Ronnefalk on pole

Kyosho’s David Ronnefalk will start the Main final which will decode the 33rd 1:8 Offroad European Champion from pole position after the Top Qualifier won his semi final in the fastest time with the other Semi Final winner Joern Neumann starting second on the grid for this evening’s 45-minute encounter at Reims in France. A great drive by reigning champion Darren Bloomfield, who had a difficult qualifying, will see the TLR driver try and defend his title from 3rd on the 12 car grid.

Ronnefalk, who has been portraying a new level of maturity and confidence this weekend, took the first of the semi finals from Bloomfield after an early battle with Renaud Savoya until the 3-time champion crashed. The Swede said following his early but ‘clean battle’ with Savoya he was able to pull away and focus on running the fastest time for the 20-minute race saying he wanted to ensure he would start the final from pole. Running his race 11-seconds faster than Neumann’s winning time of a very exciting encounter, Ronnefalk said everything worked perfectly as it has all week and other than freshen up his Orion powered MP9 he will go into the main with the buggy as is.

Having only qualified 13th, Bloomfield appears to have found his rhythm, the British driver saying he doesn’t exactly know what it is but its working. Having had a toothache early in the event he said that has now gone and for sure this is helping him to drive better and he is ‘now ready to rock’. Very happy with his AKA shod 8ight 3.0 he said he other than fitting a fresh clutch to his Novarossi engine he will leave the buggy as is. While most drivers stopped twice for fuel in the Semis, Bloomfield only stopped once and this could be his trump card in the Main.

Third in the first Semi was Mugen’s Lee Martin. The British driver said the run was ‘alright’ adding that he is still looking for more steering and so for the final he will change the anti squat and roll-bars on his Proline Big Block shod MBX-7.

Savoya said his XB9 was ‘perfect’ for the first 10-minutes but for the second half of the race it was not so good. Planning to change to a heavier shock oil for the main event he is confident this will give him a more consistent buggy and all will be ‘OK’.

The semi B final which saw a great battle between Neumann, Battle and Martin Bayer.  Neumann described his race as ‘good’ saying they have been working to a plan with his prototype Durango and it is now starting to come good.  The German said his Picco powered buggy is easy to drive but said the field is very close with ‘all the top guys very similar in speed’ and he expects a very close final.

Bayer was just 7/10ths off the winner. The Xray driver said the race was ‘proper preparation for the final’ and he was pleased at making it through. Having changed his LRP powered XB9 after qualifying the Czech ace said his buggy was not very good in the Semi Warm-up session and so they changed for the actual Semi and he is very happy with how it worked. World Champion Batlle, who started his Semi from pole, would finish third, the Spaniard saying they ran too light an oil in the diffs of his Mugen.

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Semi Final results

Semi Final A Result
1. David Ronnefalk – Kyosho/Orion – 30/20:26.54
2. Darren Bloomfield – TLR/Novarossi – 30/20:38.05
3. Lee Martin – Mugen/Beat – 29/20:00.80
4. Renaud Savoya – Xray/Orion – 29/20:03.54
5. Jerome Aigoin – Kyosho/Novarossi – 29/20:04.35
6. Elliott Boots – Kyosho/Novarossi – 29/20:07.63
7. Carlos Duraes – Sworkz/RB – 29/20:20.75
8. Bryan Baldo – Mugen/Novarossi – 28/20:06.11
9. Renaud Monin – Mugen/Bullitt – 28/20:17.71
10.Nicolas Rodriguez – Hongkor/Falcon – 28/20:36.69
11.Oscar Baldo – Mugen/Novarossi – 27/20:11.86
12.Davide Ongaro – Mugen/RB – 26/20:35.62

Semi Final B Result
1. Joern Neumann – Durango/Picco – 30/20:37.58
2. Martin Bayer – Xray/LRP – 30/20:38.30
3. Robert Batlle – Mugen/Novarossi – 30/20:40.95
4. Yannick Aigoin – Associated/nVision – 29/20:06.01
5. Jerome Sartel – Agama/Bullitt – 29/20:12.51
6. Christoffer Svensson – Kyosho/OS – 29/20:22.48
7. Daniel Vega – Agama/Bullitt – 29/20:27.89
8. Neil Gragg – Associated/LRP – 29/20:30.55
9. Joseph Quagrine – JQ/JQ – 29/20:32.45
10.Ari Heinonen – Kyosho/Alpha – 29/20:33.33
11.Simon Willetts – Kyosho/Novarossi – 29/20:41.51
12.Miguel Mathias – TLR/RB – 29/20:42.34

