January 10, 2015

Volker takes Q2 at DHI Cup

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Defending DHI Cup Champion Ronald Volker took the second round of qualifying this morning at the famous Danish event. The heat would see a number of drivers top the time screens over the 5-minutes but in the end it was the Yokomo driver who got the job done. 2.8-seconds down, Xray’s Alexander Hagberg would claim second with yesterday’s Q1 winner Yannic Prumper completing the Top 3.

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Having rolled in the opening qualifier as he tried to keep pace with team-mate Prumper, Volker had a clean second heat with him declaring himself pleased to get a TQ run under his belt.  Having made changes to his LRP powered BD7 which gave him ‘a lot more steering’, the German said with the car having a very different feeling he had to adapt his driving and this allowed Serpent’s Marc Fischer, who early-on set the TQ pace, to close in.  Able to get a better feel for the car after 2-minutes he said he was then able to pull away from Fischer and get in a clean final 3 minutes.  While the changes increased the cars steering he said it was a little too much for his driving style and overall he found it more difficult to drive adding they need to make small changes for the next qualifier to get it more comfortable.

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Having put his ORCA powered T4 at the top of the timing screen, Hagberg described his qualifier as ‘a lot better driving wise’.  The Swede added the first 2-minute were ‘really good’ but then he lost pace, something he is attributing to his tyre prep.  Changing to a stiffer shock spring for today, he said this made the car more consistent adding if they can figure out a tyre prep that make the tyre perform evenly over the run everything ‘should be fine’.

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Not happy with his opening lap, Prumper said his performance got better during the run as he worked his way to the top of the times.  Setting the fastest lap of the round, he would however make a mistake after the straight on lap 17 of 25 losing amost 1.5 seconds.  Despite this the 21-year-old said his Muchmore powered Yokomo is ‘very good’ and its just down to him driving it.

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Switching to his ETS car having struggled yesterday with a lack of traction Marc Rheinard said it was ‘OK’ but again in the fast chicane he had ‘zero feeling’.  Making a mistake a lap before Prumper had his, he said without the lost 1.3 seconds it would have been a pretty decent run to second instead of fourth.  Having went softer with the rear diff in his TRF419 he felt it was too much and for Q3 he will go back up in oil and ‘try again’.

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Going from 3000w to 6000w oil in the diff, Fischer said this improved his G-Force powered S411 a lot. Also changing the front shock position he said he was surprised by his own pace over the first minute but after that ‘maybe I drove like shit’ leading to a mistake and the 5th fastest time.  Overall pleased with the improvement made to the car which he feels without his mistake had the pace to finish ahead of Hagberg he will for the next qualifier increase further his rear diff oil to 8000w.

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Completing the Top 6, new HB signing Freddy Sudhoff said he learned that he went the wrong way with his set-up.  Trying a different shock set-up he said while it improved the pace of his LRP powered PRO5, in terms of fastest hot lap it was difficult to drive consistently.  Knowing now what direction he needs to take he expects Q3 should be better.

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In the Super Stock class factory Xray drivers Marek Cerny and Jan Ratheisky repeated their Q1 performance with another 1-2. Serpent’s Merlin Depta completed the Top 3 followed by top Dane Mike Gosvig and Norway’s Helge Johannessen.

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January 10, 2015

Neumann post first TQ run in Q3

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Joern Neumann took the penultimate round of 2WD qualifying this morning at the DHI Cup.  The European Champion posted his first TQ run of the event ahead of the Schumacher’s of Michal Orlowski and David Hassel with Team C’s Tom Maquel fourth. Having taken the opening two qualifiers yesterday, David Ronnefalk’s third run would contain too many mistakes leaving him to post only the 5th fastest time just ahead of Team Associated’s up & coming Danish driver Jesper Rasmussen.

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Setting the fastest lap of the round, with a late 18.640 time, Neumann was much happier with the performance of his TM2 today. Going even stiffer with the diff and fitting Team C stock springs the former 2-time 2WD winner said the changes made it ‘way more consistent to drive’ and it was now ‘diving less in the rear’.  Still looking to get less roll in the rear the German said he is considering his options but added he will change something.

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‘Unlucky but lucky I finished’, that was Orlowski’s reaction to Q3.  Looking on target to top the round, the 13-year-old would stuffer a stripping belt on his Cougar KF.  Adjusting his driving to a more smooth use of the throttle to nurse the car home unfortunately on the last lap the loss of traction would result in a mistake at the back double leading to a 22-second lap. Despite his issues the Polish star said he was pleased to come away with a second.

