Haatanen wins A2 at EOS Daun

The un-predicability of the track at EOS Daun threw up another dramatic final with Joona Haatanen coming out the victor to move into contention for his second overall win of the season.  Starting from fifth on the grid, the Team Associated young gun was quickly promoted to the lead going to the front when, on the second lap, Top Qualifier Michal Orlowski and the No.2 Xray of Daniel Kobbevik tangled – rejoining right at the back after the two cars were separated by the marshal.  Coming out behind Haatanen would be Joern Neumann and the former champion set about challenging for the lead but after 4-laps it was his turn to be bitten by the track allowing Martin Bayer through but there was nothing the Czech driver could do about the massive gap to Haatanen.  Winner of A1 but dropping to last on the opening lap after an error, Lee Martin would recover to finish third after seeing off the attentions of Orlowski.  In a repeat of EOS Poland, the reigning champion won’t be converting his TQ into victory as his efforts to get by Martin led to a roll on the last lap which dropped him to fifth and out of contention for the overall win.

Reacting to his win, Haatanen said, ‘I don’t know what happened at the beginning but all of a sudden I was at the front’.  The 15-year-old added, ‘It was crazy. Cars 5-10 were now at the front and 1-5 were at the back’.  The Finn continued, ‘I was in front of Joern but he had good speed behind me.  Then he crashed and Martin (Bayer) wasn’t catching me so I was just driving around’.  Looking to A3, the joint points leader coming into the weekend said, ‘I will leave the car the same and just see how the race unfolds’.

Feeling a little better than he did in yesterday’s qualifying, Bayer said, ‘I was probably the only one to stay out of trouble. I didn’t actually pass anyone. They just all crashed out of my way’.  The multiple EOS race winner continued, ‘there was a big gap to Joona so I settled for second and the guys behind ran out of time to catch me’.  Despite his P2 which puts him 3rd in in the points going into A3, the Xray’s Offroad designer concluded, ‘I don’t think a podium is possible. The points are very tight’.  As it stands Martin, Haatanen, Bayer, Kobbevik and Coelho all have the potential to take the overall win on a track that has proven tricky.

‘I made the best of a bad situation’, was how Martin summed up the race.  The Yokomo driver explained, ‘I was on new tyres and the car was edgy at the start and this made me more nervous on the first lap causing me to clip the pipe on the wall.  I dropped back to last as 7 cars went by before the marshal could get to me’.  He continued, ‘to get from 10th to 3rd was a victory. Now my tyres are bedded in it’s all to play for in the last one’.

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Martin takes exciting A1 encounter in Daun

Lee Martin has taken the opening A-Main at the third round of the Euro Offroad Series in Daun, Germany.  Starting fourth on the grid the Yokomo driver took advantage of mistakes from drivers ahead of him including Top Qualifier Michal Orlowski, who crashed on the opening lap.  The race would see three different leaders with Martin putting in a faultless race to secure the victory over long time race leader Daniel Kobbevik with Xray team-mate Bruno Coelho completing the Top 3.  While Orlowski tried to recover with a ‘miracle’ pass on the final dash to the line, that causing a pile up involving Coelho and Haatanen, he came out worst with Haatanen, who challenged Martin for the lead in the middle of the race, getting fourth as Orlowski dropped to 7th.

Reacting to his win, Martin said, ‘we changed the car back to our Q3 set-up. I didn’t like the Q4 one and now the car was easy to drive’.  The former champion continued, ‘my tyres went off a bit as they were on their third run but overall the car was nice and safe.  A few others made mistakes which made my job easier and I hope the same thing happens again in the next one’.  Planning to leave his car unchanged, he will change tyres for A2.

Taking his achievements this weekend in his stride, 14-year-old Kobbevik said, ‘It was a good run I think. I had the one mistake but it was still a good race’.  He explained, ‘I ran wide coming off the wall and hit the pipe and after that my car felt broken. It kept pulling to the right. I need to check the steering’.  Chasing his first 2WD podium, having achieved the result twice in 4WD, he concluded, ‘I am super happy to get a second from the first one’.

