January 8, 2017

Orlowski holds off Ronnefalk to win first 4WD encounter

Fresh from wrapping up the 2WD win with ease at the DHI Cup, Michal Orlowski has won the first 4WD A-Main encounter but this time round the Schumacher driver had to work hard to stay out front.  Having claimed the overall TQ yesterday, Orlowski came under intense pressure from the No.2 starting Ronnefalk in a battle that went on for the entire race.  Keeping his calm however, he would manage to hold off fellow World Championship finalist Ronnefalk by 9/10ths of a second. Behind, Joern Neumann managed to see off the challenge of Marc Rheinard, the Serpent driver looking to lack the kind of performance he will need to retain a 6 consecutive DHI Cup title.

‘The track conditions are getting worse and worse’ was Orlowski’s reaction after the final.  The teenager continued, ‘we expected it to be worse and made a change but it was not enough for how much the track has changed and my car was very loose’.  Struggling with the conditions he said, ‘I just tried to keep calm ahead of David and that worked and now we will make some changes to have a better car for the next one’.

Ronnefalk described the encounter as ‘a great race’ but added ‘it is hard to pass online on a carpet track’.  Setting the fastest lap of the race, the HB Racing ace said, ‘I knew from the last qualifier Michal and me would be super close on pace and while I had a little more speed I couldn’t make the pass’.  The Swede, for whom the track felt the same as qualifying, said ‘I tried to put pressure on Michal for a mistake but he kept his cool and I couldn’t get by.  I’ll try again in A2’.

Neumann said, ‘at the beginning I tried to stay with David and Michal but they were a bit faster’.  The reigning European Champion added, ‘after that I just settled for third’.  He continued, ‘I need to find a little more steering’ and to achieve that he will cut a row of pins from his rear tyres for A2.  Asked about track conditions compared to qualifying, he replied, ‘it feels more loose and you can feel the carpet have less traction’. Behind him Rheinard would cross the finish line on his roof, the Yokomo driver trying to get passed his fellow countryman out of the final corner, but the 4 time onroad World Champion felt his car is ‘still not fast enough’.

View the complete offroad event results here.

View the event image gallery here.

January 8, 2017

Orlowski opens 2017 with flawless DHI Cup win

Michal Orlowski has kicked off his 2017 season with a flawless win in 2WD Buggy at the DHI Cup presented by LRP.  Starting as Top Qualifier, the defending champion produced a repeat performance of his dominant opening A-Main performance in A2 to retain his title.  In the battle for the best of the rest, which would be decided in A3, it was former back to back champion Joern Neumann who claimed second with the A3 win over Marc Rheinard, who completed the podium at the sixth running of offroad at the historic Danish event. Off the podium, Team Associated’s Jesper Rasmussen would be the top Scandinavian this year snatching fourth overall from former DHI Cup champion David Ronnefalk thanks to his third place finish in A3.

‘It’s a good start for the year to get the TQ and win’ was Orlowski’s reaction to retaining his title, the 15-year-old adding, ‘the car worked great all weekend’. Commenting on his second final, the Pole said, ‘again I made a good gap at the beginning and after that I just tried to make no mistakes.  The track felt a bit loose but I found that in 4WD qualifying the track changes from run to run’.   With 2WD title in the bag Orlowski wil now try to do the double and bring to an end Neumann’s unbeaten reign over the 4WD DHI Cup title and like 2WD he is Top Qualifier.

Summing up his 2WD performance Neumann said, ‘I think 2nd was the maximum, Orlowski had something extra this weekend’.  The Serpent driver continued, ‘Myself and Marc struggled with no traction in the finals.  Our cars were really loose’.  Already working on his 4WD for this afternoon’s 4WD finals, in which he is chasing a 6th consecutive title, he said ‘now my goal is to go one better in 4WD’.

‘A podium is fine for my first DHI Cup offroad race’, was how Rheinard summed up his 3rd place.  Having had a good battle with Neumann for the A3 win, the Yokomo driver said, ‘I couldn’t find a way passed’.   Winner of the opening round of the current Euro Offroad Series season, the German said, ‘compared to the last qualifier it felt different, it was loose and had no grip’.   He concluded, ‘I think Joern & me had the same problem’.

View the complete offroad event results here.

View the event image gallery here.

January 8, 2017

Kutvonen cruises to easy A1 win at DHI Cup

Having secured his first overall TQ last night for the DHI Cup having started second a number of times before, Viljami Kutvonen made sure he capitalised on pole position taking a convincing tone to tone win in the A1.  Starting ahead of defending 7-time champion Ronald Volker, the Awesomatix driver was able to pull clear with ease eventually crossing the finish line 1.6-second ahead of the Yokomo driver.  Behind Naoki Akiyama ensured the Top 3 finished as they had started, the Japanese driver having a lonely race. Freddy Südhoff would be the highest placed driver to gain a position over the 5-minutes getting passed the Xray of Alexander Hagberg after a minute & a half.

With rather appropriate nickname within the Awesomatix team of ‘Iceman’, commenting on his win a rather cool Kutvonen summed up his win with, ‘It went just like I wanted’.  Declaring it ‘a good race’, the Finn continued, ‘I pushed at the start to get a gap and then could control the race’.

Having struggled in the final two qualifiers with a lack of steering, Volker said, ‘I had a lot of steering, too much, and I couldn’t get a good flow’.  The World Champion continued, ‘on the right side of the track I had to back off a lot because the car was twitchy’.  Describing his BD8 as ‘fast’, highlighting his lap times were ‘much better than the last two qualifiers’ he said the problem was ‘just a small thing with the balance’ and they ‘need to get it right to challenge Viljami’.

With ‘no fight’, Akiyama had little to report on what was a lonely race for the Yokomo protege.  The 17-year-old said his BD8 suffered a little with ‘push’ and for A2 he will switch to his other set of tyres.

View the complete onroad event results here.

View the event image gallery here.