Video – 2wd qualifying Rd3
Surprise TQ run from Rheinard
Touring Car World Champion Marc Rheinard pulled off a surprise TQ run in the penultimate round of 2WD Buggy qualifying at finale of the Euro Offroad Series in Dortmund, Germany. The Tamiya driver topped the time sheets from Team Losi Racing’ Darren Bloomfield and Durango’s Hupo Hönigl while the three title contenders Joern Neumann, Dustin Evans and Lee Martin made mistakes, the latter’s error resulting in a broken shock tower.
Rheinard, who joked he can’t remember the last time he TQ’d a round in Touring Cars, said starting last after his DNF in the previous qualifier he just aimed to run an error free 5-minutes and helped by the mistakes of others the end result was a TQ run in a class that is the least favourite of those in which he competes. Team-mate Martin was on for a potential Top 3 time but with less than a minute to go caught one of the hay bails on the edge of the table top causing his Tamiya to rotate upside down and break the front shock tower on landing.
Bloomfield, who is full of praise for the power delivery and feeling he is getting from his new Team Orion electrics, said fresh tyres improved his TLR22 allowing the Brit to post his fastest 5-minute run. Unfortunately for team-mate Evans, who TQ’d the preceding qualifier and felt he had got a handle on the controlled dBoots tyres, he was wrong and going for an extra run on his first set of tyres didn’t pay off as they were passed their best. Struggling for pace the American eventually finished 7th after a mistake on lap 10 lost him 5-seconds but he said a top result was already out the window after lap 2.
Recording his best qualifier Hönigl said both his LRP powered DEX210 and driver were much better this time round and was very pleased with third. Fourth fastest for the round, Durango team-mate Neumann got caught out by fresh tyres, the German having two bad laps as he struggled with his buggy being very edgy.
Completing the Top 6 were Team Losi Racing drivers Mike Truhe and Oskar Levin, the young Swede who was one of the stars of qualifying at the opening EOS event finally getting in a solid run.
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Evans takes Q2
Team Losi Racing claimed a 1-2 in the second round of 2WD Buggy qualifying at the Euro Offroad Series Finale with Dustin Evans topping the time sheets from this morning’s Q1 top qualifier Darren Bloomfield. Having clipped down the pins on his front tyre for Q2, Evans said his Team Orion powered TLR22 was much more comfortable to drive although still a bit edgy but with the natural wear he said it’s only going get better for Q3. The American Champion said cutting the pins has given him valuable information as to how he needs to prepare his dBoot tyres for the finals.
While Evans got his tyres close to the optimum performance, by the end of the 5-minute qualifier Bloomfield was starting to run out of front tyres. Making changes to his set-up to improve the mid corner steering on his 22, the British driver said he could feel the tyres going away but the lack of pins didn’t effect his overall performance much as he set his fastest lap of the run on the final lap.
Making a mistake three laps into the run, which saw the Top 10 for the round run 15 laps, Neumann posted the 3rd fastest time. Following his mistake he dropped behind Evans and shadowing his title rival for the rest of the run the Team Durango driver said afterwards they were both running almost an identicial pace. Like in Q1 the German once again set the fastest lap of the round being the only driver to navigate the challenging track in 19 seconds.
Lee Martin once again set the fourth fastest time with his Tamiya. The Belgian EOS race winner said his Speed Passion powered TRF201 buggy is getting better with each run but is still hard to drive fast. Planning to make the chassis heavier for Q3 he hopes this will help keep it planted more through the corners. Team-mate Marc Rheinard who was 5th in Q1, managed only 5 laps after a lead came off his Speed Passion motor.
Going for a safe rather than fast run Team Losi Racing’s Mike Truhe set the 5th fastest time for Q2 followed by Team Associated’s Paul Bradby. Bradby, who was joined in the Top 10 by both his AE team-mates Brent Theilke and Tony Truman who set the 9th & 10th fastest time respectively, said he needs to improve the reaction of the rear big bore shocks on his car so as to get C4.1 to settle quicker.
In between the Associated squad, with the 8th fastest time, factory Schumacher driver Tom Cockerill said his improvement was simply down to better driving. Making one mistake the Englishman said he doesn’t know exactly where he is losing time but he feels the SV2 is not aggressive enough but thinks he will stick with having a safe set-up and focus on getting a clean run.