‘It was a strange final’, was Coelho’s description of A1.  The EOS Poland winner continued, ‘There were three different leaders.  This is a very difficult track and its very hard to pull away so everyone is taking risks’.  Setting the fastest lap of the race, the Portuguese driver added, ‘I had a good fight with Lee and more with Daniel but for the last two laps I decided I don’t take risks anymore and it was best to take the 3rd position’.

While the result came short of the potential he showed in Rd1, Haatanen said, ‘That was a good race, it was a good race’.  The EOS Nurburgring winner continued, ‘I just had that one stupid mistake when I hit the inside pipe on the table top and that cost me second place’.  With the Associated team struggling compared to their rivals in qualifying at the race they won last season with Neil Cragg, Haatanen said, ‘My car feels good today. The only problem this morning was with my driving but I’m fired up for the next two’.

Summing up his race, Orlowski said, ‘I just got out of shape and jumped to the left’.  The Schumacher driver continued, ‘On the last lap I tried to make a miracle happen and I came out the worst of it but I’m ready to go out again in the next one and put myself in the fight for the overall win in A3’.

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Orlowski Top Qualifier at EOS Daun (2WD)

Michal Orlowski is the Top Qualifier at the first EOS encounter of 2019, the Schumacher driver wrapping up his second consecutive pole position of Season #8 with a third TQ run in the fourth & final round of 2WD in Daun, Germany.  After a long 14.5 hour day at the track, the shoot out for the overall Round 3 TQ came down to Orlowski and Daniel Kobbevik, the latter having TQ’d the first qualifier of the day.  Unfortunately for Kobbevik, the challenge for his first EOS TQ was short lived as he traction rolled his Xray just before the wall before opting to pull up as he couldn’t better his already impressive P2 starting position for tomorrow’s A-Main grid.  While team-mate Bruno Coelho would set the early pace, once again an error would prevent the EOS Poland winner from converting his speed into a TQ run. Posting the fastest lap of the heat, he would recover to take a P3 behind Joona Haatanen while up front Orlowski topped the times by 1.8-seconds.  While it was a bad closing round for Lee Martin, the Yokomo driver will line-up third ahead of Coelho and Haatanen.

Commenting on the result, Orlowski said, ‘this is my second TQ in a row. In Warsaw I wasn’t able to convert it into a win but I’m aiming to to make it happen tomorrow’.  The reigning back to back 2WD champion added, ‘I think all the drivers were feeling sleepy on the driver stand after a long day and I’m happy to not have made any mistakes.  I used my normal tyre strategy so we have tyres ready for tomorrow’s first final so let’s see how it goes’.

‘I needed to try’, was Kobbevik’s reaction after the heat.  The 14-year-old explained, ‘I traction rolled before the wall.  I knew I needed a clean run to improve so then I pulled up. There was no need to continue’. One of the rising stars of the EOS, the Norwegian driver added, ‘I am super happy to start 2nd tomorrow. I hope I can make the podium. I think it will be difficult to beat Michal because he is super fast but anything can happen’.

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Another TQ run for Orlowski in Daun

Michal Orlowski has posted another TQ run at the Euro Offroad Series third round, this time the Schumacher becoming the first driver to record 14-laps around the uniquely shaped, large indoor carpet track in Daun, Germany. Having taken Q2 after a late error by Q1 pace setter Daniel Kobbevik, Orlowski took a convincing TQ in the penultimate round able to focus solely on his own driving  as both Kobbevik and Xray team-mate Bruno Coelho made early errors.  Behind Orlowski, Lee Martin secured the second fastest time denying Schumacher a 1-2 with Joern Neumann topping the second fastest heat to get a 3rd for his efforts.  Coming into the weekend sharing the points lead with Orlowski, Joona Haatanen would enjoy his best run posting a P4 time ahead of Hupo Honigl, who running in the second fastest heat would end up the fastest Xray for the round ahead of Coelho and Martin Bayer.

