Orlowski does double & ends Neumann DHI Cup reign
Michal Orlowski has pulled off the double at the DHI Cup presented by LRP. Having successfully defended his 2WD title earlier in the day, the Schumacher driver was also to bring an end to 5-time unbeaten Champion Joern Neumann’s reign by winning 4WD. Unlike his 2WD win which he took with ease, 4WD was to prove a much more exciting affair with David Ronnefalk ensuring it went to A3 when he forced an error from the Polish teenager in A2. With Orlowski starting from the TQ, Ronnefalk and himself again ran nose to tail, the pair’s pace almost identical. Again Ronnefalk would get the mistake he needed but as Orlowski fought back he managed to push the Swede into an error and once back in front he didn’t put a wheel wrong to become only the second DHI Cup Offroad double winner. With Ronnefalk getting second, the podium would be completed by Neumann, a podium finisher for a sixth year in a row, a result many drivers would be happy to emulate even if it marked the end of his impressive streak. Having made the podium in 2WD on his first DHI Cup Offroad outing, Marc Rheinard would miss out in 4WD, finishing up fourth.
Having ended the 2016 season with a double at his home round of the Euro Offroad Series, Orlowski said, ‘I’m really happy to do the double win again’. The former European Champion continued, ‘it was a very exciting final’. Thanking his sponsors for their continued support into 2017, both LRP and Schumacher long time sponsors of the DHI Cup, he said the 4WD finals were tough as the ‘carpet was ruined’ making for very loose conditions. ‘Struggling for traction’, he said after his mistake in A3 he ‘just pushed as hard as I could’. Starting 2017 so strong he said it showed they have a good indoor carpet programme and he is ready for the next round of the EOS, which he leads in 2WD, but in the meantime is looking forward to some warmer weather when he will travel to California for the Reedy Race of Champions in 10 days time.
‘I have no excuses it was just my fault. I went too tight and had to go short which caused the rear wheel to catch the edge of the jump. It was just a driver error’, was how Ronnefalk summed up the deciding A3. An important development race for the HB Racing driver who was joined from America by designer Torrance Deguzman, the Swede said ‘the car was really good and me & Orlowski were equal just this time he won’. Only his second 1:10 offroad race since finishing on the podium in Japan in 2015, the other being a Swedish race in November, he said ‘I need more 1:10 running as the racing is more intense than 1:8. We made good progress with Torrence here and the 4WD is good with the 2WD showing great improvement too’.
Summing up his result Serpent’s Neumann said, ‘After five times in a row and still on the podium so its still ok. You can’t win all the time, I want to, but its difficult’. Opting for a different set-up for the final main, the factory Serpent driver said this left his Orion powered SDX4 ‘unstable in the rear’. Overall the German said the biggest issue in the finals was ‘when the traction dropped Michal and David where faster in these conditions’.
View the complete offroad event results here.
View the event image gallery here.
