Jérôme Aigoin takes Q2

Kyosho’s Jérôme Aigoin has TQ’d the second round of qualifying for the 1:8 Offroad Euros, the French driver topping the time sheets ahead of Mugen pairing Robert Batlle and Daniel Reckward. After the wet conditions of the opening qualifier this morning the sun made a welcomed return over Sand-am-Main in Germany just in time to dry out the track for Q2 as the fastest drivers hit the track.

Taking the round by over 5 seconds, Aigoin said a clean run with no mistakes gave him the ‘perfect’ result but overall the set-up of his MP9 was only ‘OK’. With the track getting a lot more bumpy following the earlier rain he said his buggy was now very nervous in certain areas of the track and he needs to work on finding a better set-up.  Running AKA’s soft Grid Iron tyres, Aigoin said the key to qualifying was now all about keeping the run free of errors.

Having had a non finish in the opening qualifier, Batlle said he was happy with second in terms of getting good points on the board but overall it was a difficult run.  With lots of stones appearing on the track the Spaniard said his shock set-up did not feel right with his Mugen bouncing around a lot.  Running Pro Circuits new tyre, which is expected to be called Hot Dice when it goes on sale, the Warm-up race winner will fit new shocks for Q3.

Failing to start Q1 after suffering a steering servo failure after just two warm-up laps, Reckward said he ran a ‘very safe’ second round.  Making no mistakes he was surprised by his pace at the end of the five minutes.  Deciding to continue with RB’s new tyre range for the rest of the event having used the Scorpion to good effect on the opening day when he topped practice.  Running the Dragon pattern in Q2, the three time European Champion will run a lighter shock oil in the third run of the day to try and improve his MBX-6 over the developing bumps.

Best known for racing on flat carpet, current 1:12 European Champion Simo Ahoniemi put in a very competitive second qualifier taking his Mugen to the fourth fastest time.  Less than a second off Batlle’s time, the Finn said his AKA City Block shod MBX-6 felt really good and he knew from his warm-up laps that he would be able to push for a good result.

Completing the Top 6 just behind Yannick Aigoin, who was fastest TLR driver in Q2, Elliot Boots was pleased with his qualifier.  Making one mistake the former European Junior Champion said he backed off his driving a little and this suited the conditions.  Running JConcepts’ Sub Culture tyres in blue compound, the Team Durango driver said there is a lot of time to be gained in how you drive the track with the right tyre choice also being more critical.  For Boots’ Durango team Renaud Savoya, who is chasing a fourth consecutive European title here this week, the wrong tyre choice left him 27th fastest.  Opting for Proline’s Block Head M3 compound he said he had no traction.

Round 2 Qualifying – Top 12
1. Jérôme Aigoin – Kyosho/Novarossi – 10/5:06.476
2. Robert Batlle – Mugen/Novarossi – 10/5:11.850
3. Daniel Reckward – Mugen/RB – 10/5:12.602
4. Simo Ahoniemi – Mugen/Ninja – 10/5:12.801
5. Yannick Aigoin – Losi/nVision – 10/5:13.036
6. Elliot Boots – Durango/RB – 10/5:14.267
7. Marcel Guske – Mugen/RB – 10/5:14.367
8. Martin Bayer – Losi/nVision – 10/5:14.553
9. Darren Bloomfield – Losi/Nitrotec- 10 5:14.575
10.Carsten Keller – Losi/nVision – 10/5:16.175
11.Reece Sawyer – Xray/OS – 10/5:16.560
12.Ignacio Candel – Mugen/S-Workz – 10/5.17.454

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Willetts tops muddy opening qualifier

Mugen driver Simon Willetts set the pace in the opening round of qualifying at the 1:8 Offroad European Championships which got underway in less than ideal conditions and resulted in a few surprises at the top end of the time sheets.  Having completed the opening two days of practice under beautiful sunny skies, the weather took a turn yesterday evening as heavy rain arrived over Sand-am-Main.  Continuing to rain overnight, competitors arrived to a very wet track with a number of leading drivers making a request to officials to delay the start to allow some of the water to drain off.  Unfortunately for the first few groups of drivers the event started as originally scheduled and they had to contend with very difficult conditions.

First casualty of the wet track was TLR’s Martin Bayer.  Seeded No.1 after practice his group was first on track and just as the 5-minutes started his 8ight succumbed to water in the radio’s electrics.

