had one crash and a few bobbles. The car felt better this time but the lap times are way behind. Still I got 4th for the round so I am starting 5th and they should be interesting finals’.  Asked about making further changes to his car, the EOS Nurburgring winner replied, ‘we need to discuss at diner what to try’.

View the complete event results here.

View our event image gallery here.

Q3 Update – Orlowski fastest from Bayer

Despite a lengthy late error in which his Schumacher needed to be marshalled, Michal Orlowski has TQ’d the third round of qualifying at EOS Slovakia.  Having taken the opening qualifier but made a mistake on the opening lap in Q2, Orlowski posted his second TQ run of the day’s 2WD to top the times from Q2 winner Martin Bayer.  With Lee Martin completing the Top 3 ahead of Hungarian driver Adam Izsay,  Bayer is now the only driver who can deny Orlowski from going for his third consecutive EOS win at the Hudy Arena from pole position.  In order to make it a home TQ for Xray, Bayer will need to TQ the fourth & final qualifier in a quicker time than that set by Orlowski in Q1 but will all the leading drivers still having a second set of tyres at their disposal the opportunity is there for an improvement on the Q1 time.  One driver to use his second set of tyres in Q3 was former champion Joern Neumann but having a 4-second mistake, he ended up with a P5 for the round ahead of Neil Cragg. Cragg was the best Associated driver with team-mate Joona Haatanen unable to build on his Q2 Top5 run after pulling a rear corner off his car.  Another of this season’s race winners, Bruno Coelho had another rough qualifier ending up P7 but the top seed still has the opportunity to start P2 behind Orlowski tomorrow if he can deliver a TQ run in the final round.

View the complete event results here.

View our event image gallery here.