Batlle fastest in Q2

Mugen’s Robert Batlle has TQ’d the second round of qualifying at the 1:8 Offroad European Championship, the World Champion topping the times by just 4/10ths over Q1 pace setter David Ronnefalk with 3-time former Champion Renaud Savoya completing the Top 3.  Once again defending champion Darren Bloomfield struggled, the TLR driver only able for the 38th fastest time due to ‘struggling for grip’.

Batlle, whose TQ time was 5-seconds off Ronnefalk’s morning pace, described the run as ‘not so bad’.  While his Novarossi powered MBX-7 now has good forward traction the Spaniard said he doesn’t have the grip he would like to have and as a result he is still not 100% comfortable with the buggy.  Describing the track as a ‘little slower’ than Q1 in which he was second fastest, the 2011 European Champion said they’re definitely going in the right direction with the set-up but with the track changing so much each run it is hard to know what to do for Q3 which brings Day 3 of the event to a close.

Ronnefalk said he had ‘good pace but just needs to stay on his wheels’. The Kyosho team driver was on another potential TQ run but threw it away with a late mistake at the triple-double section.  Describing the track as ‘more slippery’ and pointing out that his fastest lap was a second slower than his morning time he said the key to the loose conditions is not to push too hard as it only ends up costing time.   In terms of his set-up he said he doesn’t plan to make any changes to his Orion powered MP9 and instead just put in a clean round.

‘Better and better, following the plan’ was Savoya’s summary of his run to the third fastest time.  Running Sweep’s Mirco Contact tyre on his XB9 he said his buggy was faster even though the track was slower so he is ‘really happy’ with where they are at now.  Struggling a little with his clutch which was causing the Orion powered buggy to run-on slightly in the corners he will fit a harder clutch for Q3 which he said should disengage quicker and alleviate the small problem.  Planning to leave his chassis set-up as is he said the aim for Q3 is to get another strong round which will allow them to use tomorrow’s two remaining qualifiers to test some things with a view to the finals.

Fourth fastest Jerome Aigoin said considering his lack of grip the run was not so bad.  Changing to AKA’s Handlebar tyre, which he was happy with in yesterday’s practice, he said compared with the Wishbone he ran in Q1, it left his Novarossi powered MP9 with no traction.  Reverting to a plan of just keeping the thing on four wheels for the 5-minutes, he said he needs to work on his set-up if he is to attempt to become overall Top Qualifier in his home country adding that he also needs to get his head in better order too for the remaining qualifiers.

The second of the famous racing Aigoin brothers Yannick posted the 5th fastest time.  The humorous Team Associated driver said he was pleased to see he ‘can still drive 5-minutes without mistakes’ adding his time could have been better but for traffic over his last two laps which he said caused him to struggle to keep his rhythm. Having made some small changes to the rear shocks and toe of his Centro chassis RC8 he said it helped make the buggy a little faster and for Q3 he will make some further adjustments to try and make the rear even more stable.  The two time former champion also plans to run a different clutch for his next run.

Completing the Top 6 was 16-year-old Oscar Baldo.  The Spanish Mugen driver suffered 3 mistakes in Q1 but having made his Procircuit shod MBX-7 more stable for Q2 by running heavier diffs and roll-bars he was able to complete a clean round.  Declaring his run as a ‘very good result’, he doesn’t plan to make any changes for Q3 other than choosing the right compound of Hot Dices tyre for the conditions.

22-year-old Christoffer Svensson was pleased with his run to the 7th fastest time, the Swedish Kyosho driver saying his OS powered MP9 ‘felt really good’.  Having driven a little too reserved in Q1, he said he pushed much harder second time round but conscious that he needed to keep the run clean he started to hold back a little by the end but he is happy that both he and the buggy are capable of more.

Behind Svensson, Martin Bayer took his LRP powered Xray to 8th for the round.  Third quickest in Q1, the Czech driver said the track changed a lot from the morning and his XB9 was ‘pretty loose’.  For Q3 the former podium finisher plans to come up with a completely different set-up.

Elsewhere Team Durango’s Joern Neumann, who was 4th in Q1, was on for another competitive run until he hit traffic.  The German said he thought the slower driver would open up so he could pass but he didn’t and the pair ending up crashing. Mugen’s Lee Martin suffered ‘one stupid mistake’ at the triple which cost him 4 seconds and left him 13th.  The British ace said he is not sure he picked the right compound of Proline Ion tyre for the run saying he needs to find more forward traction for the next one.

Round 2 Qualifying Top 12
1. Robert Batlle – Mugen/Novarossi – 8/5:24.87
2. David Ronnefalk – Kyosho/Orion – 8/5:25.26
3. Renaud Savoya – Xray/Orion – 8/5:25.67
4. Jerome Aigoin – Kyosho/Novarossi – 8/5:26.15
5. Yannick Aigoin – Associated/nVision – 8/5:26.32
6. Oscar Baldo – Mugen/Novarossi – 8/5:28.07
7. Christoffer Svensson – Kyosho/OS – 8/5:28.24
8. Martin Bayer – Xray/LRP – 8/5:28.61
9. Renaud Monin – Mugen/Bullitt – 8/5:28.85
10.Ari Heinonen – Kyosho/Alpha – 8/5:29.66
11.Neil Cragg – Associated/LRP – 8/5:29.98
12.Jerome Sartel – Agama/Bullitt – 8/5:30.50

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Manufacturer Statistics

The statistics for equipment at this year’s European Championships, as provided by the host Reims EMC Club, show that reigning World Champions Mugen are again the most popular chassis with the Japanese company represented this week in France by 33 drivers with Kyosho the next most popular choice with 29 followed by defending European Champions TLR whose 8ight is being run in Reims by 23 racers. Represented by 17 drivers Xray is the fourth biggest brand.