24 remain in Reims

After a morning of lower finals the 33rd running of the 1:8 Offroad European Championship has been whittled down to 24 drivers who will now compete in the Semi finals in search of one of the 12 places in the evening’s title deciding 45-minute encounter. With the Top 16 decided in qualifying the 20-minute 1/4 Finals decided who joins them with the 1/4 A final ensuring two young chargers keep their hopes of making the main event in Reims. Starting from pole, up & coming 12-year-old Italian Davide Ongaro took the win, the European B Championship Top Qualifier taking his Mugen to a 10-second winning margin over the S-Workz of Portugal’s Carlos Duraes. Third place went to Nicolas Rodriguez who just held off Spanish star of the future Oscar Baldo, the 16-year-old securing the final bump-up spot to join his older brother Bryan in the Semi finals.

In the second of the 1/4 finals former champion Daniel Vega managed to get pass JQ boss Joesph Quagraine, who started from pole, late in the race to put his Agama in the same Semi in which World Champion Robert Batlle starts No.1. Having qualified in the 1/8 final it was a good morning for Mugen’s Simon Willetts, having just bumped up on to the back of the 1/4 final the British driver moved up through the field to finish 3rd just behind JQ booking his place into his third final of the day. Also coming up from the 1/8 Final Finald’s Ari Heinonen claimed the final available spot for the Semi finals.

Notable names that will play no further part in the event include HB’s Teemu Leino who starting second in his 1/4 Final had a fraught race plummeting down the order to eventually finish 9th. The same race also saw the end of the road for multiple electric offroad European Champion Hupo Honigl, the Durango driver only able to finish 6th. In the other 1/4 final we saw the demise of reigning European B Champion Marco Buruffolo and former Worlds finalist and LRP team driver Borja Hernandez.

Semi Final A Grid
1. David Ronnefalk – Kyosho/Orion
2. Renaud Savoya – Xray/Orion
3. Jerome Aigoin – Kyosho/Novarossi
4. Lee Martin – Mugen/Beat
5. Renaud Monin – Mugen/Bullitt
6. Elliott Boots – Kyosho/Novarossi
7. Darren Bloomfield – TLR/Novarossi
8. Bryan Baldo – Mugen/Novarossi
9. Davide Ongaro – Mugen/RB
10.Carlos Duraes – Sworkz/RB
11.Nicolas Rodriguez – Hongkor/Falcon
12.Oscar Baldo – Mugen/Novarossi

Semi Final B Grid
1. Robert Batlle – Mugen/Novarossi
2. Yannick Aigoin – Associated/nVision
3. Martin Bayer – Xray/LRP
4. Joern Neumann – Durango/Picco
5. Jerome Sartel – Agama/Bullitt
6. Christoffer Svensson – Kyosho/OS
7. Neil Gragg – Associated/LRP
8. Miguel Mathias – TLR/RB
9. Daniel Vega – Agama/Bullitt
10.Joseph Quagrine – JQ/JQ
11.Simon Willetts – Kyosho/Novarossi
12.Ari Heinonen – Kyosho/Alpha

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Ronnefalk ‘Top Qualifier’ at Euros

17-year-old David Ronnefalk is the Top Qualifier of the 33rd running of the 1:8 Offroad European Championships, the rising Kyosho star securing the honor in style as he claimed his third TQ run of the French event in the fifth & final round of qualifying.  Setting the third fastest time in Q5 behind Team Associated’s Yannick Aigoin, World Champion Robert Batlle ends qualifying 2nd overall with arch rival Renaud Savoya completing the Top 3 despite a disappointing final heat in which he could only manage the 12th fastest time.  A great final qualifier to the fifth fastest time by defending Champion Darren Bloomfield ensures the very relieved TLR driver will line up in the Semi Finals, the performance injecting a new lease of confidence in the British driver for tomorrow’s big day.

Ronnefalk, who when he TQ’d the European B Championships went on to become the 2009 Champion, was delighted to claim the honor of Top Qualifier in the premiere event.  Running his final qualifier after Savoya and Batlle, the only drivers who had a chance of denying him the overall TQ but failed, the Swede said he knew that he had the overall TQ before he started his run but added that he still wanted to finish qualifying in style by topping the round. Suffering one bobble after the ripples section, Ronnefalk said the run was otherwise perfect and without the moment he thinks he could have equaled his Q1 time, which remains the fastest of the weekend.  Looking forward to the final, last year’s Runner-up, who made it clear at the beginning of the week that he is here for revenge, said his AKA shod Orion powered MP9 has performed perfectly all week and he expects it to be no different for the finals although they will use the Semis practice to ‘try a few ideas’.

