Aigoin tops final Euros practice

Practice for the 32nd running of the 1:8 Offroad European Championships has concluded with Jerome Aigoin topping the final controlled practice at the Fehring track in Austria.  Last year’s Top Qualifier took his Novarossi powered MP9 to the only 9 lap run of the day making it a very strong start to the championship for Kyosho who topped yesterday’s free practice with David Ronnefalk and this morning’s damp practice round with Elliot Boots, who on combined points from today’s two controlled practices is top seed for tomorrow’s qualifying.

Having only ran the 9th fastest time in the morning, Aigoin said the only change he made for the final practice was to switch to soft compound AKA Enduro tyres and he was very happy with the choice as they worked very well on the now ‘cleaner’ track.  With his buggy feeling easy to drive since the start of practice yesterday the newly crowned French champion said he plans to continue to leave his set-up as is adding that making the right tyre call was going to be the most important thing for tomorrow.  With the changing conditions most talk in the pits focuses around tyres which is keeping AKA boss & former World Champion Mark Pavidis busy in the pits as he tries to assist his drivers with making the right call.  In the reseed the top 4 positions went to AKA drivers.

Behind Aigoin former champion Miguel Matias set the second fastest time of Q2.  The Portuguese ace, whose RB powered 8ight features new geometry, said the new parts have made the buggy very easy to drive everywhere around the track.  Looking for a little more steering he will change from a 2.0 to a 2.3 sway bar for qualifying which he said will solve that.  Running super soft AKA Grid Iron he said they worked well for the conditions but added he is still looking for the right tyre for qualifying.

Boots, who lost around 2 seconds when fellow Kyosho driver Christoffer Svensson landed on his MP9 off one of the jumps, was overall pleased with his pace in practice and as the top seed for qualifying is looking forward to tomorrow.  Using the second practice to try different diff oils he said the track was quite slippy as the surface had become polished but he is confident that he has a good package and set-up going into the opening qualifier.  As part of the reseed drivers will this evening get a quick three minute run in their new heat order and the 2012 British Champion plans to use this to try out a potential tyre option for Q1.

Kyosho team-mate Ronnefalk, who was only 31st fastest after a series of driver errors including missing the three finger section twice, said the pace is there but he just made stupid mistakes.  Describing the track as looking the same as yesterday when he topped the time sheets he said it was ‘so different’ being very loose this time round.  Despite failing to post a Top 10 time over the 5-minute runs the 16-year-old said with some better driving everything should be ok for qualifying.

With Adam Drake as his mechanic for this event Darren Bloomfield set the fourth fastest time of CP2.  The former British Champion said he changed his 8ight last night to a stiffer front rollbar he said the change wasn’t good for CP1 but sticking with it for the second run he said it felt ‘brilliant’.  The factory Novarossi driver is still working on finding a good balance with his engine tuning.  A track with a lot of high speed sections he said he was trying to find a good balance between top and bottom end power while also ensuring he can get good fuel mileage thinking ahead to the finals.

Top Xray in the final practice was former podium finisher & reigning Czech National Champion Martin Bayer.  The best place Losi at last year’s championships in Germany where he finished 5th, the 2012 Team Xray signing said changes to his nVision engine for CP2 were ‘very good’.  Having only had to make very small set-up changes to his XB9 each run he said the buggy is very stable to drive and it was now just up to him to pick the right tyre for qualifying and put together a clean 10-minutes of driving.

Completing the Top 6 was former back to back Champion Davide Tortorici.  Winning his last title in 2005, the Mugen driver has been enjoying somewhat of a return to form and is currently on target to claim this year’s Italian National Championship title.  Just behind him in CP2 was 2006 Champion Yannick Aigoin who was top Associated for the round. Associated team-mate Neil Cragg, who was fourth fastest in CP1, was only 17th fastest after a wrong tyre choice of compound going for MX Proline Blockades but the former Electric Offroad World Champion said with the right tyres his LRP powered RC8.2 should be OK.

Also suffering from wrong tyre choice, going for too soft a Pro Circuit rubber, was defending champion Robert Battle who was 11th fastest.  The Spaniard, who is chasing a third European title here in Austria, said he is confident he will have the right tyre on for his opening qualifier.

