Neumann 4WD Top Qualifier at EOS

Joern Neumann is the 4WD Top Qualifier for Round 2 of the EOS after the defending champion took a closely contested fourth & final qualifier in Berlin.  Top Qualifier & winner when the championship visited the German capital city last year, the German went into Q4 as the only driver who could deny Lee Martin his second overall TQ of the weekend coming out with the required result despite both Martin and David Ronnefalk swapping the TQ pace with him over the 5-minutes.  Neumann’s 10th EOS pole position in 4WD it will be yesterday’s 2WD winner Martin who will start second, the Yokomo driving losing out on the tie as they both had two TQ runs each, with Ronnefalk making his HB debut in the championship from third on the grid.

Chasing a fourth consecutive EOS title in 4WD, Neumann said he went into the final qualifier with nothing to lose as worst case scenario he was secured second on the grid thanks to his Q2 & 3 results.  Making a slight mistake on lap 9 when he landed offline off the table top dropping him to 3rd he said after that he just went for it, his next five laps all being 18-seconds.  Knowing it was very close he could never let up and getting the job done was also important as it also gains him the extra championship point on offer for the TQ.  Asked about the finals he said ‘things (are) looking good’ adding that passing was going to be difficult so making ‘no mistakes’ would be his focus.

Setting the fastest lap of qualifying in Q4, Martin said traffic on the last lap cost him the chance to TQ adding, without this maybe it could have been my fastest.  Losing almost a second to Neumann on the last lap as a result, he said his B-Max 4 is working good enough for the win but he has just got to keep driving it around and see what happens a strategy that worked out well for him in 2WD as his challengers all suffered errors.

Having been in the mix to TQ the final qualifier Ronnefalk said his car was ‘super fast’.  Improving the car by going up in the rear diff oil, the HB driver said this made the car easier to drive despite its short wheelbase.  Describing it as a little inconsistent and needing full concentration to drive at 100% he said a longer chassis for carpet racing is something the team should investigate.  Having challenged Martin in 2WD only to suffer crashes the 18-year-old is hoping for better finals this afternoon adding ‘4WD is always more intense’.

Making changes to his Team C for the final qualifier Robert Batlle struggled with too much steering.  Having posted the 3rd fastest times in Q2 & 3, the Spaniard still claimed his best ever EOS starting position lining his TM4 up fourth.  Set to go back to his Q3 set-up, the former 1:8 World Champion said his aim is to just try not to crash as he knows he is not in the hunt for the win. While he would be happy to hold onto fourth, hopefully that approach might bring him his first podium finish.

Behind Batlle, Team Associated’s Patrick Hofer completes the top half of the grid on what is proving a strong weekend for the Swiss Champion. Former winner Martin Bayer will line up sixth.

View the complete event results here.

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Chassis Focus – Shin Adachi

Chassis: Yokomo B-Max 4 III
Motor: Reedy
ESC: Speed Energy
Batteries: Reedy
Radio/Servo: Sanwa
Remarks – Flying all the way from Japan, Yokomo’s team driver and engineer Shin Adachi is running a modified version of the B-Max 4 III. The aluminium caster blocks have been modified to be brought 2mm backwards, and the rear arms are those from the recently released YZ-2 2wd buggy. In order to limit the weight, aluminium centre driveshafts as well as titanium screws and titanium turnbuckles have been installed on the car.

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Neumann finally produces TQ run at EOS Berlin

After a bad opening qualifier at the second Round of the Euro Offroad Series Joern Neumann claimed his first TQ run of the Berlin event when he topped the penultimate qualifier from Q1 & 2 pace setter Lee Martin.  Improving from 25th fastest in the first qualifier to record the second fastest time in Q2, the defending champion finally hit the top of the time sheets outpacing Martin by just over a second to record the new fastest TQ pace.  With 2 of the four qualifiers to count, it means the final round will see Neumann go head to head with Martin for the overall TQ honours.  Behind them after also having a bad opening qualifier Team C’s Robert Batlle repeated his Q2 result by claiming another 3rd fastest time.

Finishing Q2 7/10ths off Martin, Neumann said a combination of his tyres being on their second run and him gluing up the tyre walls had gave him a better car although his run contained a mistake that cost him over 2-seconds.  Setting the fastest lap, the difference in outright pace to Martin just 0.008 of a second, he said while surprised at how well the car ran on new tyres he is very confident for the final qualifier as ‘the second run is always better.

Describing Q3 as ‘pretty close’, Martin said he was trying to gauge himself against Neumann so as not to push too hard and risk making a mistake.  Feeling he had done enough to secure the round and the overall TQ he said his rival had started the heat faster than he thought and was more in front on time than he had realised.  Improving his car for Q2 he said it was a little loose but a camber link adjustment for Q3 had helped but he added the biggest difference comes from deciding whether to run new or used tyres.

Having made ‘too many mistakes’ in the opening round Batlle said his improvement in Q2 & 3 came simply from ‘better driving’.  Leaving his TM4 unchanged he said he is having a problem with the car losing forward traction towards the end of the run but added at least things are going better than 2WD, where he ended in the B-Main, as his two Top 3 runs lock the Spaniard into the A-Main.

