Bloomfield is European Champion

Team Losi Racing’s Darren Bloomfield won a thrilling battle which went down to the last lap with pole sitter David Ronnefalk to become the first British driver to win the 1:8 Offroad European Championship this evening in Fehring, Austria.  The win is also TLR’s first win in the championship’s 32 year history bringing to an end Mugen’s four year reign at the top.

Provisional Result
1. Darren Bloomfield (GB) – TLR/Novarossi/AKA
2. David Ronnefalk (SE) – Kyosho/Orion/AKA
3. Robert Batlle (ES) – Mugen/Novarossi/Procircuit
4. Renaud Savoya (FR) – Xray/RB/Sweep
5. Jérôme Aigoin (FR) – Kyosho/Novarossi/AKA
6. Miguel Matias (PT) – TLR/RB/AKA
7. Joseph Quagraine (FI) – JQ/JQ/AKA
8. Martin Bayer (CZ) – Xray/nVision/AKA
9. Christoffer Svensson (SE) – Kyosho/OS/AKA
10.Yannick Aigoin (FR) – Associated/Novarossi/Procircuit
11.Borja Hernandez (ES) – LRP/Alpha/AKA
12.Elliot Boots (GB) – Kyosho/Novarossi/AKA

Full report to follow.

Ronnefalk on pole at Euros

16-year-old reigning European Junior Champion David Ronnefalk will start the Main final at the 2012 1:8 Offroad European Championships from pole position after the Swede won his Semi in a faster time than that of reigning champion Robert Batlle’s Semi winning time.

Starting from pole Ronnefalk controlled the 20-minute encounter to take a comfortable win over the Xray of Renaud Savoya and his Kyosho team-mate Elliot Boots who had to recover from a first lap off that left in at the tail end of the 12 car field.  While the top 3 appeared to have everything under controlled in relation to their progression to the final the main battle of the race was over 4th, 5th and 6th position.  In the end having bumped up from the 1/4 final Team Xray’s Martin Bayer just pipped JQ’s Joseph Quagraine to the line for fourth while behind them LRP driver Borja Hernandez secured the final place on the grid having had to recover from an number incidents early in the race and a battle with Ignacio Candell and former 2 time Champion David Tortorici.

In terms of drama it was the first Semi which produced the biggest moment so far as Top Qualifier Darren Bloomfield’s TLR came to a halt while the British driver was out front.  Half way through the race Bloomfield looked as though he might suffer the same faith as last year when while also holding a bump place he suffered a flame out.  With his car stopped on the track when the marshal picked up the Novarossi powered 8ight a stone fell out of the rear wheel.  Turning the wheels backwards the car had drive again and he was able to resume in fifth position.  Setting the fastest lap of the Semis two laps later Bloomfield was able to recover to take fourth which puts him 6th on the grid, the first of the cars that will start around the corner of the split starting grid.

After Bloomfield’s scare it was the No.2 starting Mugen of Batlle that went on to win ahead of the man he beat to claim last year’s title Jérôme Aigoin. Having been Top Qualifier the last two years and started on pole 12 months ago, the French Champion will line-up third for this evening’s 45-minute title deciding encounter.  Two former champions to bump from the first Semi were TLR’s Miguel Matias who finished third and Yannick Aigoin who finished fifth and will be the sole Associated on the grid.  Finishing fifth to make Kyosho the most represented brand in the final with four MP9s was Christoffer Svensson who will line up 9th.

Having successfully defended his 4WD Electric European Championship title at the track just last month Team Durango’s Joern Neumann, who made the final last year, will not be adding to his trophy cabinet this evening as he could only manage 9th in his Semi.  Also missing the cut, finishing 7th in the same Semi, was former champion & Agama team driver Daniel Vega.

