1:8 Off Road Euros hits 30 in Portugal

First free practice for the 2010 EFRA 1:8 Off Road European Championship has gotten underway just outside Guarda in Portugal marking the 30th running of the championships which were first held in Switzerland back in 1981.  He wasn’t even born when that first race took place but defending Champion Renaud Savoya will be looking to make history here in Guarda as he tries to become the first ever driver to win three titles back to back.  Fellow Mugen driver Daniel Reckward has won the title three times but only two were in succession.

Speaking with a hint of an Australian accent, the factory Mugen/RB ace said he is of course here to win but right now the target is to make sure he first gets into Saturday’s main final. The winner of the Warm-Up race back in April, an event that saw the track surface come in for a lot of  criticism, Savoya said the host club have done a lot of work on the track making the surface a lot more compact but he is not so sure it will hold up for the duration of the 5 day event.  Based in Australia this year as part of his preparation for the World Championships in Thailand in November, the high temperatures the drivers will face here up in the hills shouldn’t be a problem for the Frenchman.  Asked who he expects his toughest competition to come from he said that with cars getting more equal in terms of performance the competition is much stronger than a few years ago when you only had to worry about 2 or 3 guys.  Savoya also believes a lot of the younger drivers like Britain’s Elliot Boots are starting to come good now.

Runner-up at last year’s Euros in Austria, Losi team leader Yannick Aigoin will again be one of the main threats to Savoya despite failing to make the final at the Warm-up.  The two time former European Champion suffered a clutch problem in the Semi which meant he did not progress to the final but he said overall he was very happy with the performance of his package. Team-mate Darren Bloomfield showed that the Losi/Novarossi package is competitive here by leading the final until his radio shut down.  The British driver who finished 7th last year is enjoying a very competitive run in his National series notching up three wins so far this season and looks to continue that form here. Losi also have 2009 podium finisher Martin Bayer and another fast British driver in Lee Martin.  One interesting addition to the team is Electric Touring Car ace Marc Rheinard who just last Saturday claimed his third World title.  With his car in the very capable hands of David Spashett, the German said he is just here for fun but as the current European Electric 4WD Off Road Champion he has shown he is also very capable on the bumpy stuff.

The last man to hold the European title before Savoya took up his reign as Europe’s top driver in 2008, Robert Batlle heads up the Team Associated squad along with Neil Cragg.  Winner of the ultra competitive Spanish Championship for the past four years, Batlle stayed on after the Warm-up race for additional testing but said the track is quite different now so any advantage he gained is gone.  Team boss Craig Drescher, who is also competing himself here, is confident they have as strong a package as anyone else but did air slight caution about tyres saying if the new track surface turns out to be different to that of the Warm-up they could have a problem having brought a supply based on what worked during the Warm-up.

All 12 of last year’s finalist are here but Hupo Honigl and Daniel Vega are with new teams.  Honigl, who finished 11th last year with the LRP buggy, is now heading up the challenge of Team Durango who have three cars here while Spaniard Vega has left Mugen to join Agama. Both drivers took part in the Warm-up event but had little experience of their new chassis’ then. Honigl said they have made a number of small changes to the DNX408 and he has a far better understanding of the Gerd Strenge creation. Vega said his last visit here was a disaster and is hoping extensive testing since will mean a better event for him but the former Champion said its going to take the new manufacturer a year or more to get itself into the position of being able to challenge the established brands.

With Honigl gone from LRP their top hope is now Jörn Neumann who joined in January.  The German National Champion missed the Warm-up race but has been enjoying success with his all LRP combination and with an updated chassis and engine for this race he said his aim is to make the Main having got to the Semi last year in Austria. Xray was another team to have just one car in the final last year thanks to Teemu Leino and the Slovak company will be out to do everything to see that happens again come Saturday.

Kyosho had only one car in the final last year but are hopeful Jerome Aigoin, Simon Willets and emerging young star David Ronnefalk can help get more MP9’s in the main event this time around.  14-year-old Ronnefalk just missed out on making the final last year but comes back a more mature and experienced driver. The protege of Adrien Bertin the Swede is feeling pretty confident about the event despite this being his first visit to the track.

Having raced a prototype buggy in the past, Serpent is making its Euros debut with a production 1:8 buggy, the S811 Cobra. The newcomers lack big name drivers but will use the event more to established the brand in this market rather than trying to add a buggy title to their long list of Onroad achievements. Tamiya are also making their Euros debut here with Sweden’s Viktor Wilck, better know for racing EP Touring Cars, at the controls of the TRF801X.

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