Chassis: Schumacher Cougar KF2 Special Edition
Motor: LRP X20 6.5T
ESC: LRP Flow
Batteries: LRP 4500mAh
Radio/Servo: Sanwa
Remarks – Polish talent Michal Orlowski is running a “Special Edition” version of the British made 2WD buggy. With the car allowing for four different configurations, he is using it in the “low grip” conversion, and is using an optional rear shock mount that mounts the shocks at the rear of the car.
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Lee Martin holds the overnight TQ at Round 3 of the Euro Offroad Series in Germany after posting a second TQ run in the third & penultimate round of qualifying. The Yokomo driver can now only be denied from becoming 2WD Top Qualifier for a second time this season by team-mate Marc Rheinard. Having taken the second qualifier in Muelheim-Kaerlich, Rheinard had a bad Q3 after opening his run with mistakes on the first two laps ending up 8th. Behind Martin it was season opening Nurburgring Top Qualifier Bruno Coelho who would be second fastest with a rejuvenated Hupo Honigl third. Having started the run on TQ pace, Neil Cragg would end up fourth after losing three & a half seconds when he rolled his Associated on the fifth lap.
Describing his YZ-2 as ‘really good’, while Martin was happy to add a second TQ he was frustrated at losing out on the doing so in the fastest time. On the penultimate lap the British ace, in an attempt to avoid a crashed car, ended up hitting a marshal’s foot resulting in the loss of almost 2-seconds with his time ending up being 1.4 off Rheinard’s Q2 topping pace. A 5-time 2WD race winner, Martin said losing out on the time ‘could be shit tomorrow’. With the advantage of the fastest time, a TQ run tomorrow irrespective of his time would give Rheinard his first overall EOS TQ. Rheinard said while he had a bad Q3, the important thing was that Cragg didn’t TQ the round meaning Yokomo is guaranteed pole for the Final. Feeling he is still adapting to the feel of running the soon to be released 3-gear transmission in his car, Martin said you can push it harder and drive it more on the throttle with his 19.3 fastest lap set in Q3 proof he is getting more from the pending YZ-2 CA edition kit release – CA standing for Carpet Astro.
Completely changing the set-up on his XB2, Coelho said this led to a very big improvement in the car. Easy to drive in the previous qualifier, he said while more difficult to drive after the changes it was now ‘quite fast’ so overall ‘much better’. Having to run a safe Q2 after ending up 19th in the opening qualifier, the Portuguese driver said even with one mistake he could now finish second with him feeling confident that tomorrow’s final qualifier can help him greatly improve his grid position.
‘A very good day’ was Honigl’s reaction to his third qualifier, the Austrian running in the second fastest heat. Describing Q3 as a ‘super clean run’ he said racing was now ‘so much more fun than before’ with his confidence growing with every run he puts on his new Xray. Changing his set-up ‘quite a bit’ and liking the improvement he also ran new tyres which he said are traditionally better on their second run which he said should give him the chance of a very strong final qualifier.
‘One big crash again’, that was Cragg’s reaction to Q3. The English driver said ‘it was pretty close at the start but then I picked a bad place to crash. I took the corner too tight and hit the dot which rolled me over’. Needing to be marshalled the English driver, who is having his first EOS outing this weekend, said at least the 4th puts him in the A-Main. Very happy with the performance of his 3-gear transmission fitted B5M, he said the aim for the final qualifier is to ‘try for 3rd on the grid and go from there’.
Coming into Round 3 of the EOS having finished second to Martin in the opening two rounds, Q3 would see Michal Orlowski lay down his best run with a P5. The 14-year-old Schumacher driver, who last week raced at the Reedy Race of Champions, said it had been a frustrating day. Struggling with jet-lag, he said he had a car capable of the TQ each round but made mistakes due to being over tired. Happy to at least end the day with a 5th he said hopefully with a good night’s sleep he can get a Top 3 in the final qualifier and put himself high enough up the grid to be able to fight for the win. Behind the Polish driver, Martin Wollanka completed the Top 6. Running in the same heat as former team-mate Honigl, Serpent’s Joern Nuemann was looking on target for a potential Top 3 time until he suffered a battery failure over the final laps, the battery swelling up inside in the car leaving him with a P7.