Main Final Starting Grid
1. David Ronnefalk (SE) – Kyosho/Orion
2. Robert Batlle (ES) – Mugen/Novarossi
3. Jérôme Aigoin (FR) – Kyosho/Novarossi
4. Renaud Savoya (FR) – Xray/RB
5. Miguel Matias (PT) – TLR/RB
6. Darren Bloomfield (GB) – TLR/Novarossi
7. Yannick Aigoin (FR) – Associated/Novarossi
8. Elliot Boots (GB) – Kyosho/Novarossi
9. Christoffer Svensson (SE) – Kyosho/OS
10.Martin Bayer (CZ) – Xray/nVision
11.Joseph Quagraine (FI) – JQ/JQ
12.Borja Hernandez (ES) – LRP/Alpha

View complete event results here.

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Tough 2012 Euros comes to an end for Reckward

Former World Champion Daniel Reckward’s 2012 European Championship campaign is over after the Mugen team driver went out in the 1/4 Finals when his throttle servo feel foul of muddy conditions in Fehring, Austria.  A three time European Champion and a podium finisher in Germany last year, Reckward endured a tough qualifying. Despite breaking into the Top 10 for the first time with the seventh fastest time in the final round of qualifying he finished up 25th overall to line up 5th on the grid for the 1/4 Final-A.  Waking to an overcast morning in Fehring the rain finally arrived just as the first of 1/8 finals was coming to an end continuing for the second 1/8 and leaving the track very slippery for the 1/4 finals.

In the first of the 1/4 Finals, Spain’s Daniel Bernabe having won his 1/8 final from pole position came through the field to take a 4-second win over former Champion Daniel Vega to secure his third bump up and a place in the Semi Finals along with young German talent Dominic Bauer and Finland’s Ari Heinonen.

The other 20-minute 1/4 Final saw 2-time champion Davide Tortorici take his Bliss powered Mugen to a narrow victory over 2010 podium finisher Martin Bayer who will join his factory Xray team-mate Renaud Savoya in the Semi Final-B.  Securing the final two bump up positions to the Semi finals were British pairing Lee Martin, who only recently retained his 2WD Electric Buggy European title at the Fehring track, and Simon Willetts.

With the cloud cover having cleared allowing the sun to come out, the track is set to have at least a dry racing line for the running of the Semi Finals.

Semi-A Grid
1. Darren Bloomfield (GB) – TLR/Novarossi
2. Robert Batlle (ES) – Mugen/Novarossi
3. Miguel Matias (PT) – TLR/RB
4. Jérôme Aigoin (FR) – Kyosho/Novarossi
5. Jörn Neumann (DE) – Durango/Picco
6. Yannick Aigoin (FR) – Associated/Novarossi
7. Christoffer Svensson (SE) – Kyosho/OS
8. Jérôme Sartel (FR) – Agama/Bullit
9. Daniel Bernabe (ES) – S-Workz/RB
10.Daniel Vega (ES) – Agama/Reds
11.Dominic Bauer (AT) – Mugen/Novarossi
12.Ari Heinonen (FI) – Kyosho/Alpha

Semi-B Grid
1. David Ronnefalk (SE) – Kyosho/Orion
2. Renaud Savoya (FR) – Xray/RB
3. Elliot Boots (GB) – Kyosho/Novarossi
4. Joseph Quagraine (FI) – JQ/JQ
5. Borja Hernandez (ES) – LRP/Alpha
6. Neil Cragg (GB) – Associated/LRP
7. Teemu Leino (FI) – HB/LRP
8. Ignacio Candel (ES) – Mugen/RB
9. Davide Tortorici  (IT) – Mugen/Bliss
10.Martin Bayer (CZ) – Xray/nVision
11.Lee Martin (GB) – Mugen/OS
12.Simon Willetts (GB) – Mugen/Novarossi

View complete event results here.

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Bloomfield Top Qualifier in Austria

Team Losi Racing’s Darren Bloomfield is the Top Qualifier at the 1:8 Offroad European Championships, the British ace wrapping up the honour in Fehring, Austria, in style when he took his Novarossi powered 8ight around the high speed track in the fastest time of the 32nd running of the event in the fifth & final round of qualifying.  Having set the pace in yesterday’s opening qualifier, Bloomfield was already assured of his first overall Euros TQ before his final heat as challengers David Ronnefalk crashed on his run and Renaud Savoya got T-boned as he was on a TQ pace.  In the group that would bring qualifying to a conclusion still to run Bloomfield drove a ‘nearly perfect’ 5-minute run to once again post the fastest lap of the round and a new outright fastest run time.

