Coelho stamps authority opening 4WD qualifiers

With the action switching over to 4WD qualifying at the Euro Offroad Series it was Bruno Coelho who stamped his authority on the opening two qualifiers in Germany.  In the first round the World Champion lead an Xray 1,2,3 ahead of Martin Bayer and Hupo Hönigl with Serpent’s Joern Neumann best of the rest with the fourth fastest time.  Having struggled in Q1, it would be Scumacher’s Michal Orlowski who would get closest to Coelho in Q2 albeit 4-seconds off with Martin Wollanka completing the Top 3.  Having enjoyed all the spoils in 2WD, it was a tough start to 4WD for Team Yokomo with Marc Rheinard getting a best run of a P5 in Q1 and Lee Martin a P6 in Q2.

Securing his first EOS victory at Round 2 when he took the 4WD win in Slovakia, Coelho described both his runs as perfect. Posting the fastest lap in each qualifier, the Portuguese driver said his XB4 is ‘super good’ pointing out having topped practice that he ‘didn’t change anything’.

Making a big improvement between rounds, finding over 8-seconds, Orlowski said having struggled in practice they made a change that didn’t work.  Only 9th in seeding, the reigning European Champion went from a 1.2 to 1.0 front swaybar for Q1 but this left his CAT K2 lifting a wheel in the corners.  Changing to a standard kit front deck, having been running a stiffer version, and adding longer rear camber links for more rotation he said this transformed the car.  At the beginning of Q2 however, not expecting the car to be so good, he said he did not push too hard but as he got the feel for the new set-up he was ‘very surprised’ at how much he could push it. With two more qualifiers in the morning, 2 of 4 counting, the 14-year-old said he is feeling positive about tomorrow.

Having been running second to Coelho in Q2 before a mistake and ending up 7th, 2WD winner Rheinard said ‘the car is fine. I was just driving bad and made too many mistakes’ adding ‘tomorrow should be better’.  Team-mate Martin said his YZ-4 was lifting a wheel all the time making it easy to flip, which he did twice on the straight, if he pushed hard.  A long day for all racers due to the record entry in Muelheim-Kaerlich, the newly crowned back to back 2WD Champion said, ‘I’m tired and over it for today’.

View complete event results here.

View the event image gallery here.

Chassis Focus – Neil Cragg

Chassis: Associated B44.3
Motor: Reedy Sonic 5.5T
ESC: LRP Flow
Batteries: Reedy 3900mAh
Radio/Servo: KO Propo
Remarks – Making his first EOS outing, former World Champion Neil Cragg is running a pretty standard version of the B44.3 in the 4WD division. In terms of option parts his buggy is only being equipped with a JConcepts aluminium steering rack.

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Rheinard get 1st win as Martin retains EOS title

Team Yokomo enjoyed the perfect day at Round 3 of the Euro Offroad Series in Germany where Marc Rheinard claimed his first win ahead of team-mate Lee Martin, 2nd enough for Martin to successfully retain his 2WD Championship title with one round of the 2015/16 season still to run.  With Rheinard & Martin going head to head in A3 for the overall win in Muelheim-Kaerlich, the Top Qualifier’s impending win would be assisted by Martin when, 5-laps in, the British driver made a mistake coming onto the straight.  With this handing the Tamiya Touring Car ace a comfortable lead he could, despite some bobbles and a late charge from Martin, cruise to claim his first offroad win since joining Yokomo’s Offroad team last May.  With Martin’s charge resulting in a second mistake on the last lap Orlowski would go by for 2nd, a result that would maintain the Schumacher driver’s run of podium finishes this season.

A driver who has been a regular of the EOS for the past number of season, having previously raced alongside Martin at Tamiya before the Japanese manufacturer dropped its offroad programme, Rheinard was happy to finally register a win.  A former European 4WD Offroad Champion, the German was particular pleased with the fact that his win came with a standard YZ-2 with him joking with Martin that ‘even with a prototype car you still couldn’t beat me’.  A driver who holds the honour of the most winning driver of the Euro Touring Series, today’s win sees him become only the 7th 2WD winner in the EOS’ 18 race history.

‘A round early again, I’m pretty happy with that’, was Martin’s reaction to his second & Yokomo’s third consecutive EOS 2WD title. Having also won the title at the penultimate round last year, he said while he would have liked to have taken a third win of the season ‘at the end of the day the goal this weekend was on securing the title’.  His first EOS outing with new electric sponsors RC Concept he said it was nice to start the new relation by lifting the title. Commenting on A3, he said ‘I was pushing to catch Marc and knew that coming onto the straight was one place if you get it right you can make up time but I was too tight and hit the piping.  I knew I was guaranteed 2nd so tried to catch him towards the end and knew I needed to try something big but just too far.  It was actually a fun race’.  Having spent the weekend slagging Rheinard for finishing 28th at last week’s Reedy Race of Champions in California, the British ace didn’t miss the opportunity to remind him of the embarrassing result saying ’28 to 1, Well done Marc’ adding ‘you were just super lucky today’.

A somewhat relieved Orlowski summed up his 2WD performance with ‘I got my podium’.  Coming into the event as the main challenger to Martin in the title chase finishing 2nd to him in the opening two rounds, the 14-year-old said ‘after a bad qualifying with so many mistakes from my side I am happy with third’.  He continued ‘we have a really good car especially on this surface and we showed that by racing for the win at the first two races so I’m frustrated that my driving was the weak link this weekend’.  Behind Orlowski, Martin Wollanka would end up the best Xray in the final with fourth. Unfortunately for Hupo Honigl, Xray’s highest qualifier in 4th, his strong showing didn’t translate into a good debut result with the Austrian ending up 8th, two places behind Joona Haatanen and new team-mate Bruno Coelho.

Securing fifth overall with 5th in A3, Team Associated’s Neil Cragg summed up his EOS debut with ‘It started promising but kind of faded towards the end’.  Qualifying 3rd, the former World Champion said ‘we were trying different things in the finals and ended up tying ourselves in a knot but for a first effort fifth is not too bad’.  Looking to the EOS season finale in Austria, the British driver said ‘We now know what to expect and know the carpet so we will be a little more prepared for the next one’.  Travelling to Germany to support their star driver, Team Associated’s Craig Drescher was pleased with the progress made on the debut.  An accomplished racer himself with eleven 1:10 Offroad European Championship titles won, he said ‘We did a good job. We knew it would be tough as the other drivers are Pros in the series.  Finishing in the Top 5 we can’t be disappointed and we have got stuff to go back with and come back stronger for the next round’.

View complete event results here.

View the event image gallery here.

Pit Focus – Bruno Coelho

Team: Xray
Neighbours: Hupo Honigl (left), Juraj Hudy (right) Martin Wollanka (Front)
Charger: LRP Pulsar Competition Touch
Tools: Hudy (long-term borrowed from Martin Hudy, Olly Jefferies and many more..)
Setup Tools: Hudy setup board, Hudy ride height and droop gauges
Car Stand: Hudy
Lipo Bag: Hudy
Transport Bag: Hudy
Features: Sony speaker, Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge, Hudy pit lamp, a mango.

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