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March 25, 2017

Akio Sobue takes Q1 at CETC

Infinity team driver Akio Sobue continued to stamp his authority on the opening round of the 2017 CETC presented by Infinity, taking Q1 with ease. With his heat underway this Worlds finalist showed really pace putting in a very consistent run to finish 5 seconds ahead of young Yokomo driver Naoki Akiyama, to back up his pace from controlled practice. Akiyama and team mate Nicholas Lee got 2nd and 3rd for the round respectively with the pair separated by 0.7 seconds, the top 3 drivers all getting 27 laps. Although close to the Yokomo pairing during the middle of the run, two late mistakes dropped Gary Huang back to finish 4th, just missing 27 laps by 3 seconds. Just like Huang, former WC Naoto Matsukura had a number of mistakes which saw him finish the run 2 seconds back on the Chinese National Champion. Behind Matsukura was top Hong Kong driver Hay Lai, driving the all new Xpress chassis, with Xray driver Lao Minhao in the 2nd group completing the top 6.

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March 16, 2017

Orlowski targets first EOS title at Arena33

The Euro Offroad Series makes its second trip of the season to Germany this weekend (March 17-19) with the all new Arena 33 the venue for the penultimate round of the championship. With three of the expanded five round calendar to count, both Michal Orlowski and Bruno Coelho will be targeting wrapping up the Season #6 titles. Completing back to back victories in 2WD last time out at the Hudy Arena, a third consecutive win in Andernach would bring Orlowski and Schumacher their first EOS title and end Yokomo’s three year reign as champions of electric offroad’s premiere class.

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March 6, 2017

ENS chooses single tyre partner for Season #4

The Euro Nitro Series is pleased to announce that for its upcoming fourth season it will switch to a single tyre partner for all four rounds of the championship. With 2016 another growth year for the high profile onroad nitro championship, the number of drivers registering points at the end of the third season breaking the 300 mark, feedback highlighted a desire among racers for the ENS to switch to a single brand of tyre for the entire season. Also taking onboard racers’ experiences of previous seasons, tyre quality was identified as the No.1 priority for drivers and reacting to this the ENS has agreed a partnership with Matrix for 2017. The Italian tyre manufacturer supplied the tyres for the very first ENS race in 2014 and has provided tyres for a race each season since. Apart from the single tyre brand creating a level of familiarity for drivers another key benefit is that racers can carry sets of tyres through for practice at the following round.

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February 23, 2017

Coelho out to extend ETS advantage in Germany

The Yokomo Euro Touring Series moves to Muelheim-Kaerlich in Germany this weekend (24-26 Feb) with Bruno Coelho looking to extend the championship lead he established after taking the TQ & win at the Season #10 opener in the Czech Republic in December. Riding on a high from his TITC win in Thailand last weekend where he fought off intense pressure from former ETS Champion Jilles Groskamp in A3 to secure overall victory, Coelho’s mindset for the resumption of the ETS will also be boosted by the fact that the Round 2 venue is where the Xray driver took a breakthrough first win on carpet last year. That weekend would prove a strong one for Xray with team-mate Alexander Hagberg, a previous winner of the event, making it a 1-2 for the Slovakian manufacturer but their rivals will be determined to prevent such celebrations this time round.

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February 5, 2017

Martin wins hectic A2 as Xray dominance derails

Lee Martin came out the winner of a hectic second A-Main of 4WD at the Euro Offroad Series after the three Xrays starting up front all crashed out to retire with broken cars. With the Xray dominance coming to an end on the first lap, that would set up a race between Joern Neumann, Michal Orlowski and Martin but it was the latter that would hold on for the surprise win. With Coelho coming under pressure from team-mate Bayer, the pair would trip up at the left side double double with Neumann finding a way to the front but in the first run down the straight Coelho would rear end the Serpent sending both cars flying off the track. While Neumann would continue, Coelho broke a rear camber link and was out. In all the chaos this set off, it was Orlowski from 8th on the grid who led the way for 3-laps until a mistake that allowed Martin through. Coming under pressure from a recovering Neumann, the Yokomo driver would spin on the landing of the double after the straight but instead of capitalising on the error Neumann would also get it wrong giving back 2nd to Orlowski with this how they would finish the race.

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February 4, 2017

Orlowski pulls off impressive Hudy Arena win to extend EOS lead

Michal Orlowski has pulled off an impressive 2WD victory at the Hudy Racing Arena in Slovakia to extend his lead in the Euro Offroad Series. Coming into the third round on the back of his EOS Poland and DHI Cup wins, the Schumacher driver’s weekend didn’t get off to the best of starts as he struggled in seeding ending up only 21st fastest. The opening round of qualifying didn’t bring much improvement either but from Q2 the Polish ace would turn things around eventually qualifying his LRP powered Cougar KC 3rd behind Top Qualifier Lee Martin and Bruno Coelho. With marshalling dramas writing off a good A1 result, Orlowski again put himself back in the game with an A2 win but he was to save his best for last. First making light work of Coelho and then capitalising on Martin running wide, the Yokomo driver coming back at him 2-laps later only for the pair to tangle, he would take A3 and with it his third 2WD EOS win at the very same venue where he took a breakthrough first international win 2-years ago. Winner of the event last year, reigning champion Martin would finish 3rd in the decider behind Neil Cragg to take 2nd overall, his season still void of a win. With his A3 challenge ending on the first proper run down the straight as he flew off the track, Coelho completed the podium In Slovakia, this weekend still ending up one the 4WD World Champion’s best 2WD performances.

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February 4, 2017

Martin cruises to A1 win in Slovakia

Lee Martin cruised to victory this morning in the opening A-Main of the 2WD at the Euro Offroad Series in Slovakia. Top Qualifier at the third round of the championship, the Yokomo driver was handed a comfortable lead when his closest challenger Bruno Coelho made an error half way into the race that required him to be marshalled. With this setting up a battle for second between Michal Orlowski and Coelho, up front Martin had the track all to himself eventually crossing the line with a wining margin of almost 2.5-seconds. Also benefiting from Coelho’s mistake, Orlowski looked on target for 2nd but with three laps to go he too would make a mistake only in his case poor marshalling meant he lost a massive 8-seconds. Allowing Martin Bayer to go by, Orlowski would try to salvage a Top 3 at the the last corner as he dived down the inside of Bayer but he would roll dropping a further place as Marc Rheinard got by for 4th.

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January 7, 2017

Orlowski to defend DHI Cup from pole

Michal Orlowski will set out to defend his DHI Cup title tomorrow from pole position after producing a second TQ run in the final round of 2WD qualifying at the Danish event. The Schumacher driver made it back to back TQ runs when he again topped the times from Marc Rheinard, this time round the gap a lot closer as Rheinard registered his first 17-lap run. While being the only driver to finish all four qualifiers in the Top 2, Rheinard will find himself lining up third on the grid behind Joern Neumann who while on third in Q4 benefited from a faster TQ time to secure second overall. Former Top Qualifier and Champion David Ronnefalk will line up fourth with promising young Swedish Team Associated driver Wilhelm Skjöldebrand making it five different manufacturers filling the top half of the grid for the 6th running offroad at the DHI Cup.

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