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Yokomo duo to go head to head in TQ decider
Yokomo’s star drivers Ronald Volker and Yannic Prumper are to go head to head for the overall TQ at the DHI Cup while the battle for who will start second is wide open. The penultimate qualifier at the Odense event again saw a number of drivers laying down a TQ pace but it was Volker who would make the least errors to take it with second going to HB’s Freddy Sudhoff after an impressive drive. One of the drivers to set the early TQ pace Alexander Hagberg would despite a roll on his penultimate lap complete the Top 3 followed by Marc Rheinard and Martin Lissau.
With five drivers running faster laps than him, Awesomatix’ Viljami Kutvonen posting the fastest lap, Volker said changes to his tyre prep and a small set up adjustment on his BD7 had improved his car but the German added it was not 100% as he would like to have it. Having to work harder than normal to be fast he said while he topped the times by 3-seconds this was not a true refection of how close the field is and unlike his rivals his run didn’t contain mistakes. For the final qualifier when he will need to see of the challenge of Prumper, admitting his fellow countryman has slight better pace, he will after a 10-minute discussion with engineer Yukijiro Umino make further changes to his tyre prep and set-up.
Suffering a string of mistakes Prumper eventually decided to pull his BD7 off at just after the 3-minute mark. With no complaints about the car he said the problem was simply down to too many mistakes from the driver. Having taken Q1 when the pressure of his pace caused forced Volker to push over the limit and make a mistake he said he knows he has the speed to deny his team-mate the overall TQ, which would be a good start to his 2015 season with 2014 having been a rather fruitless season for the 21-year-old.
Having went the wrong direction with a suspension change for Q2, Sudhoff said he just went the opposite way and the result was a car that was ‘very easy to drive’. Suffering one moment when he had the car on three wheels through the fast chicane, he said they now just need to make some fine adjustments to find that last 1/10th of a second. Still in remote contact with Andy Moore and HB team manager Hiroyuki Kasuya he said hopefully they can find that for the final qualifier and allow him to battle for a good starting position in the final.
Hagberg described the first 3-minutes as ‘very good’. Changing his tyre prep he said the car was better than before but his problem this time was that when himself and Rheinard ran noise to tail, Hagberg in front, he lost his rhythm. In the end he would make a ‘stupid mistake’ on his second last lap losing over a second in time as a result. Happy with the progress made in the consistency of the car he said they were now down to the last minute of the race seeing a drop off in pace and he hopes further tyre prep changes would rectify this.
Trying a different additive and again making his rear diff harder, Rheinard said these made little difference. The slightly dejected Tamiya driver said he will again go up in the stiffness of his TRF419 diff adding that with little to lose he will also use the last run to try out Protoform’s new Dodge Dart bodyshell.
Running a heavily modified Awesomatix, Martin Lissau said while the round produced his best result, changes made to the car to try and help it with the bumps had made it super hard to drive. Saying his ‘pace is really good for (him)’ the Dane plans to revert to his Q2 set-up when he was on a good run before suffering a spin.
Completing the Top 6 Marc Fischer said the increase in the oil weight in the diff of his Serpent was ‘not good’. Going to 8000w he will revert back to 6000w. The German also found after the run that his rear left shock was loose on the S411 something he acknowledged wouldn’t have helped the car’s performance. Behind Fischer Viljami was seventh fastest followed by Xray’s onroad chassis designer Martin Hudy.
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Video – 2wd Buggy Qualifying Rd4
Ronnefalk 2WD Top Qualifier at DHI Cup
David Ronnefalk got his 2015 season of to a positive start as he became Top Qualifier in 2WD Buggy at the DHI Cup. The newly signed HB driver, who is running a Team C in 2WD, secured pole position for the A-Main with a third TQ run in the final round of qualifying at the Danish event. Posting the third fastest time in Q4, it is former 2WD Champion Joern Neumann, also using Team C’s successful carpet track TM02 chassis, who will start second. Neumann’s former team-mate Michal Orlowski who now represents defending champion manufacturer Schumacher secures third on the grid.
After struggling to fifth in Q3 after a rear tyre insert change left him with an edgy car due, Ronnefalk went back to the larger insert he used to TQ the opening two qualifiers yesterday. With this his Orion powered buggy again was more stable and having better grip the Swede duly delivered another TQ run, setting the fastest lap enroute to finishing 3.3-seconds up on Orlowski. Asked about the finals, the reigning back to back 1:8 Offroad European Champion said with the ‘track not so difficult’ with the exception of the back jump he expects the finals to provide some ‘exciting’ racing. Having ran the car unchanged throughout the event the 18-year-old said the key to keeping it in front is going to be down to ‘keep mistakes at a minimum’.
‘Too many mistakes’, was how Neumann summed up his final qualifying performance. Currently without a chassis sponsor, his cars carrying prominent branding from his key sponsors Orion and Maxima, said less anti-squat in the rear of his TM02 gave him the less rear roll he was seeking but the change had led to too much roll in the front now. Also running a new set of the handout Schumacher tyres, he said this left him a bit slow at the start. To cure the front end roll he will move the front shocks out one hole on the tower. The first time he will race head to head with Ronnefalk with identical equipment (chassis, electric and tyres), he said he prefers starting second to Ronnefalk as its easier to follow than lead.
Loving his new Cougar KF, saying unlike his previous buggy he doesnt have to change the set-up each run which is allowing him to focus on improving his driving, Orlowski says securing third place overall should be easy. The 13-year-old added while Ronnefalk and Neumann are slightly faster he is ready to take advantage if the should they trip up.
Behind Orlowski, Team C’s Tom Maquel starts fourth followed by the Schumacher of 18-year-old David Hassel. Last year’s Top Qualifier Oskar Levin will carry the No.6 for the final with Xray’s Martin Bayer starting 7th. Team Associated pairing Jesper Rasmussen & Niclas Månsson and British Schmacher driver Tristram Neal complete the A-Main line-up.
View complete offroad event results here.
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Volker takes Q2 at DHI Cup
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.
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.
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’.
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.
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’.
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.
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.
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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Neumann post first TQ run in Q3
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.
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.
‘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.
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.
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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