Video – 2wd Buggy Qualifying Rd4

Ronnefalk 2WD Top Qualifier at DHI Cup

David Ronnefalk got his 2015 season of to a positive start as he became Top Qualifier in 2WD Buggy at the DHI Cup.  The newly signed HB driver, who is running a Team C in 2WD, secured pole position for the A-Main with a third TQ run in the final round of qualifying at the Danish event.  Posting the third fastest time in Q4, it is former 2WD Champion Joern Neumann, also using Team C’s successful carpet track TM02 chassis, who will start second.  Neumann’s former team-mate Michal Orlowski who now represents defending champion manufacturer Schumacher secures third on the grid.

After struggling to fifth in Q3 after a rear tyre insert change left him with an edgy car due, Ronnefalk went back to the larger insert he used to TQ the opening two qualifiers yesterday. With this his Orion powered buggy again was more stable and having better grip the Swede duly delivered another TQ run, setting the fastest lap enroute to finishing 3.3-seconds up on Orlowski.  Asked about the finals, the reigning back to back 1:8 Offroad European Champion said with the ‘track not so difficult’ with the exception of the back jump he expects the finals to provide some ‘exciting’ racing.  Having ran the car unchanged throughout the event the 18-year-old said the key to keeping it in front is going to be down to ‘keep mistakes at a minimum’.

‘Too many mistakes’, was how Neumann summed up his final qualifying performance.  Currently without a chassis sponsor, his cars carrying prominent branding from his key sponsors Orion and Maxima, said less anti-squat in the rear of his TM02 gave him the less rear roll he was seeking but the change had led to too much roll in the front now.  Also running a new set of the handout Schumacher tyres, he said this left him a bit slow at the start.  To cure the front end roll he will move the front shocks out one hole on the tower.  The first time he will race head to head with Ronnefalk with identical equipment (chassis, electric and tyres), he said he prefers starting second to Ronnefalk as its easier to follow than lead.

Loving his new Cougar KF, saying unlike his previous buggy he doesnt have to change the set-up each run which is allowing him to focus on improving his driving, Orlowski says securing third place overall should be easy.  The 13-year-old added while Ronnefalk and Neumann are slightly faster he is ready to take advantage if the should they trip up.

Behind Orlowski, Team C’s Tom Maquel starts fourth followed by the Schumacher of 18-year-old David Hassel.  Last year’s Top Qualifier Oskar Levin will carry the No.6 for the final with Xray’s Martin Bayer starting 7th. Team Associated pairing Jesper Rasmussen & Niclas Månsson and British Schmacher driver Tristram Neal complete the A-Main line-up.

View complete offroad event results here.

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Neumann post first TQ run in Q3

Joern Neumann took the penultimate round of 2WD qualifying this morning at the DHI Cup.  The European Champion posted his first TQ run of the event ahead of the Schumacher’s of Michal Orlowski and David Hassel with Team C’s Tom Maquel fourth. Having taken the opening two qualifiers yesterday, David Ronnefalk’s third run would contain too many mistakes leaving him to post only the 5th fastest time just ahead of Team Associated’s up & coming Danish driver Jesper Rasmussen.

Setting the fastest lap of the round, with a late 18.640 time, Neumann was much happier with the performance of his TM2 today. Going even stiffer with the diff and fitting Team C stock springs the former 2-time 2WD winner said the changes made it ‘way more consistent to drive’ and it was now ‘diving less in the rear’.  Still looking to get less roll in the rear the German said he is considering his options but added he will change something.

‘Unlucky but lucky I finished’, that was Orlowski’s reaction to Q3.  Looking on target to top the round, the 13-year-old would stuffer a stripping belt on his Cougar KF.  Adjusting his driving to a more smooth use of the throttle to nurse the car home unfortunately on the last lap the loss of traction would result in a mistake at the back double leading to a 22-second lap. Despite his issues the Polish star said he was pleased to come away with a second.

Having been on a competitive run in Q2 only to put his Cougar KF on its roof, Hassel said he just focused on putting in an error free 5-minutes with that approach paying off.  Very happy with how his buggy is working, the 18-year-old Swede said the only change he will make for the final qualifier is to fit a new set of the event controlled Schumacher tyres having done the first three qualifiers on the same set.

Making an error on his opening lap and four further mistakes including a very lengthy roll on the last lap, Ronnefalk said a change of rear tyre insert left his Team C ‘edgy to drive’.  Switching to a smaller insert which he said most of his rivals are running the Swede said he will go back to what he ran yesterday for the final & TQ deciding qualifier.  Elsewhere, Martin Bayer would have a short lived Q3 as he popped a ball cup on his Xray.

