Ronnefalk wins 2WD at DHI Cup

David Ronnefalk is the new DHI Cup 2WD Buggy Champion.  The factory HB driver secured his first victory at the Danish event after seeing off a crowd entertaining challenge from A2 winner & former champion Joern Neumann.  Having taken an easy win in A1 with a near perfect drive, in A2 mistakes allowed Neumann to take the win setting the stage for a head to head between the two Pro drivers. Top Qualifier, A3 didn’t get off to a good start for Ronnefalk as he made a first lap mistake at the back double allowing the similar Team C chassis of Neumann to the front but the race was far from decided with the two shadowing each other with young Michal Orlowski in tow.  With a minute to go however a mistake from Neumann would give Ronnefalk the break he needed to kick off his 2015 season with a victory.

Having only previously contested the first ever running of offroad at the DHI Cup four years ago and struggling on the carpet surface, on that occasion with a rear motored car, Ronnefalk was pleased to open the 2015 season with a win adding he enjoyed his A3 battle with Neumann.  Dropping to fourth after his first lap error, the 18-year-old said that put the pressure on as did his decision to use a set of tyres that already had done two runs.  While he would get passed Neumann on lap three he said with the tyres making his Orion powered TM2 slide around it made it extra hard work having the German all over his rear end. After Neumann’s late error, the same incident also delaying a much faster paced Orlowski, Ronnefalk said he was able to control things to the finish.

Running the same chassis, electrics and tyres as Ronnefalk, Neumann was not pleased with his A3 performance.  He said his TM2 pushed too much for his driving style adding Ronnefalk’s example look to have the advantage of a little more steering.  Asked about his roll at the end of the straight, the European Champion said the car traction rolled and there was little he could do about.

Running with the two race contenders in A3, having played cautious in the opening two encounters, Orlowski was delighted with his performance. With 2nd in A1 and 3rd in A2 securing the 13-year a podium placing, a great way to kick off his new sponsorship with Schumacher, he said he was able to take more risks in A3 as there was always the chance he could take second overall from Neumann.  Also using the last A-Main to test a set of pre-glued Schumacher tyres which he will have to use at Round 2 of the Euro Offroad Series in Berlin at the end of the month, on his Cougar KF he said was very happy with both his car and his own driving this weekend giving him good confidence for the new season.

View complete offroad event results here.

View the event image gallery here.

Video – 2wd Buggy A-main Leg 1

Easy A1 win for Ronnefalk

David Ronnefalk took an easy win in A1 of 2WD Buggy at the DHI Cup this morning.  The Top Qualifier’s race was made all the easier when his only true challenger for the win Joern Neumann crashed on the second lap.  This allowed third place starter Michal Orlowski up to second where he would stay until the end while up front Ronnefalk stretch his lead to almost 10 seconds while Neumann had to settle for third.

Ronnefalk, who set the fastest lap of the race, being the only driver to break into the 18-seconds, joked ‘that was probably the best I have driven this year’.  For sure the Swede’s cleanest 5-minutes around the carpet surface track all weekend, he said once Neumann, also at the controls of Team C TM2, crashed it was ‘a pretty easy race’ after that.

13-year-old Orlowski described the race as his slowest of the weekend but said once he got by Neumann his only aim was to keep out of trouble and maintain position.  Admitting he lacks the outright pace to match both Ronnefalk and Neumann, the Polish talent said it was always his plan to wait for mistakes from the two ahead of him and that worked out for him.  Not wanting to risk the second position he inherited from Neumann he said trying to catch up Ronnefalk never entered his mind.

‘Bad driving, too many mistakes’, was Neumann straight up summary of his A1 performance.  Having finished up yesterday dominating 4WD qualifying, the German said his mistake was down to him being too cautious with his use of throttle into the back double.  Very easy to over jump in 4WD he said he just didn’t give his Orion powered TM2 enough power.  Having applied pressure on Ronnefalk for the first lap he said with better driving in A2 he is confident as the car is really good.  Behind Neumann last year’s Top Qualifier and podium finish Oskar Levin took his Team C to fourth.

View complete offroad event results here.

View the event image gallery here.

Clean sweep secures Neumann TQ in Denmark

Joern Neumann pulled off a clean sweep of 4WD Buggy qualifying at the DHI Cup taking his now privately run Durango to TQ runs in all four qualifiers.  The German will start his quest for a fourth consecutive win at the Danish event ahead of Xray’s Martin Bayer and David Ronnefalk who will make his HB race debut from 3rd on the grid.

