Batlle fastest in Q2

Mugen’s Robert Batlle has TQ’d the second round of qualifying at the 1:8 Offroad European Championship, the World Champion topping the times by just 4/10ths over Q1 pace setter David Ronnefalk with 3-time former Champion Renaud Savoya completing the Top 3.  Once again defending champion Darren Bloomfield struggled, the TLR driver only able for the 38th fastest time due to ‘struggling for grip’.

Batlle, whose TQ time was 5-seconds off Ronnefalk’s morning pace, described the run as ‘not so bad’.  While his Novarossi powered MBX-7 now has good forward traction the Spaniard said he doesn’t have the grip he would like to have and as a result he is still not 100% comfortable with the buggy.  Describing the track as a ‘little slower’ than Q1 in which he was second fastest, the 2011 European Champion said they’re definitely going in the right direction with the set-up but with the track changing so much each run it is hard to know what to do for Q3 which brings Day 3 of the event to a close.

Ronnefalk said he had ‘good pace but just needs to stay on his wheels’. The Kyosho team driver was on another potential TQ run but threw it away with a late mistake at the triple-double section.  Describing the track as ‘more slippery’ and pointing out that his fastest lap was a second slower than his morning time he said the key to the loose conditions is not to push too hard as it only ends up costing time.   In terms of his set-up he said he doesn’t plan to make any changes to his Orion powered MP9 and instead just put in a clean round.

‘Better and better, following the plan’ was Savoya’s summary of his run to the third fastest time.  Running Sweep’s Mirco Contact tyre on his XB9 he said his buggy was faster even though the track was slower so he is ‘really happy’ with where they are at now.  Struggling a little with his clutch which was causing the Orion powered buggy to run-on slightly in the corners he will fit a harder clutch for Q3 which he said should disengage quicker and alleviate the small problem.  Planning to leave his chassis set-up as is he said the aim for Q3 is to get another strong round which will allow them to use tomorrow’s two remaining qualifiers to test some things with a view to the finals.

Fourth fastest Jerome Aigoin said considering his lack of grip the run was not so bad.  Changing to AKA’s Handlebar tyre, which he was happy with in yesterday’s practice, he said compared with the Wishbone he ran in Q1, it left his Novarossi powered MP9 with no traction.  Reverting to a plan of just keeping the thing on four wheels for the 5-minutes, he said he needs to work on his set-up if he is to attempt to become overall Top Qualifier in his home country adding that he also needs to get his head in better order too for the remaining qualifiers.

The second of the famous racing Aigoin brothers Yannick posted the 5th fastest time.  The humorous Team Associated driver said he was pleased to see he ‘can still drive 5-minutes without mistakes’ adding his time could have been better but for traffic over his last two laps which he said caused him to struggle to keep his rhythm. Having made some small changes to the rear shocks and toe of his Centro chassis RC8 he said it helped make the buggy a little faster and for Q3 he will make some further adjustments to try and make the rear even more stable.  The two time former champion also plans to run a different clutch for his next run.

Completing the Top 6 was 16-year-old Oscar Baldo.  The Spanish Mugen driver suffered 3 mistakes in Q1 but having made his Procircuit shod MBX-7 more stable for Q2 by running heavier diffs and roll-bars he was able to complete a clean round.  Declaring his run as a ‘very good result’, he doesn’t plan to make any changes for Q3 other than choosing the right compound of Hot Dices tyre for the conditions.

22-year-old Christoffer Svensson was pleased with his run to the 7th fastest time, the Swedish Kyosho driver saying his OS powered MP9 ‘felt really good’.  Having driven a little too reserved in Q1, he said he pushed much harder second time round but conscious that he needed to keep the run clean he started to hold back a little by the end but he is happy that both he and the buggy are capable of more.

Behind Svensson, Martin Bayer took his LRP powered Xray to 8th for the round.  Third quickest in Q1, the Czech driver said the track changed a lot from the morning and his XB9 was ‘pretty loose’.  For Q3 the former podium finisher plans to come up with a completely different set-up.

Elsewhere Team Durango’s Joern Neumann, who was 4th in Q1, was on for another competitive run until he hit traffic.  The German said he thought the slower driver would open up so he could pass but he didn’t and the pair ending up crashing. Mugen’s Lee Martin suffered ‘one stupid mistake’ at the triple which cost him 4 seconds and left him 13th.  The British ace said he is not sure he picked the right compound of Proline Ion tyre for the run saying he needs to find more forward traction for the next one.

Round 2 Qualifying Top 12
1. Robert Batlle – Mugen/Novarossi – 8/5:24.87
2. David Ronnefalk – Kyosho/Orion – 8/5:25.26
3. Renaud Savoya – Xray/Orion – 8/5:25.67
4. Jerome Aigoin – Kyosho/Novarossi – 8/5:26.15
5. Yannick Aigoin – Associated/nVision – 8/5:26.32
6. Oscar Baldo – Mugen/Novarossi – 8/5:28.07
7. Christoffer Svensson – Kyosho/OS – 8/5:28.24
8. Martin Bayer – Xray/LRP – 8/5:28.61
9. Renaud Monin – Mugen/Bullitt – 8/5:28.85
10.Ari Heinonen – Kyosho/Alpha – 8/5:29.66
11.Neil Cragg – Associated/LRP – 8/5:29.98
12.Jerome Sartel – Agama/Bullitt – 8/5:30.50

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