2013 European Championship Main Final Grid
1. David Ronnefalk – Kyosho/Orion
2. Joern Neumann – Durango/Picco
3. Darren Bloomfield – TLR/Novarossi
4. Martin Bayer – Xray/LRP
5. Robert Batlle – Mugen/Novarossi
6. Lee Martin – Mugen/Beat
7. Renaud Savoya – Xray/Orion
8. Jerome Aigoin – Kyosho/Novarossi
9. Yannick Aigoin – Associated/nVision
10.Elliott Boots – Kyosho/Novarossi
11.Jerome Sartel – Agama/Bullit
12.Christoffer Svensson – Kyosho/OS
Kyosho’s David Ronnefalk will start the Main final which will decode the 33rd 1:8 Offroad European Champion from pole position after the Top Qualifier won his semi final in the fastest time with the other Semi Final winner Joern Neumann starting second on the grid for this evening’s 45-minute encounter at Reims in France. A great drive by reigning champion Darren Bloomfield, who had a difficult qualifying, will see the TLR driver try and defend his title from 3rd on the 12 car grid.
Ronnefalk, who has been portraying a new level of maturity and confidence this weekend, took the first of the semi finals from Bloomfield after an early battle with Renaud Savoya until the 3-time champion crashed. The Swede said following his early but ‘clean battle’ with Savoya he was able to pull away and focus on running the fastest time for the 20-minute race saying he wanted to ensure he would start the final from pole. Running his race 11-seconds faster than Neumann’s winning time of a very exciting encounter, Ronnefalk said everything worked perfectly as it has all week and other than freshen up his Orion powered MP9 he will go into the main with the buggy as is.
Having only qualified 13th, Bloomfield appears to have found his rhythm, the British driver saying he doesn’t exactly know what it is but its working. Having had a toothache early in the event he said that has now gone and for sure this is helping him to drive better and he is ‘now ready to rock’. Very happy with his AKA shod 8ight 3.0 he said he other than fitting a fresh clutch to his Novarossi engine he will leave the buggy as is. While most drivers stopped twice for fuel in the Semis, Bloomfield only stopped once and this could be his trump card in the Main.
Third in the first Semi was Mugen’s Lee Martin. The British driver said the run was ‘alright’ adding that he is still looking for more steering and so for the final he will change the anti squat and roll-bars on his Proline Big Block shod MBX-7.
Savoya said his XB9 was ‘perfect’ for the first 10-minutes but for the second half of the race it was not so good. Planning to change to a heavier shock oil for the main event he is confident this will give him a more consistent buggy and all will be ‘OK’.
The semi B final which saw a great battle between Neumann, Battle and Martin Bayer. Neumann described his race as ‘good’ saying they have been working to a plan with his prototype Durango and it is now starting to come good. The German said his Picco powered buggy is easy to drive but said the field is very close with ‘all the top guys very similar in speed’ and he expects a very close final.
Bayer was just 7/10ths off the winner. The Xray driver said the race was ‘proper preparation for the final’ and he was pleased at making it through. Having changed his LRP powered XB9 after qualifying the Czech ace said his buggy was not very good in the Semi Warm-up session and so they changed for the actual Semi and he is very happy with how it worked. World Champion Batlle, who started his Semi from pole, would finish third, the Spaniard saying they ran too light an oil in the diffs of his Mugen.
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Semi Final A Result
1. David Ronnefalk – Kyosho/Orion – 30/20:26.54
2. Darren Bloomfield – TLR/Novarossi – 30/20:38.05
3. Lee Martin – Mugen/Beat – 29/20:00.80
4. Renaud Savoya – Xray/Orion – 29/20:03.54
5. Jerome Aigoin – Kyosho/Novarossi – 29/20:04.35
6. Elliott Boots – Kyosho/Novarossi – 29/20:07.63
7. Carlos Duraes – Sworkz/RB – 29/20:20.75
8. Bryan Baldo – Mugen/Novarossi – 28/20:06.11
9. Renaud Monin – Mugen/Bullitt – 28/20:17.71
10.Nicolas Rodriguez – Hongkor/Falcon – 28/20:36.69
11.Oscar Baldo – Mugen/Novarossi – 27/20:11.86
12.Davide Ongaro – Mugen/RB – 26/20:35.62
Semi Final B Result
1. Joern Neumann – Durango/Picco – 30/20:37.58
2. Martin Bayer – Xray/LRP – 30/20:38.30
3. Robert Batlle – Mugen/Novarossi – 30/20:40.95
4. Yannick Aigoin – Associated/nVision – 29/20:06.01
5. Jerome Sartel – Agama/Bullitt – 29/20:12.51
6. Christoffer Svensson – Kyosho/OS – 29/20:22.48
7. Daniel Vega – Agama/Bullitt – 29/20:27.89
8. Neil Gragg – Associated/LRP – 29/20:30.55
9. Joseph Quagrine – JQ/JQ – 29/20:32.45
10.Ari Heinonen – Kyosho/Alpha – 29/20:33.33
11.Simon Willetts – Kyosho/Novarossi – 29/20:41.51
12.Miguel Mathias – TLR/RB – 29/20:42.34
After a morning of lower finals the 33rd running of the 1:8 Offroad European Championship has been whittled down to 24 drivers who will now compete in the Semi finals in search of one of the 12 places in the evening’s title deciding 45-minute encounter. With the Top 16 decided in qualifying the 20-minute 1/4 Finals decided who joins them with the 1/4 A final ensuring two young chargers keep their hopes of making the main event in Reims. Starting from pole, up & coming 12-year-old Italian Davide Ongaro took the win, the European B Championship Top Qualifier taking his Mugen to a 10-second winning margin over the S-Workz of Portugal’s Carlos Duraes. Third place went to Nicolas Rodriguez who just held off Spanish star of the future Oscar Baldo, the 16-year-old securing the final bump-up spot to join his older brother Bryan in the Semi finals.
