Wet start to Day 4 of Euros

Drivers have woken up this morning to wet conditions in Wolbling, Austria.  After a sunny day yesterday the weather took a turn last night with the wet conditions set to continue throughout the morning, however right now it is not actually raining at the track.  The track itself is only very slightly wet thanks to the efforts of the local club who covered it up after the final run yesterday in anticipation of the overnight downpour.  At 07:00 EFRA 1:8 Off Road chief Carlos Gomez gave the go ahead for it to be removed in preparation for the penultimate round of qualifying which gets underway at 09:00, starting with Group 6.

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Savoya continues French reign in Austria

Renaud Savoya continued the French reign here in Wolbling, Austria, as he TQ’d the third qualifier on day 3 of the Euros heading home arch rival and fellow countryman Yannick Aigoin. The defending Champion was clearly pleased with the run saying afterward, ‘It is getting better now. The car is improving all the time’. Running harder shocks and switching to Proline’s Caliber M2 tyre, Savoya was much happier with the feeling of his MBX6 and knocked 2 seconds off his first qualifying run with 7 laps in 5:14.059.

Setting the fastest lap for the round with a 44.201, Aigoin was running a very similar time to Savoya but put his Losi on its roof on the last lap.  This cost the Round 2 Top Qualifier over 2 seconds but he put his hand up quickly calling it was a ‘Stupid mistake’. The overnight leader of the Qualification Ranking says his car is still working excellently but if the weather remains dry he will try a few things in tomorrow’s final two heats as preparation for the Semi-Finals as his runs today will ensure he lines up at least in the Top 3.  The reason he referred to the weather is that the forecast is giving rain in the morning for the area.

Making it three different cars in the Top 3, Robert Batlle said changes made to his RC8 between rounds had not worked, with the car now harder to drive but he has a good idea of which way to go to improve it. Interestingly the GRP team driver has been running the same set of Cubic tyres on his car all day.

Riccardo Rabitti backed up his strong second qualifier by improving two places to record the fourth fastest time. Less driver errors and the extra rear toe allowed the Losi/Sirio driver to knock 5 seconds off his time. A major player in the Italian National Championship, Rabitti will try new front hub carriers which Aigoin is already using on his car. Running in the very last heat of the day German ace Daniel Reckward completed the Top 5 with his Mugen.

The star of the third qualifier was recently crowned European B Champion David Ronnefalk who took his Team Orion powered Kyosho to a very impressive sixth fastest time. Only 13 years old, the Swede is the protege of none other than Adrien Bertin and he couldn’t make his European A Championship debut in more capable hands. Having played around with set-up that wasn’t suited to the youngster’s unique driving style they have reverted to the same base set-up he used to win in Switzerland. Using a similar combination to set the seventh fastest time was Austrian National Champion Martin Karner. Using Orion’s CRF engine rather than the Alpha unit in Ronnefalk’s MP9, the former Kyosho Masters winner said his fast run was a result of switching to a used set of AKA Grid Iron tyres.

Elsewhere 16-year-old Elliott Boots, one of the drivers tipped by Savoya to watch here this week, is proving very quick over a single lap but admits himself he is just making too many mistakes over the 5-minutes. Setting the second fastest lap for the round with a 44.232, the Mugen driver will be hoping he can string it all together in tomorrow’s final two qualifiers saying ‘tomorrow is another day’.

Our live coverage, which is supported by Team Orion, Mugen Seiki, LRP and Kyosho, continues in the morning when it will be decided who is the 2009 EFRA 1:8 Off Road European Championship Top Qualifier.

