DHI Cup hat trick for Neumann

Joern Neumann remains the unbeaten 4WD Buggy champion of the DHI Cup, the Team Durango driver completing a hat trick of wins at the Danish event today.  The 14th running of the famous touring car event, the German was the first Offroad winner since the discipline was introduced in 2012 and today’s 4WD win see him remain unbeaten.  Having seen his chances of a complete sweep of the event he made his own the last two years dashed when Schumacher’s Tom Cockerill took the overall 2WD win earlier in the day, Neumann got the job done in 4WD. After a not so great start to 4WD, a mistake giving rival Martin Bayer the A1 win, he would make up for it in A2 & A3 to secure the top step on the podium ahead of Xray’s European Champion with young up & coming Danish driver Jesper Rasmussen completing overall Top 3.

Neumann said after struggling with his 2WD performance, the Schumacher and Team C chassis benefiting from more forward mid mounted motors on the unusually low traction carpet surface, he said his Orion powered DEX410 had no such problems.  Changing nothing on the buggy between legs he said he just drove better in the second two Mains adding that his rolls in A1 was just down to poor driving.  Hoping that his 2WD will be more competitive for next weekend’s EOS in Berlin, he said the 4WD win is a good boost as he aims to extend his unbeaten run in the series to nine wins.

Bayer, who last year ended Neumann’s reign as European 4WD Champion, said the speed was there this weekend but he just made too many small mistakes.  Very happy with the performance of his LRP powered XB4, the Czech ace said it was good to have been able to run with one of the best offroad drivers in the world.  Looking forward to doing battle with him again at the EOS, he will be hooking up with team-mate Renaud Savoya tomorrow to travel to the Hudy Arena for practice in preparation for the event.

Having set himself the target of a podium finish at what is his home event and been in attendance pretty much every year of his life due to his father Ulrich’s involvement in putting it on, 15-year-old Rasmussen was clearly pleased with his podium finish.  On collecting his trophy, the Team Associated supported driver’s face clearly showed what the result meant.  Having had the high of the morning when he lifted the 2WD title, 4WD was somewhat of a struggle for Cockerill with the Britsih driver ending up 4th overall just ahead of 2WD Top Qualifier Oskar Levin.

4WD Buggy Overall Result
1. Jörn Neumann (DE) – Team Durango – 2 pts
2. Martin Bayer (CZ) – Team Xray – 3
3. Jesper Rasmussen (DK) – Team Associated – 6
4. Tom Cockerill (GB) – Schumacher – 8
5. Oskar Levin (SE) – Team C – 9
6. Joakim Nicolaisen (NO) – Team Associated – 11
7. Kim Nielsen (DK) – Team Xray – 11
8.Simon Moss (GB) – Schumacher – 14
9. David Hassel (SE) – Team Xray – 16
10.Niclas Månsson (SE) – Team Associated – 18

4WD Buggy A2 Result
1.(1) Jörn Neumann (DE) – Team Durango – 15/5:08.807
2.(2) Martin Bayer (CZ) – Team Xray – 15/5:10.507
3.(3) Jesper Rasmussen (DK) – Team Associated – 14/5:02.680
4.(10)Joakim Nicolaisen (NO) – Team Associated – 14/5:03.209
5.(7) Oskar Levin (SE) – Team C – 14/5:06.387
6.(4) Tom Cockerill (GB) – Schumacher – 14/5:09.261
7.(6) Kim Nielsen (DK) – Team Xray – 14/5:09.390
8.(5) David Hassel (SE) – Team Xray – 14/5:09.786
9.(8) Niclas Månsson (SE) – Team Associated – 14/5:11.512
10.(9)Simon Moss (GB) – Schumacher – 14/5:19.925

4WD Buggy A3 Result
1.(1) Jörn Neumann (DE) – Team Durango – 15/5:10.338
2.(2) Martin Bayer (CZ) – Team Xray – 15/5:17.254
3.(4) Tom Cockerill (GB) – Schumacher – 15/5:33.183
4.(7) Oskar Levin (SE) – Team C – 14/5:04.998
5.(6) Kim Nielsen (DK) – Team Xray – 14/5:06.368
6.(3) Jesper Rasmussen (DK) – Team Associated – 14/5:06.755
7.(10)Joakim Nicolaisen (NO) – Team Associated – 14/5:10.805
8.(5) David Hassel (SE) – Team Xray – 14/5:18.880
9.(8) Niclas Månsson (SE) – Team Associated – 14/5:29.471
10.(9)Simon Moss (GB) – Schumacher – 13/5:03.275

View the complete Offroad event results here.

View our event image gallery here.

Bayer wins A1 of 4WD Buggy

In somewhat of a repeat of the happenings of the opening leg of 2WD Buggy earlier in the day, a late mistake by the Top Qualifier handed victory to the No.2 qualifier. Starting from pole position, defending Champion Joern Neumann looked like he had done enough to build up an advantage that would see off Team Xray’s Martin Bayer but with four laps to go the German put his Durango on its roof.  This allowed European Champion Bayer to slip by as marshals attend the DEX410. A moment by Bayer in the same section of track on the next lap when his XB4 got up on two wheels allowed Neumann to close the gap and with the Czech driver in his sights he started to close him down.  Setting the fastest lap of the race on the penultimate lap it looked like it was only a matter of time before he would find away passed but on the last lap in an almost identical mistake to his earlier roll he put the Durango on its roof again just three corners from the finishing loop.  Bayer took the win with Neumann recovering to finish 2.6 second behind him in second with young Danish talent Jesper Rasmussen  completing the Top 3 with his Associated.