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Having been on a competitive run in Q2 only to put his Cougar KF on its roof, Hassel said he just focused on putting in an error free 5-minutes with that approach paying off.  Very happy with how his buggy is working, the 18-year-old Swede said the only change he will make for the final qualifier is to fit a new set of the event controlled Schumacher tyres having done the first three qualifiers on the same set.

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Making an error on his opening lap and four further mistakes including a very lengthy roll on the last lap, Ronnefalk said a change of rear tyre insert left his Team C ‘edgy to drive’.  Switching to a smaller insert which he said most of his rivals are running the Swede said he will go back to what he ran yesterday for the final & TQ deciding qualifier.  Elsewhere, Martin Bayer would have a short lived Q3 as he popped a ball cup on his Xray.

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January 9, 2015

Prumper TQ’s opening DHI Cup qualifier

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Yannic Prumper has TQ’d the opening round of qualifying at the DHI Cup.  Challenging his Yokomo team-mate Ronald Volker at the top of the timing screens, a mistake by the defending champion halfway through the 5-minute qualifier would allow Prumper to go onto take an easy TQ run by 2.3 second from Marc Rheinard with Volker recovering to post the third fastest time.

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Only changing the oil in his diff back to that which he ran when he topped the opening round of time practice, Prumper was very happy with his opening qualifying performance.  While Volker’s error made his job slightly easier, the 21-year-old was pleased by the fact that he was already ahead of his team-mate who was top seed for qualifying before he rolled.  Setting the fastest lap of Q1, taking his Muchmore powered BD7 to a best time of 12.162, the German said he was very happy with his car and plans to ‘leave everything the same’ for tomorrow’s second qualifier.

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Describing his Tamiya as ‘still drifting around’ with him having ‘no feeling or grip’, Rheinard said second came simply from him driving around clean for 5-minutes rather than his pace.  With both Yokomos and Alexander Hagberg setting faster lap times, Rheinard said with him having a distinct traction issue to his rivals all he can do for tomorrow is to just continue to drive around and hope that brings him repeat results.  Feeling a bad set of tyres are the root of his problem he said he might try going a little softer in the rear diff.

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‘Not what I was hoping for’ was how Volker summed up his run.  Losing three seconds due to a roll and contact with Marek Cerny as he rejoined the racing line, the 5-time DHI Cup winner added to still come away with a third was not too bad.  Running equal with Prumper he said he felt he had to push over his own limit to keep up and it was this that led to his mistake.  Lacking high speed steering, with him able to see in the first qualifier where his team-mate has an advantage he said they will make two changes for Q2 tomorrow which he hopes will also give him a little better overall balance.

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Posting the fourth fastest time Marc Fischer said he ran his diff too soft.  Running 3000w oil in his Serpent so as to make it easier to drive he said for the qualifier it was ‘pushing on power big time’.  With his rivals running between 6-7000w oil, the German will make the switch to 6000w for tomorrow.

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Posting the 5th fastest time on his debut for HB, Freddy Sudhoff was pleased with his first day with the new PRO5.  Changing to a softer front sprig and a stiffer rear diff he said this didn’t work out as the temperature dropped for Q1 and the traction was higher making the car push even more.  In constant contact with new team-mate Andy Moore and HB team manager Hiroyuki Kasuya via messaging throughout the day he said it was a good day of learning and he is looking forward to building on that tomorrow.

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Completing the Top 6 was Alexander Hagberg.  The Xray driver made a good start to the qualifier but said he lost focus leading to mistakes.  The Swede said the ‘intial pace was there’ and while he could have driven better himself they need to make some small changes for Day 2 as his T4 was a little hard too drive but he is confident they know what changes are needed.

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In the Stock class, known here in Denmark as Super Stock, it was practice pace setters Marek Cerny and Jan Ratheisky who again topped the times taking their Xray’s to a 1-2 in Q1.  Behind them Danish driver Mike Gosvig set the 3rd fastest time ahead of Serpent’s Merlin Depta who is best known for his nitro onroad exploits.

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January 9, 2015

Ronnefalk TQ’s opening two qualifiers at DHI Cup

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David Ronnefalk got his 2015 season off to the best start possible as he topped the opening two rounds of 2WD Buggy qualifying at the DHI Cup in Denmark.  The newly signed HB driver, who is running a Team C chassis as his new chassis sponsor don’t yet have a 2WD car, headed a 1-2 for the TM2 with, currently out of chassis sponsor contract, Joern Neumann using the same car to finish second in both qualifiers.  Neumann’s former Durango team-mate Michal Orlowski who was quickly signed up by Schumacher also made a promising start to his new contract as he completed the Top 3 in each of the qualifiers.

