Ronnefalk holds overnight TQ in Reims

Swedish ace David Ronnefalk holds the overnight TQ at the 1:8 Offroad European Championships after he topped a second round of qualifying in Reims, France, taking his Orion powered Kyosho to the fastest time in Q3 by 4-seconds from Xray’s Renaud Savoya with Lee Martin taking his Mugen to third.  Setting the 12th fastest time, the closing heat of the day saw defending Champion Darren Bloomfield post his best round with the British driver confident he can build on that in tomorrow’s final two qualifiers.

Missing out on his morning time by 2-seconds due to the track being slower, Ronnefalk described the third of his 5-minute heats as ‘the cleanest run of the day’. The 17-year-old said his MP9 was very easy to drive as his Super Soft compound AKA Handlebar tyres started to become slicks, this being the same set of tyres’ fifth run on the unique chalk surface track.  Having kept his MP9 the same all day last year’s runner-up said he will now use the morning’s qualifiers to break in new tyres for the finals, all drivers having to progress from the Semi finals into the 45-minute title deciding Main, irrespective if they are Top Qualifier.

Improving every round Savoya was pleased with his progress over the day.  The ‘Shark’ pushed a little harder in Q3 but adding more rear brake to his Orion powered XB9 he said it was too much and it felt like he was handbraking into the corners.  Making the buggy a little difficult to drive the 3-time champion said he was still able to record his fastest lap of the 3 qualifiers despite the track getting slower over the day.  ‘As we have seen from the first day tyres are key to this event’ and the French ace plans to try a different foam combination in his Sweep tyres tomorrow having secured a Top 16 in the qualification ranking therefore booking himself a spot in the Semi finals.

2WD Electric Offroad European Champion Martin was much happier with his Q3 performance.  Changing to softer diff oil all round on his Beat powered MBX-7 along with switching to a harder compound Proline Ion tyre he said it was a big improvement although he said they still need to find more to get closer to Ronnefalk’s pace. Tomorrow the British driver said he might try a different tyre pattern to see how it works on his improved handling chassis.  For Martin’s team-mate Robert Batlle 2 mistakes, one of which required marshaling, left the Q2 pace setter 8th fastest.  The Spaniard is still struggling to get a level of grip he is comfortable with.  With his place in the Semis secured he said they will try something very different in the penultimate qualifier in terms of set-up to try get more mechanical grip from the buggy.

Jerome Aigoin took his Kyosho to the fourth fastest time just ahead of his twin brother Yannick.  Despite ‘one little mistake’, Jerome said the run was not so bad adding that he is ‘too slow for the moment’ and the goal for tomorrow is to find more speed.  Yannick was happy with his pace leading Savoya, the pair running in the same heat, until two ‘bad’ final laps.  Having only had time to change the clutch on his nVision powered Centro RC8, the change in heat order not allowing him time to make any set-up changes, he said he didn’t like the change of ratio and clutch and he will revert to the previous version for Q4.

Behind the famous offroad racing brothers, 28-year-old Renaud Monin completed the Top 6.  The Paris resident was very happy with his Mugen saying he had gone with the wrong tyres in the opening two qualifiers.  Fitting Beta’s Enforcer tyre on the front and Freeride on the rear he said they made the Bullitt powered MBX-7 very stable and he is confident that he can do better and improve on his pace tomorrow.

One of the most spectacular drivers in 1:8 offroad, Elliott Boots equaled his best run of the day with another 10th fastest time just ahead of JQ boss Joesph Quagraine. The Kyosho driver said he was on for a good run until a mistake but admits his biggest problem is that he is struggling to get to terms with the track as he can’t find a good rhythm.

Fellow Brit, Bloomfield said his TLR was ‘a lot better’ in Q3.  Having run Super Soft compound AKA tyres so far he said going against the thought that harder tyres mean less grip he switched to soft and immediately his 8ight 3.0 had more traction.  Admitting the wasted too much time trying to get the buggy to work on Super Soft he said for Q4 he will try a medium compound.

Round 3 Qualifying Top 12
1. David Ronnefalk – Kyosho/Orion – 8/5:21.76
2. Renaud Savoya – Xray/Orion – 8/5:25.75
3. Lee Martin – Mugen/Beat – 8/5:26.04
4. Jerome Aigoin – Kyosho/Novarossi – 8/5:26.30
5. Yannick Aigoin – Associated/nVision – 8/5:27.16
6. Renaud Monin – Mugen/Bullitt – 8/5:28.24
7. Nicolas Rodriguez – Hongkor/Falcon – 8/5:29.22
8. Robert Batlle – Mugen/Novarossi – 8/5:29.24
9. Joesph Quagraine – JQ/JQ – 8/5:29.46
10.Elliott Boots – Kyosho//Novarossi – 8/5:29.77
11.Bryan Baldo – Mugen/Novarossi – 8/5:30.41
12.Darren Bloomfield – TLR/Novarossi – 8/5:30.71

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