Orlowski sows up home TQ in Warsaw

Michal Orlowski has sown up the overall TQ for Round 2 of the Euro Offroad Series in his home town of Warsaw.  The Schumacher driver took the honours early with a third TQ run in the penultimate round of qualifying at the Warsaw Moto Show hosted event. Only his second time to take an overall TQ, it two seasons since his first at the Hudy Arena during EOS Season #4, the back to back EOS 2WD Vice-Champion again topped in a repeat of the Q2 outcome with Neil Cragg finishing P2 followed by Joern Neumann.   While Orlowski shone up front it was also a good round for team-mate Christopher Krapp as he posted P4 ahead of championship leader Marc Rheinard.  For reigning champion Lee Martin Q3 would result in retirement after contact with the boards on the main straight broke a rear arm of his Yokomo.

‘I’m really happy to TQ this race.  It seems it always works for me when I race at home even back in my Tamiya days’, was how Orlowski summed up wrapping up an early TQ.  In terms of his Q3 performance, again his LRP powered KF2 SE clocking up the fastest lap, the 15-year-old said, ‘It started out not so fast and I was running 4th or 5th so I started to push slightly but then Lee and Neil crashed so I just cruised to make no mistakes and put in consistent laps’.  While other drivers will focus on improving their grid position in the fourth & final qualifier, Orlowski’s attention is already on the final.  He said, ‘I know I have the pace and I don’t need to push hard to stay in front so I will try to make no mistakes and build up a gap’.

‘I’m still a little off Orlowski, he just seems to be able to put stellar laps but I’m improving’, was Cragg’s reaction after Q3.   With Associated team-manager Craig Drescher pointing out to his driver, ‘he (Orlowski) has youth on his side’, the British driver jokingly replied, ‘but experience will tell in the final obviously’.  The European Champion, who is having a much stronger showing in Poland than that of the season opener, continued, ‘we are improving every time so I’m happy with that’.  On his B6, he said, ‘Craig and myself feel the car is down on power so we will run a bigger battery for the last one (qualifier).

‘A repeat of the previous one’ was how Neumann summed up his latest run to claim another P3.  The Serpent driver would suffer one mistake, traction rolling at the corner table and losing around 1.5-seconds. The German said after that he would have to push hard but commented his SDX2 was ‘still OK’ to drive.  Looking to improve on his grid position, the multiple former champion having not started at the front end of the grid for a number of seasons now, he said they will reduce the rear toe for Q4 to try get a little more steering’.

Better known for his touring car exploits, Krapp was very happy to get a P4 for the round saying ‘I finally found my offroad driving style’.  Having started out with the same set-up as Orlowski he has worked on finding his own one feeling his driving style doesn’t suit how his team-mate runs the car.  ‘I found with Michal’s set-up the car was too lazy but he drives more aggressive than me so I think it was my driving rather than the set-up that was the issue.  I have been slowly adapting the set-up to suit my touring car style of driving and now it feels good’.  On the run itself the German said, ‘I had no mistakes and I know I’m not the fastest but it was consistent and now that I’m safe in the final I can try a few more things’.

Commenting on his P5 run, Nurburgring winner Rheinard simply replied, ‘the driver’ a reference to his almost 5-second mistake.  The 4-time Onroad World Champion said, ‘I had to make a safe run because of my earlier results but driving safe you end up making more mistakes’.  He continued, ‘it (the mistake) was in the touring car section which makes it even more frustrating’.  Looking to the final qualifier, the German said, ‘now I will just push as I’m in the main.  It is not the position I want to be but the car is fine so maybe we can improve’.  Behind Rheinard, Danish teenager Jesper Rasmussen enjoyed another strong run to complete the Top 6 with his Associated ahead of best of the Xrays Hupo Honigl.

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Chassis Focus – Hupo Honigl

Chassis: Xray XB2 ’17
Motor: Tekin Gen3 6.5T
ESC: Tekin RSX
Batteries: 4600 mah
Radio/Servo: Sanwa/Xpert
Remarks – Highest placed among the Xray drivers after three rounds of qualifying, Austrian ace Hupo Honigl is running the 2017 version of the XB2. His example is equipped with a carbon chassis, brass bulkheads, aluminium uprights and a rear swaybar. The car also features pre-production carbon chassis stiffeners and front anti roll bar.

