January 6, 2018

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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January 6, 2018

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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January 6, 2018

Volker again in Q2

Ronald Volker picked up where he left off last night at the DHI Cup as he opened Day 2 of the event with another TQ run this morning in Denmark.  Taking Q1 comfortably over Marc Rheinard, the Yokomo driver appeared to have an even greater advantage for the second round stopping the clocks two & a half seconds up on the Schumacher of Elliott Harper even after late contact with former Champion Viktor Wilck.  Yannic Prumper would post the 3rd fastest time followed by the Xray of Markus Hellquist with Wilck fifth while Rheinard completed the Top 6 after a 4-second mistake in the latter half of the qualifier.

‘I changed the tyre prep only and it was an improvement’, was Volker’s reaction after Q2 adding, ‘the car had more control and better stability’.  Planning to continue with the new tyre prep, the German said he will make a small shock adjustment for Q3.  Asked about his incident with Wilck, he said, ‘Viktor wasn’t sure to open for me or wait for the straight, but I was already there and tapped him.  Luckily my gap was big enough and it only cost me a few tenths but it cost him about 2-seconds’.

Summing up his first run of the day, 2 more qualifiers on today’s schedule, Harper said, ‘it was OK’.  The multiple World Championship finalist continued, ‘at the beginning it was really difficult and the car was sliding a lot.  It got better over the run but I think I will work on tyre prep for the next one’.  Having dropped into the clutches of Prumper, he said once the car came in he could ‘pull away from Yannic’ with Rheinard’s crash also helping his result.

Prumper had the opposite problem to Harper.  He said, ‘The first 2-minutes was ok but then I had absolutely zero rear traction’.  Looking at team-mate Volker’s car, he added, ‘maybe I will copy Ronald’s set-up’.  The German said his problem is that he has to do the ‘whole race on one set of tyres because of the two sets I got one is undriveable but maybe now the other set is finished too’.

While the official Xray team is absent from this year’s DHI Cup, Swede Hellquist did a good job of representing the brand with his P4 run.  Reporting ‘traction is higher today’, the 22-year-old said he gambled on adding more rear traction to his T4 set-up and while the car was ‘super easy to traction roll’ he ‘managed to keep it down’.  Admitting his set-up ‘is a risk’, he continued, ‘If I don’t take it I wont be fast’.  For Q3 he plans to make further small change saying ‘I need to get quicker, Ronald is way too fast’.

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January 5, 2018

Volker from Rheinard in opening qualifier at DHI Cup

Ronald Volker took a convincing TQ in the opening round of qualifying at the DHI Cup, the Yokomo driver having more that 2-seconds over the Infinity of Marc Rheinard. Having topped seeding, after a four hour break while qualifying got underway for Offroad, Volker led away the top heat pulling clear of the field.  Behind, Elliott Harper ran second on track initially but was quickly caught up by Rheinard who eventually moved by the Schumacher driver with that the order in which they would stop the clocks after the 5-minutes. Behind the Top 3 Yannnic Prumper would survive contact with Viktor Wilck to post the fourth fastest time ahead of Yokomo team-mate Christopher Krapp with Awesomatix’s Patrick Hornum completing the Top 6.

‘After not running for 4-hours the tracton increased again and it was even harder to drive than before but I’m happy with a good clean Q1’, was Volker’s reaction to his TQ run.  A 7-time champion of the DHI Cup, he continued, ‘I need to make the car easier to drive.  I have a huge steering and corner speed and think this is what gave me the advantage but I need to work on getting more rear grip’.

Commenting on his first qualifying attempt, Rheinard said, ‘I have zero feeling in the tyre. It is like a boat sliding around’.  His first DHI Cup with Infinity, he continued, ‘I know the car is good but I don’t know what set of tyres to use’, concluding, ‘it is not fun to drive’.

‘A good start I guess’ was how Harper described Q1. Making a shock set-up change to his car for qualifying he said ‘I’m not sure it was as good. It still had good corner speed but I’m going to change back for tomorrow’. Suffering a roll over and a crash in the chicane he said this was a result of the car being ‘a bit harder to drive’ as a result of the change.  Reverting to his practice set-up he said, ‘Lets see what we can do tomorrow’.

‘Not so bad actually’ was Prumper’s reply when asked how he felt Q1 went.  He said, ‘Viktor shut down in front of me and I hit him in the sweeper and lost 8/10th’, his deficit to Harper less than half a second.  Changing his diff position after practice he said it made little difference and his car was ‘way too difficult to drive’ making it ‘difficult to make a clean 5-minute run’.  For tomorrow morning second qualifier he said he needs to find something to make the car more stable in the rear.

Krapp reported similar difficulties with his car saying, ‘it is hard to keep it on 4-wheels for 5-minutes’.  Feeling he car was set too soft making it feel ‘lazy overall’, he plans to stiffen it up for tomorrow by trying harder diff and shock settings.

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