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Bloomfield tops opening Qualifier
Darren Bloomfield has topped the opening round of 2WD Buggy qualifying at the TLR/Spektrum Euro Offroad Series presented by Horizon Hobby. The Team Losi Racing driver took his Team Orion powered 22 to a fastest time of 15 laps in 5:09.191 to take the first of the four scheduled qualifiers ahead of the three title protagonists, Joern Neumann, Dustin Evans and Lee Martin who took the next three positions on the time sheets at the Dortmund event.
Describing his run as ‘kind of safe’, Bloomfield said the run was not very fast but was clean and this played in his favour as the others suffered crashes. In terms of his buggy, the British 1:8 Offroad National Champion said overall it felt pretty good but for Q2 he will raise the rear links so as to try and make it ‘pivot’ better in the corner.
The fastest man in yesterday’s practice, Neumann said his run started well but a coming together with Bloomfield’s team-mate Mike Truhe on the penultimate lap cost the German 3-seconds and ultimately the TQ for the round. The Reedy Race Champion said his Speed Passion DEX210 feels really good, endorsed by his fastest lap of Q1, and added once he can get a clean run he is confident he has the edge over his rivals. Team-mate Hupo Honigl, who was sixth fastest, said he should have done the morning’s free practice as after running 4WD for the second half of yesterday’s practice day he didn’t re-adapt to his LRP powered example of the 2WD buggy but added he thinks it was good to drive and everything should be fine for Q2.
Evans said he was actually happy with third considering how hard his buggy was to drive. Very edgy, the US Champion said he is still struggling with how sensitive the front tyres are to the handling of the buggy. This led to a crash by the Team Losi Racing driver early in the run but Evan hopes that by clipping down the pins on his front set of controlled dBoots tyres he will have a safer buggy for his next qualifier. Truhe was another to get caught out by his tyres. Running a used set in the morning practice he was very comfortable with his buggy he switched to a fresh set for his opening heat but said it was very edgy. With just a minute to run the American had a ‘huge’ crash on the straight which cost him 8 seconds after which he said he was left frustrated leading to further mistakes dropping him to 8th for the round.
Tamiya Racing Factory’s Martin was much more positive this morning after a tough opening day yesterday. The European Champion had to come through traffic due to starting 8th and with too much steering on his Vega converted TRF201 he suffered an early mistake. Set to start 4th for Q2 having set the fourth fastest time ahead of team-mate Marc Rheinard, the winner of the preceding round of the EOS said he is in better form and feeling more connected with the track today and so the day should get a lot better. Rheinard said he buggy was ‘fine’ and he just needed to cut out crashes after he put his buggy, which is Martin’s spare mid motor mounted chassis, on its roof which cost him 3 seconds.
Paul Bradby was fastest of the Team Associated squad as he took his C4.1 to seventh just ahead of team boss Brent Theilke. Bradby, who along with Thielke is running in the second fastest heat grouping, said he struggled a little with traffic but said it was own fault for being too slow in timed practice yesterday. Happy with his buggy he said it was down to him to drive it. Just missing out on making 15 lap with a 5:00.889, Theilke said Q1 was his first clean run since arriving in Germany and he was happy to take 8th for the opening round. Starting 8th in his heat, he said once he passed some traffic he was out on his own and he was not sure how hard to push as he had no one to pace himself against. Starting 2nd behind Bradby in Q2 he said he should be able to judge his pace better and hopefully improve his time. Changing the set-up on his C4.1, which is belonging to Neil Cragg, three times before his opening qualifier Theilke switched to big bore shocks and was happy with their performance.
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Day 1 of EOS finale ruled by Neumann
Joern Neumann made his intentions for the finale of the TLR/Spektrum Euro Offroad Series very clear on the opening day of the event after he backed up his run to the fastest time in the morning’s 2WD Buggy practice to top 4WD Buggy and Short Course this evening in Dortmund, Germany. Topping 2WD Buggy from Team Losi Racing’s Dustin Evans, Neumann posted the three fastest consecutive laps in the 4WD class ahead of team-mate Hupo Honigl meaning the German will carry the No.1 race number on all three of his Durangos in qualifying tomorrow.
