Rheinard top 4WD seed as final practice proves slower

Marc Rheinard is the top seed for 4WD qualifying at the EOS in Germany after slower track conditions saw the top 6 drivers after the first timed practice remain unchanged.  While Lee Martin topped the times for the round ahead of Bruno Coelho, the highest placed driver to improve his time would be Michal Orlowski but the Schumacher driver remained 5th.  The biggest position change within the Top 10 came from Serpent’s Joern Nuemann who moved up from 9th to 7th fastest.

Rheinard, who would set the third fastest time of the final practice, reported ‘the track was slower’ adding ‘I think because it got cold’.  The Yokomo driver said this left his YZ-4 to understeer more, his rivals reporting the same thing.  Team-mate Martin, also reported less traction and while happier with the power of his car after adding more turbo said ‘it still felt slow’.  Discussing this with Yokomo designer Shin Adachi, with Rheinard also looking for better speed they will run a different pinion for qualifying. Sandwiched on the time sheets between the two Yokomos, Coelho was happy to hear that his rivals also found the traction to be lower.

Orlowski felt his improvement over 3-consecutive laps came from the fact he ‘drove better than before’.  With his buggy easier to drive following the shock tower change he said this also allowed him to push harder.  Not a fan of tracks that require ‘huge steering’, he said despite his track preferences he is ready for qualifying. Behind Orlowski, VBC team driver Yannic Prumper was happy that even though the track was slower he had managed to improved his XB4 which was now ‘easier to drive over 5 minutes’.  With Neumann 7th, the Top 10 was completed behind him by a trio of Xrays with Hupo Honigl in 9th splitting brothers Martin and Ales Bayer.

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Rheinard tops first 4WD practice

Marc Rheinard set the pace in the first round of 4WD timed practice at the Euro Offroad Series in Germany.  The Yokomo driver was fastest ahead of Bruno Coelho and Lee Martin, the latter two drivers set to battle it out for the 4WD title at the Nurburgring in the season finale on Sunday.  Over 3-consecutive laps, Rheinard would hold a 0.161 advantage over Coelho who in turn was 0.092 ahead of his title rival Martin who earlier in the day topped 2WD practice.

Only 7th fastest in 2WD practice, having come into the event having won his first EOS race at the previous round, Rheinard was clearly pleased to find himself at the top of the time sheets.  The 4-time onroad World Champion put his improved performance in 4WD mainly down to the fact that the track he was responsible for building suits his 4WD better than his 2WD.  Describing his Much More powered YZ-4 as being ‘pretty good in free practice’, he said some small changes while not changing the feel of the car made it more consistent.  For the final practice, the German plans to leave the car unchanged and run new tyres to give him an idea of how the car should feel for the opening qualifier which has been brought forward to Saturday evening after the conclusion of the 2WD Finals.

Leading the championship by 4-points coming into the event, Coelho was content with P2 for the first practice saying ‘everyone is on the same pace’.  The Xray driver, who is making his first EOS outing using Hobbywing electrics, described his XB4 as ‘working very well’. Having spent two days testing at the Hudy Arena in preparation for his title showdown, he has run his car unchanged since the start of practice adding, ‘it is difficult to make a difference that will give you an edge over the others’.

Martin, who needs to TQ and win to have a chance at retaining his 4WD title, said he ‘lacked a bit of power’.  Also trying a looser slipper he said that got worse over the run and he had to stop for an adjustment.  Planning to ‘add more turbo’ and tighten the slipper he said his YZ-4 feels good after they tweaked the roll bars and reduced toe after free practice.

Finishing second on the EOS’ previous visit to the Nurburgring, Martin Wollanka would posted the 4th fastest time.  The Xray driver said having changed his set-up in the final free practice and then again for the first timed practice he will for TP2 revert to the set-up he started out with.  Describing the track layout as ‘technical but very nice’, the Austrian said while ‘the lap times were almost the same’ after the changes his XB4 was ‘not as agile’ and that is the reason he will change back to his base set-up.  Wollanka’s team-mate and Offroad team manager Martin Bayer posted the 7th fastest time.  A former multiple EOS race winner, Bayer said he was happy to be in the Top 10 given his focus today has been on Xray’s new Stadium Truck project.  Having only had time to run three batteries on the new truck prior to debuting it in the newly introduced class he said this has been his concentration as he has ‘a lot to learn’ due to the less controlled tyre regulations for the class which unlike buggy are not pre-glued.

Fifth fastest on a track while he admits he isn’t a fan of due to its tight layout, Michal Orlowski was ‘pretty surprised’ by his pace. The 15-year-old was ‘happy (they) have improved a lot from the previous EOS race’.  Feeling he can go faster, he said ‘there is more to come from the driver’. In terms of his CAT K2 he said this too could be improved and for the final practice he will change to a different front shock tower.