4WD Buggy A1 Result
1.(2) Martin Bayer (CZ) – Team Xray – 15/5:17.450
2.(1) Jörn Neumann (DE) – Team Durango – 15/5:20.050
3.(3) Jesper Rasmussen (DK) – Team Associated – 14/5:00.971
4.(9) Simon Moss (GB) – Schumacher – 14/5:03.865
5.(4) Tom Cockerill (GB) – Schumacher – 14/5:09.510
6.(6) Kim Nielsen (DK) – Team Xray – 14/5:10.437
7.(10)Joakim Nicolaisen (NO) – Team Associated – 14/5:14.816
8.(5) David Hassel (SE) – Team Xray – 14/5:15.229
9.(8) Niclas Månsson (SE) – Team Associated – 14/5:17.024
10.(7)Oskar Levin (SE) – Team C – 14/5:20.418

View the complete Offroad event results here.

View our event image gallery here.

Cockerill takes 2WD Buggy DHI Cup title

Schumacher’s Tom Cockerill claimed his first DHI Cup title winning 2WD Buggy thanks to a second A-Main win this morning. The British driver again benefited from a mistake by Top Qualifier Oskar Levin would made an almost identical mistake to the one which Cockerill made himself in A1.  This allowed the Schumacher designer go to the front on lap 4 and despite some close attention from outgoing champion Joern Neumann in the latter part of the race he would see off the German taking the leg by 7/10ths of a second.  The 14th running of the Danish event with offroad introduced three years ago, Cockerill’s win ends Neumann’s domination of the event with the Durango driver being the only one to have previously held the DHI Offroad titles.

Running a set of tyres he got team-mate Simon Moss to scrub in for him in his B Final, Cockerill said his Nosram powered Cougar KF was a lot better in the early laps of A2.  Planning to just follow Levin for the first part of the race, he said it turned out a lot easier than expected as Levin’s mistake handed him the lead after just three laps.  Delighted with the win, when asked about the pressure from Neumann during the race he said the EOS thought him a big lesson.  Securing the TQ honours at the season opener of the Euro Offroad Series, nerves got the better of him in the finals, but he said this thought him that there is nothing up can do about other drivers and focusing driving your own clean race is all you can do and that is exactly what he did here in A2.  Although he will face a much tougher field he said the win was a great result for next weekend’s EOS in Berlin.

‘Just not my race’ was how Levin summed up his disappointing morning.  The Swede said he tried too push hard from the beginning to try and get a gap over Cockerill & Neumann but he over did it resulting in him crashing off the track.  Having shown the potential of his new Team C ride he said his focus is now and making amends at next weeks EOS.

With Cockerill sitting out the 3rd & final A-Main, it was a straight race to decide what order Neumann & Levin would join him on the podium.  It would turn out to be the most entertaining leg of the three Mains with Neumann and Levin swapping positions.  In the end Neumann would take the win by just 2/10th of a second to claim the runners up spot with second good enough to secure Levin the final step on the podium.

2WD Buggy Overall Result
1. Tom Cockerill (GB) – Schumacher – 2 pts
2. Jörn Neumann (DE) – Team Durango – 3
3. Oskar Levin (SE) – Team C – 4
4. Kim Nielsen (DK) – Team C – 6
5. Jesper Rasmussen (DK) – Team Associated – 7
6. Niclas Månsson (SE) – Team Associated – 10
7. Jonas Kaerup (DK) – Team Associated – 12
8. Villalba Zacarias (ES) – Team C – 14
9. Martin Bayer (CZ) – Team Xray – 16
10.Thomas Andersson (SE) – Schumacher – 17

2WD Buggy A2 Result
1.(2) Tom Cockerill (GB) – Schumacher – 14/5:05.584
2.(3) Jörn Neumann (DE) – Team Durango – 14/5:06.231
3.(5) Jesper Rasmussen (DK) – Team Associated – 14/5:10.608
4.(1) Oskar Levin (SE) – Team C – 14/5:10.789
5.(4) Kim Nielsen (DK) – Team C – 14/5:12.826
6.(6) Jonas Kaerup (DK) – Team Associated – 14/5:18.376
7.(7) Niclas Månsson (SE) – Team Associated – 14/5:18.552
8.(10)Thomas Andersson (SE) – Schumacher – 14/5:21.088
9.(8) Villalba Zacarias (ES) – Team C – 13/5:04.150
10.(9)Martin Bayer (CZ) – Team Xray – 13/5:06.776

2WD Buggy A3 Result
1.(3) Jörn Neumann (DE) – Team Durango – 14/5:04.966
2.(1) Oskar Levin (SE) – Team C – 14/5:05.168
3.(4) Kim Nielsen (DK) – Team C – 14/5:08.711
4.(5) Jesper Rasmussen (DK) – Team Associated – 14/5:09.636
5.(7) Niclas Månsson (SE) – Team Associated – 14/5:17.164
6.(6) Jonas Kaerup (DK) – Team Associated – 14/5:18.083
7.(9) Martin Bayer (CZ) – Team Xray – 14/5:18.710
8.(8) Villalba Zacarias (ES) – Team C – 13/5:01.287
9.(10)Thomas Andersson (SE) – Schumacher – 13/5:06.876
10.(2)Tom Cockerill (GB) – Schumacher – DNS

View the complete Offroad event results here.

View our event image gallery here.