Neumann fastest ahead of impressive Bayer
The opening round of timed practice at Round 3 of ‘TLR/Spektrum Euro Offroad Series presented by Horizon Hobby’, which is making its first visit to Austria, it was defending champion Joern Neumann who set the pace ahead of Martin Bayer who put in a very impressive performance on what is his first 2WD appearance in the series. A finalist on his EOS debut at Round 2 in Langenfeld in January Germany National Champion Oliver Scholz completed the top 3 times for the 3-consecutive fastest laps.
A new venue on the EOS calendar, the carpet track, which has been prepared by the MRC Bruck/Mur club at their impressive indoor facility in the town of Leoben, has been meet with a very positive reaction from drivers with Neumann describing it as one of the best he has raced on. The Team Durango driver who, after being defeated in 2WD Buggy at Round 2 has done a lot pre-event testing with the DEX210 together with Hupo Honigl, said a change to a softer front spring and oil after free practice made it much easier to drive. Happy that he now has a good set-up, Neumann said he will switch tyres for the second timed practice to help him decide on which of the controlled dBoots from tyres he will choose for tomorrow’s qualifying. Having run the Nanobyte pin tyre he will now try the Blockpass block tyre. Team-mate Honigl, who is feeling under the weather with cold like symptoms, set the 4th fastest time and described his buggy as being ‘OK’. Running Blockpass he will try the Nanobyte for the next practice, the best time from the two timed runs determining the heats order for qualifying.
‘Surprisingly good’ was how Team Xray’s Martin Bayer described his pace. The Czech driver who competed only in 4WD when he made his EOS debut in Langenfeld, is running a kit standard TLR22 as the kit he ordered, the details of which he wasn’t willing to disclose, didn’t arrive in time for the event. Having to pick up the TLR kit from his local Hobby shop, he said having made a few changes for the practice he will revert back to the set-up he ran in free practice as it felt more comfortable to drive which will be important over the 5-minutes. Only his 3rd ever time to race a 2WD buggy, his first run on carpet being at the start of the year when he raced a Durango at the DHI Cup, he said his only concern is the lack of spares he has with him for the 22.
Making his 1:10 electric buggy race debut, Bayer’s factory Xray team-mate Renaud Savoya was 16th fastest of the 90 entries saying he has a lot to learn about 2WD. Running a Kyosho, the 3-time 1:8 Offroad European Champion lost a wheel in the first controlled practice so expects he can improve next time out. Focusing on his shock set-up, the French ace said he is still learning about 2WD and in terms of set-up said he needs to find the correct piston set-up to run for this track. Running Orion electrics which up to now he has used without drag brake he plans to try it for the next run due to the high grip levels.
Finishing 6th at Round 2, Team C driver Oliver Scholz was very happy with his prototype 2WD buggy. Planning to leave everything as is for his second timed practice, he said switching to the Blockpass front tyre had made the buggy easier to drive without affecting his overall speed. With the track having been changed slightly with the addition of some extra jumps after open practice, the 17-year-old said it was a really good track but the addition of the double at the dBoots corner is causing him a little trouble and he needs to work on a better line there.
Setting the 5th fastest time Kyosho’s David Ronnefalk described his practice as ‘not so bad, not so good’. While the high grip levels are new to many drivers this weekend, for Ronnefalk the traction is not that high for him as he is used to racing on carpet with slick tyres and additive back in Sweden. His first international race without his regular mechanic (his dad unable get time off work), he said having glued up the walls of his front tyres his Orion powered Ultima RB6 was better at the start of the run than in open practice but his geardiff got hot and started to slip causing him to start flipping a lot. For the next practice he will revert to a ball diff which he said should cure the problem.
Having originally signed for Team Yokomo to contest the Spanish National Championship, 1:8 Offroad World Champion Robert Batlle is making his EOS debut at the request of Yokomo HQ in Japan and out of the box he has been very impressive. Getting his first taste of racing on carpet this morning, he was immediately on the pace and in the opening timed practice posted the 6th fastest time. Running a B-Max2 MR, which Naoto Matsukura used to win Round 2 of the series, he said it lacked a little steering but he has since discovered the high grip is causing the servo saver to over work and he will remove it for his next run. Having only previously raced the buggy once before which was on dirt when he finished 4th overall in Round 1 of the Spanish Championship, he said he really likes the carpet as it gives a feeling more like that of his nitro buggy.
The Top 10 was completed by TLR’s Bjorn Prumper, Associated’s Peter Pinisch, Round 1 Podium finisher Michal Orlowski and Austrian Dominic Bauer who was just fractionally quicker than Team Losi Racing’s Oskar Levin. Unfortunately due to a recent family bereavement TLR’s Darren Bloomfield was not able to attend this weekend’s EOS.
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