Q2 Update – Coelho snatches it on last lap from Orlowski

Bruno Coelho has taken the second round of qualifying in Daun, the Xray driver snatching the TQ run by 0.067 of a second from Michal Orlowski on the final lap.  Orlowski looked to be on target for 2 out of 2, but a slight bobble on the last lap was enough to allow the Top Seed take it, the intensity of the battling duo highlighted by them each breaking out 21-seconds laps. Behind, Joona Haatanen completed the Top 3 backing up his P2 in the opening qualifier although this time it wasn’t as clean a run for the Associated driver. With a DNF in Q1, number 3 seed Daniel Kobbevik set the fourth fastest time ahead of Yokomo’s Lee Martin with HB Racing’s David Ronnefalk rounding out the Top 6.  Two more rounds of qualifying await the drivers tomorrow morning with Orlowski and Coelho looking to have a distant advantage over the rest of the field.

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Orlowski takes opening 4WD qualifier ahead of Haatanen

Reigning Champion Michal Orlowski has taken the opening round of 4WD qualifying at the Euro Offroad Series in Germany, the Schumacher driver having a 2-second advantage over the Team Associated of Joona Haatanen with top seed Bruno Coelho completing the Top 3.  Orlowski and Coelho would both have mistakes during the qualifier with a clean run allowing Haatanen to split them at the end.  Behind, David Ronnefalk would make it four different manufacturers at the top of the times with Martin Bayer a distant fifth ahead of 2WD race winner Lee Martin.

‘Solid’ was how Orlowski described his TQ run adding, ‘we went back to the set-up we came here with having decided it was the best we ran in practice’.  Chasing his fourth consecutive 4WD win, the Pole continued, ‘I was chasing Bruno around and while our fastest laps are almost the same I was able to do more 22-second laps.  We then hit traffic and he let me through but I made a silly mistake.  After that it was very close but he then made a mistake near the end and it came out good for me’.  Looking to Q2, which will bring today’s action to a conclusion, he said, ‘we will leave the car the same but will play around with the electronics.  It’s a very big track so it’s important to get the correct setting for that’.

Haatanen was pleased with his opening attempt saying, ‘It was actually good’.  The Associated driver went on, ‘I heard I was running between 3rd and 5th so I tried to keep it clean. I had no mistakes. I just had a little few hits on the pipes but no big ones’.  Having a touch of luck to finish the 5-minutes as the motor wire came off just after he crossed the loop, he said they are going to fit all new electrics for Q2 to be safe adding, ‘I don’t know why it came off because the motor hadn’t got hot’.

‘Everything was OK until I traction rolled on the wall’, was how Coelho summed up his opening heat.  Showing good sportsmanship opening for Orlowski only for the Pole to crash immediately after going through he said he almost crashed himself as a result of his rival’s mistake but said it was his error on the wall on the penultimate lap that cost him the TQ.  On his car, the Xray driver said, ‘Our car doesn’t work so well on new tyres as we’ve seen in practice’.  Set to run the same set of handout Schumacher tyres in Q2, he said, ‘from what we read from practice the car should be more comfortable and easier to drive on the second run’.

Another having trouble on the wall, Ronnefalk said, ‘It went pretty good but I had a crash on the stupid wall. I need to get that figured out’.  The HB Racing driver explained, ‘I came into the wall too slow and when I gave it throttle it wheelied and I crashed’.  He continued, ‘Joern crashed there the next lap and I stuck in behind him and he brought me back up to 4th’.  The Swede added, ‘the last half of the race my average was very close to the top guys.  I think it will be hard to touch Michal or Bruno but if I don’t crash maybe it’s possible. That’s my aim for the next one’.  On his car he said, ‘the car feels pretty good I would say.  It suffers a little in the sweepers on power with steering because it creates too much grip but if we can figure that out it should be right there’.

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Coelho tops 4WD practice

With the third round of the Euro Offroad Series switching over to 4WD, it was Bruno Coelho who set the pace in practice.  The Xray driver topped the times for the two rounds of controlled practice in Daun ahead of the Schumacher of reigning champion Michal Orlowski.  Next up was the Xray of the weekend’s 2WD runner-up Daniel Kobbevik with former multiple champion Joern Neumann stopping the clock with the fourth fastest time – a lap of the track so long that instead of counting the usual 3-consecutive laps only 2 being counted with the best pace 44.2.  Another of the 2WD podium finishers, Joona Haatanen was 5th fastest ahead of David Ronnefalk while 2WD winner Lee Martin will carry the number 9 for qualifying.

‘All perfect so far but qualifying hasn’t started’, joked Coelho after setting the fastest time in by almost 3/10th from Orlowski.  The former World Champion continued, ‘the car is working well and I am just trying to drive it without mistakes’.  Asked if the track which caught out most drivers in 2WD suited the 4WD better, the Portuguese driver replied, ‘I prefer 4WD to 2WD so I feel more comfortable with 4WD but I think the track is difficult in 4WD.  It is super fast and wide open so we are going a lot faster and there are a couple of spots where because of the speed it will be easy to destroy the car’.

Winner of the opening two rounds of the championship in 4WD, Orlowski said, ‘Practice went well. We played around with some stuff but made no major changes to the car.  We will go back to how we ran the car in the first practice for Q1’.  Top Qualifier in 2WD but ending up P4, the Pole continued, ‘I had a good rhythm in the last practice and could run clean laps so everything looks good for qualifying’.

