Aigoin tops opening day at Astra Nitro Cross

TLR’s Yannick Aigoin has topped the opening day’s action at the 2011 Astra Nitro Cross in the Czech Republic after setting the fastest time in the fourth and final round of practice to get the better of early pace setter and team-mate Martin Bayer.  The final practice run saw few drivers improve with the only other front runner to make an improvement being Xray’s Jiri Mara who ended the day with the sixth best time.

Making changes to the shocks and the rear camber on his 8ight for the final practice, Aigoin said he was pleased with how the new shock set-up worked but will return to his original camber setting after the adjustment made the rear too loose.

Using P4 to try Proline’s Bulldog bodyshell, Bayer said it caused his 8ight to understeer.  Happy with his earlier set-up he plans to revert back to the JConcepts Illuzion body for tomorrow morning’s opening qualifier.  The man responsible for putting on Astra Nitro Cross, Bayer said after a few nervous days in the build up to the event he was very happy with how the opening day had gone and was looking forward to being more relaxed tomorrow.

Ending the day third fastest Dominic Bauer tried a different tyre on his Mugen for his last run. Switching to AKA’s Enduro tyre he said it made the buggy more comfortable to drive but overall it was slower.  One of Austria’s bright off road hopes, the 15-year-old will go back to running Proline’s Sniper tyre for Q1 saying he is hoping for better things tomorrow as he wants to be able to try and mix it with Aigoin and Bayer.

An engine change and a harder set of springs helped 2010 podium finisher Jiri Mara to find a chunk of time and set the sixth fastest time behind fellow Xray driver Ales Bayer.  Having had trouble with his prototype Hudy engine in the third practice, Mara ran a new unit which he said felt really strong but the 18-year-old is not comfortable with his chassis set-up describing it as tricky to drive.  A finalist at this year’s Euros Warm-up race, he will try out a number of small changes in the first of the six qualifiers which he hopes will allow him to drive with more confidence.

Drivers face a busy schedule tomorrow with six rounds of qualifying of which a drivers best 4 count towards Sunday’s christmas tree style finals.

View complete results and live timing here.

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Bayer sets early pace at Astra Nitro Cross

Martin Bayer is setting the early pace at his own race, heading a Losi 1-2 in practice for the 2011 Astra Nitro Cross.  The Czech ace topped all three practice rounds but set the fastest three consecutive laps in the second run to top the similar nVision powered 8ight of Yannick Aigoin. Describing the track conditions as being very similar to that experienced at the Warm-up race for the up coming European Championships, Bayer said he has been using the track time to try a few new ideas in terms of set-up and is pleased with the response.

TLR team-mate Aigoin said he started out the morning with his standard base set-up but is getting closer and closer to that of Bayer with each run.  The French ace, who previously contested this event in 2009, said he is still learning the ‘very technical’ layout of the track which makes it hard to go fast.

Tipped by Bayer as a possible threat this weekend, Austria’s Dominic Bauer is living up to expectations taking his Novarossi powered Mugen to the third fastest time.  One of the stars of this year’s Euro B Championships, which he led until suffering a broken front arm, the 15-year-old said the track is a real challenge due to the jumps and the high traction but he is comfortable with his car and confident he can put in a good showing.  Another Austrian showing well is Martin Wollanka.  Also driving a Mugen/Novarossi combination he too described the track as difficult as it features a lot more jumps compared with what he is used to running on back home.

Making his debut for Xray Ales Bayer said he is pleased with how things are going so far and says he is just using the day to adjust himself to the car. Taking his XB808 to the fifth fastest time he said he will make some adjustments to the diffs and shocks after the fourth and final practice. With the first round of qualifying originally planned to bring Day 1 of the event to a close Race Control have decided to move that to the morning and give the drivers a fourth run having been forced originally to cancel the opening practice due to heavy overnight rain.

Completing the Top 6 was Finnish Losi driver Petri Myllari.  The 25-year-old described the track as a ‘good example of how an offroad track should be’.  Running OS engines he really likes the layout but feels he still has some work to do in terms of set-up, the track being a totally different challenge to that used at the opening round of the Finnish Nationals last weekend in which he finished 5th.

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Fifth annual ‘Astra Nitro Cross’ gets underway in Czech Republic

Martin Bayer is best known for successfully representing the Czech Republic in Off road competitions around the world but once a year the Team Losi Racing driver puts something back into the sport by hosting a three day international event in his home town of Slavkov u Brna.  Also boasting a world class onroad track on the opposite side of the town which hosted last year’s 1:5 Onroad European Championships, this is the fifth running of the ‘Astra Nitro Cross’ event which has been responsible for bringing some big names to the Czech Republic including American stars Mike Truhe and Adam Drake who finished 1-2 here in 2009.

The 2011 ‘Astra Nitro Cross’ has attracted 105 drivers from 9 different countries with former European Champion Yannick Aigoin this year’s top international entry.  Currently on a roll in the French Nationals having notched up his third win in a row last weekend in the fourth round, the Losi driver is making his second appearance in the event and is set to push his team-mate Bayer, the defending champion, hard for the win on Sunday.

With the track located at the rear of his father’s car dealership, one would expect Bayer to have a huge home advantage but since creating the layout for the event two weeks ago he says he has been so busy with getting everything else ready for the race that he has had little time to do any running at all.  That effort put into organising the event is very evident on arrival at the track and is a credit to him and the crew of people he has gathered together for running it. Looking forward to a good battle with Aigoin, Bayer expects he will also face some though competition from Austrian Dominic Bauer who was a finalist at the Euro B Championships in France last month.

Runner up last year Ales Bayer, Martin’s younger brother, will be looking to mix it at the front once again as he makes his international race debut for Xray having only signed for the Slovak manufacturer a little over a month ago.  Used to working alongside his brother, having previously run a Losi, Ales will pit separately this weekend but that shouldn’t be too much of a problem because he will have Juraj Hudy, designer of the XB808, alongside him who along with Martin Hudy is competing in the event.

Other drivers who have the potential to show strongly over the next three days are Czech Xray driver Jiri Mara who was a finalist at Euro A Warm-Up Race in Germany and Losi driver Petri Myllari who last weekend finished fifth in the opening round of Finnish Nationals.

Opting to cancel the opening round of practice to allow the track extra time to dry out following some pretty spectacular rain yesterday, that left us to get stranded in a small town for over 2 hours as the cleared a mud slide that had blocked the road, drivers have 3 rounds of practice to learn the track before day 1 of the 2011 Astra Nitro Cross is brought to a close with the first of 6 rounds of qualifying.

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