Savoya tops Q4 in Reims
Xray’s Renaud Savoya became the first home driver to top the time sheets in qualifying at the 1:8 Offroad European Championship in Reims, the 3 time Champion TQ’ing the penultimate round from fellow Frenchman Yannic Aigoin with Germany’s Joern Neumann completing the Top 3. Overnight TQ holder David Ronnefalk, who set the pace in 2 of yesterday’s 3 qualifiers, had a ‘bad round after two crashes left the Kyosho driver to complete Q4 only 13th fastest.
Savoya, who has steadily moved to the top starting off qualifying with a run to 6th in Q1, then 3rd in Q2 and 2nd in the closing run of yesterday’s action, was very happy with the result admitting that it didn’t feel like a TQ run as his Orion powered XB9 was pushing a little. Having made a number of small changes to his set-up last night, the ‘Shark’ also tried a harder compound of Sweep’s Micro Contact tyre in the warm-up for the heat but said it didn’t work and he changed back to the same compound he ended on yesterday. While the changes gave the buggy more traction and overall grip he plans to change the rear shock set-up to try reduce the amount the buggy is squatting.
Team Associated’s Aigoin said his run was ‘OK’ adding that it was the first time he got a full clean round without any traffic issues. Switching back to the clutch/gear ratio he started qualifying with having changed this for Q3, he said he was much happier with the feeling it gave. The 2006 Champion said while his Centro RC8 is ok, for the final qualifier he will revert to the set-up he ran in controlled practice but with a slightly different rear geometry to be sure that this works how he expects it to do for the pending finals.
Durango’s Neumann, who after a solid start to qualifying with 4th in Q1 didn’t have a good Q2 & 3, was pleased to be back at the sharp end of the times. Just 1.3 seconds off Savoya’s pace, the reigning Electric 4WD Offroad European Champion said changing to lighter diff oil on his prototype chassis had improved it at the end of the straight, the point at where he says he is losing most of his time. While the change was a step forward, it still wasn’t fully what he was looking for and for Q5 he will fit a 2mm spacer to the front of the buggy to raise the suspension arms hoping this might help him find the corner speed he is lacking.
Setting the fourth fastest time despite after losing 3 seconds due to a mistakes, Mugen’s Robert Batlle was a lot happier with his MBX-7 today saying the ‘car looked really good’. After discussing possible set-up solutions with team-mate Lee Martin, the World Champion followed the direction the British ace took for Q3 when he switching to running lighter oil in the diffs. Opposite to the direction the Spaniard had been going yesterday, he is now confident he has a buggy he is a lot more comfortable with and with a clean run he has the pace to TQ the final qualifier.
Martin, who posted the 5th fastest time, switched from Proline’s Ion tyre to Big Blocks for today and was pleased with how they worked although he said he still needs to get more rotation into the buggy. Planning to try Proline’s Blockade for his final run, the World Championship finalist said he will also change the anti squat saying that hopefully having run three tyre patterns he will be able to judge the one that will best work with the set-up direction he has taken.
Completing the Top 6 just ahead of Jerome Aigoin was new Italian rising star Davide Ongaro. The 12-year-old was Top Qualifier at the European B Championships earlier in the year and is making his Euro A debut here in France. Running an RB powered Mugen, he put his run down to better driving. Describing it as a ‘good and clean heat’, he said he has changed his driving to be a little less aggressive. Very happy with his ProCircuit Hot Dice equipped MBX-7, he said he hasn’t changed the set-up since the start of qualifying and he plans to continue as is for Q5.
Ronnefalk, who still has the fastest qualifying time set in Q1, crashed on his opening lap at the triple/double feeling that the surface in the jump has changed from yesterday and this is was caught him out. Trying to pull back the lost time he said a second crash when he tried to avoid Neumann, who was leading the heat, finished the run but still using the same set of AKA Hadlebar tyres he ran all day yesterday he said they had gone past their best and so the run would probably have been slow even without the incidents.
Round 4 Qualifying Top 13
1. Renaud Savoya – Xray/Orion – 8/5:23.16
2. Yannick Aigoin – Associated/nVision – 8/5:24.27
3. Joern Neumann – Durango/Picco – 8/5:24.42
4. Robert Batlle – Mugen/Novarossi – 8/5:24.91
5. Lee Martin – Mugen/Beat – 8/5:26.78
6. Davide Ongaro – Mugen/RB – 8/5:27.85
7. Jerome Aigoin – Kyosho/Novarossi – 8/5:28.42
8. Martin Bayer – Xray/LRP – 8/5:28.74
9. Neil Gragg – Associated/LRP – 8/5:29.76
10.Miguel Mathias – TLR/RB – 8/5:30.04
11.Renaud Monin – Mugen/Bullitt – 8/5:30.05
12.Andres Marcelino – RB/RB – 8/5:30.20
13.David Ronnefalk – Kyosho/Orion – 8/5:30.30
View our complete event image gallery here.