Orlowski resumes reign after Q2 glitch

Michal Orlowski has resumed his reign at the DHI Cup, recovering from a glitch in the second round of 4WD qualifying to take penultimate round ahead of the increasingly impressive Elias Johansson.  13-year-old Johansson has looked competitive from the start of the weekend and has looked increasingly confident at the controls of his Team Associated.  In Q2, the Swede was there to pick up the pieces when Orlowski made a set-up change that wasn’t to his liking claiming the TQ ahead of former champion Jörn Neumann. Joining Orlowski as the only driver to run 17-laps in qualifying with a P2 in the penultimate qualifier, Johansson could potential deny the Schumacher driver the TQ double and also been overshadowing his high profile fellow Swede David Ronnefalk.  A former champion in Odense, Ronnefalk finally put in a clean run in Q3 to record the third fastest time with the HB Racing driver looking more like a rookie than the double World Championship podium finisher he is.

Asked about his P5 in the second qualifier, Orlowski said, ‘we made a change and the car felt different which caused me to make a couple of mistakes.  I almost got back to the front but then had a costly mistake on the wall’.  He continued, ‘for the last one we went back to the spring from before and raised the rear camber link and the car felt even better than before. It was easier to drive’. Already Top Qualifier for the 2WD A-Main tomorrow, looking to the final qualifier the Schumacher driver said, ‘we will run a new tyre to bed them in for the finals and hopefully I can TQ.  Elias is pretty quick’.

Admitting the weekend is going better than expected, Johansson said his car continues to be really good and although he has a chance of the overall TQ its not his aim in the final qualifier.  Pleased with his run to the TQ in Q2 and then matching Orlowski’s 17-lap pace in Q3, he said ‘Michal drove really fast’ and to start in the Top 2 I am happy’.  Like Orlowski he too will run a new set of tyres in Q4 to scrub them in for the finals and so expects the car to be edgy over the opening laps.

After finding his car ‘very edgy’ in the opening qualifier, Ronnefalk reverted back to his EOS set-up but said the improvement came from his front tyre cut.  Leaving the side pins in place he glued the side wall with this making it easier to drive but crashing twice in Q2 still didn’t net a competitive time.  Knowing however he had a good car he said his approach for Q3 was to ‘drive clean and stay on the wheels’.  While he found this ‘slow’, at the end of the 5-minutes it paid dividends as he finally posted a Top 3 run.  Finding himself only 8th on the grid in 2WD, he will try to repeat Q3 and try put himself further up the 4WD grid.

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4WD quali gets underway with Orlowksi TQ run

With the 2WD qualifying wrapped up, the attention on the offroad track at the DHI Cup turned to Q1 of 4WD which was to be a familiar story as Michal Orlowski topped the times. Running a prototype chassis, the Schumacher driver would be the only one to go 17-laps with the Team Associated cars of Jesper Rasmussen and Elias Johansson providing the main challenge to the reigning champion. Separated by 6/10th they would have a 3-second advantage on the HB of David Hassell who just saw off Joern Neumann. While Hassell had his HB prototype in the mix, his superstar team-mate David Ronnefalk continued to struggle with errors ending up only 12th quickest.

‘It wasn’t easy’ said Orlowski afterwards.  He continued, ‘we were all on new tyres so the first few laps it was very edgy so I didn’t push too hard.  After a few laps I got a gap and everything felt good.  I had a few bobbles but nothing major and I could still get the TQ’.  Describing his prototype chassis as feeling like it had too much steering, for Q2 he will change to a harder front spring to try reduce steering but expects the run to be better anyway given the tyres are now bedded in.

Enjoying a great run at his home event, Rasmussen said, ‘the car was good but was easy to flip’. He continued, ‘I had already broken in my tyres but I think the grip is higher today than yesterday. Having run with the 2 outside rows of pins removed from from his tyres he plans to go with 2 rows of each side for Q2.

‘The first couple of laps were pretty aggressive because of the tyres’, was Johansson reaction after his first qualifier.  The up & coming Swedish talent continued, ‘by the end it was much better and I was able to do all the run with no major mistakes so I am happy’.  Expecting his car will be better for Q2 based on the tyres having now been fully scrubbed in he will make no changes to the car.

