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.

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.

Orlowski makes light work of rivals in A1

Michal Orlowski made light work of his rivals in the opening A-Main of 2WD Buggy at the DHI Cup this morning.  The Top Qualifier almost immediately took control of the race clearing off in the distance ahead of Joern Neumann and David Ronnefalk, an early mistake putting Marc Rheinard out of contention.  With defending champion Orlowski winning by 7.5-seconds, the main action of the race was to come towards the end as Ronnefalk caught Neumann getting by when the German cased the jump in front of the front of the drivers stand.  Next time round however Ronnefalk would get it wrong at the same section allowing Neumann back through.  Ronnefalk would made another attempt to get second on the final lap but trying to capitalise on a bobble from Neumann flipped over & needed marshalling but still managed to hold onto 3rd ahead of Dane Jesper Rasmussen.

‘I hope for the same in the next but I don’t think it will be so easy’ was Orlowski’s reaction to his dominant win.  The Schumacher driver said, ‘Joern had a mistake at the start and that already gave me a 1-second lead allowing me to cruise around and put in good laps’.  The 15-year-old continued, ‘then Joern and David started fighting which gave me more seconds’.  Expecting a tougher A2 he said, ‘the car is really good and I know I have the speed so I’m ready’.

‘Luckily I finished second’ was how Neumann summed up the first A-Main encounter.  The Serpent driver continued, ‘I changed nothing on the car but it was very loose on the rear, very strange’.  He added, ‘I was just trying to keep the car on the track’.  Asked what he though caused the lack of traction the German replied, ‘the only thing I changed was the tyres’.

Having lost position to fifth place qualifier Wilhelm Skjöldebrand at the start after he didn’t make it over the first double, Ronnefalk said, ‘I couldn’t get 2nd but 3rd is pretty good’.  The HB Racing driver continued, ‘My car felt great and the race was pretty much what I was expecting.  If the others made mistakes I would be there to take the places.  Orlowski had extra speed in his car but me, Marc and Joern are on the same pace.  I had a chance on the last lap but flipped over.  I’ll try again in A2’.

View the complete offroad event results here.

View the event image gallery here.

Orlowski does TQ double at DHI Cup

Having become the 2WD Buggy Top Qualifier earlier in the day, Michal Orlowski completed the TQ double at the DHI Cup presented by LRP taking the final two rounds of 4WD qualifying to secure pole for tomorrow’s A-Mains.  The Schumacher driver had a less than perfect start to qualifying when he ran Q1 with a loose steering servo but despite this still managed to get P2 behind Joern Neumann.  After another P2 run in Q2 behind David Ronnefalk, Orlowski finally delivered in Q3 setting the stage for a Q4 showdown for the overall TQ.  With both Neumann and Rheinard struggling, Orlowski just had Ronnefalk to contend with and while they went back and forth, both having to deal with traffic, it was Orlowski who took the spoils.  Behind him it is Ronnefalk who will line-up second followed by undefeated 4WD champion Neumann, with Rheinard and Samppa Orhanen making up the Top 5 starters.

After what he called a ‘rough start’ to Q4, Orlowski said ‘when I heard I was 1-second back from David I started to pushed really hard. I lost time in traffic but then David also lost time in traffic it was very close and in the end it worked out good for me’.  The former European Champion expects a difficult race tomorrow saying, ‘the top 3 are all on the same pace so the finals will be difficult and my aim starting from the front will be to try keep calm and make no mistakes’.  Having improved the car for Q3, finding more rear traction, he added they will leave his LRP powered CAT K2 unchanged for A1.

Summing up Q4, Ronnefalk said, ‘it was good until I hit traffic’ adding ‘when Michal hit traffic it was more spread out and that was what cost me the TQ’.  Making a late mistake as he tried to claw back the time, even with the mistake the separation being just 6/10th, the HB Racing driver said, ‘I’m second on the grid and I have a really good car so I’m happy’.

Having won his 5th consecutive 4WD DHI Cup title from fourth on the grid last year, Neumann said qualifying 3rd wasn’t a problem adding ‘I think the race is still wide open’. Changing from a 5.5 turn motor to a 5 for Q3 he said he didn’t like the feeling and pulled off early.  Going back to the 5.5 turn Orion motor for Q4, the Serpent driver tried a harder front diff but said it pushed too much but still he was able to get a P3 that would count towards his final grid position.  For the opening final, the current European Champion said he will revert to his Q1 set-up.

Set to line-up fourth on his 4WD Offroad DHI Cup debut, Rheinard said ‘the driver was shit’.  While the Yokomo driver would get a P2 in the penultimate round, benefiting from Neumann and Ronnefalk both having a bad run, he said he continues to struggle with understeer.  Going into the final the German said, ‘I will just drive around and see what happens. Getting anything more than fourth will depend on the others doing damage to one another’.

View the complete offroad event results here.

View the event image gallery here.