In the second of the 1/4 finals former champion Daniel Vega managed to get pass JQ boss Joesph Quagraine, who started from pole, late in the race to put his Agama in the same Semi in which World Champion Robert Batlle starts No.1. Having qualified in the 1/8 final it was a good morning for Mugen’s Simon Willetts, having just bumped up on to the back of the 1/4 final the British driver moved up through the field to finish 3rd just behind JQ booking his place into his third final of the day. Also coming up from the 1/8 Final Finald’s Ari Heinonen claimed the final available spot for the Semi finals.
Notable names that will play no further part in the event include HB’s Teemu Leino who starting second in his 1/4 Final had a fraught race plummeting down the order to eventually finish 9th. The same race also saw the end of the road for multiple electric offroad European Champion Hupo Honigl, the Durango driver only able to finish 6th. In the other 1/4 final we saw the demise of reigning European B Champion Marco Buruffolo and former Worlds finalist and LRP team driver Borja Hernandez.
Semi Final A Grid
1. David Ronnefalk – Kyosho/Orion
2. Renaud Savoya – Xray/Orion
3. Jerome Aigoin – Kyosho/Novarossi
4. Lee Martin – Mugen/Beat
5. Renaud Monin – Mugen/Bullitt
6. Elliott Boots – Kyosho/Novarossi
7. Darren Bloomfield – TLR/Novarossi
8. Bryan Baldo – Mugen/Novarossi
9. Davide Ongaro – Mugen/RB
10.Carlos Duraes – Sworkz/RB
11.Nicolas Rodriguez – Hongkor/Falcon
12.Oscar Baldo – Mugen/Novarossi
Semi Final B Grid
1. Robert Batlle – Mugen/Novarossi
2. Yannick Aigoin – Associated/nVision
3. Martin Bayer – Xray/LRP
4. Joern Neumann – Durango/Picco
5. Jerome Sartel – Agama/Bullitt
6. Christoffer Svensson – Kyosho/OS
7. Neil Gragg – Associated/LRP
8. Miguel Mathias – TLR/RB
9. Daniel Vega – Agama/Bullitt
10.Joseph Quagrine – JQ/JQ
11.Simon Willetts – Kyosho/Novarossi
12.Ari Heinonen – Kyosho/Alpha
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Chassis Name – Durango Prototype
Engine – Picco Boost
Fuel – Runner Time
Tires – JConcepts
Radio/Servos – Futaba
Remarks – Joern, along with team mate Hupo Honigl, are running a prototype Durango here in France. The car is almost completely new apart from the drivetrain and is performing very well this week with Joern qualifying in 8th position. Having only got the hand built car just before the Euros warmup race, he has only driven it once since. Overall the car gives more traction and steering than its predecessor and with both drivers happy with the performance we will most likely see a similar car go into production in the coming months.
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Chassis Name – Mugen MBX7
Engine – Beat B4 Plus
Fuel – Nitrolux
Tires – Pro-Line
Radio/Servos – Sanwa/Xpert
Remarks – Since arriving in France, EP Offroad European Champion Lee Martin has softened up the setup on his MBX7 adjusting diff oils, shock oils and roll bars to get more traction and to also get the car to rotate. Having run Ions, Big Blox and most recently Blockade from Pro-Line until now, he will use Big Blox from the Semi final practice onwards which he believes are similar to how the Blockade feel but he feels he makes less mistakes using them.
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