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Marc Rheinard took the second round of 2WD qualifying at the EOS in Germany, the Yokomo driver reversing the order of Q1 to beat team-mate Lee Martin. Having set the pace early on with Rheinard in pursuit, a minute & half in Martin would get the track centre jump wrong with his YZ-2 making contact with a cone which is in place to prevent corner cuts. While he would not require marshalling, the reigning champion would have to u-turn his car allowing Rheinard to run right on his rear wing. Trying to pull clear of the touring car ace, his efforts were cancelled out with small errors. Then, with 2 laps to go Martin would at the track feature jump make contact with a car upside down on the landing delaying him further and knocking off his front wing. Rheinard would TQ by almost 2-seconds with Team Associated Neil Cragg completing the Top 3 just 6/10ths back on Martin.
‘I was just consistent’ was how Rheinard summed up his TQ run. Having crashed himself in Q1, he said when he was on Martin’s rear wing he could see he was pushing hard to break away but he knew such driving carried risks and if he kept his own driving clean he could beat him to the TQ. Martin joked, ‘he (Marc) was so bad at the Reedy Race I had to save his career by letting him win’. Chasing a win that would secure him his second consecutive EOS title, he said ‘I hit the cone and had to turn around and that was enough to lose it’. Having to finish out the qualifier with no front wing after contact with another car on the big jump, his he said his car ‘felt like an F1 car without a wing – it was very strange to drive’. Having thrown away a Top 3 run in Q1, Cragg said he went for ‘clean run’. Not sure how close he was to the Top 2 he said after his Q1 error on the last lap he backed it down a little towards the end only to discover afterwards he was very close to snatching second from Martin.
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Lee Martin lead a Yokomo 1,2,3 in the first round of the 2WD qualifier at the Euro Offroad Series in Germany. The reigning champion set the pace over Marc Rheinard by 1.8-seconds, the pair being the only drivers to make 16 lap, with a much improved Carson Wernimont a further 3-seconds back. For EOS debutant Neil Cragg, his first qualifier started off well with him in contention for the TQ until he had a marshalled car put out in front of him, then on target for a Top 3 he would crash himself on his final lap to end up 9th.
‘Not too bad but going from 4WD practice to 2WD qualifying and starting first the only thing you expect is to mess it up’, was how Martin summed up his opening qualifying. Describing the early laps as ‘super close’, the current points leader, who could secure his second consecutive title tomorrow with a third win of the season, he said ‘then everyone started making mistakes’. With the pressure off as a result, he was able to pace himself over the rest of the qualifier. In terms of his RC Concept powered YZ-2, he said his ‘shocks needed a rebuild’ and thats what he will do for Q2, leaving the set-up unchanged.
‘The speed is there, I just had one crash too many’, was how Rheinard viewed his Q1 performance adding ‘it took a while to get into 2WD again after running 4WD’. Finding one of the rear arms on his YZ-2 to be ‘tight’ after the qualifier, he will fit new arms adding other than that the only aim is to ‘catch Lee’.
Wernimont declared his Q1 as being ‘Way better than practice’. The American, who will spend the next week in German and make his ETS debut next weekend, said in practice his ‘car wasn’t good and the driver didn’t turn up’. Copying his team-mates set-up he said his YZ-2 ‘now feels really good’ despite him not having the prototype rear hubs being used by Martin & Rheinard. Given a set for last week’s Reedy Race of Champions, but running his Worlds car at the EOS he forgot to remove the hubs from his dirt car before leaving California. On the qualifier itself he sad it started off a little slow but as he got comfortable with the improved set-up he was able to push more. Set to leave the car unchanged for Q2 he will make a speedo change looking to get more top speed.
Ending up the closest challenge to the Yokomos with the 4th fastest time, Xray’s Martin Bayer said he ‘was just too slow but had the speed’. With a faster lap time than the three ahead of him the Czech driver said, ‘I just drove too careful at the start. I was scared to make a mistake but shouldn’t have been cause the car is good’. Leaving his XB2 unchanged for Q2 he will instead ‘push a little more’.
