Coelho 2WD Top Qualifier at EOS finale

Bruno Coelho is the 2WD Top Qualifier at the Euro Offroad Series season finale in Austria.   One of four drivers in contention for the overall TQ honours going into the fourth & final round of qualifying, the Xray driver would post his second TQ run with the fastest run of the day ahead of Lee Martin and Neil Cragg.  One of the those in with a chance of pole position for tomorrow’s 2WD finals, Martin was running at the top of the timing screen but a mistake at the double double followed by contact with a crashed car would end the Yokomo driver’s chances. While the final two qualifiers would see him struggle, thanks to two impressive opening qualifiers, EOS debutant Ryan Maifield will start second on the grid ahead of team-mate Martin.  The other of three drivers to post a TQ run in Wels, Joona Haatenan will line up fourth after a mistake while on Top 2 pace in the final qualifier cost the Arena 33 Top Qualifier from lining up second for the finals.

Only the back to back 4WD Champion’s second TQ in 2WD, Coelho was pleased to back up his first 2WD win last time out by putting his XB2 on pole but he was quick to point out 2WD hasn’t become his new favourite class. Commenting on his final qualifier, the Portuguese ace said ‘it was very good’ although he highlighted one mistake halfway through the run when his car got up on two wheels but somehow didn’t flip.  Taking the heat by over 3-seconds despite his moment, he continued, ‘my car is really good, it’s easy to drive ad fast so I am confident for tomorrow even on new tyres’.  Asked about the layout in terms of racing, he replied, ‘It looks super tight so I think to overtake will be super difficult but when you are following a car you don’t always think this’.

‘We are making changes but they’re not working’ was Maifield’s reaction to his drop in performance over the final two qualifiers. With the EOS running limited hand out tyres, he continued, ‘If you have a bad run you have got pull off to save tyres.  I don’t know what is normal but for me the tyre wear is super high’.  Pulling off in both Q3 & 4, he said, ‘we will put the car back to how it was for Q1 & Q2 but right now we have a 2nd place car but we are not at Bruno’s pace’.

‘It was OK’ was how Martin summed up the final qualifier.  He continued, ‘I got in the lead but then had a bobble at the double double and then after that hit some crashed cars and it was over after that.  The former Champion, whose season has been void of a win, added, ‘Bruno had a little more pace but I think I could have hung with him’. Planning to ‘pretty much leave it as is’ in terms of his new Scorpion Power powered YZ-2 for the finals, in terms of the racing the British driver feels ‘the end of the straight is going to be sketchy, and dangerous, because of the bump when you’re running with someone’.

Running new tyres in the final qualifier, Haatanen said ‘new tyres are so much better for me’.  In the mix for the TQ the Team Associated young gun said, ‘I was running second but then had a little mistake and that cost me second on the grid’. Hoping to take full advantage of his B6 when he will run the extra set of new tyres allocated to A-Main drivers, the EOS Round 4 Top Qualifier said while the track is ‘tight’ the jumps are places he thinks overtaking will be possible.

Despite Top 3 runs in 3 of the 4 qualifiers, Haatanen’s team-mate Neil Cragg will start 5th, an outcome the European Champion said is ‘unbelievable’.  While frustrated by his grid position, the EOS Poland podium finisher was ‘pretty pleased with the consistency’ of his Reedy powered B6.  A fan of the track layout this weekend, he feels it should make for good finals adding ‘there are always crashes so should be able to pick up the pieces’. Behind Cragg, Martin Bayer lines up 6th with Martin Wollanka, EOS Round 1 winner Marc Rheinard, Kája Novotný and Karri Salmela completing the final 2WD A-Main line-up of the sixth season of the Euro Offroad Series.

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Q3 Update – Haatanen comes good on top seeding

Joona Haatanen finally came good on his top seeding for qualifying, the Team Associated driver becoming the third different driver to post a TQ at EOS Austria. Having broke in the first round, survived two mistakes in Q2 to register a P7, the Finnish teenager was perfectly poised in the third round to take advantage of a late mistake by Bruno Coelho.  Registering the second fastest TQ time of the three rounds, his TQ has set the stage for a 4-way shoot in the fourth & final qualifier for the overall 2WD TQ at the season finale. With Haatanen taking it by a 1/10th of a second from Coelho, behind them Neil Cragg would enjoy his most competitive run finishing 3/10ths off his AE team-mate’s TQ time. Setting the fourth fastest time Lee Martin was best of the Yokomos as Q1 pace setter Ryan Maifield pulled up after 4-laps.  Having made a change to his YZ-2, he didn’t like how it effected the car and running on his second permitted set of tyres opted to stop to save the tyres for the final round.

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Coelho takes Q2 in Austria

After a DNF in the opening 2WD qualifier at the EOS Season finale in Austria, Bruno Coelho came back to TQ the second round. Starting at the back of the field due to his Q1 retirement, Coelho would swap times with Q1 pace setter Ryan Maifield until an error from the American in the closing minute.  Finishing exactly a second off Coelho, Maifield would still finish second with a comfortable advantage over Yokomo team-mate Lee Martin.  Neil Cragg would take fourth for Associated with Marc Rheinard completing the Top 5, 3/10ths of a second back.

Commenting on his TQ run, which was 4/10ths faster than the Q1 pace, Coelho said, ‘everything was ok, before I was leading too but I made my own mistake and broke the servo’. With a new servo fitted and leaving his XB2 unchanged he said, ‘it is easy to drive. Ok its not perfect but its there (on pace) so we will again keep it the same and see how it goes in the next one’.