Changing to soft compound AKA Enduro tyres, having used super soft in his previous four heats, Bloomfield said they ran the harder tyre with a view to the finals and the results were very promising.  Running a development version of the 8ight which was brought over for the race with 1:8 offroad star Adam Drake on Monday and features new geometry, Bloomfield said the set-up they ran in qualifying is his race set-up so he is very confident for tomorrow.  The man doing all the work between runs on Bloomfield’s car, Drake was very happy with both his driver and the performance of the car and looking forward to the finals said they only changes he envisaged would be related to the weather as this would determine the tyre compound and the weight of shock oil they would choose.  Qualifying third at last year’s event, only to suffer two engine flames outs in his Semi while holding a bump up position, Bloomfield added that his engine is returning ‘excellent’ run time a factor that played a huge part in Batlle’s victory 12 months ago.

Only fifth fastest in Q5 after another ‘usual mistake’, Kyosho’s Ronnefalk was surprise to secure 2nd overall and pole position in the B Semi-Final.  Having lowered the rear camber link on his MP9 he said it was better in the fast sweepers and also in the 180 corners as he slides around more and he could steer it on the power.  Also running soft compound AKA Enduro tyres the 16-year-old, who is the defending Junior Champion, said they felt ‘really good’ and he was able to use them to post his fastest lap of the event.  Having coming to Austria looking to be secure a Top 5 starting position in the Semis due to the grid layout of the track, the Top 5 starting on the straight with 7th to 12th starting around the corner in front of the drivers stand, the talented Swede said the event has gone better than planned so far and he is really looking forward to his Semi.

Starting behind Bloomfield in the Semi A will be Batlle.  Chasing his third European title and Mugen’s fifth consecutive win, the Spaniard was second fastest in the closing qualifier to claim third in the final ranking but were it not for his Q4 disqualification he would have secured pole in the Semi B.  Commenting on his DQ, which was due to his Mugen being deemed too wide, he said it was very frustrating to put in a lot of hard work in preparation for the event and then making sure everything is perfect in terms of the rules, exactly as it was for all previous rounds, only to have someone’s interpretation of the rule result in disqualification. Earlier in the event Joseph Quagraine raised the matter of the angle of the box through which the car must pass with EFRA’s Carlos Gomez but his concerns were dismissed. Looking ahead to tomorrow Batlle said he thinks overall they are in much better shape going into the finals day than a year ago when he pulled off a very tactical victory over Top Qualifier and pole position holder Jérôme Aigoin, the Kyosho driver claiming 7th in the final qualification ranking.

Set to line up second behind Ronnefalk in the 20-minute Semi B, Renaud Savoya after topping Q4 said he was going for the overall TQ in the final round and it was ‘very disappointing’ when someone else denies you that chance. Having not looked like a TQ challenger yesterday the ‘Shark’ turned things around today and was on target for a second TQ run until he was T-boned by German driver Carsten Kelleher mid way through the run causing the two cars to tangle costing the factory Xray driver valuable seconds leaving him to post only the 12th fastest time. Planning to test Sweep Exagon tyres in his final heat Savoya was forced to run Double Action once again as with the Exagon fitted to his RB powered XB9 the car wouldn’t pass through the technical inspections width box.  Savoya said they will work on the car to make it narrower as the Exagon will have better wear for the final.

Some of last year’s title contenders to miss the Top 16 Semi final cut in Austria are podium finisher & 3-time champion Daniel Reckward who could only manage 25th overall as he struggled to find a good set-up for his Mugen although the German did manage to post his first Top 10 time in the final qualifier.  Fellow German Marcel Guske, who TQ’d the final qualifier last year and finished 4th in the final, has fared even worse than his former team-mate with the recently signed TLR driver ending up down in 88th position.

