Matsukura sets 4WD pace at EOS Poznan
Naoto Matsukura made it a good first day for Yokomo at the opening round of the Euro Offroad Series in Poznan, Poland, as he topped 4WD practice with team-mate Lee Martin having set the pace in 2WD earlier in the day. The Japanese driver, who TQ’d the finale of last season’s EOS, was distinctly quicker than his rival over 3-consecutive laps with Team Xray’s Martin Wollanka 1.4-second off with the second fastest time. With only 4/10ths of a second covering the next five drivers, defending champion Joern Neumann completed the Top 3 for the two timed practice rounds that will be used to seed the heats for 4WD qualifying which takes place at ‘Hobby’ on Sunday.
After starting out 4WD practice with his B-MAX4 ‘edgy to drive’, Matsukura said for the final practice it was ‘super easy to drive’. Improving the car through a series of changes including putting the front shocks in a more upright position, changing to softer oil and gluing up the walls of the handout Schumacher tyres, the 4WD Buggy World Championship runner-up said it was now ‘ready for qualifying’.
‘Really good’ was how Wollanka summed up his performance in practice. A driver better known for his 1:8 Offroad exploits which saw him finish runner-up at this year’s European Championships, he said both he and his XB4 got ‘better & better’ every run. Making a shock position change, adjusting the roll centre and the anti-roll bar he said based on those improvements he had a few more ideas which he believes will further improve the car for Sunday. Having only got his preparation for the 1:10 indoor season underway this week with testing at the Hudy Arena, the Austrian said he is still adjusting his driving adding that he is finding the track’s centre single single frustrating. With the jump either side of a kink, at the drivers briefing it was made clear it must not be taken as double as to do so would be deemed a short cut but Wollanka said he keeps wanting to double it.
Neumann said while his DEX410 was ok on new tyres he needs to find more steering for when he is on used tyres – drivers limited to three sets of tyres for the six rounds of qualifying. Having made small changes over the five practice runs, the Team Durango ace said he will revert back to his ‘home’ set-up for the first qualifier. In addition to looking for more overall steering, the undefeated 4WD Champion said he could also improve his line through the centre single single with him lacking consistency through that corner.
Having set the pace in the first of the two timed practice Martin Bayer would end up 4th fastest with that time. The Xray driver said having changed very little on his XB4 all day, in the final practice he had ‘big trouble’ at the double after the main straight saying it ‘feels like the jump was broken’. Inspecting the jump in question with race director Scotty Ernst afterwards along with Xray boss Juraj Hudy they couldn’t find anything obvious wrong with the jump but in preparation for racing, tomorrow all about 2WD, they will add a carpet transition to the jump. Other than having problems at the jump, Bayer said his car feels good over the rest of the lap.
Also having consistency issues with the same jump, Hupo Honigl posted the 5th fastest time. The Team C driver, who topped the first round of practice, said he got slower over the day and he has no idea why. Not a fan of the track layout this weekend, he said it felt even worse in 4WD due to the inconsistency of the jumps and the flat landings. For qualifying the Austrian will revert his TM4 set-up back to how it was when he arrived for the event.
Running a worn set of tyres in the first timed practice having not realised open practice was finished, Lee Martin set the sixth fastest time. With a fresh set of tyres on his Yokomo for the second run he said while it was better he could never manage more than two clean laps without coming across a crashed car. Feeling his 3-lap pace could have been better he said over 5-minutes he believes he will be fine adding most of his rivals are ‘all in the same ball park’. Having ran one of Shin Adachi’s cars with the same set-up as Matsukura, he said it drifted too much and drifting was not his style of driving. On his own car he played around with springs, diffs and a thicker front roll bar with the end set-up improving the car.
‘Not as good as 2WD’ was Carson Wernimont reaction to ending the seeding 7th fastest. The American said his 4WD set-up was a little off with him making ‘quite a few changes every run’. With it closer now, he said the big problem was the flat landings as his ‘shock package was too springy’. Managing to dampen that down, he said now he needs to ‘motor down for the straight away’ and he will go from a 6 to a 5.5 turn motor for qualifying.
Starting out with ‘no grip’ from his Durango, young Polish star Michal Orlowski ended practice 8th fastest. Changing to a softer rear spring on his DEX410 he said this made the car less loose and improved corner speed. While now less stable he said he will try to drive around this issue in qualifying by airing on the side of caution.
Completing the Top 10 was Team C team-mates Nicolas Risser and Oliver Scholz. Belgian Champion Risser was very happy with his TM4 in the final practice. A fan of the track layout, and the switch to Schumacher tyres, the 18-year-old said switching to a stiffer sway bar was the biggest change and improvement he made to the buggy over the day. Suffering a speedo issue that forced him to fit a new one, he is pleased with were he is at going into qualifying.
View our event image gallery here.