Batlle’s great rival Renaud Savoya used the last practice to test tyres.  A 10-minute session, the last 5 of which were timed, the man who held the European title for 3 consecutive years tried two tyre patterns with the finals in mind. Starting with Sweep’s Square Armor he switched to Exagon which he said he found to be a little faster.  Suffering with his Xray diving a lot due to the shocks being too soft for the hotter conditions of CP2 Savoya set the ninth fastest time but said ‘all was OK and they where continuing to ‘follow the plan’.  Planning to run ‘Double Action’ tyres in qualifying he will decide on the compound in the morning.

Controlled Practice Run 2
1. Jérôme Aigoin (FR) – 9/5:37.48
2. Miguel Matias (PT) – 8/5:02.285
3. Elliot Boots (GB) – 8/5:02.840
4. Darren Bloomfield (GB) – 8/5:03.827
5. Martin Bayer (CZ) – 8/5:04.638
6. Davide Tortorici (IT) – 8/5:05.228
7. Yannick Aigoin (FR) – 8/5:05.759
8. Joern Neumann (D) – 8/5:05.888
9. Renaud Savoya (FR) – 8/5:05.929
10.Joseph Quagraine (FI) – 8/5:05.974
11.Robert Batlle (ES) – 8/5:06.222
12.Borja Hernandez (ES) – 8/5:07.171

Final Practice Ranking
1. Elliot Boots (GB) – Kyosho/Novarossi – 185 pts
2. Jérôme Aigoin (FR) – Kyosho/Novarossi – 185
3. Renaud Savoya (FR) – Xray/RB – 183
4. Miguel Matias (PT) – TLR/RB – 183
5. Robert Batlle (ES) – Mugen/Novarossi – 182
6. Darren Bloomfield (GB) – TLR/Novarossi – 181
7. Neil Cragg (GB) – Associated/LRP – 181
8. Martin Bayer    (CZ) – Xray/nVision – 180
9. Joseph Quagraine (FI) – JQ/JQ – 180
10.Daniel Reckward (DE) – Mugen/RB – 179
11.Davide Tortorici (IT) – Mugen/Bliss – 179
12.Jérôme Sartel (FR) – Agama/Bullit – 178

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Boots tops first controlled practice

Britian’s Elliot Boots topped the opening controlled practice this morning on Day 2 of the 1:8 Offroad European Championships in Frehing, Austria, where drivers were greeted with a very different conditions to yesterday’s dusty track following some overnight rain.  Getting 10 minutes of track time, the second half of the run was timed for the purpose of being used to reseed drivers for tomorrow’s qualifying heats with Boot’s Novarossi powered Kyosho managing 8-laps in 5:00.504 which was 1 second faster than Renaud Savoya who in turn was 3/10th of a second faster than defending Champion Robert Batlle.

Having run a set-up yesterday which he uses regularly back in the UK, where he has dominated this year’s National Championship, Boots switched to his Warm-up Race set-up for today’s first run having seen Kyosho team-mate David Ronnefalk use it to good effect yesterday when he topped the opening days action.  A damp track, Boots said it felt quicker to drive as the buggy wasn’t sliding around as much as in the dust yesterday but in terms of lap times it was slower, something he put down to the concrete section of the track where he said it was ‘very slippery’.  Running AKA soft compound Grid Iron the 19-year-old said he will keep an eye on the conditions before choosing what tyre to run in this evening’s second practice as while the skies are overcast the warm temperatures are sure to make for much drier conditions.  In terms of set-up changes the former European Junior Champion, who is clearly benefiting from the guidance of Mick Craddock who turned down a chance to race here in Austria to concentrate on his young protege, said he may depending on the conditions change diff oil.

Having changed to a thicker front diff oil last night following his second free practice run Savoya said it was slightly too heavy for this morning’s conditions.  The 3-time former Champion said his choice of Sweep tyre was also not perfect with his RB powered Xray lacking a little in terms of side grip.  With the track about 1 second a lap faster the French ace said he only lost .8 per lap in pace and so overall he is pleased with the run.   Other than fine tuning his choice of diff oil he feels the set-up on his XB9 is good for qualifying and so for the second practice today he will work on finding a tyre suitable for the finals.  Planning to run the Exagon pattern he said its important to see if his set-up needs to be adjusted to suit the tyre.