In terms of powering their buggies Novarossi remain the most popular choice among the 171 officially listed entries. The reigning World & European Champion’s engines are fitted to 46 buggies with France’s RB the second most popular choice with 24 users followed by OS with 18 and Orion with 15.

With a total of 16 tyre brands being used at these, the 33rd running of the Championships, it is defending Champions AKA who have the largest share of the field with 52 users followed by Procircuit, the tyre choice of World Champion Robert Batlle, and Beta which are each providing traction to 27 drivers. Proline are the fourth biggest supplier with 21 drivers.

Ronnefalk TQ’s opening Reims Qualifier

Team Kyosho’s young star David Ronnefalk has TQ’d the opening round of qualifying at the 1:8 Offroad European Championships in Reims, France,  the Swede navigating the chalk track 3-seconds faster than World Champion Robert Batlle with Xray’s Martin Bayer completing the Top 3 in a close encounter which saw the next 6 drivers covered by just 3-seconds.  For defending champion Darren Bloomfield two mistakes left him down the order with the 20th fastest time, the British driver saying he just pushed too hard.

Ronnefalk described his run as ‘pretty much the perfect run’.  The 17-year-old said today’s colder conditions meant the unique chalk track had more traction and this resulted in his Orion powered MP9 being much easier to control.  Commenting that he was ‘helped for sure by having no traffic issues’, something many of the top drivers had trouble with, he said his buggy, which was equipped with a scrubbed set of AKA Handlebar tyres, felt really good as it has all week and he doesn’t plan to make any changes for Q2.

‘Not bad, much better than yesterday’, was how Mugen’s Batlle summed up his first qualifier.  The Spaniard, who is looking to add a third European title alongside his current World title, said a change to heavier diff oils had given him the traction and grip he was lacking in yesterday’s practice.  Having a few little mistakes and feeling he lost a little time when he caught Elliot Boots after the Kyosho driver had a crash, Batlle feels he can improve.  In terms of his Procircuit shod MBX-7 he will go for a heavier oil in the rear diff for Q2.

Czech driver Bayer was very happy with his opening performance commenting that it was a good points haul to start the qualifying with.  The factory Xray driver said his LRP powered XB9 felt good and was ‘really comfortable’ to drive.  Having favoured AKA’s Wishbone tyre over the more popular choice the Handlebar, he ran the latter saying for the cooler conditions it suited his buggy better but for the next round when conditions will be much warmer he plans to revert to running Wishbone.

Having not really featured on the radar yesterday Team Durango’s Joern Neumann set the fourth fastest time with his latest prototype buggy.  The reigning 4WD Electric Offroad European Champion said it was a clean run adding that his Picco powered buggy is easy to drive and has good steering.  Running a slick tyre, which started out life as a JConcepts Black Jacket before Durango designer Gerd Strenge went to work on them with a belt sander, the German said it worked well on the morning’s slightly moist track but for Q2 he said practice has shown that they will not work as the track gets dusty and so he will run a less modified tyre from the JConcepts range.

Top seed after yesterday’s practice, Jerome Aigoin described his run to the 5th fastest time as ‘hard’.  The Kyosho driver had one mistake of his own doing which lost him 3-seconds but lost a further 3-seconds on his final lap when he struggled to get by a back marker.  The French Champion said his MP9 felt good and he just needs better luck in Q2.   Kyosho/Novarossi team-mate Elliot Boots also had a mistake along with a number of ‘scruffy laps’ ending up 10th fastest. The World Championship Top Qualifier said the track changed since yesterday and his buggy did not feel great for the conditions and he needs to get it to rotate more for Q2.

Renaud Savoya said he got caught out a little by the conditions.  With all the drivers getting a round of 2-minutes of practice, essentially a track cleaning run, he said the track was really grippy but then come his first qualifier the traction was much lower than expected.  Having set his Orion powered XB9 for high traction he said it was hard to drive and he was not comfortable with it.  Just driving to ‘keep it safe’ and with the track in his opinion getting slower and slower every round he said he thinks that his pace is there and with a bit more grip from a better set-up he should be good for the next one which he pointed out was not for another 5-hours so he has plenty of time to look over everything.

Lee Martin, who called into question the refereeing having had problems with traffic, described his qualifier as ‘alright’ adding it was a ‘nervous first run’.  The British driver who travels to Spain next week to defend his 2WD Electric Offroad European title, said he ‘didn’t try super hard’ as he wanted to put in a clean run but was frustrated by slower drivers hindering him and not getting out of his way with the referee only telling the drivers to stay calm rather than informing them he had a faster buggy behind him.  Running Proline’s Ion tyre Martin said he plans to continue with that choice but will be ‘keeping an eye on the weather’.

Round 1 Qualifying Top 12
1. David Ronnefalk – Kyosho/Orion – 8/5:19.79
2. Robert Batlle – Mugen/Novarossi – 8/5:22.77
3. Martin Bayer – Xray/LRP – 8/5:23.25
4. Joern Neumann – Durango/Picco – 8/5:23.73
5. Jerome Aigoin – Kyosho/Novarossi – 8/5:23.91
6. Renaud Savoya – Xray/Orion – 8/5:24.33
7. Lee Martin – Mugen/Beat – 8/5:25.07
8. Yannick Aigoin – Associated/nVision – 8/5:25.23
9. Daniel Vega – Agama/Bullitt – 8/5:26.82
10.Elliott Boots – Kyosho/Novarossi – 8/5:27.80
11.Bryan Baldo – Mugen/Novarossi – 8/5:27.81
12.Jerome Sartel – Agama/Bullitt – 8/5:28.50

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