Top 10 in round 3
1. Renaud Savoya (FR) – 7 Laps in 5:14.059
2. Yannick Aigoin (FR) – 7 Laps in 5:16.658
3. Robert Batlle (ES) – 7 Laps in 5:17.179
4. Riccardo Rabitti (IT) – 7 Laps in 5:18.502
5. Daniel Reckward (DE) – 7 Laps in 5:20.360
6. David Ronnefalk (SE) – 7 Laps in 5:20.485
7. Martin Karner (AT) – 7 Laps in 5:20.904
8. Daniel Vega (ES) – 7 Laps in 5:21.240
9. Alex Laffracnchi (IT) – 7 Laps in 5:21.478
10.Martin Bayer (CZ) – 7 Laps in 5:22.026

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Other Aigoin takes 2nd Qualifier

Yannick Aigoin has topped the second round of qualifying for the 2009 EFRA European Championships here in Austria. Setting both a new fastest run time and lap record, the French star said he was surprised to beat Robert Batlle’s time having watched the Spaniard’s run as he waited for his own group.  Running the same set-up as this morning, only switching from Caplier to Revolver tyres, he said his Losi/Novarossi combination is working really well and he will leave it the same for the third qualifier.

Although Batlle put in a very fast time with his GRP engined Associated the Spaniard wants to reduce the grip he is getting. Running on GRP Cubic A compound, the high grip is causing the car to snap oversteer so he plans to try a harder tyre and also lower the rear shock positions.

Renaud Savoya appeared disappointed with his run saying it’s ‘a question of tyres’. The defending Champion ran Proline Holeshot tyres but his Mugen is lacking side grip. Setting himself the aim of a fault free run, having made two mistakes in the first qualifier, he achieved that but the big decision for the French ace is what tyre to go with next time out.  Currently Caliper is looking his mostly likely choice.

After a disastrous first qualifier when a borrowed set of tyres came off the rims, former World & European Champion Daniel Reckward put in a very strong second run to post the 4th fastest time.  Now running an identical set-up to Mugen teammate Savoya, the German described his MBX6 as ‘fantastic’. Having used a fresh set of hard compound Tourex X500 tyres Reckward plans only a change of tyre compound as his next run is the last of the day and conditions should be a lot cooler.

Martin Bayer continued his strong run with the fifth fastest time. The caster changes made to his Losi 8ight since the first round gave the car more steering but the Czech driver feels he went with the wrong tyre. Running the Revolver M2 he thinks the car will work better on the Caliber pattern.  Completing the Top 6 it was Riccardo Rabitti with his Sirio powered Losi.  The Italian suffered a receiver battery failure on the opening lap of the first qualifier but could show his true pace this time around.  With the car starting to go off near the end of the run he will set the rear of the car lower and increase the rear toe to the same as Aigoin.

Elsewhere Jerome Aigoin, who topped the first qualifier, had a bad run rolling his Kyosho twice on his way to 13th while England’s Neil Cragg, another of the fast guys in round 1 suffered a flame out.  For timed practice pace setter Miguel Matias he lost time when he ran into a crash car but the Portugese former World Champion appears to be struggling with set-up today and has decided to revert to his ‘Warm Up’ set up for the next outing.

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Big industry support in Austria

Just how important the 1:8 Off Road market is to the r/c industry is clearly visible here in Austria. Walking around the pits its like a whose who of those behind the companies that provide racers with their cars, engines and tyres. It is the European Championships but it could easily be mistaken for the Worlds due to the big international presence with plenty of big names in attendance to support not just their team drivers but paying customers too.

Kyosho designer Yuichi Kanai, Team Associated’s Richard Saxton, Losi boss Bill Jeric, LRP owner Jurgen Lautenbach, Team Orion engine man Adrien Bertin, Sirio’s Andrea Rossi , RB’s Eric Aita and GRP’s Stefano Gandini are just some of the big names busy offering support to the capacity 180 competitors here in Wolbling.

His name is synonymous with r/c racing and although no longer involved with the company that bears his family name, Gil Losi is here to support drivers using tyres from his latest venture AKA. The legendary American, who himself is a former electric off road World Champion, owns the company along with 2006 World Champion Mark Pavidis, and is here this week to teach drivers more about their range of tyres and how to get the most out of them. Losi feels it’s important for him come to the Euros and support drivers as he can learn a lot about European style tracks and how AKA can develop future products to suit. It would appear they already have a very strong package as proved this morning by Jerome Aigoin and we hear their inserts are making their way on to a growing number of leading driver’s cars.  Asked how he was enjoying his new venture Losi said it was nice being an independent company now as they can focus fully on the racing market.  Just an idea of how hands on Losi is in the company he told us when he returns home to the US next week he will be packing orders while Pavidis heads off to support the ROAR Off Road Nationals.

