Orlowski wins opening 4WD A-Main

Michal Orlowski has won the opening A-Main of 4WD at Euro Offroad Series in Daun.  Starting from second on the grid the Schumacher driver went to the front following a mistake from Top Qualifier Bruno Coelho in the final 2-minutes of the race.  Holding a comfortable 1-second advantage over Orlowski, entering the wall section Coelho’s Xray would get stuck in the corner allowing the Schumacher driver to go through and come out with a 1-second advantage.  Coelho would try to chase down the Pole but made a number of mistakes in the process allowing Orlowski to cross the finish line 1.5-second clear.  In a distant third Lee Martin would complete the Top 3, team-mate Marc Rheinard, who started ahead of him, dropping down the order after an error on the opening lap eventually finishing 10th.

Summing up A1 Orlowski said, ‘It started not so good as I had a couple of mistakes at the beginning but we still had a big gap on third.  I was 1-second behind trying to keep up with Bruno and then he made a mistake at the end of the straight.  I tried to keep the gap to him but he made a few mistakes so in the last few laps I could take it easy and get to the finish’.  Having planned to be patient behind Coelho going into A1, asked about A2 Orlowski said, ‘I will do the same strategy and do my best and see what happens’.

Coelho said, ‘It started really good but then I touched the barrier and let Orlowski go by.  Having just laid down the fastest lap of the race the lap prior to his mistake he said, ‘I pushed really hard but wasn’t able to catch Orlowski.  For the next one I will try to put in a clean race’.

‘A solitary, lonely 3rd place’, was how Martin summed up his race.  Finishing over 4.6-second off the winner, the Yokomo driver continued, ‘I was faster than guys behind me a little bit and slower than the guys ahead a little bit.  I need to find more speed’.  Asked what changes he planned for this the former Champion replied, ‘I will tweak something but haven’t decided what yet’.

View complete event results here.

View the event image gallery here.

Coelho 4WD Top Qualifier at EOS Daun

Bruno Coelho is Top Qualifier for the second round of the Euro Offroad Series in Germany, the Xray driver return to his dominant 4WD form after a difficult 2WD race at the new Sporthotel & Resort Grafenwald venue.  Winner of the season from the TQ, the reigning champion clinched his 12th EOS career TQ when he made it three from three in the third round of qualifying with Michal Orlowski once again his closest rival.  Topping the fourth & final qualifier, Orlowski will start second with Marc Rheinard making it three different manufacturers at the front of the grid ahead of his Yokomo team-mate Lee Martin with Hupo Honigl completing the top half of the grid.

Commenting on the Q3 run than put the TQ beyond the reach of his rivals, Coelho said, ‘I was able to make no mistakes that time, the only trouble I had was contact with other drivers’.  Finishing only 10th in 2WD having dominated the season opener in Poland, he continued, ‘Its not easy here because the car is not perfect like the last races so we are still working to improve the car’.  Popping a camber link off his XB4 in Q4, he added, ‘this track is about no mistakes so I will just try to start clean.  Orlowski is going to make a lot of pressure in the final so it will be a difficult race for sure.  Until now though things are going much better than in 2WD but I don’t know how it will finish’.

Again missing out on the TQ as he did in 2WD to Neil Cragg, on his Q4 run Orlowski said, ‘It started off good. I was new tyres and had a big mistake at the hairpin but got marshalled pretty quick.  I pushed to get back to the front and when Bruno broke I just kept doing my laps’.  On the finals, the Polish teenager said, ‘I am going to use the same car, the same set-up.  I will try to make no mistakes and be patient behind Bruno and I hope for the best. I know I am quick’.

Taking a somewhat surprise 3rd on the grid thanks to a second in the final qualifier, Rheinard said, ‘All my qualifiers were good. I was on new tyres for the last one so it was twitchy. I had some bad laps at the beginning but towards the end I was pretty quick’.  Asked his thoughts on the track, the 4 time Onroad World Champion back here in the same venue for next weekend’s Euro Touring Series second round, he said, ‘It challenging but it has some nice jump combinations. The one after the wall is tough.’  On the finals the German said, ‘everyone is doing mistakes so its going to be interesting finals, hectic for sure’.

Demoted to 4th by Rheinard after a tough final qualifier, Martin said, ‘I just crashed too much’.  The former champion continued, ‘the finals are going to be just mayhem’.  The Brit said ‘I’m feeling groggy today’, concluding, ‘I’m just going to drive around and see how it goes’.

View complete event results here.

View the event image gallery here.

Chassis Focus – Bruno Coelho

Chassis: Xray XB4 ’18
Motor: Hobbywing 5.5T G3
ESC: Hobbywing Xerun XR10 Pro
Batteries: Sunpadow 4500mAh
Radio/Servo: Sanwa/Savox
Tires: Schumacher (handout)
Body: Lightweight
Remarks – Xray team driver Bruno Coelho is set to start from pole for today’s A-Main with his XB8 ’18 edition. His buggy is equipped with a number of aluminium options including the new 2.5mm chassis, front double joint driveshafts and steel gear diffs. In the electronic department we also find some news, as the Portuguese is using a pre-production “G3” motor from Hobbywing due to hit the market in about one month and batteries from new sponsor Sunpadow. Bruno is also using Hiro Seiko titanium and aluminium screws and a WTF cooling fan.

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Coelho doubles up in Q2

Bruno Coelho has capped off what started out as a tough day in 2WD by ending Day 2 of the Euro Offroad Series in Germany with a second TQ run in 4WD.  Having taken the opening qualifier, Coelho looked to have thrown away Q2 with a costly 5-second mistake in the second minute.  This allowed David Ronnefalk to go top of the timing screens but the he too would get caught out by the challenging Daun track.  Top seed Michal Orlowski then took a turn as the TQ pace setter but he couldn’t complete the run without a mistake allowing a hard charging Coelho to get back to the front to finish 3/10th up on the Schumacher driver.  Having failed to start Q1, Marc Rheinard would complete the Top 3, with his Yokomo team-mate Lee Martin having a tough second run and ending up P7.  Retiring from Q1, Ronnefalk would stop clock with the fourth fastest time ahead of Hupo Honigl and youngster Daniel Kobbevik.

View complete event results here.

View the event image gallery here.