Qualifying Times Round 5
1. Darren Bloomfield (GB) – TLR/Novarossi – 9/5:26.276
2. Robert Batlle (ES) – Mugen/Novarossi – 9/5:30.915
3. Jérôme Aigoin (FR) – Kyosho/Novarossi – 9/5:32.602
4. Joseph Quagraine (FI) – JQ/JQ – 9/5:33.424
5. David Ronnefalk (SE) – Kyosho/Orion – 9/5:33.625
6. Jérôme Sartel (FR) – Agama/Bullit – 9/5:34.242
7. Daniel Reckward (DE) – Mugen/RB – 9/5:35.068
8. Ignacio Candel (ES) – Mugen/RB – 9/5:35.138
9. Yannick Aigoin (FR) – Associated/Novarossi – 9/5:35.207
10.Neil Cragg (GB) – Associated/LRP – 9/5:35.593
11.Martin Wollanka (AT) – Xray/RB – 9/5:35.829
12.Renaud Savoya (FR) – Xray/RB – 9/5:36.377

Final Qualification Ranking (Top 16)
1. Darren Bloomfield (GB) – TLR/Novarossi – 553 pts
2. David Ronnefalk (SE) – Kyosho/Orion – 547
3. Robert Batlle (ES) – Mugen/Novarossi – 546
4. Renaud Savoya (FR) – Xray/RB – 545
5. Elliot Boots (GB) – Kyosho/Novarossi – 544
6. Miguel Matias (PT) – TLR/RB – 544
7. Jérôme Aigoin (FR) – Kyosho/Novarossi – 544
8. Joseph Quagraine (FI) – JQ/JQ – 540
9. Jörn Neumann    (DE) – Durango/Picco – 539
10.Borja Hernandez (ES) – LRP/Alpha – 531
11.Yannick Aigoin (FR) – Associated/Novarossi – 529
12.Neil Cragg (GB) – Associated/LRP – 526
13.Christoffer Svensson (SE) – Kyosho/OS – 524
14.Teemu Leino (FI) – HB/LRP – 520
15.Jérôme Sartel (FR) – Agama/Bullit – 518
16.Ignacio Candel (ES) – Mugen/RB – 518

View complete event results here.

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Manufacturer Statistics

1:8 Offroad continue to be a very important market for the various r/c manufacturers and that is clearly evident by the level of leading industry figures present here at the European Championship in Fehring, Austria.

With 180 drivers competing in the 32nd running of these EFRA championships it is defending champions Mugen who are once again the No.1 choice of chassis with 44 drivers choosing the MBX-6R.  Behind them Kyosho is now the second most popular buggy with 34 racers running the MP9 followed by TLR with 25 cars and Xray who have 22 users. This year sees 15 manufacturers being represented, down from a total of 20 last year.

In the engine department it is the reigning champions Novarossi that are the top choice with 35 drivers which sees RB being bumped into the 2nd spot with 23 drivers. OS is the number 3 choice with 22 users followed by Bullitt in 4th with 11 and Alpha who are used by 10 of the racers present. This year sees 19 manufacturers being represented, down from a total of 26 last year.

Regarding tyres, while we don’t have complete statistics we can tell you that AKA is by far the most popular tyre in use here in Fehring with former World Champion and AKA front man Mark Pavidis coming over from the US to give support.

Special thanks to Bernard Durand and Alex Zanchettin who took the time to compile the statistics.

Savoya TQ’s penultimate qualifier

Xray’s Renaud Savoya has TQ’d the penultimate round of qualifying at the 1:8 Offroad European Championships in Austria while great rival & defending champion Robert Batlle had his run to the 3rd fastest time struck off after his Mugen was deemed to be too wide in post race scrutiny something his Mugen team firmly dispute as the buggy was running the same set-up as yesterday when the MBX6R had no problems with passing through the box being used by race officials.

Having last TQ’d a round of qualifying at the Euros in 2010, when the event was also held in Austria, Savoya was very happy with his return to the top of the times with the result putting the French ace in with a chance of being overall Top Qualifier, an honour he secured en-route to claiming two of three consecutive European titles.  After watching video footage of his 9 laps in 5:27.733, the factory Xray/RB driver said while his XB9 looked fast but hard to drive it didn’t feel that way from the driver rostrum as he was quite happy with the feeling.  Switching to a harder compound Sweep Double Action tyre for the round he said it made the car better through the concrete block section but he think the best gain in time can come from him adapting a smoother style of driving around what is a very fast track.  Although he has a chance of the overall TQ, Savoya plans to use the last heat to test Sweep’s Exagon tyres as preparation for the finals.  The change of tyres will require some small set-up changes so as the car can get the best from the new pattern.