Mugen’s Batlle, who was analyzing video footage of his first controlled practice, said he maybe went for too soft a tyre choosing Pro-Circuit’s extreme compound Square Impact for the ‘slippy’ conditions.  Planning to add more front caster to his MBX6R along with changing to a softer rear spring, the Spaniard said the run was OK.  Having complained that his Novarossi engine was down on power yesterday he said they had sorted that problem and the engine power was now ‘awesome’.

Setting the fourth fastest time factory Team Associated driver Neil Cragg described his run on the ‘completely different’ track as steady.  Using Proline M3 Holeshots on his RC8.2 he said the buggy still felt pretty good despite only changing tyres for the different conditions.  Planning to revert to Proline Blockades for his second run he said he will make a call on which compound to run near the time, depending on how much the track has dried.

Driving ‘The Car’, JQ Products boss Joseph Quagraine was the surprise of the morning as he set the fifth fastest time.  The Finnish driver said he was very comfortable driving the buggy mainly due to having had the opportunity to do 5 gallons of testing over a 10 day period just prior to the Euros.  Having launched his own buggy just one and a half years ago Quagraine said the first year was taken up sorting out problems that come with creating an all new product and its only in the last six months that he has been able to work on developing the buggy and as a result it has been improving with every outing this year.

Behind Quagraine last year’s podium finisher Daniel Reckward completed the Top 6 with his Mugen ahead of the Agama of France’s Jerome Sartel, Xrays’s Martin Bayer and 2011 Top Qualifier Jerome Aigoin. Yesterday’s pace setter David Ronnefalk was on target for a good run until his Kyosho got tangled up with a slower buggy and ended up on it roof costing the Swedish teenager almost 7 seconds and a Top 3 time.  Ending up 14th fastest, the reigning Junior Champion said his Orion powered MP9 was very consistent but lacking a little in steering.  Choosing soft AKA Grid Iron tyres he said they gave good forward traction but he had to drive on the throttle to get around the corners.  Expecting conditions to be dry for his next outing he will switch back to Impact tyres.

A former podium finisher at the European Championship, Spanish driver Borja Hernadez, who along with Top Austrian offroad racer Peter Pinisch is driving LRP’s S8-BXR Evo Buggy, had a good run which would have put him sixth fastest but in post race technical inspection the buggy was found to be two wide and his time was disallowed.  Elsewhere factory HB driver Teemu Leino did a good job to post the 12th fastest time as he is suffering from food poisoning.  The Finn has been excused from marshalling with his mechanic Masayuki Miura standing in for him.

Controlled Practice Run 1
1. Elliot Boots (GB) – 8/5:00.504
2. Renaud Savoya (FR) – 8/5:01.508
3. Robert Batlle (ES) –  8/5:01.849
4. Neil Cragg (GB) – 8/5:04.790
5. Joseph Quagraine (FI) – 8/5:05.015
6. Daniel Reckward (DE) – 8/5:06.707
7. Jérôme Sartel (FR) – 8/5:06.768
8. Martin Bayer (CZ) – 8/5:07.092
9. Jérôme Aigoin (FR) – 8/5:07.271
10.Christoffer Svensson (SE) – 8/5:07.563
11.Daniel Vega (ES) – 8/5:07.714
12.Teemu Leino (FI) – 8/5:07.945

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Ronnefalk sets early pace in Austria

Kyosho’s David Ronnefalk is the early pace setter at the 1:8 Offroad European Championship as the Swede’s combined three fastest laps of the Fehring track put him top of the time sheets at the end of the first day of action in Austria.  The reigning European Junior Champion headed a Kyosho 1-2 as Jérôme Aigoin set the second fastest time just ahead of TLR’s Darren Bloomfield.

Running the same set-up on his Orion powered MP9 as he used at the Warm-up Race, Ronnefalk was very happy with his buggy’s performance from the start with the only change made between the two runs being a switch from AKA City Block which he used in the morning’s 10-minute run to Impact for the afternoon’s longer 15 minute run.  Using soft compound he said the Impact gave him more forward traction and also made the buggy easier to drive.  For tomorrow’s two 10-minute practice runs, from which each driver’s fastest 5-minutes will count towards a reseeding for the qualifying heats, last year’s 10th place finisher said he might try a heavy shock oil as this is the only area he thinks they could improve a little as it felt just a little soft in the second of his runs.