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Orlowski claims perfect 2WD TQ at DHI Cup

Michal Orlowski is set to defend his DHI Cup 2WD Offroad title from pole position after the Schumacher driver produced a clean sweep of the qualifying at the Danish event.  Having taken Q1 & 2 yesterday, the Polish teenager continued to reign over proceedings as he made it four TQ runs from the four qualifiers putting himself in pole position to make it three 2WD title wins in a row.  Behind him, 13-year-old Swede Elias Johansson maintained the promise he showed on Day 1 finishing second fastest in Q3 & 4 to Orlowski to secure P2 on the grid for tomorrow’s A-Mains. While Jesper Rasmussen struggled with his set-up today, the Danish driver’s results from yesterday where enough to secure third on the grid ahead of Joern Neumann and former Top Qualifier Oskar Levin.  Although he topped seeding, 2015 Champion David Ronnefalk’s was again unable to convert that pace into consistency over the 5-minutes and mistakes every run mean the HB Racing driver will start the final from 8th on the grid.

Commenting on his overall TQ, Orlowski said, ‘we didn’t touch the car from yesterday and I used one set of tyres to save the other set for the final so it all worked out quite well.  Its nice to get 4 out of 4’.  Looking to the finals, the EOS Champion said, ‘the track isn’t that hard.  The corner table top is the trickiest part because he don’t know who the car is going to land but I will just try to keep my head down and cruise around’.

‘I’m pretty happy, actually really happy’, was Johansson’s reaction to qualifying at the sharp end of the grid.  The Associated driver ran his car unchanged for Q3 & 4 but along with removing the outside row of pins from the handout Schumacher rear tyres also removed the inside pin saying it made the car ‘much easier to drive’.  Asked his approach to the finals, the Swede replied, ‘I want to try and keep it together, no stupid mistakes on the first lap’.

Rasmussen said, ‘I am happy with the result overall but the last two qualifiers were not perfect’.  Changing his Associated to get more steering he said the result was the car was ‘too hard to drive’.  Planning to go back to his base set-up for the opening final, the 19-year-old added, ‘I hope I can get a good start and keep it clean for the race’.

Making his debut at the DHI Cup with Schumacher, Neumann said given the limited time he has had with the car he is relatively pleased with things so far.  He added,  ‘you change a tiny thing but have to wait 2-hours to see if it works but after this we can do some better testing but I am definitely enjoying the car’.  Asked about the finals, the German said, ‘I need a little more steering in a few corners.  I am running the alu chassis and Michal is using carbon so I am going to try carbon for the final to see’.

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Orlowski holds overnight TQ at DHI Cup

Michal Orlowski holds the overnight TQ in 2WD Offroad at the DHI Cup.  The Schumacher driver completed a successful first day at the 18th running of the Danish event by posting TQ runs in the opening two qualifiers. Behind the reigning champion it is Team Associated’s Jesper Rasmussen who sits second, the Dane opening his home event with a P2 in Q1 which he then followed up with 3rd in the second round.  Second fastest to Orlowski in Q2, 13-year-old Elias Johansson finds himself sitting third overall ahead of fellow Swede David Ronnefalk. Having topped seeding, Ronnefalk made too many errors in each qualifier declaring afterwards, ‘the driver was not on point today’.

Happy to take both qualifiers, Orlowski wasn’t as pleased with his driving in Q1.  He said, ‘I made some mistakes at the beginning and then David also made mistakes.  Then I heard Jesper was close behind so I had to put in some good laps.  I left the car the same for Q2 but started off more easy so as to make no mistakes.  I had one small mistake but just cruised until I caught traffic towards the end but I still managed to the get the TQ’.  Happy with the car on the EOS carpet, the reigning EOS Champion, said, ‘we are thinking about changes for tomorrow but I don’t want to risk making a change and making the car worse because its working really well as it is now’.

‘The first one was awesome’, was Jespers response when asked to sum up the first half of qualifying.  He added, ‘the car was a little nervous at the end of the straight but overall was really good and it was an almost clean run’.  For Q2, the 19-year-old changed the front camber link and to a different front wing but finding the changes made the car ‘hard to drive’ he will change back to his previous set-up for tomorrow’s Q3 with a small shim adjustment to the front bulkhead.

Johansson declared himself ‘pretty happy’ with holding 3rd overnight but feels his driving could be improved for tomorrow.  After ‘some mistakes’ Q1, he was on for a much stronger Q2 but then rolled his Associated just before the loop resulting in him losing over 2-seconds on the last lap.  Despite this he still held on for P2 and having not touched the car set-up all day he will continue with it as is for the remaining two qualifiers tomorrow morning.

‘I pushed too hard and that led to mistakes’, was Ronnefalk’s summary of his disappointing opening to qualifying.  The HB Racing driver and former champion continued, ‘In the 1st one I was leading.  It was really close with Orlowski but I crashed on my own.  In the second one I start towards the back. Oskar (Levin) let me by but then I crashed and he let me by again but I crashed again.  I need to get a good sleep for tomorrow’.

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