New team-mate Hupo Honigl response to how his run to 5th had gone was answer with a big smile. One of the key drivers in instigating the setting up of the EOS back in 2011, the Austrian said even with ‘millions of small mistakes’ he was still able to get a good time. Admitting his first big race with a new car added pressure leaving him ‘not happy with (his) driving’ he added its good for his confidence as he knows there is a lot more to come. Having had problems with the roller after the straight in practice he said after running 4WD it is no longer an issue as having been scared of it before he is now ‘punched’ over it.
Giving an account of his first EOS qualifier, Cragg said ‘I set off great but then a marshal went and put a car out in front of me’. Losing almost 2-seconds, the former World Champion said this left him third a result that would have been ‘super dialled’. On the last lap however he would have a ‘big ass crash’ of his own doing which ‘lost (him) a few years’. Hoping his P9 ends up being his dropped score, he said with his B5M working good he just need to ‘try to do better’ in the next one.
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Bruno Coelho set the pace in 4WD practice at Round 3 of the Euro Offroad Series in Germany, the Xray driver topping the times from main title rival Lee Martin. Winner of Round 2 of the championship in Slovakia, the World Champion was 3/10ths of a second faster than reigning EOS champion Martin over 3-consecutive laps. Facebook video star Martin Wollanka, his battle with & pass on team-mate Coelho at EOS Round 2 getting over 35-million views, completed the Top 3 at the end of the two seeding rounds. Putting in an impressive first controlled practice, Finland’s Joel Valander would put his Xray fourth fastest.
Coming into the weekend joint leader of the 4WD standings with Martin, Coelho was pleased to put his XB4 at the top of the time sheets. Struggling to execute a good third lap in first practice, putting that down to making the switch from 2WD to 4WD, he said his rhythm, together with adapting a ‘safer’ driving style was ‘much better’ second time round. Running his ‘standard set-up’, something the Portuguese ace rarely deviates from, he said his car is ‘really good’ and there is nothing he needs to change for qualifying tomorrow.
Having topped 2WD seeding, Martin said 4WD ‘wasn’t too bad’ adding his ‘car was pretty good’. Running a new set-up which Shin Adachi tested in Japan, the Nurburgring winner said they didn’t change the car between practice rounds. Despite feeling the YZ-4 ‘could land a little better’ he plans to leave it unchanged for Q1 stating it ‘should be good over 5-minutes’.
A podium finish at the opening two races of the season, Wollanka was content with his practice times. Changing from a slipper to a diff and making a shock set-up change, the Austrian liked the softer shocks but didn’t like the diff. Feeling with slipper his XB4 was more stable under braking he will put it back in for Q1.
Declaring the EOS’ first visit to Muelheim-Kaerlich as his ‘favourite EOS track so far’, 17-year-old Valander described his run to the fourth quickest time as ‘OK’. Setting his time in the first run, his second run 2/10th slower, the Xray driver felt his car was ‘a little hard to drive’ adding however that he was ‘maybe driving it too hard’. Making no changes to his XB4 between practice runs, he plans to leave it unchanged for the opening qualifier saying he would instead ‘back it [his driving] down a little’ and see how that works first.
‘Pretty OK but it feels like something is missing’ was how Rheinard summed up his 4WD practice. Posting the 5th fastest time, the Yokomo offroad team driver feels his driving, in particular how he is taking the corner table top, is where he is losing time and thats something he will try to improve on tomorrow.
Completing the Top 6, Hupo Honigl was very pleased with his pace saying ‘I think my car is very good. It easy to drive and stable, it just needs a little more steering’. Having tried a different sway bar for his second practice, his faster run, the newly signed Xray driver said ‘it didn’t help’ but added the car is ‘not far way from being perfect’. With ‘4WD quali far away’, the Austrian said he had ‘time to think about any changes’ he might make for Q1. Behind Honigl, top Belgian driver Nico Risser took his XB4 to 7th in the seeding.
Setting the 8th fastest time, 3-time EOS 4WD Champion Joern Nuemann said ‘I was 8th after practice at the DHI Cup’, the German going on to take his first international win with Serpent. Describing his car as ‘OK to drive’ he said it flips sometimes, something he feels he can rectify by making it stiffer for Q1 adding ‘for sure running 5-minute is very different to putting in 3-laps’. Behind Neumann, Schumacher’s Michal Orlowski and Xray’s multiple race winner Martin Bayer rounded out the Top 10.
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