Fastest by 7/10th of a second from Honigl in 4WD Buggy, Neumann said his DEX410 was easy to drive with his standard carpet set-up needing little or no adjustment over the five practice rounds and he added that he just hopes he can do the same tomorrow as he goes for the perfect score. Having TQ’d and won in the Czech Republic and Belgium, which already gave him the honour of becoming the first champion of the EOS, the German’s motivation this weekend in 4WD Buggy is to complete the clean sweep. Neumann said his buggy has always been strong on carpet and it was just up to him now to deliver the result.
Honigl said he was pleased with his day and pace despite breaking a few things, something he was not alone in doing. The Austrian, who is in a battle with his team-mate for the overall 4WD Short Course title, said the breakages were nothing to worry about and he is looking forward to qualifying getting started.
The surprise of 2WD Practice, Marc Rheinard again showed well in 4WD, setting the third fastest time. A former European Champion of the class, the Tamiya Racing Factory star said the surface suited his driving but added that the key to qualifying was going to be about who can do the full five minutes without a mistake rather than who can run the fastest lap. Setting his fastest time in the first of the two timed practice runs, the Touring Car World Champion ran a brand new set of the series’ controlled dBoots tyres in the final practice run which he said made his TRF511 edgy. Having not run or touched the buggy since his last main at last year’s World Championship he said he just put fresh oil in the shocks this morning and switched from a 6.5T to 5.5T Speed Passion motor.
Team-mate Lee Martin summed up the day saying he just wanted to ‘deleted today and start fresh tomorrow’. The reigning European Champion was clearly frustrated with his performance today which got off to a poor start when he managed only the 8th fastest time which is not a good start to his challenge against Neumann and Evans for the overall title. The day didn’t improve much for the British ace who enjoyed a double win at his National Championship opener last weekend as he broke his Tamiya in the first timed practice and then lost a wheel nut at the start of the second. Eventually he managed the 5th fastest time despite discovering afterwards he had put on the wrong set of tyres which he had not yet finished gluing.
In between the two Tamiyas, Darren Bloomfield said his XXX-4 was ‘surprisingly good’. Setting the fourth fastest time in the first timed round after the front diff loosened on his second run, the Team Losi Racing driver said he did not think he would be able to make the aging chassis much better. A buggy which first hit the market in the 90s, team-mate Mike Truhe took his example to the 8th fastest time while Evans, whose main focus is on the 2WD title, posted the 11th quickest time.
Setting the sixth fastest time Paul Bradby was top Associated. The former World’s finalist said he did little with his Reedy powered B44.1 over the five practice rounds and it was a case of just driving it as the buggy felt OK given the high bite track conditions. Team boss Brent Thielke continued his learning experience as he got his first sample of 4WD on carpet. The Californian was surprised by how little a difference there was between his 2WD and 4WD on the track compared with the difference he is used to racing on dirt. Running the same set-up as he used at the Reedy Race the only changes he has made was to fit a front sway bar and go up 5 weight in shock oil. With his first day of EOS action in the bag Theilke said he is having fun and in particular happy with his 4WD performance as he will be in the second highest heat grouping together with fellow American Evans.
The Top 10 featured a number of drivers better known for racing Touring Cars rather than offroad. Factory drivers Yannic Prumper, who drives for Yokomo, and Kyosho’s Christopher Krapp, who recently won a round of the Euro Touring Series, set the 7th and 9th fastest times respectively with up & coming 10-year-old Polish talent Michal Orlowski completing the Top 10 at the controls of his Tamiya. Elsewhere Schumacher designer Tom Cockerill, who qualified third in Belgium, ended the day down in 17th. After a poor run in the first timed run, the British driver made a sudden exit from the final round when on the opening lap he tried to clear the table top but the Cat SX touched the jump spinning it onto its roof resulting in the front shock tower being sheared clean off on the landing.
Tomorrow’s schedule will see the day kick off with 2WD qualifying before switching to 4WD in the afternoon with the best 2 of 4 rounds counting towards the grid for Sunday’s Mains.
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Video – 4wd controlled practice
