January 7, 2018

Orlowski does the double at DHI Cup

Michal Orlowski has done double at the DHI Cup retaining both Offroad titles at the Danish event.  Having wrapped up the 2WD after 2 A-Mains earlier in the day, mistakes in the opening 4WD main meant the things would go to A3 but having learnt from his errors in A1 Orlowski took convincing wins in A2 and A3 to complete the perfect start to his 2018 season. With new Schumacher team-mate Joern Neumann winning A1, the German would back this up with two second places to claim second overall for the first Schumacher 1-2 at a major international event in a long time. Completing an impressive weekend for himself, Elias Johansson completed the podium in Odense with the 13-year-old marking himself as one to watch in 2018.

Summing up 4WD, Orlowski said, ‘My car felt awesome for the last 2 finals.  I was just driving around enjoying myself and came off with the win. It has been a great start to the season’.  The 16-year-old continued, ‘hopefully the development of the new car will continue and I am really looking forward now to the next EOS with the car’.  Having a competitive team-mate for the first time in Neumann, he added, ‘It was a good weekend for the Schumacher team and I’m pretty happy that for our first race we already could get a 1-2.  It is Joern’s first race with our car and we worked well together to find a set-up even though we have very different driving styles but in the end we got there’.

Commenting on his debut weekend with his new cars Neumann said, ‘finishing 2nd having started 4th is pretty good.  After the first 1 to 2 minutes I lost contact with Michal and he made no mistakes so I couldn’t catch him but overall I am pretty happy with how 4WD went.  I struggled a little in 2WD.  I ran the alu chassis and Michal ran carbon but I left it too late to change and also when I did there was a big weight difference which took getting used too also. Also myself and Michal need different set-ups to suit our driving style but overall I think this weekend was a good start and we know what works for the next race’.

‘To finish on both podiums I am really happy with that’, was Johansson reaction to his impressive weekend.  The Swede said while the 4WD finals ‘were a little sketchy’ he said he is still very happy with how he drove adding ‘its a really good start to the season’.  Looking to build on the experience he said, ‘I will go to the next EOS and I hope I continue to show well’ there’.  Behind Johansson, fellow Associated driver and 3rd place qualifier Jesper Rasmussen would miss the podium having to settle for 4th.

View the complete event results here.

View our event image gallery here.

January 7, 2018

Volker claims win No.8 at DHI Cup

Ronald Volker has claimed an 8th win at the DHI Cup.  The Yokomo driver secured the victory at the 18th running of the Danish Classic with a convincing win in the deciding A-Main.  Having had a messy opening lap in A2, with Yannic Prumper the main benefactor to take the win, Volker went into the third encounter determined to return to the form he has shown when he took all four qualifiers. While suffering a scare when his car hit a bump on the opening lap, the World Champion quickly established a lead that he would extend to over 2-second by the finish. For Prumper his weekend would net a Yokomo 1-2, the German clearly delighted to competitive again after a lean 2017 season. Completing the podium in Odense would be Marc Rheinard, the Infinity driver having gone into the final leg with a chance of the win but unable to get by Elliott Harper soon enough to do anything about Volker.

‘I’m happy to get away with the overall win after my issues in A1 & 2.  To win here is always a great way to start the new season’, was Volker’s reaction to take the overall win 11-years on from his first DHI Cup.  He continued, ‘I hit a bump and almost flew off the track on the first lap but I felt the pace was there and could pull away and cruise to the end’.  The World Champion added, ‘I’m glad Yannic was able to finish second and we could make it a Yokomo 1-2’.  Asked his thoughts on his latest DHI Cup victory he replied, ‘It is nice to add another win here because this is a race I watched from home 15-year ago and it has a very special tradition of kicking off the new season.  Its great that this tradition still continues even now with the addition of the Offroad’.

The meaning of today’s result for Prumper was clear. ‘It feels good to be back at the top for sure after such a long time’.  The former ETS race winner added, ‘I just tried to do my own race with no mistakes. It was nothing special actually but all in all I’m super happy with the result. Hopefully it is the start of a good season to come’.

Rheinard said given how qualifying had gone he was relatively pleased with his podium finish.  The former Champion said, ‘the pace was there in the finals, the car was good in the end. If we had have been 2/10ths faster we would have started second and it could have been a different story but it is what it is. Starting 4th, the podium is ok’.  Asked about A3, the 4-time World Champion said, ‘It just took too long to pass Elliott and the gap to the other was already to big’.  For Harper the race would see him finish 4th overall with Viktor Wilck and Christopher Krapp completing the Top 6.

View the complete event results here.

View our event image gallery here.

January 7, 2018

Neumann wins opening 4WD encounter

Joern Neumann was a surprise winner of the opening A-Main of 4WD at the DHI Cup, the new Schumacher signing benefiting from mistakes from both his team-mate Michal Orlowski and young Swedish star Elias Johansson.  Starting from the TQ, freshly crown 2WD champion Orlowski would make a mistake allowing Johansson to go to the front.  Chasing down the Associated driver, the Pole would touch wheels with the 2WD runner up with sending his car flying off the track with it getting caught up in the sponsor banners of the drivers stand.  Losing around 4-seconds Orlowski would rejoin behind Neumann, with Johansson looking good for the win but with little over a minute to run he would make a mistake in the centre section of the track rolling onto the straight with both Schumacher’s getting through.  Neumann would see off Orlowski while a second mistake would prevent Johansson from trying to retake the lead with him crossing the line 3rd.

‘I was a little lucky the others crashed and I could keep it on four wheels’, was how Neumann viewed his win.  The former Champion said, ‘My car was a little edgy to drive but it was better than in qualifying’. Looking to A2, he said, ‘I will put more glue on the tyres to make it easier to drive’.

Orlowski said, ‘It started of well but I made a driver error at the table top.  After that I had to push quite hard and I guess I was quite impatient and touched Elias’ tyre and lost a lot of time under the drivers stand. Then I just tried to run the best laps I can and he had a mistake which let me and Joern through and I’m pretty happy to finish 1-2 with Joern’.  Setting the fastest lap of the race, asked about his car, the 16-year-old said, ‘we will make a small change for the next one to try make it less responsive’.

Describing his car as ‘a little aggressive’, Johansson said of the race, ‘It was really good for the first half but then I made a mistake and Michal & Joern got by me.  Then I had one more mistake so third was the best I could do’.  Looking to run a less aggressive car for A2 he will leave the car set-up unchanged but switch to his other set of tyres.

View the complete event results here.

View our event image gallery here.