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Improving his opening TQ pace by an impressive 5-seconds, Ronnefalk said most of that was down to his set of handout Schumacher tyres being better on their second run.  Having made no changes to his chassis set-up since hitting the track at the Odense Conference Centre for the first practice in the morning, the Swede said with the tyres very aggressive on the carpet and lacking traction on the wood in Q1 this led to two mistakes. With the tyres providing better grip on the wood in the second of the four scheduled qualifiers he said the overall feeling was much better and other than once having to roll the back double once due to a bad line on the approach, he said he was very happy with his performance.  Planning to continue with the same set of tyres for Q3, he said the plan for now is then to use the last qualifier to break in a second set of tyres for the finals.

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Stiffening up the diff in his buggy for the opening qualifier, reigning European Champion Neumann said this improved the car’s earlier lack of speed out of the corner a lot.  Getting a modified top deck from the Team C ‘guys’ for Q2 he said while it didn’t feel any different to drive this further increased the buggy’s overall speed.  Returning the part after the run he will now make the same modification to his own deck by cutting it down the centre for more flex.  Much happier with the car now he feels he still needs to get more used to the car but he is much more confident now going into Day 2 of the event.

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‘Too many mistakes’ was Orlowski’s reaction to his two qualifiers.  Very complimentary of his new Cougar KF chassis, which he has not changed since free practice, the highly rated 13-year-old said the short landing on the back straight of the track is causing him particular difficulty adding that the nature of the track meant the landings where crucial with the landing having to be inch perfect to go fast and it was easy to over jump and miss the critical point on the short down ramp of the jumps.

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While Team Associated driver Niclass Mansson would post the fourth fastest time in Q1, last year’s Top Qualifier Oskar Levin would take the spot in the second qualifier.  Having had a ‘run to first’ in the first qualifier with two early mistakes leaving him 16th, the Team C driver took a safer approach to Q2.  After a better start, the Swede said ‘the pace got better and better’ and for tomorrow he hopes to build on the performance.  For Xray’s Martin Bayer qualifying netted him a pair of fifth fastest times.

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January 9, 2015

No change as Bayer & Ronnefalk top practice

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The final round of offroad practice at the DHI Cup saw no change at the top of the respective classes as Martin Bayer took top seeding for 4WD qualifying and David Ronnefalk secured the number 1 spot in 2WD.  While 4WD saw only 2 improvements from the Top 6 drivers 2WD saw the Top 7 drivers improve their pace over 3-consecutive laps with new Schumacher signing Michal Orlowski improving from 6th to second as he found almost 2-seconds in time.

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Bayer said he tested a change to his Xray XB4 in the final practice but with the traction improving from the first practice it didn’t work so well.  Almost one second off his earlier pace the former European Champion said he will go back with the set-up change for the opening qualifier which, unlike the other classes that end Day 1 with Q1, will start qualifying in Odense in the morning. In 2WD Bayer improved to third saying he managed to get a little more speed out of his XB4-2WD but added he still needs more.

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Improving to second fastest in 4WD, the class being his main focus for this his HB debut weekend, Ronnefalk said lengthening the camber links on his D413 was a step forward.  While it made the buggy feel more lazy it was a lot easier to drive having had ‘way too much side bite’ in the earlier practices. Describing the changes as putting him in the right direction for the opening qualifier, the reigning back to back 1:8 Offroad European Champion said he may try some more shock changes for the morning.  Topping 2WD with a Team C chassis, he said having tested the car for a month at home he knew it would be good and he doesn’t expect he will be making any changes again emphasising his focus is 4WD and getting to grips with that.

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Winner of all previous DHI Cup’s in 4WD, Joern Neumann ended practice third fastest.  The German said his 4WD car, the prototype Durango he used to TQ the 2013 World Championships, is good and with the top 3 ‘all (having) the same speed’ the German feels he is good for qualifying.  In 2WD he said power out of the corner is still a problem and he hopes heavier diff oil for Q1 will improve things.

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Only running in 2WD as he is also running in Touring Car, Polish ace Michal Orlowki was very happy with his final practice.  The 13-year-old said he hasn’t made any changes to his new Schumacher and the improvements are coming from better driving.  For Q1 he said he hoped he would ‘not have so much mistakes’ as the car is really good.

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