January 11, 2014

Neumann is 4WD Buggy Top Qualifier at DHI Cup

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Defending DHI Cup offroad champion Joern Neumann will start his challenge for a hat trick of wins at the Danish event from the best possible position tomorrow with the Team Durango ace securing the overall TQ honors in the final round of qualifying.  With Team Xray’s Martin Bayer topping the opening two qualifiers, the German came back strong in the Q3 & 4 taking both rounds but it was his Q4 time that would decide the tie break and secure him the No.1 spot n the grid.  Behind the two Pro factory team drivers, young local talent & Team Associated supported driver Jesper Rasmussen will line up third, his third fastest time in Q4 bumping Schumacher team leader & designer Tom Cockerill back down to fourth on the triple A-Main grid.

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‘Getting a little closer now’ was how Neumann summed up his performance in the final two qualifiers.  Changing to heaver oil in the rear shocks of his Orion powered DEX410, the Worlds Top Qualifier said the buggy was really good and tomorrow should make for very exciting racing.  Having been slightly surprised by Bayer’s early pace, the winner of the DHI Cup in both 2WD and 4WD since offroad was introduced to the famous international touring car event, he said his is now very confident about his chances for the win in 4WD, adding it is more than can be said for hopes of success in 2WD.

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‘Really close’ was how a slightly disappointed Bayer summed up Q4. The European Champion was neck & neck with Neumann but got it wrong on the wall section on the penultimate lap costing himself 3-seconds.  Really happy with the pace and performance of his LRP powered XB4, he said he is really looking forward to tomorrow adding it should be a really good final and battle between him & Neumann.

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The best placed Dane over all four classes at the end of qualifying, 15-year-old Rasmussen was clearly pleased with his days driving. Having targeted himself a podium finish at the event of which is father Ulrich is instrumental in its annual organisation he said he is really confident about achieving his goal tomorrow as his B44.4 is working really well.

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‘Just not quick enough’ was Cockerill’s response to securing fourth on the grid.  The British driver said he couldn’t pull away from Rasmussen in the final qualifier and for the finals he hopes reverting to his Q2 set-up will give him some chance of being able to fight for a podium placing.  After a crash in Q3 he pulled in to adjust his ride height to test some options but the set-up he ran for the final qualifier just left his Nosram powered K1 Aero lacking pace.  Pitting next to Marc Rheinard he said jokingly it was some consolation to know his qualifying result was still better than that of the 3-time World Champion achieved in the touring car section of the event.

4WD Buggy A-Main Grid
1. Jörn Neumann (DE) – Team Durango – 310 pts
2. Martin Bayer (CZ) – Team Xray – 310
3. Jesper Rasmussen (DK) – Team Associated – 305
4. Tom Cockerill (GB) – Schumacher – 303
5. David Hassel (SE) – Team Xray – 303
6. Kim Nielsen (DK) – Team Xray – 301
7. Oskar Levin (SE) – Team C – 300
8. Niclas Månsson (SE) – Team Associated – 299
9. Simon Moss (GB) – Schumacher – 299
10.Joakim Nicolaisen (NO) – Team Associated – 298

View the complete Offroad event results here.

View our event image gallery here.

January 11, 2014

Q4 Touring Car Update – Grid Finalised

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With Ronald Volker having secured overall TQ honours in Q3, the final round of qualifying was about deciding the order of the grid behind the Team Yokomo ace.  Once again Volker would set the pace in Q4 to pull off the perfect clean sweep of qualifying.  Backing up his second place in the penultimate qualifier, Awesomatix’s Viljami Kutvonen would run his fastest 5-minutes, a time that would help him to secure second on the grid in a tie break with defending DHI Cup Champion Adrian Berntsen.  The Xray driver, who will start from 3rd, was in strong contention to TQ the round swapping the lead pace with Volker but in his own words ‘pushed too hard’ and half way through the run crashed losing 6-seconds.

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Also running his fastest time of qualifying, Alexander Hagberg posted the third fastest time which was enough to secure him fourth on the grid for the final ahead of former two time winner Marc Rheinard.  Pulling up in the last round of qualifying struggling with his set-up, Serpent’s Marc Fischer completes the Top 6 grid positions ahead of former international racer Steen Graversen.  Making a one off return to racing the Dane’s appearance makes him one of only 5 drivers to have contested every single DHI Cup.

