Orlowski again in Q2

Michal Orlowski ends day two of the Euro Offroad Series at the top of the 4WD qualification ranking, the Schumacher driver backing up his Q1 TQ with another in the second round.  Starting out the run mixing times with both Joona Haatanen and Daniel Kobbevik with whom he fought out the opening qualifier, in the end it was Bruno Coelho who finished second fastest some 1.7-seconds back with Haatanen repeating his P3 from Q1.  Joern Neumann was another to repeat his position, finishing 4th ahead of Martin Bayer with Kobbevik dropping down the order with a mistake on the penultimate lap to complete the Top 6.  Two more qualifiers await drivers in the morning at the Nurburgring before the first 4WD winner of Season #8 is decided in the triple A-Mains.

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Orlowski pips Kobbevik in Q1

Michal Orlowski has taken the opening round of 4WD qualifying at the Euro Offroad Series at the Nurburgring, the Schumacher driver just managing to pip Daniel Kobbevik over the final two laps by 0.020 of a seconds.  Having topped practice, Orlowski wouldn’t have the best of starts to Q1 suffering a mistake on the second lap due to the steering lock being wrong on his radio but it was his finish to the qualifier that clinched him the TQ.  Fifth fastest in practice, Kobbevik had an improved car and looked on target for the TQ but losing more than half a second to Orlowski with a slow penultimate lap he was a 1/10th too slow on his final lap to stay at the top of the timing screen at the finish.  Behind, another of the EOS’ young guns completed the Top 3 as fresh from his first EOS career win in 2WD earlier in the day Joona Haatanen surprised even himself with the 3rd fastest time.  Joern Neumann was best of championship veterans with a P4 ahead of Lee Martin and Martin Bayer.

‘At the end it was good’ was how Orlowski described the first of the four qualifiers.  He continued, ‘the steering lock on my radio was wrong because we just forgot to check it before going out so the car didn’t feel as good as in practice. I’m glad I got the win’.  Happy with the performance of his car he said, ‘it should be good for the next because we’ll make sure to check the radio’.

A podium finish at last seasons opening round, held in Warsaw, Kobbevik was very happy with his Q1 performance saying, ‘I’m super happy. I thought it was super slow but it wasn’t. I just drive stable and made no mistakes’.  Adding, ‘I guess I will stick to this approach for the next one’, he said having struggled with the car in practice not being stable & difficult to drive, a number of changes for qualifying had improved the car and he was now more comfortable with it.  Planning to leave the car as is for the day’s second & final qualifier he concluded, ‘I think I can improve my driving for the last one by continuing with the car the same’.

‘Actually it was not too bad. I’m surprised to get 3rd in the round’, was how 15-year-old Haatanen summed up his run.  The Team Associated driver added, ‘this track is better for our 4WD’.  Setting the fastest lap, he said, ‘We improved the car from practice. It was still edgy but that was because I was on new tyres but it improved over the run.  The main thing though is that now I have the speed.  For sure this was a positive start to 4WD’.

Neumann was content with his opening run to the fourth fastest time saying, ‘it was a decent start’.  The EOS’ most winning driver, the German added, ‘I made two mistakes but overall the car is good and I just need to tidy up my driving’.

Top Qualifier in 2WD, Martin summed up his first 4WD run with ‘it was OK’ going on to call it a ‘reserved’ drive.  The Yokomo driver said his car ‘lacked a little steering and forward acceleration’ and he needed to ‘add a little more pony power and steering’ for Q2.  The former champion and Nurburgring winner concluded, ‘can do better’.  While Martin Bayer would complete the Top 6 it was not a good start for Xray team-mate Bruno Coelho.  The fastest Xray in practice, last year’s season opener double winner lost a wheel in the warm-up causing him to miss his 3rd place seeding position as a new one was fitted – the Portuguese driver not happy they didn’t wait the extra few seconds for his car to be returned to the grid.

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Haatanen finally delivers EOS victory

Joona Haatanen has finally delivered his first win of the Euro Offroad Series, the Team Associated driver winning the season opening 2WD encounter at the Nurburgring in Germany.  Putting himself into contention for the overall victory after winning A2, after just 3-laps it looked like both his and Michal Orlowski’s challenge for the win was over as they made contact and slow marshalling left them both down the order as Haatanen waited having made the contact with the Schumacher driver.  Up front this all played perfectly into the hands of Top Qualifier Lee Martin, the third of the drivers fighting for the overall win.  Holding a huge advantage, a mistake at the double before the straight on lap 7 would cost Martin 2-seconds and allow a brief challenge from fellow Brit Neil Cragg.  Able to quickly re-establish his lead, the penultimate lap would see another much smaller error at the same piece of track but the 3/10ths lost was to prove costly.  With Haatanen getting back up to second, all three drivers ended up on 3-points but with a winning time of 5:16.068 compared to Martin’s 5:16.317 the race was Haatanen’s who kept up Finnish motorsport tradition by taking his achievement completely in his stride.  With his A1 time the slowest of triple finals reigning champion Michal Orlowski had to settle for third place points to open his title defence.

