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Video – 2WD Buggy A-Main Leg 1
Chassis Focus – Joona Haatanen (Team Associated)
Chassis – Team Associated B7
ESC – Reedy Blackbox 6110R
Motor – Reedy Sonic M4 5.5T
Battery – Reedy Zappers 4800mah
Tires (handout) – Schumacher
Radio/Servo – Sanwa M17 / Reedy RT2007A
Body – Team Associated
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Kobbevik & Zalewski secure TQ honours at MIBO
Schumacher’s Daniel Kobbevik and Xray’s Bartosz Zalewski are the buggy Top Qualifiers at MIBO International. While the TQ honours on the onroad track were settled yesterday with Michal Orlowski dominating proceedings, it was an intense fifth & final qualifier this morning on the offroad track with four drivers vying for pole position. In 2WD Buggy it was Sworkz’s Micha Widmaier who led away the decider from Xray’s Martin Bayer, Kobbevik and Team Associated’s Joona Haatanen. Under pressure, with Kobbevik quickly on his rear wing, it was Bayer who was first to bow out with a mistake. Shortly after Widmaier’s challenge was over with the two Scandinavians continuing the battle with Kobbevik getting it done by 6/10th as P2 secured Haantanen second on the grid ahead of Widmaier and Bayer. In 4WD, it was a three way battle which quickly became two as Kobbevik pulled up after a mistake. A mistake from Bayer then took the pressure off Zalewski and last year’s 2WD Top Qualifier took the round and a 4WD pole position this time round.
Summing up his TQ securing run, Kobbevik said. ‘It was good, it went as planned’. The 19-year-old Norwegian continued, ‘It will be fun to try and defend in the finals but the car is good so it’s all on me to get the result’.
‘A perfect run from my side’, was Zalewski reaction after taking the 4WD TQ from his team-mate Bayer and Kobbevik with the top 4 on the grid completed by Haatanen. The 17-year-old Polish talent said other than refresh the car it was the same set-up as yesterday and was able to run ‘a clean qualifier and it was enough for the TQ’. Looking to the triple finals, Zalewski admitted his car was ‘difficult to drive’ when he has to push hard adding, ‘I have to be careful not to do mistakes. The finals are more stress but I will do my best.’
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Bayer on provisional MIBO TQ in 4WD
Martin Bayer is the provisional Top Qualifier overnight at MIBO International, the Xray driver being denied locking in the overall TQ with a mistake that allowed Schumacher’s Daniel Kobbevik to top the fourth round and be part of the battle for pole position tomorrow morning in Q5. Posting a TQ run in Q1 and Q3, Bayer was on target for a third in Q4 but keying an eye on the very fast Sworkz of Micha Widmaier and distracted by a mistake from the overnight 2WD TQ holder, Bayer made a mistake that cost him more than 3-seconds allowing Kobbevik to grab max points. With Bayer still managing a P2 2.6-seconds off Kobbevik, the Top 3 would be completed by Team Associated’s Joona Haatanen but the Finn won’t contend for the overall TQ in Q5, instead it will be Bartosz Zalewski who is part of the three way fight. The double runner up here last year to Bruno Coelho, the young Polish talent was on a competitive Q4 run until be popped a steering link.
Putting a positive spin on Q4, former European Champion Bayer said, ‘It was still good points’ but was quick to admit, ‘I could have secured the TQ in that one’. Asked about the qualifier, he said, ‘I was keeping an eye on Micha’s position but when he had a mistake I tried to look out the periphery of my eyes but ended up making my own mistake and lost 3-seconds’. Despite the loss, he said, ‘I should be still good for 1st or 2nd so its all OK and I know my car has the speed for the finals’.
‘Amazing. I’m super happy to end the day with a TQ run’ was Kobbevik’s reaction to taking the fourth qualifier. The Norwegian continued, ‘I was on third run tyres and got a bit lucky with Micha and Martin’s mistakes’. Needing to TQ the final round to have a chance at denying defending Champions Xray pole position in the final, he said, ‘we need to see what to do with the tyres tomorrow’.
Putting his name on the international map as he kept Coehlo honest at the inaugural MIBO International last year, Zalewski summed up his day with ‘I’m happy with some of my qualifiers’. Having topped seeding in both 2WD and 4WD, the 17-year-old said his XB4 felt really good in Q4 it was a case of ‘bad luck’ as he went out with just over a minute to go have lost his steering. Posting a TQ run in Round Q2 with the fastest time of the day, he said he is looking forward to the last one in the morning as he feels he has the car to get the job done. He also has the fastest time which he will need should he manage a TQ run to give him the tie breaker over Bayer.
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Orlowski Top Qualifier at MIBO International
Based on recent form there was never much doubt he’d be a force on his MIBO International debut and in a dominant performance that is exactly what Schumacher’s Michal Orlowski has done securing the overall TQ in Modified Touring Car. Starting the day in the Czech Republic with a TQ run, the Pole continued to make the top of the times sheets his own locking in pole position with a third TQ run in Q3 but not done he would cap off the day with a fourth in the day’s final onroad action. Shadowing the 1:12 World Champion every run but never close enough to mount a challenge, defending inaugural MIBO International Champion Ronald Volker will start 2nd on the grid with one final qualifier on Sunday morning to determine how the rest of the grid will line up behind the World Champions.
Reacting to his TQ, his third at an international race already this year having started with the GP3F in France and then the ETS in Germany, Orlowski said, ‘I am happy to seal the TQ early. The new car is good as always and we have shown it works well. I haven’t changed much on it because I want to see if the grip changes but it seems to be staying consistent.’ With the first job of the weekend done after 3 rounds, Orlowski had the luxury of the remaining two rounds ‘to test a few things’ and see if he can further improve the car on a few specific points on the track. Still on the same set of tyres, having matched his two sets for the opening qualifier, he said ‘Pekko (Iivonen) has more experience with these tyres and says they last long and tend to get better and better. After a strong start to qualifying Iivonen finds himself P7 going into Q5 after suffering a battery issue in round 3. Copying Orlowski set-up on to his example of Schumacher’s upcoming new chassis release for the final run of the day the Finn said it was better but contact with the boards meant he pulled up early but he used the opportunity to watch Orlowski drive and said his brake set-up is different and that is something he will adjust for Q5.
Having gone too safe with his Mugen for Q1, Volker said a change of tyre additive for Q2 meant he started better than Orlowski but then the performance faded and so he returned to his previous additive. Putting more steering lock on his MTC2R for Q3, the German said it was better but added ‘Michal is on his A-game so I need to find something extra but I am enjoying him being this competitive.’
Holding P3 overnight ahead of the man responsible for designing his car Martin Hudy and the Yokomo of Christopher Krapp, Jan Ratheisky said changes he made after Q1 was too much of a step so he reverted back for Q3 to claim his first Top 3 run. Changing to a softer top deck for Q3 to get more steering the German would register his fastest time of qualifying once again posting a P3 run. Also racing in 17.5 Stock Ratheisky secured the overall TQ when he posted his third TQ in a row in the Q4 with Xray team-mate Stefan Schulz having taken Q1. Schulz will start the FWD class on pole after getting the job done early as he topped the opening 3 rounds.
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