Completing the Top 6 was VBC team driver Yannic Prumper.  While the manufacturer is preparing to enter the 4WD market and looking for feedback from it new star signing, the electric touring car ace is this weekend using an Xray in 4WD.  With TP1 only his 3rd battery with the car, he said he is still trying to find a good set-up, with a lack of on power steering his biggest issue. For the final practice the German will change to a softer sway bar as well as softer oils and a different shock piston.

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Chassis Focus – Marc Rheinard

Chassis: Yokomo YZ-2 Carpet Edition
Motor: Muchmore Fleta ZX 6.5T
ESC: Muchmore Fleta Pro V2
Batteries: Muchmore 5000mAh
Radio/Servo: Sanwa/Xpert
Remarks – Winner of the last round in the 2WD class, Marc Rheinard is running a YZ-2 Carpet Edition from the Japanese manufacturer. Equipped with updated aluminium rear hubs, a vented slipper plate, front graphite arms and steering knuckles the car is also fitted with Yatabe shock springs.

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Martin top 2WD seed at EOS Finale

Lee Martin goes into tomorrow’s 2WD qualifying at the Nurburgring in Germany as the top seed.  The Yokomo driver was fastest in the two rounds of timed practice, bettering his opening 3-consecutive lap time by 0.064 to again top the times from Team Associated’s Neil Cragg.  Cragg improved his time too in FP2 but the gap between the two British drivers remained almost unchanged.  Having only been 7th after TP1, Bruno Coelho made a big improvement to put his Xray in Top 3 ahead of American AE pairing Ryan Cavalieri and Spencer Rivkin.

On his final practice Martin said, ‘it started really well but went off at the end because of two loose screws in the anti squat blocks’.  Using TP2 to run in new tyres, he said his RC Concept powered YZ-2 ‘drives good’ and its down to him to put in a good drive over the 5-minute qualifiers.  With the track layout requiring ‘a lot of concentration’ he added ‘its easy to get out of the flow (of the track).

Debuting Associated’s new B6, Cragg said, ‘the car has been good all the way through practice’.  Feeling his slipper was not tight enough he said they adjusted it for the final practice but went ‘a little too much’.  Hoping to ‘find a sweet spot’ on his slipper for qualifying, the former world Champion was very happy with his 5-minute time.  With ‘a lot of places to crash’ he said ‘not crashing is going to be key’ to a good qualifier adding ‘I need to not over jump and make sure I hit the down slopes’.

Opting to not change his car after TP1 despite a lack of high speed steering, Coelho said his improvement came from making less mistakes.  Struggling to get in 3 error free consecutive laps he said second time round he made a better job but feels ‘there is still room for improvement’. Closer on pace to his rivals he said ‘we are still too slow compared to them’ stating ‘we need to do something (to the car) to reduce this’. Top Qualifier for the event at the season opener, he said things are ‘completely different in qualifying’ and his aim is to ‘drive safe’.

Fourth fastest Ryan Cavalieri was another driver happier with his driving.  The multiple World Champion described his final 2WD practice as ‘really good’ adding he ‘felt (he) drove more consistent’.  Looking to adjust his Orion speedo to get it smoother on power, he is also confident that on new tyres he ‘will be a little faster too’.  Team-mate and designer of the B6 Kody Numedahl was one of the few leading drivers not to improve on their opening time.  Ending up 8th, he felt he ran much the same pace as before adding the key for him was that he was ‘able to run the whole 5-minutes with no mistakes’.

Taking his B6 to the fifth fastest time, EOS debutant Spencer Rivkin said ‘I’m not the fastest out there but the car was easier to drive that time’.  Motoring down for TP2, the World Champion said the slower motor ‘made a big difference’ but ‘it took a few laps to get used too’.  Happy with his car, he said for qualifying, ‘I still need to work on my driving and make sure I hit my marks’.

Completing the Top 6 ahead of EOS Round 3 winner Marc Rheinard, Michal Orlowski described his pace as ‘not so bad but it could be better’.  Happy to have been able to improve his 3-consecutive laps time, the Polish driver feels they still need to work on bettering the steering for what he called the ‘tight & technical track layout’.

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Chassis Focus – Spencer Rivkin

Chassis: Team Associated RC10 B6
Motor: Reedy Sonic M3 6.0T
ESC: Reedy 410R
Batteries: Reedy 39oomAh
Radio/Servo: Sanwa/Reedy
Remarks – Reigning World Champion Spencer Rivkin is here at the Nurburgring debuting the all new Associated B6. Despite the car coming highly specced as standard, Spencer is still running some option parts such as a brass bulkhead, aluminium steering set, Kashima shock bodies and front and rear sway bars. To lower the centre of gravity he also opted for titanium screws and a steel chassis weights.

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