Aigoin tops final Euros practice
Practice for the 32nd running of the 1:8 Offroad European Championships has concluded with Jerome Aigoin topping the final controlled practice at the Fehring track in Austria. Last year’s Top Qualifier took his Novarossi powered MP9 to the only 9 lap run of the day making it a very strong start to the championship for Kyosho who topped yesterday’s free practice with David Ronnefalk and this morning’s damp practice round with Elliot Boots, who on combined points from today’s two controlled practices is top seed for tomorrow’s qualifying.
Having only ran the 9th fastest time in the morning, Aigoin said the only change he made for the final practice was to switch to soft compound AKA Enduro tyres and he was very happy with the choice as they worked very well on the now ‘cleaner’ track. With his buggy feeling easy to drive since the start of practice yesterday the newly crowned French champion said he plans to continue to leave his set-up as is adding that making the right tyre call was going to be the most important thing for tomorrow. With the changing conditions most talk in the pits focuses around tyres which is keeping AKA boss & former World Champion Mark Pavidis busy in the pits as he tries to assist his drivers with making the right call. In the reseed the top 4 positions went to AKA drivers.
Behind Aigoin former champion Miguel Matias set the second fastest time of Q2. The Portuguese ace, whose RB powered 8ight features new geometry, said the new parts have made the buggy very easy to drive everywhere around the track. Looking for a little more steering he will change from a 2.0 to a 2.3 sway bar for qualifying which he said will solve that. Running super soft AKA Grid Iron he said they worked well for the conditions but added he is still looking for the right tyre for qualifying.
Boots, who lost around 2 seconds when fellow Kyosho driver Christoffer Svensson landed on his MP9 off one of the jumps, was overall pleased with his pace in practice and as the top seed for qualifying is looking forward to tomorrow. Using the second practice to try different diff oils he said the track was quite slippy as the surface had become polished but he is confident that he has a good package and set-up going into the opening qualifier. As part of the reseed drivers will this evening get a quick three minute run in their new heat order and the 2012 British Champion plans to use this to try out a potential tyre option for Q1.
Kyosho team-mate Ronnefalk, who was only 31st fastest after a series of driver errors including missing the three finger section twice, said the pace is there but he just made stupid mistakes. Describing the track as looking the same as yesterday when he topped the time sheets he said it was ‘so different’ being very loose this time round. Despite failing to post a Top 10 time over the 5-minute runs the 16-year-old said with some better driving everything should be ok for qualifying.
With Adam Drake as his mechanic for this event Darren Bloomfield set the fourth fastest time of CP2. The former British Champion said he changed his 8ight last night to a stiffer front rollbar he said the change wasn’t good for CP1 but sticking with it for the second run he said it felt ‘brilliant’. The factory Novarossi driver is still working on finding a good balance with his engine tuning. A track with a lot of high speed sections he said he was trying to find a good balance between top and bottom end power while also ensuring he can get good fuel mileage thinking ahead to the finals.
Top Xray in the final practice was former podium finisher & reigning Czech National Champion Martin Bayer. The best place Losi at last year’s championships in Germany where he finished 5th, the 2012 Team Xray signing said changes to his nVision engine for CP2 were ‘very good’. Having only had to make very small set-up changes to his XB9 each run he said the buggy is very stable to drive and it was now just up to him to pick the right tyre for qualifying and put together a clean 10-minutes of driving.
Completing the Top 6 was former back to back Champion Davide Tortorici. Winning his last title in 2005, the Mugen driver has been enjoying somewhat of a return to form and is currently on target to claim this year’s Italian National Championship title. Just behind him in CP2 was 2006 Champion Yannick Aigoin who was top Associated for the round. Associated team-mate Neil Cragg, who was fourth fastest in CP1, was only 17th fastest after a wrong tyre choice of compound going for MX Proline Blockades but the former Electric Offroad World Champion said with the right tyres his LRP powered RC8.2 should be OK.
Also suffering from wrong tyre choice, going for too soft a Pro Circuit rubber, was defending champion Robert Battle who was 11th fastest. The Spaniard, who is chasing a third European title here in Austria, said he is confident he will have the right tyre on for his opening qualifier.
Batlle’s great rival Renaud Savoya used the last practice to test tyres. A 10-minute session, the last 5 of which were timed, the man who held the European title for 3 consecutive years tried two tyre patterns with the finals in mind. Starting with Sweep’s Square Armor he switched to Exagon which he said he found to be a little faster. Suffering with his Xray diving a lot due to the shocks being too soft for the hotter conditions of CP2 Savoya set the ninth fastest time but said ‘all was OK and they where continuing to ‘follow the plan’. Planning to run ‘Double Action’ tyres in qualifying he will decide on the compound in the morning.
Controlled Practice Run 2
1. Jérôme Aigoin (FR) – 9/5:37.48
2. Miguel Matias (PT) – 8/5:02.285
3. Elliot Boots (GB) – 8/5:02.840
4. Darren Bloomfield (GB) – 8/5:03.827
5. Martin Bayer (CZ) – 8/5:04.638
6. Davide Tortorici (IT) – 8/5:05.228
7. Yannick Aigoin (FR) – 8/5:05.759
8. Joern Neumann (D) – 8/5:05.888
9. Renaud Savoya (FR) – 8/5:05.929
10.Joseph Quagraine (FI) – 8/5:05.974
11.Robert Batlle (ES) – 8/5:06.222
12.Borja Hernandez (ES) – 8/5:07.171
Final Practice Ranking
1. Elliot Boots (GB) – Kyosho/Novarossi – 185 pts
2. Jérôme Aigoin (FR) – Kyosho/Novarossi – 185
3. Renaud Savoya (FR) – Xray/RB – 183
4. Miguel Matias (PT) – TLR/RB – 183
5. Robert Batlle (ES) – Mugen/Novarossi – 182
6. Darren Bloomfield (GB) – TLR/Novarossi – 181
7. Neil Cragg (GB) – Associated/LRP – 181
8. Martin Bayer (CZ) – Xray/nVision – 180
9. Joseph Quagraine (FI) – JQ/JQ – 180
10.Daniel Reckward (DE) – Mugen/RB – 179
11.Davide Tortorici (IT) – Mugen/Bliss – 179
12.Jérôme Sartel (FR) – Agama/Bullit – 178
View complete event results here.
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