‘My first win, I finally did it’, was Haatanen’s reaction, as he gave Team Associated what is only their third EOS win. The 15-year-old continued, ‘I was too rude as I crashed Michal.  I waited but the marshal didn’t put his car down so we were last.  I went maximum because I knew I needed to get back to the front because Michal and Lee both had second places to count.’  Asked about the contact with Orlowski, the pair good friends off the track, he said, ‘I hit him at the corner table after he had a bobble. I was carrying more speed than he was’.  One of the young stars of the sport to come up through the ranks of the EOS, Orlowski another of them, Haatanen had a disappointing Season #7 but says that is now behind him.  Having secured his first TQ the previous season, marking him as one to watch, he said, ‘Only half of the races went good for me last year so this is a good start to a new season for me’.

Reacting to his second place Martin said, ‘Close but no cigar. I’m pretty gutted’.  He continued, ‘I got lucky when they had an alternation but crashed myself at the double and then over jumped it at the end.  It was this that cost me the win’.  The Yokomo driver said, ‘at least we showed we can rock with the kids.  The car is definitely good enough to win. I’m pretty gutted I didn’t to be honest.  It would have been nice to start the season with a win but the performance shows we have improved from last season. I am looking forward to the next round’.

A disappointed Orlowski said, ‘I don’t know. I felt the car was good but I had a small error in the corner table and that lead to contact with Joona.  I tried to come back but I was way down and then I got caught in others’ crashes.  It was just bad luck I guess. I did everything the best I could’.  Behind Orlowski, his 3rd one place better than his opening result last year, it was Neil Cragg who finished fourth ahead of the best of the Xray cars which was driven by another of the EOS’ emerging talents Daniel Kobbevik.

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Haatanen denies Orlowski in A2

Joona Haatanen prevented reigning EOS Champion Michal Orlowski from taking an early overall 2WD victory at the Nurburgring, the Team Associated driver winning A2 to put himself in contention for his first ever EOS career win.  A much cleaner opening lap than A1, Lee Martin took early control of the race holding a decent lead over the pursuing Orlowski and Haatanen but it all came undone on the 6th lap.  In the middle section, the Yokomo driver landed in the centre of the corner with his car needing to be marshalled being stranded inside the corner.  This let Orlowski take the lead but he only stayed there for two laps. Casing a jump he went wide and young charger Haatanen didn’t need an invitation to get down his inside.  Unlike A1, in which he made a number of mistakes, this time the Finn drove the perfect race and after a last lap error from Orlowski could cruise to the finish nearly 4-seconds clear.  Luckily for Orlowski, Martin just missed the extra lap at the loop and so his crash didn’t cost him the third place.  Behind Lee, Neil Cragg took fourth ahead of Daniel Kobbevik and Jörn Neumann.

‘Michal just did a small mistake at the double and went wide and I could pass on his inside. That was kind of it’, was Haatanen’s description of the race.  The 15-year-old added, ‘It as a good race between me and Michal and it was good for me that I ran the full 5-minutes with no mistakes’.  Looking to the deciding race, the former Nurburgring podium finisher said, ‘A3 is going to be exciting. My car is easy to drive so I am going to go with the same car and the same tyres. I’m not looking to make any crazy changes at this stage’.

Orlowski said, ‘I just lost the lead when I cased the double which allowed Joona to get on my inside so I checked up’.  Following his rival but unable to mount a challenge to take back the position, the Polish teenager said, ‘I tried to follow but had to push really hard. Joona had good pace in his car but my tyres were older than his. That was their third run’.  He continued, ‘All three of us are in with a chance of the win and we are all the same pace but I have new tyres and I hope this strategy plays out good’.

Setting the fastest lap of A2, Martin said, ‘everything was working but I had a small mistake. It was just one of those things. I couldn’t catch back up’.  The former champion concluded, ‘It is still all to play for so I will go for it’.

