Chassis Focus – Michal Orlowski

Chassis: Schumacher Cougar KC
Motor: LRP X22 6.5T
ESC: LRP Flow X
Batteries: LRP 3500mAh
Radio/Servo: Sanwa
Tires: Schumacher (handout)
Body: Aerox
Remarks – TQ here at the Hudy Arena in the 2WD Class, Team Schumacher’s Michal Orlowski is running the same Cougar KC he used in his last EOS outing in Daun. Happy with the car, he only underwent some minor tweaks to the setup, while the biggest improvement for this round came from his electrics. Playing for the first time with different rotors and timing on his LRP X22 motor last week, he implemented what he had learnt and went for a bigger (12.7mm) rotor and a higher (+2.5) timing finding this would give his buggy an improved and better delivered power and a firmer braking, which helped him throughout the hairpins of the Slovakian track.

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Orlowski takes first win of EOS title defence

Michal Orlowski has claimed the first win of his Euro Offroad Series 2WD title defence, the Schumacher driver claiming victory at the Hudy Arena from Martin Bayer and Lee Martin.  The half way stage of the championship Orlowski came into the weekend a point adrift of Bayer in the standings but leaves the home of Xray and enters the final two rounds of the EOS with a two points advantage.  Top Qualifier in Slovakia, Orlowski led A3 from start to finish albeit with Bayer throwing all at it on the final lap but the Polish teenager was always in control wrapping up his 4th EOS career win in 2WD, three of which have come at the Hudy Arena.

‘I did what I wanted to do”, was Orlowski reaction after taking A3 and the overall win.  Winner of the event last year, he continued, ‘Bayer started quicker this time but I was able to react and keep in front. I can’t wait for the next round’.  Asked about his successful record at the Hudy Arena, it being where he claimed his first ever EOS victory four seasons ago,  he replied, ‘every time I come  here I have pretty good result. My worst finish here in 2WD in second.  I’m happy with that given it’s Xray’s home’.  With the event now switching to 4WD the Pole, winner in Daun last month concluded, ‘I hope in 4WD I will be as quick as in Germany’.

Continuing his run of podium finishes, a very pleased Bayer said, ‘I’m super happy I’m fighting with a person that told me at Round 1 that I should stop racing.  At home you always want to win but my own mistakes cost me the fight with Michal.  I was very close on the last lap (of A3) and tried something super crazy but it didn’t work out, still very happy with my pace this weekend’.  The Czech driver continued, ‘from 3 races I finish on the podium all the time and I am very happy with this’.

‘It’s good to be back on the 2WD podium. It’s not as high as I wanted to be but it’s the best we could have expected given our pace’, was how Martin summed up his 3rd position overall.  He continued, ‘Michal was good, he is always good here, I think he likes big open tracks.  Its Bayer’s home track and he made a lot of his time on the big table top.  We have a lot of work to do to get the set-up we crave & desire. I will do testing when I get home.  It is funny, corner speed was not an issue the last round but this weekend it is’.  Behind Martin, Kája Novotný would finish 4th ahead of Neil Cragg, a promising start to the weekend for the Round 2 winner not delivering the result the Associated driver had hoped for.

View complete event results here.

View the event image gallery here.

Orlowski cruises to A2 win

Michal Orlowski made up for the first lap error that cost him the win in A1 with a perfect A2 performance that saw the Schumacher driver cruise to victory.  Pulling clear of the field from the opening lap, the reigning champion would win by a massive 9-seconds with the main action of the race being for 2nd, first between A1 winner Martin Bayer and Neil Cragg and then between Bayer and Lee Martin.  At the end it was Martin who held on for second just ahead of Bayer after a tangle at the penultimate corner allowing Kája Novotný to finish a close fourth.

Commenting on his win which included him setting a new fastest lap of the weekend, Orlowski said, ‘Again I made a good gap at the start. I was on new tyres so the car was very good.  I got the gap to 1-second over Bayer and was trying to make it bigger but then he made a mistake so I was very comfortable’.  He continued, ‘I wanted to make a faster time than him (Bayer) so started to run fast laps at the end’.  Bettering Bayer’s A1 time by 7-seconds, giving him the tie breaker advantage if needed come A3, he concluded, ‘I have nothing to change for A3, just go out and race’.

Traction rolling in A1 after which the marshal put his Yokomo back on its roof ending any chance of a result, Martin was much happier after A2.  A former winner at the Hudy Arena, he said, ‘I made the most of everyone’s errors.  I was not that fast and just plodded around. By the time I got up to second Orlowski was a distant spot. Martin (Bayer) was faster but couldn’t get around me’.  Looking to A3, the British driver said, ‘we’ll try a few things for the last one to try and improve the car’.

‘One mistake’ was how Bayer summed up A2.  An error half way through the race would drop the Xray driver to third with him unable to regain the position despite his best efforts.  ‘I had a fun fight with Lee. I tried at the table top on the last lap and I was almost there.  At the next corner I was up on 3-wheels and had no brakes which is why I hit Lee’.  Waiting to give back position, the championship leader said of his 3rd place finish, ‘the podium is already secured. I’m very happy because I have made the podium every race and it means I can go all in for the last one’.

View complete event results here.

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Bayer just hangs on to win A1

Martin Bayer has won the opening A-Main at the Euro Offroad Series, the Xray driver just seeing off Top Qualifier Michal Orlowski for the win.  Starting from second on the grid, Bayer would go to the front on the opening lap after a mistake from Orlowski but the Schumacher was clearly quicker.  Catching the Czech driver, a first attempt saw the Pole get on the inside only for the two to tangle with Bayer able to hold on to the lead.  A second charge from Orlowski then set up a photo finish with Orlowski launching his car into the final corner.  With the timing screens showing him as the winner, the reigning champion had triggered the loop by cutting the corner and the result was corrected so that Bayer was rightly the winner. With the two in a class of their own, it was Kája Novotný who would complete the Top 3 after Neil Cragg suffered an unlucky retirement with half a minute remaining.

‘Way too much pressure on me.  If a Doctor was measuring my heart rate they would think I was having a heart attack’, was Bayer’s reaction to his win.  He continued, ‘when I went in the lead I just tried not to make any mistakes. I know I was slower so I drove on the inside line to leave no space. I have one win so let’s see what happens in the next one’.  The championship leader raised a concern of his tyres saying, ‘I feel the race tyres are different each set.  I had a new set (for A1) and there was a big difference to the new set I used in Q3 but I will see how they go in the second one’.

Running the same set of tyres he used to take Q4 and seal the overall TQ, Orlowski said his car ‘was a bit oversteering in the warm-up’.  He continued, ‘I got a good start and had a half second gap but clipped the pipe. I tried to save it but clipped the next pipe and crashed’.  Chasing a third win at the Hudy Arena, he said, ‘I knew I was faster so I stayed behind Bayer, we both had small mistakes, and when I went for a pass down his inside I was unlucky I touched him. I tried to get by again but it was too late’.  Looking to A2 he is confident saying, ‘I will be on new tyres and know I have a pace advantage so I will try to pull away’.

Starting third and joining the battle for the lead for a time, Cragg was annoyed at losing out on an ‘easiest 3rd place’.  The Team Associated driver said, ‘I was really good for four & a half minutes but then something really weird happened that I have never seen before.  I crashed and somehow lost all four screws from the chassis weight’.  With the speed controller mounted to the plate this would then lift and ‘pull the sensor cable out’ ending his race to the benefit of Xray’s Novotný.  Behind the Czech driver, Cragg’s team-mate Joona Haatanen would get fourth followed by A-Main debutant Adam Izsay.

View complete event results here.

View the event image gallery here.