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Video – 2wd Buggy Qualifying Rd2

Ronnefalk TQ’s opening two qualifiers at DHI Cup

David Ronnefalk got his 2015 season off to the best start possible as he topped the opening two rounds of 2WD Buggy qualifying at the DHI Cup in Denmark.  The newly signed HB driver, who is running a Team C chassis as his new chassis sponsor don’t yet have a 2WD car, headed a 1-2 for the TM2 with, currently out of chassis sponsor contract, Joern Neumann using the same car to finish second in both qualifiers.  Neumann’s former Durango team-mate Michal Orlowski who was quickly signed up by Schumacher also made a promising start to his new contract as he completed the Top 3 in each of the qualifiers.

Improving his opening TQ pace by an impressive 5-seconds, Ronnefalk said most of that was down to his set of handout Schumacher tyres being better on their second run.  Having made no changes to his chassis set-up since hitting the track at the Odense Conference Centre for the first practice in the morning, the Swede said with the tyres very aggressive on the carpet and lacking traction on the wood in Q1 this led to two mistakes. With the tyres providing better grip on the wood in the second of the four scheduled qualifiers he said the overall feeling was much better and other than once having to roll the back double once due to a bad line on the approach, he said he was very happy with his performance.  Planning to continue with the same set of tyres for Q3, he said the plan for now is then to use the last qualifier to break in a second set of tyres for the finals.

Stiffening up the diff in his buggy for the opening qualifier, reigning European Champion Neumann said this improved the car’s earlier lack of speed out of the corner a lot.  Getting a modified top deck from the Team C ‘guys’ for Q2 he said while it didn’t feel any different to drive this further increased the buggy’s overall speed.  Returning the part after the run he will now make the same modification to his own deck by cutting it down the centre for more flex.  Much happier with the car now he feels he still needs to get more used to the car but he is much more confident now going into Day 2 of the event.

‘Too many mistakes’ was Orlowski’s reaction to his two qualifiers.  Very complimentary of his new Cougar KF chassis, which he has not changed since free practice, the highly rated 13-year-old said the short landing on the back straight of the track is causing him particular difficulty adding that the nature of the track meant the landings where crucial with the landing having to be inch perfect to go fast and it was easy to over jump and miss the critical point on the short down ramp of the jumps.

While Team Associated driver Niclass Mansson would post the fourth fastest time in Q1, last year’s Top Qualifier Oskar Levin would take the spot in the second qualifier.  Having had a ‘run to first’ in the first qualifier with two early mistakes leaving him 16th, the Team C driver took a safer approach to Q2.  After a better start, the Swede said ‘the pace got better and better’ and for tomorrow he hopes to build on the performance.  For Xray’s Martin Bayer qualifying netted him a pair of fifth fastest times.

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No change as Bayer & Ronnefalk top practice

The final round of offroad practice at the DHI Cup saw no change at the top of the respective classes as Martin Bayer took top seeding for 4WD qualifying and David Ronnefalk secured the number 1 spot in 2WD.  While 4WD saw only 2 improvements from the Top 6 drivers 2WD saw the Top 7 drivers improve their pace over 3-consecutive laps with new Schumacher signing Michal Orlowski improving from 6th to second as he found almost 2-seconds in time.

Bayer said he tested a change to his Xray XB4 in the final practice but with the traction improving from the first practice it didn’t work so well.  Almost one second off his earlier pace the former European Champion said he will go back with the set-up change for the opening qualifier which, unlike the other classes that end Day 1 with Q1, will start qualifying in Odense in the morning. In 2WD Bayer improved to third saying he managed to get a little more speed out of his XB4-2WD but added he still needs more.

Improving to second fastest in 4WD, the class being his main focus for this his HB debut weekend, Ronnefalk said lengthening the camber links on his D413 was a step forward.  While it made the buggy feel more lazy it was a lot easier to drive having had ‘way too much side bite’ in the earlier practices. Describing the changes as putting him in the right direction for the opening qualifier, the reigning back to back 1:8 Offroad European Champion said he may try some more shock changes for the morning.  Topping 2WD with a Team C chassis, he said having tested the car for a month at home he knew it would be good and he doesn’t expect he will be making any changes again emphasising his focus is 4WD and getting to grips with that.

Winner of all previous DHI Cup’s in 4WD, Joern Neumann ended practice third fastest.  The German said his 4WD car, the prototype Durango he used to TQ the 2013 World Championships, is good and with the top 3 ‘all (having) the same speed’ the German feels he is good for qualifying.  In 2WD he said power out of the corner is still a problem and he hopes heavier diff oil for Q1 will improve things.

Only running in 2WD as he is also running in Touring Car, Polish ace Michal Orlowki was very happy with his final practice.  The 13-year-old said he hasn’t made any changes to his new Schumacher and the improvements are coming from better driving.  For Q1 he said he hoped he would ‘not have so much mistakes’ as the car is really good.

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