Neumann remains unbeaten DHI Cup master
Having looked at best like a podium finish would be an achievement, Joern Neumann pulled off a surprise result to retain his unbeaten reign as the only 4WD Buggy winner at the Danish event. There was no one more surprised by the result than Neumann himself, the win marking his first international race win with Team Serpent. With World Champion Coelho winning A1 and staying out of trouble giving Neumann the A2 win, it was all to play for with three drivers in contention for the win, Martin Bayer the third of them. In the end however it was 2WD victor Michal Orlowski who would win A3 ahead of Neumann with Bayer third. The result would secure Orlowski second overall while Top Qualifier Coelho finished his DHI Cup debut on the final step of the podium.
‘Very surprised, it was very close’, that was Neumann’s reaction to his first big race win in almost a year. Commenting on the deciding third A-Main, he said ‘I just tried to keep Coelho behind me’, the Xray driver dropping to fourth hat the start after contact with David Ronnefalk. With Coelho falling back, he said he hoped Orlowski would hold on for the win from Bayer as his other results were two thirds so he knew he could take the overall win. With one mistake on his winning A2 he said he knew if Bayer was to win it would be a faster race time and he would lose out on the tie breaker. With the Czech driver starting to close down Orlowski he had to react and push to try to close on the lead battle but once Bayer rolled on the straight with 2-laps to go he knew the win was his, Orlowski getting to do an extra victory lap. Happy that they were able to improve the SX4 for the second A-Main, he said ‘we still need to make the car faster’ and he is looking forward to seeing how it is on the higher grip EOS carpet in Germany later this month.
‘To come away from the DHI Cup with a win (2WD) and 2nd (4WD) I am very happy’ was how European Champion Orlowski summed up things after A3. Deciding to make a camber change on his K2 for the last final he said the change ‘worked out good’. Making one small mistake he said he was still able to hold on for the win. Making a bad start off the grid, the 14-year-old said maybe that was lucky for him. With third place starter Ronnefalk making contact with Coelho, he said that could have been me but instead I had the lead’. The Worlds finalist was also happy with the progress they made with the car set-up over the event and is hopeful that they can carry the performance through to Round 3 of the EOS, the season’s opening two 4WD encounters having been tough for the Polish ace.
Unaware of Orloswki’s bad start, a clearly frustrated Coelho said, ‘Orlowski opened completely and Ronnefalk took me out but didn’t wait’. The pair would clash again in the middle of the race, the force of the impact loosening the servo horn leading Coelho to retire. Summing up his first DHI Cup he said ‘the car was perfect but I’d couldn’t do anything against this’ a reference to Ronnefalk’s driving. Behind Coelho fourth overall would go to team-mate Bayer, last year’s runner-up losing out on the tie break for the final podium place. Starting from the back of the grid Frederik Hovgaard would complete what was a strong weekend for the 17-year-old Dane with 5th overall ahead of Ronnefalk.
View the complete 4wd Buggy results here.
View the event image gallery here.