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In the Pro Stock class a TQ run in the final qualifier makes Oliver Franke the overall Top Qualifier. The Awesomatix driver TQ’d the opening qualifier but Team Xray’s Marek Cerny would top Q2 & 3 setting the stage for a showdown in the closing round.  Separated by just 5/100ths of a second both drivers recorded their first 24-lap runs of the weekend, leaving the pair equal on points with Franke’s time giving him tie breaker.  Current ETS Pro Stock Championship leader Jan Ratheisky (formerly Jan Amser) will start third with his Serpent with defending DHI Cup Champion Zdenko Kunak’s Yokomo securing fourth on the grid.

Mod Touring Car A-Main Grid
1. Ronald Völker (DE) – Yokomo – 310 pts
2. Viljami Kutvonen (FI) – Awesomatix – 306
3. Adrian Berntsen (NO) – Xray – 306
4. Alexander Hagberg (SE) – Xray – 304
5. Marc Rheinard (DE) – Tamiya – 303
6. Marc Fischer (DE) – Serpent – 302
7. Steen Graversen (DK) – Awesomatix – 298
8. Tim Benson (DE) – Xray – 298
9. Jan Ratheisky (DE) – Serpent – 296
10.David Ehrbar (DE) – Serpent – 293

View the complete TC event results here.

View our event image gallery here.

January 11, 2014

Chassis Focus – Oskar Levin

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Chassis – Team C TM2
Motor – Muchmore
ESC – Muchmore
Battery – Muchmore
Radio – Sanwa
Servo – Spektrum
Tires (Handout) – Schumacher

The Swedish ace is still running the original version of the mid-motored TeamC buggy, saying he didn’t receive the “V2” kit yet. Delighted with the performance of his car, he told us that he is using a slightly different setup from what he used back at home to win 2 VBC championship rounds. To deal with the demanding track he is running a thinner sway bar and shorter front links this make his car more reactive without losing rear traction on the loose areas. His front tyres of choice are the popular Schumacher Stagger Ribs.

Image Gallery

January 11, 2014

Bayer leads the way in 4WD qualifying at DHI

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Reigning European Champion Martin Bayer made his intentions clear in the opening two rounds of 4WD Buggy qualifying at the DHI Cup taking his Xray XB4 to a pair of 15-laps run at the Odense based event.  In the opening qualifier the Czech ace was the only driver to record 15-laps setting the fastest time ahead new young Team Associated signing Jesper Rasmussen.  The second encounter was a closer affair with defending champion Joern Neumann becoming only the second driver to run 15-laps.  A bad lap by Bayer meant the Durango driver would finish the round just 1/10th of a second adrift.

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Bayer said ‘after a not so good time in 2WD’, him only managing to qualify 9th overall for the A-Main, his 4WD performance was ‘really good’.  Describing his LRP powered buggy as ‘perfect’, changing nothing between runs, he said the opening round could not have gone much better.  Q2 however was not as good, the driver being the weak point.  Opting to leave his set-up as is and instead focus on adjusting his driving style, this resulted in a few mistakes in the second of the four qualifiers with him losing 2-seconds over one lap. Very confident with his XB4 for Q3 he said the plan is just try and tidy up his driving.

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Chasing a hat trick of DHI wins, Neumann described Bayer’s pace in the opening qualifier as ‘very fast’ and trying to keep pace with him he pushed too hard leading to mistakes that left him only 9th fastest.  Running heavier rear shock oil and a softer front swaybar on his DEX410 in Q2 he said that despite starting the heat down the order due to his Q1 performance he was able to run more with Bayer, recording the fastest lap of the round.  Planning to go heavier again with the oil in the rear shocks for the penultimate run he will also use an untouched set of front tyres having previously removed pins. The EOS Champion said because of the unusually low traction for a carpet track he needs the extra grip.