Fastest in the opening qualifier yesterday TLR’s Darren Bloomfield set the second fastest time despite a first lap, first corner crash but even with this felt a TQ run was possible until he got caught up in traffic near the end of the run that cost him over a second. Traffic had been a problem for quite a few drivers many of whom feel that the heats should for the future be based on the fastest 12 from practice being in the top heat and the next 12 in heat 2 and so on.  As one driver put it ‘its frustrating for us but it must also be frustrating for the guy who spends most of the run looking behind him’.  Other than the crash which cost him around 3 seconds, Bloomfield said the development version of the 8ight was working really well a statement he backed up by setting the fastest lap for the round with a 35.788 lap.

Getting 3rd for the round after Batlle’s disqualification the Top Qualifier for the last two European Championships Jerome Aigoin said a hat trick of overall TQ’s was now not possible.  His best round of qualifying so far, the recently crowned French Champion said he made a small mistake but overall he was happy with the run.  Still running the same set-up as he came to these the 32nd running of the Euros with, the factory Kyosho/Novarossi driver said everything with his buggy, engine and tyres was good and if he can finish in the Top 5 at the end of qualifying he will be happy. This would put him up at the front of the grid for the Semi from where all 12 drivers including the Top Qualifier will have to progress to the Main event.

Team Losi Racing’s Miguel Matias took his RB powered 8ight to the fourth fastest time despite having to deal with traffic, any delays on the high speed track, where the times are very close, costing valuable places in the qualification ranking. Switching to an FTW Night Hawk bodyshell, which he borrowed from fellow Portuguese driver Ricardo Monteiro, the former champion said it gave him the steering he was looking for particularly in the infield but on the two high speed corners it made the buggy a little too sensitive and planning to play it safe for the final qualifier he will revert to his standard Losi bodyshell.

Behind Matias was the totally rejuvenated Joseph Quagraine. The JQ Products boss & founder said he hasn’t enjoyed his racing as much as he has here in Fehring for about 5 years.  Changing nothing on his Yellow Edition ‘The Car’ since getting here the Finn is currently well inside the Top 10 and looks set to make it directly into the all important Semi Finals.

For Kyosho team-mates Elliot Boots, the Round 2 Top Qualifier, and David Ronnefalk, the fastest man in Q3, their fourth qualifier was their worst round so far.  Boots was on a TQ pace with his Novarossi powered MP9 until he crashed on his 3rd lap losing 4 seconds while Ronnefalk, who made some changes to his Orion powered MP9 which he didn’t like, had a disastrous final 46 second last lap after he crashed in between the two big jumps and out of site of the marshals. Losing almost 10 seconds he finished 15th fastest.

Qualifying Times Round 4
1. Renaud Savoya (FR) – Xray/RB – 9/5:27.733
2. Darren Bloomfield (GB) – TLR/Novarossi – 9/5:28.878
3. Jérôme Aigoin (FR) – Kyosho/Novarossi – 9/5:30.161
4. Miguel Matias (PT) – TLR/RB – 9/5:30.983
5. Joseph Quagraine (FI) – JQ/JQ – 9/5:31.509
6. Elliot Boots (GB) – Kyosho/Novarossi – 9/5:32.066
7. Yannick Aigoin (FR) – Associated/Novarossi – 9/5:32.244
8. Jörn Neumann (DE) – Durango/Picco – 9/5:33.344
9. Ignacio Candel (ES) – Mugen/RB – 9/5:35.306
10.Peter Pinisch (AT) – LRP/LRP – 9/5:35.452
11.Neil Cragg (GB) – Associated/LRP – 9/5:35.589
12.Ari Heinonen (FI) – Kyosho/Alpha – 9/5:36.403

View complete event results here.

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