‘It was ok in the end’, was Kobbevik’s thoughts on practice.  The teenager explained, ‘the car felt ok but it was just not fast enough, we changed the shock oil and shock position and it was better’.  Planning no further changes to the car for Q1, the opening two qualifiers taking place this evening, he said he was happy with his time as he was driving the practice like a qualifier and it felt safe to drive.

Three time champion Neumann summed up his practice with ‘it was ok’.  The German continued, ‘In the beginning I was very fast but the others improved slightly the last one. I need to improve also’.  The Schumacher driver added, ‘I don’t think 2-laps is so important because I think in 4WD there will be a lot of crashes.  Given 2WD is normally a lot more clean but here there was a lot of crashes I think it’s going to be difficult in qualifying’.  On making changes to his car for Q1 he said, ‘the car is good. It’s just missing 2, 3 tenths but maybe I just need to improve my lines in some spots on the track’.

Commenting on his practice, Haatanen said, ‘my car was pretty good.  There was a few things wrong with the set-up in the first practice but we went to the same set-up we ran at the last race and it was good so I was just getting used to the car’.  Asked if he enjoyed the track more in 4WD, the Associated driver replied, ‘ The jumps are easier and the car lands much better than my 2WD’.

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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 – Former EOS Champion Lee Martin ended his winning hiatus in the 2WD class here in Daun, behind the wheel of a YZ2-CAL2 that sports a bunch of pre-production parts that are part of the development for the upcoming, updated version of the Japanese buggy. The chassis features a new design for increased stiffness and is meant to be used with the new separate side battery mounts for optimal flex. Both the shock towers are lower and the rear shocks length has been also reduced, while the gearbox has been updated in order to obtain easier access to the differential. Using a steel under-LiPo weight plate, Lee also opted for a LMR rear wing to be paired with the JConcepts bodyshell.

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Martin secures first EOS win in more than 3-years

Lee Martin has claimed his first EOS 2WD win in more than 3-years, the Yokomo driver taking victory in Daun, Germany, where the outcome was decided in A3.  Last winning a race in 2015 at the Hudy Arena en-route to becoming the Season #5 Champion, Martin put himself in contention for the Round 3 win when from 3rd on the grid he took the A1 win.  Backing that up with a P3 in A2, the British driver was able to drive a calculated A3 finishing third behind Daniel Kobbevik to beat the young Norwegian to the overall win.  While Top Qualifier Michal Orlowski would finally pull off a win in A3, it was A2 winner Joona Haatanen who completed the podium at the record entry event but the TQ point and fourth place sees Orlowski leave Germany still tied for the championship lead – the second half of the season getting underway in 6-weeks time at the Hudy Arena.

‘I’m super happy.  The car has been good enough for better results in the last few races but things just didn’t work out. It’s great to finally win again’, was how Martin summed up today’s result having gone 14 races without a victory.  His 6th EOS career win in 2WD and now just one off the all time record held by Joern Neumann, he continued, ‘I had a tough year last year so I’m happy to start out this one better.  I will try to continue like this and build on it and build up my confidence again’.  On the deciding race he said, ‘I was trying to work out what was going on.  I could see Orlowski was pulling away so I knew what I needed to do.  Once I had a gap behind me I started to push to catch Kobbevik but I knew where I was was enough to wrap it up’.

Claiming his best 2WD EOS career finish, having secured his first podium at the previous round in Poland, Kobbevik said, ‘I’m happy. We made a good showing here and I hope to build on this for the next one’.  On the deciding A3 encounter, the Xray driver added, ‘I tried to catch Michal but he was too fast and I also didn’t want to risk my second place. I was happy with second’.

‘I’m happy to be on the podium.  After two weeks running on dirt for the Reedy Race I wasn’t thinking I was going to finish this high’, said a pleased looking Haatanen.  The Associated driver continued, ‘After the first two qualifiers I wasn’t even in the Top 10. I’m happy we got the car good and on the pace.  A1 was my own stupid mistake and in A3 I clipped Lee’s wing and flipped over’.  Entering the weekend tied on points with his good friend off the track Orlowski, the pair leave still tied with Haatanen declaring, ‘I’m happy I am still in the fight’.

Commenting on his fourth place finish, Orlowski said, ‘The finals were terrible.  I made some silly mistakes in the first one and then there was the contact with Daniel in the second one when we had a good lead’.  The reigning back to back 2WD Champion continued, ‘I am disappointed to not get full points which would have given me a lead in the championship but I have to look at the positives.  We were running a prototype car here and we were fastest so I’m looking forward to the rest of the season.  I and Joona are still joint leaders of the championship.  The new car is really good. I have the best package so I hope I can pull away in the points the next round.  I need to forget this one and move on’.

In the 13.5 Stock class, the third round would go to Nurburgring winner Tim Kunz.  Having also taken the TQ, this is the German’s second maximum points haul of the newly introduced class. Behind him Felix Stahmer would secure second at his first EOS outing with the podium being completed by Warsaw winner Sven Rudig.  In the Stadium Truck Stock class it was also the Top Qualifier Bartosz Zalewski who would would enjoy the spoils winning all three A-Mains.  Behind the Polish driver, Jens Becker would finish second with third going to Wouter Wynen.

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