Savoya continues French reign in Austria
Renaud Savoya continued the French reign here in Wolbling, Austria, as he TQ’d the third qualifier on day 3 of the Euros heading home arch rival and fellow countryman Yannick Aigoin. The defending Champion was clearly pleased with the run saying afterward, ‘It is getting better now. The car is improving all the time’. Running harder shocks and switching to Proline’s Caliber M2 tyre, Savoya was much happier with the feeling of his MBX6 and knocked 2 seconds off his first qualifying run with 7 laps in 5:14.059.
Setting the fastest lap for the round with a 44.201, Aigoin was running a very similar time to Savoya but put his Losi on its roof on the last lap. This cost the Round 2 Top Qualifier over 2 seconds but he put his hand up quickly calling it was a ‘Stupid mistake’. The overnight leader of the Qualification Ranking says his car is still working excellently but if the weather remains dry he will try a few things in tomorrow’s final two heats as preparation for the Semi-Finals as his runs today will ensure he lines up at least in the Top 3. The reason he referred to the weather is that the forecast is giving rain in the morning for the area.
Making it three different cars in the Top 3, Robert Batlle said changes made to his RC8 between rounds had not worked, with the car now harder to drive but he has a good idea of which way to go to improve it. Interestingly the GRP team driver has been running the same set of Cubic tyres on his car all day.
Riccardo Rabitti backed up his strong second qualifier by improving two places to record the fourth fastest time. Less driver errors and the extra rear toe allowed the Losi/Sirio driver to knock 5 seconds off his time. A major player in the Italian National Championship, Rabitti will try new front hub carriers which Aigoin is already using on his car. Running in the very last heat of the day German ace Daniel Reckward completed the Top 5 with his Mugen.
The star of the third qualifier was recently crowned European B Champion David Ronnefalk who took his Team Orion powered Kyosho to a very impressive sixth fastest time. Only 13 years old, the Swede is the protege of none other than Adrien Bertin and he couldn’t make his European A Championship debut in more capable hands. Having played around with set-up that wasn’t suited to the youngster’s unique driving style they have reverted to the same base set-up he used to win in Switzerland. Using a similar combination to set the seventh fastest time was Austrian National Champion Martin Karner. Using Orion’s CRF engine rather than the Alpha unit in Ronnefalk’s MP9, the former Kyosho Masters winner said his fast run was a result of switching to a used set of AKA Grid Iron tyres.
Elsewhere 16-year-old Elliott Boots, one of the drivers tipped by Savoya to watch here this week, is proving very quick over a single lap but admits himself he is just making too many mistakes over the 5-minutes. Setting the second fastest lap for the round with a 44.232, the Mugen driver will be hoping he can string it all together in tomorrow’s final two qualifiers saying ‘tomorrow is another day’.
Our live coverage, which is supported by Team Orion, Mugen Seiki, LRP and Kyosho, continues in the morning when it will be decided who is the 2009 EFRA 1:8 Off Road European Championship Top Qualifier.
Top 10 in round 3
1. Renaud Savoya (FR) – 7 Laps in 5:14.059
2. Yannick Aigoin (FR) – 7 Laps in 5:16.658
3. Robert Batlle (ES) – 7 Laps in 5:17.179
4. Riccardo Rabitti (IT) – 7 Laps in 5:18.502
5. Daniel Reckward (DE) – 7 Laps in 5:20.360
6. David Ronnefalk (SE) – 7 Laps in 5:20.485
7. Martin Karner (AT) – 7 Laps in 5:20.904
8. Daniel Vega (ES) – 7 Laps in 5:21.240
9. Alex Laffracnchi (IT) – 7 Laps in 5:21.478
10.Martin Bayer (CZ) – 7 Laps in 5:22.026
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