‘It a lot of fun if your stuff is working’ was Maifield’s reaction after Q2, the American appearing to be enjoying his first EOS outing.  Running the same tyres he ran in Q1, he said, ‘I came out of the start really fast but then the (pace of the) tyre fell off’. Setting the fastest lap of the round, he continued, ‘we made a set-up change to the car and it responded well but I’d still like to have a slightly sharper steering feel so we’ll bolt on new tyres for the next one and see’.  Surviving a roll, his YZ-2 landing back on its wheels, he said traffic was a bit of an issue and this ‘probably cost me about half a second’.

With small mistakes 3 corners in a row on his opening lap causing him to lose touch with Maifield, Martin said, ‘It wasn’t the best run to honest’.   Describing his car as ‘edgy on old tyres’ he said this made it ‘less predictable’ and for the next qualifier they will go ‘a couple of steps back’ with their set-up changes they have made especially when it comes to running the car on used tyres’.  Running a ‘pretty clean’ qualifier, Rheinard also noted a difference on used tyres saying, ‘normally they feel better on the second run but now it was a bit edgy.  The German said while overall his car was ‘still good’ he will make a change to the set-up.

‘Steady away again’ was Cragg’s summary of Q2.  He continued, ‘it started off good but a little crash set me back and then I ran out of tyres.  Tyres wear is a bit of an issue today and I finished on bald eagles’.  Concluding his first full EOS campaign this weekend, the former World Champion said the track at Modellbau Wels Hobby Show is his ‘favourite track’ of the season. On his Reedy powered B6, he said ‘As always Craig (Drescher) thinks I am down on top speed so we have changed a few things on the speedo’ joking ‘they will probably cause me to wheelie off the track’. On the car set-up he said while he is ‘overall pretty happy’ with it, Drescher will add a shim to increase the rear width to get more rotation.

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Chassis Focus – Ryan Maifield

Chassis: Yokomo YZ2
Motor: Orion 5.5T
ESC: Orion R10.1 Pro
Batteries: Orion 3800mAh
Radio/Servo: Sanwa/MKS
Tires: Schumacher (handout)
Body/Wing: JConcepts S2/JConcepts Aero
Remarks – Top US Yokomo driver Ryan Maifield is making his carpet and EOS debut this weekend in Wels, Austria and in preparation has spent several days testing with the Yokomo team at another track in Austria. Arriving with the setup obtained from that test, he has since made a lot of changes as the EOS track is much bigger and faster than the track they had been testing on. Looking for more on power steering he has made changes to the roll centres, shock locations and sway bars and now with the car close to where he wants it he will make a change for the next qualifier to find more steering, having gotten the rear of the car to his liking.

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Maifield TQ’s opening qualifier at EOS

It might be his first time racing on Europe’s indoor carpet style tracks, but Ryan Maifield has got his Euro Offroad Series debut off to a strong start be TQ’ing the opening round of 2WD qualifying in Austria.  Sixth fastest in seeding practice, the American was to lead a Yokomo 1-2 as Lee Martin took his YZ-2 to the second fastest time.  Behind them Neil Cragg would complete the Top 3 but for Team Associated team-mate Joona Haatanen it would be a DNF.  Having set the pace in controlled practice, the teenager would run wide coming onto the main straight with the contact with the boards causing the screw which mounts the shock to the rear arm to sheer off.  Another front runner failing to finish Q1 was Bruno Coelho.  Three laps into the qualifier a mistake at the end of the straight led to heavy contact with boards resulting in a broken servo.

Summing up his TQ run, Maifield said, ‘I changed a bunch of stuff but had no idea how or even if it would be good, so at the start I just cruised around.  Then I heard from Scotty (Ernst) that I was in the lead so I just tried to keep the tempo up and I finished strong’.  He continued, ‘the car was easy to drive and predictable but for the next we’ll make one change to try get more on power steering’.   In addition to the set-up change, the Arizona driver said his focus now was on learning ‘what to do with the tyres’, drivers getting 2 sets of race tyres with A-Main drivers getting an extra set for the triple Mains.

Reverting back to his ‘original steering set-up’ having not liked changes made for the final practice, Martin said his car was ‘easy to drive but now maybe too safe’. With Maifield running a different rear toe in and liking it, he said, ‘I’ll try that but other than that its good to go again for Q2’.  Please with the teams 1-2 result he added, ‘it should have been a one, two, three if Marc didn’t crash on the first lap’.  Setting the fastest lap of Q1, Rheinard would end up 7th fastest, the German saying his lap 1 error was only one of many he would have.

‘I’m pretty happy with that round. It was a steady run everywhere’, was Cragg’s reaction after the first qualifier.  The European Champion continued, ‘the car is super easy to drive and I’m driving pretty well’ adding ‘I thought I’d be all over the track because I was racing 1:8 for the last month but its going really good’.

Setting the fourth fastest time after struggling in practice, Martin Wollanka put his improvement down to running ‘consistent laps without mistakes’.  Running in the second fastest heat, the Xray driver added, ‘after practice it didn’t look like this and if I can get one more like this I should be ok’.  Behind the Austrian, Xray team manager Martin Bayer would post the fifth quickest time with Associated’s Karri Salmela completing the Top 6.

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