Last year’s Top Quaifier Jérôme Aigoin said for the first day of the event he was happy with his performance.  Running medium compound AKA City Block on his Novarossi powered MP9, the newly crowned French Champion focused on his driving saying the buggy was easy to drive so he needed to make no changes.

Having changed engine for the second practice as part of his preparations to have two engines set-up for the remainder of the event, Bloomfield said they didn’t quite get the tuning right on the second engine but in terms of his medium compound AKA Ibeam shod 8ight he was very happy to open the event with such a ‘solid’ pace.  Describing the track as ‘very high speed’, the British driver will try a thicker roll bar tomorrow to help push the buggy better through the bumps in the fast sections.

Elliot Boots, who just took over the reign of British National Champion from Bloomfield, set the fourth fastest time with his Kyosho.  The multiple former European Junior Champion switched from a Cab forward bodyshell to a standard version for the second run but said the track was a lot cleaner so it was hard to tell if there was any real difference.  Running soft compound AKA City Block on the Novarossi powered MP9 the 19-year-old plans to continue with the standard shell for the first run in the morning.

Defending Champion Robert Batlle, who Mugen are hoping will bring them a fifth consecutive European title on Saturday, set the fifth fastest time. The Spaniard said his MBX6R worked well but they didn’t focus too much on set-up as he expects the track to change considerably by the time qualifying comes round on Thursday.  Discounting the times as not a true reflection of where everyone is at the 2-time Champion said he had some issues with his Novarossi engine today which was down on power compared to normal but he said they should have that sorted for the morning.

Former electric offroad World Champion Neil Cragg completed the Top 6 with his LRP powered Team Associated RC8.2, the British driver who prefers to do his talking on track summing up the day as ‘pretty good’.

With Masayuki Miura, who is best known as the mechanic of all round r/c star & former 1:8 Offroad World Champion Atsushi Hara, on hand to prep his buggies factory Hot Bodies driver Teemu Leino set the 7th fastest time.  The Finn didn’t have the best of starts to the day as he broke his prototype buggy before even completing one timed lap.  Switching to a pre production version of the soon to be released D8 12, although both driver and mechanic say they are not sure the name has been made official yet, was very happy with the buggy.  Having received the car during the electric touring car World Championships little over a week ago in the Netherlands, Leino said he was only able to run one fuel bottle through the car prior to coming to Austria due to a lack of spares he got with the buggy then.  Running AKA medium compound City Block he said they have a good base set-up but plan to fine tune it tomorrow so as to make it slightly easier to drive.

Setting the 10th fastest time behind former champions and TLR pairing Davide Tortorici and Miguel Matias, 2008 to 2010 Champion Renaud Savoya said his second run was all about running the full 15-minutes without crashing.  Having changed to a thicker oil in the front diff of his RB powered Xray he said it made the XB9 easier to driver but the French ace thinks he can go a little heavier again to further improve the feeling of the buggy.  Running a medium ‘red’ compound Sweep Double Action tyre in the second practice, Savoya said he was very happy with the wear over 15-minutes and he will use them for qualifying.  Over half a second off the pace of Ronnefalk’s outright fastest lap time of 35.632,  Savoya said while he is a little off in outright pace he can run very consistent times and clean laps and this is more important for qualifying.

Day 1 Free Practice times
1. David Ronnefalk – 1:47.256
2. Jérôme Aigoin – 1:48.139
3. Darren Bloomfield – 1:48.186
4. Elliot Boots – 1:48.493
5. Robert Batlle – 1:48.647
6. Neil Cragg – 1:48.912
7. Teemu Leino – 1:48.946
8. Davide Tortorici – 1:48.980
9. Miguel Matias – 1:49.107
10.Renaud Savoya – 1:49.165

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Dusty start to 1:8 Offroad Euros

There was a very dusty start to 32nd running of the 1:8 Offroad European Championships as drivers took to the Fehring track in Austria today for the first of two free practice runs that make up the opening day’s action for the 5 day event.  Forced to abandon the Main final at the Warm-up event back in April due to rain, conditions this time round are extremely dry with a constant cloud of dust hanging over the track.  Having also hosted the 1:10 Electric Offroad European Championships just over 3-weeks ago, drivers who competed at those championship said brushes where left at each marshaling post so as the track could be cleaned after each run and this worked well and they are cant see why the same process could not be used this week.  Instead the plan for now is to water the track at the end of each night but having been watered last night by the local fire brigade the hot conditions will most likely see any benefit quickly evaporate.

