Orlowski tops 2WD practice at DHI Cup

Michal Orlowski has topped 2WD Buggy practice at the DHI Cup, the Schumacher driver setting the fastest 3-consecutive laps at the Danish event to end up almost half a second clear of former winner Tom Cockerill.  Joakim Nicolaisen would complete the Top 3, Team Associated’s up & coming talent 3/100ths faster than defending champion David Ronnefalk.  For two time 2WD winner & unbeaten 4WD Champion Joern Neumann practice would leave the Serpent driver only 9th fastest while Xray’s 4WD World Champion Bruno Coehlo, despite laying down the fastest single lap ended up 16th.

Qualifying and finishing third in 2WD last year in Odense, Orlowski said although he came into the event prepared for low grip it was ‘even lower’ than expected.  Initially struggling for the first three practice runs, his KF2 SE ‘sliding around’, he said a switch from 15 to 10k rear diff oil together with a shortened rear camber link ‘helped a lot’ leaving the car ‘really good’ for the fourth & final practice.  Surprised that the track layout is almost identical to that of last year, the Polish ace feels he is now in good shape for qualifying which for 2WD will take place tonight following 4WD practice.

‘Pretty good’ was how 2014 winner, then driving for Schumacher, was how Cockerill summed up his practice.  Having not attended last year’s event, Yokomo’s lead driver this weekend as Lee Martin has nitro racing commitments, said while the traction was low for carpet it was nice adding it ‘should make for better racing’. Using the practice to bed in sets of the event’s Schumacher handout tyre, the only big change in terms of set-up was with shock oils as he tries to find more steering on what he described as an ‘understeer track’.  Describing the times of the leading drivers as ‘close’ he added ‘a lot of drivers are on a similar pace and there also making a lot of mistakes so my focus is more on my driving’.

Nicolaisen said his B5M, which features a Swedish made laydown gearbox, has been very good from the first run on the track.  Making only very small changes over the four rounds, the Norwegian said the track time was mostly used to scrub in tyres.  Describing the layout as having ‘a good flow’, he said as he is pretty happy with the car he will focus on his driving feeling he could clean up his lines a bit.

Making his HB team debut at the event last year, but having to race a Team C chassis in 2WD with which he TQ’d and won, Ronnefalk is now running HB’s D216.  The Swede said ‘we have done quite a lot of practice since the EOS and we now have a machined chassis rather than the rapid prototype we ran in Slovakia’.  He added ‘with not as much traction as EOS this suits the car. The speed is there. I just need to make it a little easier to drive over 5-minutes.’  Behind Ronnefalk fellow countrymen David Hassel and Niclas Mansson completed the Top 6 with Xray’s Martin Bayer 7th fastest.

View the event image gallery here.