Running in the fifth group to go on track, Willetts admitted he was lucky to not have been in the earlier heats but felt he had driven well and put in a good clean run.  Running super soft AKA City Block on his Orion powered MBX-6, the British driver said the crucial thing was staying on the line and he complimented the other drivers in his heat for giving him space to pass.

Making it a British 1-2 for the round Darren Bloomfield was very happy with second.  Running super soft Grid Iron from AKA on his Losi 8ight, the British Champion said he had an issue with France’s Jerome Sartel who  held him up for 2 laps.  Costing him a potential to TQ for the round, Bloomfield said despite being delayed he was very happy with second as he went into the opening qualifier with his fingers crossed for a Top 10 time.

Third fastest was Team Xray’s Teemu Leino. The 2009 Finalist said despite the track looking bad his run felt pretty good. Happy with the set-up of his LRP powered XB808 on Tuesday, the Finn struggled a little yesterday but says he is confident he can now maintain his pace.

Making it four different cars in the Top 4 Kyosho’s Jerome Aigoin summarised the challenge of the track by saying ‘I finished’.  Running AKA Grid Iron on his Novarossi engined MP9, the Frenchman said he had some problems with traffic due to all the cars looking the same as a result of being covered in mud.  Behind Aigoin German Mugen driver Stefan Byesse and Chris Doughty from Britain driving a Durango completed the Top 6.

Only 36th fastest, defending champion Renaud Savoya summed up his run in the muddy conditions by saying ‘I did what I could’. Running a clean run the Team Durango driver said the car was easy to drive and he didn’t put a wheel wrong but with the conditions changing so much over the first four groups it was going to be impossible to match the times of those who ran later.

Faring a little better with the 18th fastest time Yannick Aigoin said that while the conditions changed a lot,  following the schedule was probably the fairest systems as no one could predict whether it was going to dry up and rain more.  The TLR ace said the rest of the day could be all about the luck of the timing of your heat.

Practice pace setter David Ronnefalk was one of the drivers that wanted the start of qualifying delayed.  Running in Group 2 along with Yannick Aigoin, the young Swede said the track was really slow and with a mistake he ended up only 27th.

Warm-up race winner Robert Batlle failed to finish his run. The former champion suffered an engine flame out but said he struggled with the braking on his Mugen with the buggy always locking up under breaking.

Round 1 Qualifying – Top 12
1. Simon Willetts – Mugen/Orion – 10/5:12.846
2. Darren Bloomfield – Losi/Nitrotec – 10/5:13.069
3. Teemu Leino – Xray/LRP – 10/5:16.430
4. Jérôme Aigoin – Kyosho/Novarossi – 10/5:19.605
5. Stefan Byesse – Mugen/RB – 10/5:19.770
6. Chris Doughty – Durango/LRP – 10/5:21.807
7. Miguel Matias – JQ/RB – 10/5:22.095
8. Ricardo Monteiro – Losi/RB – 10/5:22.518
9. Edouard Hugon – Mugen/Alpha – 10/5:22.790
10.Simo Ahoniemi – Mugen/Ninja – 10/5:23.130
11.Ben Williams – Xray/Bullit – 10/5:23.281
12.Lee Martin – Tamiya/OS – 10/5:23.523

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Manufacturer Statistics

1:8 Offroad is a very important market for the various r/c manufacturers and that is clearly evident by the level of leading industry figures present here at the European Championship in Sand-am-Main, Germany.

With 175 drivers competing in the 31st running of these EFRA championships it is defending champions Mugen who are the No.1 choice of chassis with 40 drivers choosing the MBX-6.  Behind them Xray is the second most popular buggy with 23 racers running the XB808 followed closely by Kyosho who have 22 cars and TLR who have 19 users. Becoming a pretty crowded market at total of 20 different chassis brands are represented in the field.

In the engine department it is also the reigning champions that are the top choice with 39 drivers running RB. Novarossi are the number 2 choice with 23 users followed by OS with 19 and current World Champions Orion who are preferred by 17 of the 175 racers who represent 20 European Nations.

As full size tyre company Pirelli puts it ‘Power is nothing without control’ and one company that looks to have taken control of the buggy tyre market is AKA.  75 drivers, over 40% of the entry here, are using the American company’s rubber and recognising the importance of the European market they have former World Champion & one of the company’s founders Mark Pavidis on hand to offer support with choosing the right tyre.  Once the market dominator Proline are a distant second with 24 users followed by Spanish brand Pro Circuit which are being run by 20 drivers.

Special thanks to John Yves Ferte, Team Manager for Mugen Europe who took the time to compile the statistics.