Situated in beautiful countryside in the South East of Austria not far from the borders of Hungary and Slovenia, the track venue itself is an impressive set-up and bucking the trend of many of this year’s European Championships the event has attracted a full 180 capacity entry. One driver to fall fowl of the size of the entry is Team Durango’s Hupo Honigl who like Mugen’s Lee Martin came to the event in the hope of getting one of the reallocation places made once no-shows have been confirmed.  Martin was assured of his place when fellow British racer Craig Drescher was forced to pull out on the eve of the event but Honigl, who races under a German EFRA license and had his pit area all set up to go racing, failed to secure an entry despite him being one of Austria’s most successful international offroad racers. Honigl will stay on at the event and act as mechanic for team mate Joern Neumann, wiiner of the 4WD EP Euros here, who is driving a hand machined prototype Durango buggy.

Sporting a bandage on his left arm following an operation to correct a problem with a muscle that was causing him to lose feeling in his figures, Robert Batlle is very confident about the days ahead as the defending champion seeks to join the rather exclusive club of 3-time European Champions, the only two drivers to be able to lay claim to such an achievement being his great rival Renaud Savoya and fellow Mugen driver Daniel Reckward who was 3rd at last year’s event.  Describing the opening practice as a ‘systems check’ the Spaniard, who was declared the winner of the Warm-up Race, said based on the information gathered at the Warm-up his equipment is up for the job and it is now down to just getting on with the program but added there are 8-10 guys that have just as much a chance at the title as he has.  Expecting much tougher competition this year from Savoya, whom he replaced at Mugen when the French ace switched to Durango, he said with the three time consecutive European Champion now with Xray he is a serious contender for the win.  Regarding other contenders Batlle said newly crowned British Champion Elliot Boots is one driver who has come on a lot in the past 12 months and he will be one to watch.

Having failed to make the final at the Euros last year for the first time since 2005, dropping out in the 1/4 finals with a broken steering servo, Savoya said he has put that ‘nightmare’ firmly behind him and feels he has never been more confident than he is now even when he was on a run of 3 title wins with Mugen.  Quickly building a strong relationship with Xray he said they listen to his input and this has really helped with the development of the XB9.  Forced to run harder Sweep tyres than he wants as his box of tyres for the event have not yet arrived at the track, he said his buggy was overall easy to drive with the triple and corner jump the two areas he will focus on in the next practice as he would like to get the car to settle faster.

Also driving for Team Durango last year but putting his DNX408 into the Main final, Boots is now part of a strong Kyosho line up which also includes last year’s Top Qualifier & Runner up Jerome Aigoin and fast Swede David Ronnefalk.  The 19-year-old, who has dominated this year’s British National Championship wrapping up the title with one round still left to run, said he is really happy to be back driving Kyosho and that the MP9 suits his ‘aggressive balls out’ driving style.

One very noticeable thing in the pits here in Austria is the large manufacturer presence with a number of key American’s over to support their drivers.  One of 1:8 offroad racing’s best known divers, Adam Drake is over together with TLR team manager Kevin Gahan to support their main title hopefuls Darren Bloomfield, who is actually running one of Drakes own buggies, and Miguel Matias along with last year’s fourth place finisher Marcel Guske who just recently signed for TLR Germany from Mugen.  Richard Saxton is on hand to assist Team Associated which is headed up by Neil Cragg and Yannick Aigoin.  Aigoin is the last driver to win the title before the great Batlle/Savoya rivalry began when the French driver took the title for Xray in 2006.  As part of his move to Associated, Aigoin has been involved in developing the US brand’s presence in the French market which particularly earlier in the year left him with no time to devote himself to just driving but added since May he has been able to practice more and this has boosted confidence and understanding of the RC8.2.

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