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Orlowski again in Q2

Michal Orlowski continued his reign in Poland again posting a TQ run in the second round of qualifying at EOS Poland.  The Schumacher driver will suffer a similar mistake to that he had at the wall section in Q1 but again was able to recover to top the heat by 1.8 seconds from Neil Cragg.  An impressive run from Joern Neumann would net the former champion a P3 for the round while Bruno Coelho would also be more competitive to go fourth fastest ahead of reigning champion Lee Martin.  Again the fastest man on the track posting the fastest lap, commenting on his TQ run Orlowski said, ‘Again I had a mistake after the wall but the other guys had some errors which allowed me to recover to get another TQ’.  Able to secure the overall TQ for his home race in Q3, he concluded, ‘I’ll just try not to crash this time’.

Improving on a P6 to set the second fastest time, Cragg said, ‘I’m happy with second but we still need to find a few tenths’.  The Team Associated driver continued, ‘It was a pretty clean run and the car was alright but it’s a little too safe.  It’s consistent but not fast enough’.  Suffering a locked diff in Q1, he said the new diff worked fine and changing to a different battery pack he said the power was also improved adding however he ‘might up the timing a few clicks (for the next one)’.  Asked what changes he planned for his B6 to find time he replied, ‘some of the others (team-mates) cars look good in certain places so I think we’ll get together and brainstorm some ideas’.

Asked where he pulled his much improved pace from Neumann replied, ‘out of nowhere’.  The Serpent driver said they completely changed the set-up on his SDX2 which he said now is more like the set-up they run on the 4WD.  The German said, ‘before I had to drive careful but now I can push car much harder’.   For Q3 he said he hopes he can maintain his new form planning to keep all the same as he tries to lock himself into the A-Main .  If successful, he said then they would use the fourth & final qualifier to try further changes to the set-up.

After struggling with a ‘difficult to drive’ car in Q1 that led to ‘too many mistakes’, Coelho said changes to his set-up had made his XB2 much easier to drive.  The Portuguese ace said he ‘still had 2 mistakes’ but overall it was a ‘much better’ qualifier.  Planning to leave the car unchanged for the penultimate round he said his aim was to make no mistakes pointing out on the time sheets that his Q2 mistakes had cost him 4-seconds.

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Orlowski takes Q1 while Zambrzycki shines with P3

Michal Orlowski has TQ’d the opening round of 2WD qualifying at Round 2 of the Euro Offroad Series in Poland.  Having topped seeding practice yesterday, the Schumacher driver continued that form into qualifying but the established EOS title contender’s result was only part of a successful morning for the Polish RC scene as fellow Pole Bartlomiej Zambrzycki claimed third for the round.  In between the two teenagers, reigning champion Lee Martin would post the 2nd fastest time while in 4th place it was Hupo Honigl who was the leading Xray.

‘It was a really good run. The car felt good and was really consistent’, was how Orlowski summed up the first of the four qualifiers.  The only blot on an otherwise perfect opening run came as the heat entered into its second half and the Warsaw driver came across another car on the track’s wall section.  ‘I tried to avoid someone on the wall and ended up losing a couple of seconds. Luckily I could recover to TQ’.  Setting the fastest lap, in terms of his LRP powered KF2 SE he said for Q2, ‘I think I will stay the same’, adding ‘I will just try to make another good heat’.

‘For a morning run it wasn’t too bad’ was Martin’s reaction to finishing 1.7-seconds off Orlowski’s pace.  The British ace was also quick to compliment his young team-mate Zambrzycki continuing ‘A good job by Bartek’.  The Yokomo driver said, ‘I couldn’t quite see Michal so I couldn’t see the gap’.  He continued, ‘Because I didn’t know how close I was I didn’t want to push as I wasn’t sure if I needed to take the risk.  It was better to take a second than mess up pushing for a TQ’.  For the second qualifier, he will make a shock change to his YZ2 saying ‘I want to give myself a little more steering and at the same time smooth out the steering as well’.

Running in the second fastest heat, Zambrzycki was probably more surprised than anyone with his P3.  The 14-year-old said, ‘I drove the same as yesterday, slow & steady and just not make errors’.  After the heat when my dad told me the time I was surprised but the car was perfect’.   He continued ‘when I went out to marshal the top heat I was thinking maybe I could get an 11th.  When it was over and my father told me I was third I was thinking what is going on’.  A driver from Warsaw and the the EOS running as part of the Warsaw Moto Show, looking to Q2 he said, ‘I hope to do the same again.  If I could make the A-Main here I would be super happy’.

Honigl summed up his P4 time by saying, ‘It was a safe run with no mistakes.  It was not fast but it was consistent’.  The Austrian, whose only EOS win to date came in Poland, continued, ‘I’m happy with my driving but I need more rotation in the car.  With that I could drive harder.  Right now the car is almost too easy to drive’.