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Describing his car as ‘OK’ for the opening qualifier when he posted the fourth fastest time, Schumacher’s Tom Cockerill said changes for Q2 made it ‘fell a lot better’.  Sitting second overall after two rounds, the British driver switched from 2 to 3 hole pistons which made for better landings and also put on anti-roll bars which he said brought his K1 Aero much closer to the pace of Bayer & Neumann.  Encouraged by the new found pace he said with a few more changes he ‘might actually be able to starting mixing it with the two boys’.

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15-year-old Rasmussen was very happy with his opening round but a switch to a fresh set of tyres for Q2 left his Associated B44.4 aggressive and dfficult to drive.  Finishing the round 12th fastest, the up & coming Danish talent said with the tyres now scrubbed in he should be back up to speed again in Q3.

In a reverse of form with Bayer, 2WD Top Qualifier Oskar Levin struggled with his 4WD managing only the 13th & 7th fastest times with his Team C.  These results leave the Swede sitting provisional 10th.

View the complete Offroad event results here.

View our event image gallery here.

January 11, 2014

Volker wraps up DHI TQ honours in Q3

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In a pretty much forgone conclusion, Team Yokomo’s Ronald Volker is Top Qualifier for the 14th running of the DHI Cup. The driver with the most number of past wins at the famous Danish event, yet another TQ run in Q3 put the pole position for tomorrow’s final beyond the reach of his rivals despite one round of qualifying remaining. Posting his fastest 5-minute run of the weekend, the 4-time event winner was a whole 5-seconds clear of his rivals with Awesomatix Viljami Kutvonen claiming second followed by Xray’s Alexander Hagberg, both drivers posting their first 25-lap runs.

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Running the 2014 version of Yokomo’s BD7 for the first time in Europe, Volker said was ‘very happy’ to with how the car has run since putting it on the track for the first time at the Stadium Arena Fyn yesterday morning.  Changing his tyre preparation ‘slightly’ for the penultimate qualifier he said it was ‘slightly’ better and combined with the improving track conditions he said he was able to push the car harder.  Planning to leave the car as is for the final qualifier, which should see a very close battle to determine who will start second on the grid, he said they will use this to try gauge how much the track changes so as to determine what if any set-up changes they should make for the finals.  The German said he is interested to see who will start directly behind him viewing Adrian Berntsen as his biggest threat adding that seeing Viljami’s progress today he wouldn’t rule out the Finn either.  Unfortunately in Q3 an early accident resulted in Berntsen breaking a rear arm on his Xray forcing him to retire after just 30 seconds.

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A ‘good run’ was how a pretty pleased looking Viljami summed up his latest qualifier.  Having lowered the roll centres on his LRP powered A700 EVO he said the changes gave him more steering and more traction.  Having changed and improved the car every run he said for the final qualifier he will leave it as it as there is a lot at stake with him in contention for that No.2 spot on the grid.

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Making a few further set-up tweaks to his ORCA powered Xray, Hagberg said they further improved the speed of the car.  Only 2/10ths of a second off Viljami at the end of the 5-minutes, the Swede said without mistakes they would have been very closely matched.  Feeling that he is maybe trying a little too hard in terms of his driving leading him to make small mistakes, for the final qualifier he is not sure whether or not to leave or change his set-up.  With the Top 6 grid positions wide open he said its going to be close and a clean run could make a big difference to where you start the finals.

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Changing to his ETS car for Q3, setting the fourth fastest time, Marc Rheinard described it as driving a ‘tank’ and he will revert back to his softer TRF418 for the final round.  With a complete lack of steering or corner speed, the Tamiya Racing Factory driver said its pretty much a case of accepting that it ‘is what it is now’ and there is little he can do about Volker’s blistering pace.  Feeling that the rest of the cars are pretty equal he said Yokomo know exactly how to optimse the tyres and their preparation.  The German said there is a lot to be said for the handout additive such as that introduced by the ETS, his reasons for attending the DHI being to prepare for Round 2 of the World famous championship something he said has so far proved worthless.

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Fifth fastest factory Serpent driver Marc Fischer said changes for Q3 made his S411 ‘push like hell’.  With ‘no corner speed’, the German will revert to his Q2 set-up for the final round adding with the grid behind Volker so close its going to be important to run a good 5-minutes.  Behind Fischer fellow countryman Tim Benson once again completed the Top 6 at the controls of his Xray.

View the complete TC event results here.

View our event image gallery here.