Suffering a mistake on his final run when his view was blocked by a marshal attending another car, Batlle said missing out on the TQ was not a big problem.  The Spaniard who is chasing a third European title said ‘everything is very close’ adding that being separated by 1 second after 5-minutes is ‘nothing’.  A lot happier with his Novarossi powered MBX-7 having struggled earlier in the event to get comfortable with the buggy, he said they don’t plan any big changes for the finals with just a few final adjustments to try and make the buggy a little more consistent for the longer runs, the Semi finals being 20-minute affairs while the title deciding Main will be run over 45-minutes.

Savoya said he was ‘obviously disappointed’ by missing out on the overall TQ but added that it was better to try a set-up with the final in mind rather than stay with the same buggy to get a position that will make little difference to the outcome of tomorrow’s racing.  Wanting to try something different the ‘Shark’ said they went a little too much with the changes.  Trying a harder rear shock spring and harder Sweep tyres it made his Orion powered XB9 lack rotation and was forcing him to drive a safe run.  Very happy with the buggy in Q4, which he TQ’d, he said they will revert to this set-up for the Semi practice as it was very consistent but they will make a few small tweaks to try and find a little more steering.

Ending qualifying fourth in the overall ranking, 2006 Champion Aigoin said his nVision powered Associated was the best it has been all week.  Reverting to a previously used set he said they found a really good balance and he is looking forward to the finals.  While decided on the tyre he will use, Procircuits Hot Dice, he is not yet sure which compound to use and will use the Semi Practice to do back to back comparisons.  Asked about strategies for the finals, Aigoin said with tyre wear low and run time not a huge issue he said unless someone can do an Adam Drake on their run time, the final should be a straight race with the fastest driver the winner.

Enjoying by far his best qualifier setting the 5th fastest time behind Xray’s Martin Bayer, and less than a 1/10 of a second ahead of HB’s Teemu Leino, Bloomfield ‘woohoo’ reaction to the result summed up his relief.  Switching to AKA’s Enduro tyre he said it transformed his Novarossi powered 8ight.  While all his rivals buggies worked on a small pin tyre on the unique chalk surface track, his couldn’t get his chassis to work but switching to the big block Enduro pattern he said as soon as he hit the track it was a case of ‘oh yeh’ this is good.  The tyre gave the 3.0 version of the 8ight much better steering and overall he was able to drive much smoother rather than having to use the throttle to control the steering.  Bloomfield said he now needs to pick himself up after the disappointment of the past few days but with great encouragement from former World Champion and AKA front man Mark Pavidis he says he is confident he can carry his Q5 form into the Semi finals.

Round 5 Qualifying Top 12
1. David Ronnefalk – Kyosho/Orion – 8/5:21.42
2. Yannick Aigoin – Associated/nVision – 8/5:24.42
3. Robert Batlle – Mugen/Novarossi – 8/5:25.29
4. Martin Bayer – Xray/LRP – 8/5:25.33
5. Darren Bloomfield – TLR/Novarossi – 8/5:26.88
6. Teemu Leino – HB/LRP – 8/5:26.95
7. Jerome Sartel – Agama/Bullitt – 8/5:27.18
8. Andres Marcelino – RB/RB – 8/5:27.85
9. Joern Neumann – Durango/Picco – 8/5:27.96
10.Christoffer Svensson – Kyosho/OS – 8/5:29.76
11.Elliott Boots – Kyosho/Novarossi – 8/5:30.28
12.Renaud Savoya – Xray/Orion – 8/5:30.52

Top 16 (Direct Semi Final Qualifiers)
1. David Ronnefalk – Kyosho/Orion – 528 pts
2. Robert Batlle – Mugen/Novarossi – 523
3. Renaud Savoya – Xray/Orion – 523
4. Yannick Aigoin – Associated/nVision – 519
5. Jerome Aigoin – Kyosho/Novarossi – 515
6. Martin Bayer – Xray/LRP – 513
7. Lee Martin – Mugen/Beat – 513
8. Joern Neumann – Durango/Picco – 512
9. Renaud Monin – Mugen/Bullitt – 502
10.Jerome Sartel – Agama/Bullitt – 497
11.Elliott Boots – Kyosho/Novarossi – 496
12.Christoffer Svensson – Kyosho/OS – 496
13.Darren Bloomfield – TLR/Novarossi – 492
14.Neil Gragg – Associated/LRP – 490
15.Bryan Baldo – Mugen/Novarossi – 489
16.Miguel Mathias – TLR/RB – 487

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