Not racing 4WD, which took over the second half of yesterday’s action, Neil Cragg would register a P5 saying, ‘I’m a little bit ring rusty because I’m not driving 4WD but 5th is an ok start’.  Running within a Top 3 pace he continued, ‘A top 3 would have been nice but it is not the end of the world.  The diff problem didn’t help’.  Suffering a locked diff on his B6 he also believes he was lacking power, ‘it felt a little down on power so I might look at that for Round 2’.  Having celebrated his milestone 18th birthday yesterday, team-mate Jesper Rasmussen would be the next best Associated taking his example to P7.

‘Like yesterday the car pushed too much because of the battery problem but anyway I crashed too much’ was Marc Rheinard’s reaction to completing the Top 6.  Top Qualifier & winner of the season opener, the Yokomo driver continued, ‘the pace was not bad but the driving was the biggest issue’.  Planning to move the battery more centred in his Muchmore powered YZ2, he said he also hopes to put together a better 5-minutes as a driver.

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Q2 Update – Bayer heads another Xray 1-2 from Novotný

The second round of 4WD qualifying at Round 2 of the EOS in Poland produced another Xray 1-2 with Martin Bayer setting the fastest time from fellow Czech racer Kája Novotný.  Initially it was Q1 pace setter Bruno Coelho who started out front but the reigning champion was to suffer a steering servo failure, something he attributed to earlier crashes.  With Coelho out it would be Michal Orlowski, who had a mechanical issue in Q1, who would get to the top of the timing screen but a mistake followed quickly by a second would drop him back, allowing Bayer then to go to the front.  Orlowski was to fight back before more mistakes with Lee Martin also challenging the Xray team-manager but he would keep his composure as the only driver to run 17-laps.  Behind him, Novotný would get by Martin to claim an impressive P2 leaving the Yokomo driver to again finish third as the best non-Xray driver.  Hupo Hönigl would separate Martin and his team-mate Marc Rheinard with a P4 with Joel Valander completing the Top 6.

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Coelho takes Q1 despite mistake

Bruno Coelho has taken the the opening round of qualifying at the Euro Offroad Series in Poland despite an error in the middle of the five minute qualifier that cost him almost 2-seconds. Dropping to fifth but recovering to go back to the top of the timing screens, the reigning champion would head an Xray 1-2 from Martin Bayer by 1.5 seconds, Bayer himself recovering from a crash on his third lap.  Lee Martin would ensure it wasn’t a complete Xray white wash, the Yokomo driver posting the third fastest time with the next best no Xray being his team-mate Marc Rheinard, who having been on he TQ pace for a time finished up 8th struggling with how his car was landing the jumps.  For second seed Michal Orlowski his opening qualifier was short lived as he retired after just two laps as the ‘screws in the gear were left loose’.

‘It was not perfect’ was Coelho’s reaction after the qualifier.  The reigning champion and current points leader thanks to his Nurburgring victory,  continued, ‘I flipped once and had many mistakes touching the boards’.  Flipping his XB4 after a bad landing he said, ‘luckily the marshal was quite close so I did not lose a lot of time’.  Setting the fastest lap of the qualifier, he reiterated, ‘the car is working very well’ concluding, ‘I just need to make no mistakes’.

‘Very good, second is very good’, was how Bayer summed up the first qualifier.  Making a mistake just before the wall section that required his XB4 to be marshalled, the Czech driver was more than happy that ‘the speed is there’.  For Q2 he said the only thing he needs to change is to ‘cut out the mistake’.

Reviewing his performance Martin said, ‘just as they called me in the lead I grip rolled off the straight but 3rd is not bad to start with’.  The former Champion added, ‘I thought we could have got more but it was not to be, but another good run and we are in the Main’.  On his RC Concept powered YZ4 he felt ‘the landing could be better’ with it also ‘sometime want(ing) to get up on two wheels’, something he said is preventing him from driving as fast as he wants to.  For Q2 he will consider glueing his tyres more.  Rheinard said his example ‘just doesn’t land’.  The German said he needs to get the jump perfect or else the car bounces, with any over jump into a flat landing ending in the car getting out of shape.  Looking to his mechanic Thomas Pumpler for a solution, ‘Pumpi’ said he will fully refresh the shocks but leave the oils and springs unchanged.

Posting a P4 for the round, 18-year-old Valander described the run as ‘really good’.  The Finn said ‘I was just looking for a clean run so I’m really happy with 4th’, adding ‘I might have lost a bit of time as I was getting a little excited at the end’.  Pleased with his XB4, he said having rebuilt his diffs after practice they felt completely different to drive adding the car was ‘a lot better’.  Looking to Q2, he said ‘I’m just going to try keep it on its wheel, so let’s see’. Behind Valander, Kája Novotný posted a P5 with the 20-year-old Czech Champion setting the second fastest lap time in the process, while Hupo Honigl completed the Top 6.

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