‘That was a decent run’, was how Orlowski described his latest TQ run with only Kobbevik now remaining as a potential rival to denying the reigning champion pole position for tomorrow’s triple A-Mains.  The Polish teenager continued, ‘my far felt very mellow.  It was very comfortable to drive and when Daniel & Bruno made mistakes at the beginning I just did my own thing and stayed calm. With that run, now only Daniel can beat me for the TQ’.  Looking to the final qualifier, he said, ‘I think we will go with new tyres for the last one to break them in for the finals. The car will be edgy for the start but I know my pace is there to finish the heat strong’.

Summing up his second P2 run of the day, Martin said, ‘I made a pretty big mistake but would have had to drive pretty hard to keep up with Orlowski so I’m happy with 2nd’.  The Yokomo driver added, ‘a few people are very fast but they are struggling to hold it together.  I m going to go harder in the last one and see how it goes’.

Neumann said, ‘I still crashed two times and lost maybe four seconds’, explaining, ‘I jumped the centre table top too short and the rear flipped over’.  The former multiple EOS Champion added, ‘the car is alright but running in the second fastest heat it is difficult to know how hard to push.  It’s easy to go faster when the other guys around you are going the same speed but with this 3rd place I just need another good round to secure 4 or 5th on the grid for the final. Fighting for first would have been better’.

‘That was better than the previous two rounds’, was the reaction of a much happier looking Haatanen, the Associated driver  adding, ‘I made a couple of small mistakes and lost some time but overall it was a much better run’.  He added, ‘I was fighting with the car and just didn’t have the speed but we went with harder oil in the shocks and for less rear toe in for Q3 and the car was much better. For the last one we will go with even less toe-in as I still have too much compared to everyone else’.

Happy to take his best run so far in Q3, Honigl said, ‘my car is perfect but I am just driving with no confidence. I can’t use the  car as I want so I am not getting the maximum from it’.  A veteran of the Euro Offroad Series, the Austrian RC distributor added, ‘I am so busy outside of racing and because of that I am finding it hard to focus’.

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Orlowski snatches Q2 after last lap error from Kobbevik

Michal Orlowski has TQ’d the second round of qualifying at EOS Daun, the Schumacher driver benefiting from a last lap error from Q1 winner Daniel Kobbevik.  The Xray driver was on target to make it two from two but the table top was his undoing as he took too tight a line that resulted in contact with the corner wall that cost him over 3.5 seconds. This allowed both Orlowski and Bruno Coelho, thanks to his last lap being his fastest, to post quicker times with Kobbevik ending up 3rd.  Behind, there was a big gap back to 4th placed Lee Martin, the Yokomo driver having his own costly error half way through the run that cost him almost 4-seconds.  8/10th behind, HB Racing’s David Ronnefalk would pull a 5th from the round with Joel Valander rounding out the Top 6.

Commenting on his TQ run, Orlowski, who made two mistakes in the opening qualifier, said, ‘That was a good run. The car felt very good and I made no major mistakes although I had a rough first lap’.  He continued, ‘I was battling with Bruno and he made a mistake and when the marshal went to his car I couldn’t see so clipped his car and lost around half a second. Without Daniel’s mistake on the last lap it would definitely have been very close.  The pace is very high and you have to push to keep the 22-second laps going. It’s tough but it’s going good so far’.  Asked about tyre wear, the World Championship Top Qualifier replied, ‘it’s low so it’s no issue. We will stick to our normal strategy and run the first set of tyres 3-times and then put on new ones on for the last qualifier like aways’.

‘Another mistake’, was Coelho reaction after the 5-minute encounter.  The Xray driver went on, ‘I was battling with Daniel and then on the single after the table top my car jumped weird. I was unable to correct it and flipped and lost time’.  Pleased with his car, the Portuguese driver explained, ‘everyone is so close. You have to take risks to fight for the TQ.  Also Orlowski was coming after being slow at the start so I was forcing more to get time and that led to a small mistake’.

‘Not so good’, was how Kobbevik summed up Q2.  The 14-year-old continued, ‘I’m happy to have good results from the first two rounds and already have good points but my mistake on the last lap cost me another TQ run’.  He explained, ‘At the table top I came up too tight. It was just the one mistake but it was too big.  The speed is there so I will try to keep it going’.

