Martin tops practice at EOS Slovakia

After three rounds of free practice at Round 2 of the Euro Offroad Series in Slovakia it was reigning champion Lee Martin who set the 2WD pace. With this morning being drivers first opportunity to drive the track, the Thursday test day that drivers enjoyed on the EOS’ previous two visits to the Hudy Racing Arena not permitted this season, the Yokomo driver was quickest over three laps from Xray’s Martin Bayer with the Schumacher of last season’s race winner Michal Orlowski completing the Top 3.

Having not raced since the World Championships in Japan, enjoying a family holiday during the time off, Martin said things were going alright adding his main focus of the morning was to get back into his rhythm having not raced for over a month.  Making small adjustments to his YZ-2, the British driver said they were nothing much as there was more to come from his driving.  Team-mate Marc Rheinard would post the 6th fastest time. Describing his YZ-2 as easy to drive, the German said trying to cut out mistakes and work on his consistency was his main priority for now.

Asked about his early performance Bayer said it was ‘going pretty well’ but added that is how it started out at the season opener at the Nurburgring and then he ended up in the D Final in 4WD.  With a good basic set-up for his XB-2 which he said is the same as he ran it at the World Championships, the 2014 2WD winner said he had concentrated on tyre prep over the three practice rounds.  A track he knows better than most as it is where he carried out all of the development work for both the XB2 and XB4 which are manufactured in the adjoining building, he said the layout for the EOS is ‘super high speed’ with the key to it being ‘precise on the brakes’ in particular for the two double sections which lead into tight corners.

Orlowski described free practice as having ‘went ok’.  The Polish ace said he didn’t change much on his KF2 as he wanted to focus on getting a feel for the track and how the car was around it.  Making a small change for the third practice, he said he will revert back to the earlier set-up for CP1.

Enjoying a very strong showing at EOS Round 1 in Germany where he finished on the 2WD podium, Martin Wollanka would set the fourth fastest time just ahead of Xray team-mate Bruno Coelho.  The Austrian said while his buggy felt ok he struggled to get the right settings for his brakes which he hopes to have sorted for the first of the two timed practice rounds that will determine the seeding of the qualifying heats.  Coelho said his practice runs while not perfect were good.  The Portuguese ace said when driving everything feels fast but that is not being reflected in the lap times which he described as being not so good.  Asked what changes he planned he replied ‘I’m not sure if its me or the car so I need to find the problem first’.

Posting the seventh fastest time Serpent’s Joern Neumann was positive about his start to the event.  Having struggled at the season opener, the multiple EOS champion said his 2WD had a number of updates for this weekend and a number of parts that gave problems at the Nurgurgring due to being pre production where now stronger due to be full production parts.   Commenting on the track he said on first seeing the layout he thought the end of the straight would be difficult but having driven it, it is ‘working out good’ adding the layout was ‘very nice to drive’.  Looking for more steering he will make a spring change for controlled practice.

View complete event results here.

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Track Focus – Hudy Racing Arena

Name – Hudy Racing Arena
Club – Private Track
Country – Slovakia
Location – Trencin (120 km North East of Bratislava)
Direction – Anti-Clockwise
Surface – Carpet tiles
Previous key events hosted – Two EOS rounds, three ETS rounds

The Hudy Racing Arena plays host to the Round 2 of the 2015/16 Euro Offroad Series with the race marking the championship’s third visit to the World famous venue.  Having hosted last season’s finale, this is the second time in 2015 that the EOS has visited Trencin, with the entry this time round almost double that of what it was back in May.   The two most noticeable changes since the last visit are that drivers are now pitting upstairs rather than on the indoor carpet onroad track area and that the direction of the offroad track has been changed to run anti-clockwise.

Commenting on the track layout, reigning EOS Champion Lee Martin said it’s ‘OK’ adding it is ‘basically the same as last (time)’.  Describing it as nice to look at, the Yokomo driver said the height of the drivers stand and the fact the jumps are covered in the same black carpet make it ‘very hard to distinguish’ the position of the jumps.  Adding it was important to have walked the track before driving it to give him a better idea of the layout, he said even with this he is still ‘coming at jumps full power’.

Claiming his first EOS win here back in May when in 2WD he gave Schumacher their first win, Michal Orlowski described the track as ‘very nice’ highlighting in particular the down ramps that have been added to the jumps.  Describing the grip levels as similar to last season he said this makes it easier to find the right set-up.  Asked about the track’s key points he said the two sections of double jumps leading in corners were hard to get right so that you don’t carry too much speed and over jump missing your line for the corner.

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