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Orlowski wins A1 from Martin

Michal Orlowski has won the first A-Main of the new season of the Euro Offroad Series, the Schumacher driver getting by Top Qualifier Lee Martin on the opening lap and surviving a few mistakes of his own to stay ahead of the Yokomo driver to the finish.  The tight technical track would catch out all the Top 3 starters on the first lap.  The first mistake came from Orlowski followed shortly by Martin allowing 3rd place starter Joona Haatanen to go to the front but only briefly as the Team Associated driver rolled at the very next corner allowing Orlowski emerge as the leader.  Pulling clear as Martin saw off the attention of Haatanen, a mistake closed the gap and Orlowski now had Martin back on his case but the reigning champion remained composed and held on to take the win by 1/10th of a second with Haatanen a further 2.3-seconds back.

Summing up the race Orlowski said, ‘It started off with me, Joona & Lee making mistakes on the first lap so I was lucky to get the lead.  I was starting to get a gap and then they both crashed but two corners later I crashed. Luckily I didn’t need to be marshalled but I was relieved to bring it home. Hopefully I will have less mistakes in the next one. I just need one more win’.

Martin said, ‘The track was a little hard having not had practice in the morning. It felt like a new track for the first few laps’.  He continued, ‘my shocks felt pressurised probably from the cold overnight and the slipper didn’t feel perfect.  We fitted a new one last night and I think its a bit glazed so we need to check.  The race was close but I didn’t feel I drove that well so I’ll try to driver better the next one’.

‘A few too many mistakes’, was how Haatanen described his race.  Posting the fastest lap of the final, the Finn added, ‘the car was good but I was on new tyres and we forgot to cut the outside pins so it was a bit edgy but I’m not complaining about the car.  I had a mistake on the first lap when I crashed but after that I was there all the race.  I had nobody behind me so I could push hard.’  Behind Haatanen, Daniel Kobbevik would come through from 6th to finish 4th ahead of Bruno Coelho and Elias Johansson.

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Martin to start new EOS Season from TQ

Lee Martin will start the new season of the Euro Offroad Series from the TQ, the Yokomo driver just doing enough in the final qualifier to deny reigning champion Michal Orlowski pole position on the tie break.  With Orlowski having two TQ runs to his name and his Q3 time the fastest of the day, Martin needed not only to TQ the fourth & final round but also better his rival’s time. With Orlowski traction rolling on his opening lap, Martin only had to worry about his time.  Setting off with a strong pace, a mistake with just over a minute to go looked to have ended his chances but pushing on his final lap, almost matching his fastest lap, it was enough to give him the fastest TQ by a 1/10th of a second.  Behind Martin, Joona Haatanen ended with his first 19-lap run, a result that secures the Team Associated driver third on tomorrow’s A-Main grid behind Orlowski and ahead of team-mate Neil Cragg.

Reacting to his TQ run, Martin said, ‘I was easily on it and then crashed in the middle. I was trying to be a bit too fast.  I knew then I had to push at the end’.  The former Nurburgring winner went on, ‘the car felt really good. Shin (Adachi) done a really good job making new bits and improving the car for this season. I’m looking forward to the finals tomorrow’.

‘Close’, was Orlowski’s reaction at the end of qualifying.  The Schumacher driver continued, ‘I was on new tyres and traction rolled at the end of the straight. I lost it right there but it is still open for the finals.  Looking at last year’s results all my wins where from 2nd.’  Chasing his 6th EOS career win in 2WD, Martin having the same number of wins to his credit, the Polish driver said, ‘me and Lee are quicker than the rest of the field so I will try to put pressure on him.  It’s a tight track and easy to make mistakes so we will see but I will do my best to get the win’.

Haatanen described Q4 as ‘better’, adding ‘my driving is getting better every time’.  The young Finn who is a former Top Qualifier but has yet to pull off his first EOS win, is particularly confident for tomorrow having managed to do all four qualifiers on the same set of tyres meaning he has one in hand over his rivals.  Asked about his car on new tyres, he replied, ‘I only drove one time on them but I think the car will be good on new tyres. I am going full attack tomorrow’.

‘The car was better but the driver was terrible’, was how Cragg summed up his final qualifier.  Last season’s championship runner-up he added, ‘I have just not got on with the track at all.  I’m really surprised I ended up 4th on the grid.  Tomorrow is a new day and hopefully we have a bit of luck in the finals.  You never know what will happen’.

On his 5th on the grid, Joern Neumann described it as ‘so, so’ adding, ‘in the last round I crashed too many times and then had to open for many drivers over the run’.  Looking to the finals, the Schumacher drivers said, ‘The Top 2 are too fast but maybe 3rd is possible. Everyone is making mistakes so we will see’. On his car he added, ‘I need to find a little more steering’.  Behind him Daniel Kobbevik will start 6th as the top Xray driver with Swede Elias Johansson 7th, Bruno Coelho 8th, Martin Bayer 9th and Sworkz’s Micha Widmaier completing the A-Main line-up.

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