Video – 2017 Euros Main Final
All the action from the exciting 45 minute Main Final at the 2017 EFRA 1/8th Offroad European Championships in Eskilstuna, Sweden. With commentary in English & Spanish from EFRA’s own Carlos Gomez.
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10 years at the top – Batlle wins in Sweden 10-years on from 1st Euro title
Robert Batlle is the 2017 1:8 Offroad European Champion. Ten year after winning his first title, the Mugen driver delivered a dominant race performance at the Gröndal Ring in Sweden to claim his third & most important Euros win. Top Qualifier for the race Batlle would win his Semi to start from pole and after some early errors in the 45-minute final, returned to the front from where he pulled away from a thrilling second place battle. Having taken the early lead until a mistake, Swedish hero David Ronnefalk would duel it out with defending champion Elliott Boots and rising star Davide Ongaro. A hard fought battle, Ongaro would come out on top to claim his first Euros podium finish with 2nd. With high expectations for his home race, Ronnefalk would take some consolation from completing the podium in Eskilstuna having to work hard to stay ahead of Boots. Setting the fastest lap of the race, Boots’ quest for a third title in a row would disappear in the pits with the British driver suffering flameouts on two of his fuel stops.
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Hungarian IC Track Nationals Rd5 – Report
Round 5 of the Hungarian Nitro On-road National Championship was held at the MORAC Stöhr-Ring in very hot weather conditions. Open for guest drivers, the event attracted nearly 40 entries from four different countries and in the premier 1/8th on-road class it was Tomas Liptak with the win from Branislav Panak in 2nd and Martin Zvara 3rd.
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Jiri Benes wins Czech Senior Race
The popular 1/8th off-road Senior Race was held at the Horni Jeleni track in the Czech Republic. The organising club did its best to prepare a nice track after the Friday morning before the race was rained out. In the premier class of 1/8th Nitro Buggy it was Xray’s Jiri Benes with the TQ and win from Karel Hajek (Xray) and Jaroslav Valder (Xray) in 2nd and 3rd respectively.
Luke Sinanian wins at Queensland State Titles
The recent Queensland State IC Track Titles were held on the newly resurfaced track of England Park Raceway. In the 200mm Pro Touring class Jeff Hamon and Ricky Kradlofer set the pace with a consistent Luke Sinanian coming in 3rd after the qualifiers. The latter got a great start from the 3rd position on the grid holding the position behind Rick Kradolfer and Jeff Hamon. After the first pit stop, there were no changes in position and as the race went on Luke was still in 3rd holding off Tim Moylan. At the 15 minute mark tragedy struck for front runner Jeff Hamon with a gearbox issue putting him out of the race. This would move his team mate Ricky Kradolfer to the front and Luke would move into 2nd not far behind. Ricky was lapping fast whilst Luke was trying to stay consistent and save tyres. On the 79th lap, Ricky suffered some mechanical problems having to pull into pits two times. This promoted Luke into the lead and he was able to cruise to the win to take the 2017 Queensland Pro Touring State Title.
Batlle on pole for 37th Euros
Robert Batlle will lead away the 13 drivers that will battle it out in Sweden to become Champion of the 37th running of the 1:8 Offroad European Championships. The Top Qualifier won his Semi with the faster time of the two encounters with David Ronnefalk recovering from a bad start to win the other, just 1-second of a difference in their winning times after the 20-minute races. Keeping Batlle honest in the early part of the race and leading the Spaniard for a time before a costly mistake, Davide Ongaro would finish second to secure fourth on the grid. Behind Ronnefalk, reigning champion Elliott Boots having had a very comfortable lead early on over fellow Brit Darren Bloomfield would finish second with a difficult car to start his quest for a third title in a row from 3rd. Behind the Top 4, João Figueiredo will start 5th with former champion Bloomfield lining up 6th making it five different manufacturers in the top half of the grid.
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Batlle Top Qualifier in Sweden
Robert Batlle is Top Qualifier at the 1:8 Offroad European Championships in Sweden, the Mugen driver producing a blistering final qualifier to leave his rivals stunned and deny World Champion David Ronnefalk a home TQ. Having started out yesterday unable to match Ronnefalk and reigning champion Elliott Boots, the 2-time former champion found his rhythm on Day 2 of qualifying topping both qualifiers to claim only his second ever Euros TQ, the last one being 10 years ago when he took his first title. With a TQ run in Q3, Ronnefalk would end up second to secure pole for the second of the Semi finals in which Boots, who took Q1, will start directly behind him. Fastest in the second qualifier, Davide Ongaro ended up 3rd overall and the Italian star will follow Batlle off the line in the first of the 20-min Semi finals. Former Champion Darren Bloomfield joins them while Riccardo Berton will complete the Top 3 starting line-up for the Semi B encounter.
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Batlle takes Q4, 4-way TQ battle to be decided in final qualifier
Robert Batlle has opened the final day of qualifying at the European Championship with a TQ run, the Mugen driver becoming the fourth different driver to top the times to set the stage for a four way shoot out for the overall TQ in Sweden in the fifth & final round of qualifying. After overnight rain, it was Ronnefalk who looked on target to set down the early benchmark but a near perfect run from the Swede would come undone on his last lap as he suffered a broken screw in his steering, handing Juan Carlos Canas the provisional TQ time after the first heat. Riccardo Berton would better that time in Heat 2 but Batlle, even with a 44 second lap, would finally hit the top of the times for the first time at the Gröndal Ring. Just 3/10ths behind the Spaniard, Berton would end up second with reigning champion Elliott Boots completing the Top 3 ahead of Canas, Darren Bloomfield and Martin Wollanka.
Continue reading this report here or view our complete event coverage here.
