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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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’.

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Chassis Focus – Lee Martin

Chassis: Yokomo YZ2-CAL2
Motor: Scorpion 5.5T
ESC: Scorpion Vanguard S3-140
Batteries: Yokomo 3900 mAh
Radio/Servo: Sanwa/Xpert
Tires: Schumacher (handout)
Body: JConcepts

Remarks – Still sporting the same pre-production parts – that are part of the development for the updated version of the Japanese buggy – as for the Daun event, former EOS champion Lee Martin’s YZ2-CAL2 only benefited from a few minor setup tweaks to be in contention for the win here at the Hudy Racing Arena. Still adopting a steel under-LiPo weight, with the new shock tower allowing for adjusting the rear wing height Lee decided to use the lower position, saying this change improved corner speed greatly.

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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’.

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