Hupo Honigl set the fourth fastest time.  Having been on a good run in Q2, he would suffer a diff clamp failure on his DEX410 which would put him out after 2-minutes.  Opting to run his tyres again for a third time he said this left the car with understeer but needing a result following his DNF he opted for a safe run so as to lock in an A-Main start, the EOS race winner another driver to find himself in the B-Main yesterday in 2WD.

Another driver to retire in Q2, due to a broken drive shaft, Martin Bayer posted the 5th fastest time in Q3.  The Xray driver struggled with an aggressive car in Q1 and changed the set-up for Q2 but never got to see how the changes worked as he lasted just one lap.  Staying with the set-up for Q3 he said it was too easy to drive and ‘weak in the 180 corners’.  Asked about changing his car for Q4 he said ‘I have to as I am not so fast right now’.  Behind Bayer, team-mate Martin Wollanka completed the Top 6.

Third fastest in Q2 having improved his HB D413 with heavier oil in the front diff, David Ronnefalk was on another good run until he hit the upside down Yokomo of Shin Adachi on the straight.  Rolling his car in the impact and needing to be marshalled he lost 4-seconds over the next two laps to end up 8th fastest behind Team Associated’s Joakim Nicolaisen.  Planning to go up in the rear diff oil for Q4 and having set of second run tyres the Swede is confident he can improve on his current mid pack grid position.

View the complete event results here.

View our event image gallery here.

Chassis Focus – Martin Bayer

Chassis: Xray XB4 2015
Motor: LRP
ESC: LRP
Batteries: LRP
Radio/Servo: Futaba/Savox
Remarks – The Czech driver is running a new 3mm chassis on his 4wd buggy here in Berlin. The chassis, meant to be used on high traction surfaces, will be soon available as an option part. His car also features 12° aluminum caster blocks and aluminium rear uprights.

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Martin tops opening 4WD qualifier

Fresh from his win in 2WD yesterday Lee Martin has topped the opening round of 4WD qualifying at the Euro Offroad Series in Berlin.  The Yokomo driver was one of the few drivers to complete an error free 5-minutes to top the times from Team Associated’s Patrick Hofer and his Yokomo engineer Shin Adachi by a clear 6.8-seconds.  For defending champion Joern Neumann, who struggled in 2WD, it was not the start the German was looking for as he struggled with the high traction to end up only 25th fastest.

Asked about his run Martin said, ‘My car wasn’t brilliant to be fair as it was a little difficult to drive but seemingly no more than everybody else’s’.  While he said he expected to have more steering in the morning his MuchMore powered B-Max 4 wanted to oversteer and while the track normally changes over the day he said he would be asking Adachi to tweak the set-up for the next one.

Running in the B heat, Hofer summed up how pleased he was with his opening qualifier by describing it as ‘a good morning’. The Swiss National Champion said ‘I just ran a clean heat with no mistakes’. In terms of his B44.3, the 22-year-old said the rear was being a little loose and for Q2 he will go up in the diff oils.

Just missing out on making it a Yokomo 1-2 on the time sheets by 0.004, Adachi said he ‘just drove easy and got lucky’.  Having run his car with just one set of pins removed, the Japanese driver said based on the steering he had in 2WD A-Main yesterday he knew traction had come up since Friday and so he removed a second row for Q1.

Setting the fourth fastest time, Xray’s Martin Wollanka described the opening qualifier as ‘difficult’ as his XB4 had ‘lots of steering’ due to the high traction the track has developed since practice.  Having to drive safe he was ‘very happy’ with his result but said for Q2 he will have to try to make the car easier to drive.

Feeling under the weather due to a head cold, Serpent’s Hupo Honigl described his run as ‘too safe’ adding he ‘drove too careful & slow mainly because I am not feeling well’.  Expecting ‘super high traction’, the Austrian changed the set-up on his Durango, him running the DEX410 as he waits on Serpent’s new SRX4, but went too much leaving him with understeer.  He will go back to his practice set-up for Q2.

Completing the Top 6, HB’s David Ronnefalk said his D413 was really good at the start but got ‘more difficult’ towards the end of the run.  Running a Top 3 pace, half way in he would make a mistake resulting in a loss of 6-seconds.  Putting the drop off in performance down to his diff oils going soft as the run progressed he will go up with them for Q2 saying ‘hopefully that will make it better’.

Martin Bayer would take his Xray to the 7th fastest time.  Having enjoyed a successful debut in 2WD yesterday when he took his team’s new XB2 to a podium finish, the Czech driver having been very happy with his 4WD on Friday, this morning it had way too much steering.  Not expecting the track to change so much as it didn’t feel to have done so in 2WD, Bayer ran an ‘aggressive set-up’ on his LRP powered XB4 but says he needs to change that for Q2.

Having topped seeding practice Neumann said his Durango was ‘very edgy’ leading to two mistakes one of which the marshal didn’t see costing him over 10-seconds.  He said the problem was down to fresh tyres and the change of carpet around the track.  Describing the grey carpet as having no traction he said the black, a piece of which is located at the end of the straight, has ‘super high grip’.  For Q2 he will glue the side walls of his front tyres.

View the complete event results here.

View our event image gallery here.

Video – 2wd Buggy A-main Leg 2 & 3

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lhbm3YWK7_w[/youtube]

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XCpLxYDSPf0[/youtube]