Explaining his error, Martin said, ‘I touched the pipe and my front wheel wouldn’t free up so I lost a ton of time’.  The Yokomo driver added, ‘the car is nice to drive. I could push it harder but it gets a little out of my comfort zone but I think I might try it anyway for the next one’.

On his much improved Q2 performance, European Champion Ronnefalk said, ‘that was not bad. It started out really good but then I had a mistake coming down the wall and lost a couple of seconds.  Towards the end of the heat I was driving pretty strong and making no mistakes so I could make back a few places.  I knew Lee (Martin) was too far ahead so 5th overall was decent’.  In terms of his car, the Swede is running a prototype, he said ‘it is not yet fast enough to win or get in the Top 3 but I’m aiming to finish in the Top 5.  We are trying a few things on the set-up to learn and if we can tune the set-up a bit more a Top 5 should be achievable’.

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Kobbevik takes opening qualifier at EOS Daun

Daniel Kobbevik has backed up his Top 3 practice form at the Euro Offroad Series in Germany taking the opening round of 2WD qualifying in Daun.  The Xray driver produced a clean 5-minute run around the large high speed track layout to top the times from Lee Martin by one and a half seconds.  Despite a 3-second error after he had just went by Kobbevik, who started the heat in front of him, Bruno Coelho come out of the round with a P3.  Another to suffer costly mistakes was Top Seed Michal Orlowski, the Schumacher driver twice making errors that cost him a total of 6-seconds leaving him fourth ahead of an under the weather Martin Bayer.  Finding himself in the second fastest heat after a disappointing controlled practice, Jörn Neumann completed the Top 6 despite a blotch on his run when he crashed twice on the same lap that added 4-seconds to his time.

‘I’m super happy’ declared Kobbevik on reacting to his TQ run.  The Norwegian’s first race outing in over 2-months, he added, ‘I was struggling a bit at the start because of being on new tyres and this made the car difficult to drive but then I got faster and faster but it was making no mistakes that gave me the TQ’.  Having delivered a podium finish at the season opener in 4WD but chasing that same honour in 2WD, looking to Q2, the teenager said, ‘I will just try to do the same. I hope it will be easier at the start now that the tyres are broken in’.

Martin summed up his Q1 performance with ‘it was fine’.  The Yokomo lead driver continued, ‘the car got a little soft in the end and I couldn’t push the last minute’.  The former Champion added, ‘I went relatively clean and there isn’t much else to report really’. For Q2 he will, ‘stiffen up the car to make it better at the end of the run’.

Explaining his P3 run, Coelho said, ‘I started behind Daniel and once I felt comfortable with the tyres I started to push.  When I caught Daniel he let me by but just after I passed him I crashed at the table top and lost 3-seconds’.  Chasing a second 2WD win of Season #8, the overall title still eluding the 2-time 4WD Champion, he concluded, ‘I am happy with our car. Daniel was 1st and I was third with a 3-second error showing it’s working well’.

Orlowski said, ‘The car felt good. We moved the battery back to forward position but I made two errors and lost a lot of time. Otherwise everything was very good’.  The reigning champion added, ‘I jumped the last roller on the inside and got caught in the pipe and then I got the double double wrong and ended up out on the straight. They were two costly mistakes but I know I have the pace so I will go back out and do my own thing’.

‘For how I feel 5th was not a bad result’, was Bayer’s reaction after Q1.  The head of Xray’s offroad programme, continued, ‘Since I arrived yesterday I having been feeling sick and all my reactions are slower. When I need to correct the reactions are not there’.  With the race attracting a record entry, Bayer said he was also not happy having to start 11th in the fastest heat saying it was an extra distraction’.  The Czech driver concluded, ‘hopefully I feel better tomorrow but for now I will just try to survive the rest of the day’ – Day 1 not set to conclude until just after 22:00 local time.

‘Sixth was actually a good opening round.  I crashed once, well twice on the same lap so it could have been quicker’, was how Neumann summed up Q1.  The Schumacher driver added, ‘the car is driving good but if I could get a bit more off power steering it would be perfect. I will discuss with Trish (Tristram Neal) what we can change to get this for the next one’.

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