January 8, 2010

Leino fastest for Xray

LeinoP3-LR

After three rounds of free practice for the 2010 DHI Cup it is Team Xray’s Teemu Leino who is at the top of the time sheets here in Odense with his Team Orion powered T3 recording a best lap time of 16.559.  The former European Champion says he has done little with the set-up on his car and is just waiting for the traction levels to come up on the brand new carpet.  Asked about the track design for the 10th Anniversary of the famous Danish race, the Finn said that it was very tight compared with last year but it was the same for everyone.

Second fastest is 2007 winner Ronald Volker who managed a 16.623 lap time with his LRP powered Yokomo.  The German has been playing with a number of little set ups on his BD5 and plans further changes for the final round of practice as he would like to make the car a little easier to drive. Behind Volker it is the very much on form young Finnish driver Christer Andersson.  The winner of the warm-up race for the up coming European Indoor Championships in Finland and the Italian Grand Prix, the young Associated driver is running a self modified chassis which has the motor positioned more towards the centre line than the standard TC5.

Last year’s Top Qualifier Alexander Hagberg is fourth fastest with his Xray.  The Swede struggled in the opening two sessions but said the third run was OK and that he is confident better is to come.

Running his privately entered Tamiya which features a self designed motor mount, local star Steen Graversen said the car was running fine.  Having conducted some extensive testing over the last few weeks the Dane who was a podium finisher here in 2008 said he will remove some screws for the fourth and final practice to get more flex in the car. Former champion Viktor Wilck completed the Top 6 with a best time of 16.924.

Defending DHI Cup Champion Marc Rheinard lies a rather lowly 19th on the time sheets but the German is not too worried yet! The World Champion said the set-up on his Speed Passion powered Tamiya TRF416X is for sure not brilliant but he feels he is heading in the right direction with the set-up.

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In Pro Stock defending Champion Tommy Bergfeldt again set the pace improving to a lap time of 17.214, topping fellow Hot Bodies driver Alexander Stocker.  The Swedish driver, who enjoys support from Red Bull, made the slightest of changes to his Cyclone for the last run shimming out the top mounting point for the rear shocks which he said made the car a little more stable.  Fellow countryman Ola Westholm driving a TOP Photon is third fastest on a 17.776.

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January 8, 2010

DHI Cup celebrates 10th birthday

Past-Winners-LR

10 years ago a guy by the name of Kim Bendiksen decided that instead of chauffeuring his friend Jonas Kaerup around Europe all the time that maybe it would be possible to get the top international drivers to come to Denmark for a change.  Naming the event after his r/c distribution business, Dansk Hobby Import, the DHI Cup was born in 2001. The entry for the inaugural event was not what Kim had hoped for but he didn’t give up on the idea of Denmark having an annual international race. Instead he made a promise to the drivers that if he got over 100 entries for the 2002 event he would make trophy girls a feature of the event.  The incentive worked and the event has gone from strength to strength to become one of the major touring car races in the World.

The previous 9 running’s of the DHI Cup have produced seven different winners and four of them are back here this weekend as serious contenders for victory of the 10th Anniversary race.  Heading that line up is defending champion Marc Rheinard who is one of only two drivers to have won the event twice.  He is joined by Tamiya team-mate Viktor Wilck who took his first ever international race win here in 2008. Ronald Volker, Champion in 2007, is here as part of a very strong Yokomo line up with 2003 winner Juho Levanen the other past winner present here this weekend at the impressive Odense Congress Center.

As always all the big teams are present but one team out in force this weekend is Yokomo.  The Japanese company have a real quality line up with Volker being joined by current 1:12 World Champion Naoto Matsukura, former 1:10 Off Road World Champion Hayato Matsuzaki and the latest recruit to the team, former European Championship Top Qualifier Steven Weiss. Yukijiro Umino who showed great speed on his last visit to Europe when he finished second at the Euro Touring Series race in Hungary will carry the hopes of the Yokomo team in Pro Stock.

Heading the entry for the 94-strong field of Pro Stock drivers is defending Champion Tommy Bergfeldt.  The Swede dominated proceedings here 12 months ago winning from pole position and after the opening two rounds of practice finds himself at the top of the time sheets ahead of Alexander Stocker and last year’s runner up Henry Salmén.

Track-LR

New for this year’s event is the new pre-glued controlled VTEC CPX tyre from LRP which has been specially developed for indoor carpet racing.  With two rounds of practice just completed, and a racing line starting to appear on the brand new carpet, we can expect to get a good indication of who is at what and who has a little more to do ahead of the first round of qualifying which will bring Day 1 of the 2010 DHI Cup to a close.

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