Running his standard DEX410, saving his prototype Worlds TQ car he ran in practice for the upcoming Reedy Race of Champions in the US, the German was pleased to take the overall TQ but said despite his four TQ runs it ‘was not easy’.  Describing his Orion powered DEX410 as ‘fast as always’ and very easy to drive he said his results were down to him making less mistakes than his two main rivals, Bayer and Ronnefalk.  Fitting Arrowmax’s new double jointed drive shafts to his car for Q3 he found this made the buggy even easier to drive.  Wrapping up the overall TQ in Q3, for the final heat he fitted a front wing to the buggy but said he couldn’t notice any difference with having it.

Having been frustrated by ‘stupid’ driver errors in the opening two qualifiers Bayer was pleased to run clean rounds in Q3 & 4 finishing second to Neumann in both.  Describing those performances as ‘pretty good’ and encouraged at how easy he could drive his XB4 and keep Ronnefalk at bay he said he still needs to find some tenths if he was to challenge Neumann in the final.  Expecting to make a set-up change he said he would not do anything until after the 2WD Finals so he could better gauge the level of traction on the track.

Having went up in rear diff oil weight of his D413 for Q3, Ronnefalk said this made the buggy easier to drive but a driver error on lap 3 meant he couldn’t challenge for a TQ despite a consistent run for the remainder of the heat.  A good start to Q4 had the Swede on a TQ pace but twice on the wall section he caught the cone losing him 5-seconds.  Having prepared a new set of tyres for Q4 but noticing one of the wheels was buckled just before the start he had to make a quick switch to a set with three runs on them.  While good at the start he said towards the end they went off.  Having run a fresh set in Q3 he said tyre wise he is good for A1 but after that he will have to decide on his options.  With himself, Bayer and Neumann all very close on lap times he said he expects the finals to provide close racing and he’s looking forward to it.

Behind the three race favourites Team Associated’s Niclas Mansson will start fourth ahead of the Yokomo of Frederik Hovgaard. The second half of the grid is made up of the Team Cs of Kim Nielsen & Tom Maquel, last year podium finish Jesper Rasmussen, Jonas Kaerup and Oskar Levin.

View complete offroad event results here.

View the event image gallery here.

Video – 4wd Buggy Qualifying Rd2

2 from 2 for Neumann in opening 4WD qualifiers

Defending Champion Joern Neumann got 4WD Buggy qualifying at the DHI Cup underway in the best way possible by posting two TQ runs in the opening two rounds at the Danish event. Chasing a fourth consecutive win of the title, offroad being introduced at the famous touring car event in 2012, Neumann would headed an unchanged Top 3 on both occasions with HB’s David Ronnefalk claiming a pair of 2nd places ahead of Xray’s Martin Bayer.

Pleased with his performance, having struggled a little in 2WD qualifying, Neumann said in the opening qualifier he found his now privately run standard kit Durango to be a little edgy.  Putting this down to running on new tyres and adjusting his driving back from having run the four rounds of 2WD qualifying he said leaving the car unchanged for Q2 it was ‘good’ second time round.  Happy with how the car with which he took the overall TQ at the 2013 World Championship is performing he said he had no plans to make any changes. However having received some new double jointed driveshafts which Arrowmax have made for the DEX410 the German said he might use them in Q3 to alleviate issues he is having with the standard shafts on full steering.

Making no changes to his new D413 between qualifiers mistakes were the biggest problem for new HB signing Ronnefalk.  The 18-year-old said after early mistakes in Q1 he managed to keep it clean for the rest of the heat to salvage good qual points getting second on the last lap after Bayer crashed.  Overall a better Q2, setting the fastest lap, he said on hearing it was very close between himself and Neumann he ‘went for it on the last lap’ but ‘got a bit too excited’ leading to a crash that cost him over 3-seconds.  Looking to make his Orion powered buggy a little easier to drive for Q3 he plans to go up in the oil in the rear diff.

‘Speed OK, car feels good, just doing stupid stupid mistakes’, that was Martin Bayer’s straight up summary of where he was at.  The former European Champion who was Neumann’s main challenger for the win here in Odense last year said he has the equipment to again challenge and its simply bad driving that is letting him down.  Making just a gear ratio change between heats he said his focus is now just on improving his driving.

Behind the three race contenders it was former European Touring Car Champion Jonas Kaerup who was best of the rest in Q1 while Team Associated team-mate Niclas Mansson who was fourth in Q2 ahead of Dane’s Frederik Hovgaard and last year podium finish Jesper Rasmussen.

View the event image gallery here.