A year ago Novarossi was not such a big player in the off road market but the Italian company have made huge inroads since the launch of their new off road line at the Toy Fair in Nurnberg. Greater focus on the market too and the recruitment of Bernard Durand has been key to that growth. For Durand he says it is important to support all drivers, not just those on the team, and share information on how to tune the engines for economy and different power delivery.  Also here representing Novarossi is team manager Federicio Barchi who feels the Euros is an opportunity for him to meet in person with their many National team drivers who he would normally only deal with via e-mail or phone and he said that this personal contact is important to the strenght of the Novarossi team and brand.

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Aigoins head first qualifier

It is the Aigoin brothers, Jerome and Yannick who are setting the pace with the Kyosho of Jerome taking the first round of qualifying by 5 seconds from Yannick’s Losi. Jerome really found good pace this morning becoming the first driver to break into 44 second laps to set a new track record. Finding the track to have less grip than yesterday he said this suits his Sirio powered MP9 which was very easy to drive.  Running AKA Grid Iron tyres Jerome plans no changes for his second outing.

Although outpaced by his twin brother, Yannick described his Losi as ‘perfect now’ and he plans no changes instead opting to return to his hotel for the long break until his second qualifier.  A change of the running order for the next round means he has a couple of hours to kill.

Martin Bayer was surprised with his morning pace describing the run as ‘very good for me’. The Czech driver said his Revolver M3 shod Losi was very easy to drive but plans to change the front caster as he would like a little more steering.

Topping the Associated challenge with three cars in the Top 10 was Neil Cragg. Neil appeared to be struggling yesterday but a switch from M2 Revolvers to M3s seems to have transformed the car.  The current 1:10 off road European Champion feels better is to come and other than a slight change of oil in the centre diff will now wait for the track to come to him.

Associated team mate Robert Batlle was fifth fastest but could have been second but for a roll on the last lap of his five minute run which cost him four seconds. The 2006 Champion said his RC8 B is working ‘so much better’ today thanks to lighter oil in the centre and rear diffs. Running GRP Cubic A tyres, the Spaniard’s car is still nervous on the rear and plans a change of shock position to cure that. Throughout the run Batlle’s every move was being watched by US star Richard Saxton who was very pleased with how his team driver was running despite the last lap roll. Fellow Spaniard Richi Gomez posted the sixth fastest time with his Hong Nor X2.

Defending Champion Renaud Savoya posted the seventh fastest time with 7 laps in 5:25.249 but the Mugen driver feels he could have run a 5:20 if he hadn’t made a mistake on his opening and final laps. Savoya is please with his RB powered MBX6 but says he needs to work more on tyre choice. Having used Caliper M3 he is swinging towards Holeshots for the next round.

Darren Bloomfield, who is running in the same heat as his Losi/Novarossi teammate Yannick Aigoin, was happy enough with his run and in particular with the improved track conditions.  The Brit is being engineered this weekend by r/c legend David Spashett who plans a number of changes to the 8ight including diff oils and more rear toe.  Bloomfield’s choice of tyre was the Revolver M3 but thinks a different compound will be required for his second heat which is a few hours away. Craig Drescher and the Team Orion powered Losi 8ight of German ace Jorn Neumann complete the Top 10.

Top 10 after round 1
1. Jerome Aigoin (FR) – 7 Laps in 5:16.548
2. Yannick Aigoin (FR) – 7 Laps in 5:21.080
3. Martin Bayer (CZ) – 7 Laps in 5:22.897
4. Neil Cragg (GB) – 7 Laps in 5:23.418
5. Robert Batlle (ES) – 7 Laps in 5:24.045
6. Richi Gomez (ES) – 7 Laps in 5: 24.722
7. Renaud Savoya (FR) – 7 Laps in 5:25.249
8. Darren Bloomfield (GB) – 7 Laps in 5:25.573
9. Craig Drescher (GB) – 7 Laps in 5:25.839
10.Joern Neumann (DE) – 7 Laps in 5:25.051

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