Red RC » International

May 22, 2015

No surprises as Volker tops RROC practice

Day 1 of the Reedy International Touring Car Race of Champions threw up no real surprises as defending champion Ronald Volker set the pace over four rounds of practice at the Tamiya Raceway in California. With the Yokomo driver unable to better his P3 time, it was Viktor Wilck who made the most of the final round of practice improving from 10th to 2nd. The Serpent driver would also reduce the gap to Volker to less than 3/10ths of a second, the smallest margin at which the German headed the time sheets over the opening day. Christopher Krapp made it an all European Top 3, finishing the day ahead of team-mates Akio Sobue and Marc Rheinard, the latter the only one of the three to better his time in P4. While the times may have little bearing on the race’s unique format with 12 rounds of heads up racing getting underway in the morning, the big talking point at the end of the opening day is the narrow racing line. A track popular with racers because of its many overtaking opportunities, a particularly dirty offline has left some drivers concerned that overtaking could be limited.

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May 22, 2015

Volker sets early pace at RROC

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Ronald Volker set the early pace on the opening day of the 18th running of the Reedy International Touring Car Race of Champions. Winner of the event on its return to the famous Tamiya Raceway last year, the Yokomo driver posted the fastest three consecutive laps of the opening two of the four scheduled rounds of practice. A 27-car invitational field, the most competitive the race has seen since it was previously ran at the Californian track, it was Serpent’s Viktor Wilck who was closest to Volker’s pace albeit over half a second off. An impressive run from Team Associated’s Rick Hohwart would see the touring car veteran completing the Top 3.

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May 19, 2015

Michal Orlowski joins RDRP team

Revolution Design Racing Products have announced the signing of young and talented Michal Orlowski to their team. Michal, fresh off his 2WD class win at last weekend’s final round of the Euro Offroad Series, will use the full line of RDRP tools and accessories to build, maintain and tune his Schumacher rides in the 2015 season.

Source: RDRP [revolution-rc.com]

May 18, 2015

Martin does EOS title double

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Lee Martin has achieved the Euro Offroad Series title double, fourth place in the season finale at the Hudy Racing Arena enough for the Yokomo driver to clinch the 4WD title from previous undefeated 3-time champion Joern Neumann. Having won the 2WD driver title at the previous round in Austria, Martin becomes only the second driver to clinch both titles with Neumann having achieved the feat in the first two seasons of the indoor 1:10 Offroad Championship. While all the attention was on the title, the fourth & final round of Season #4 would go to Xray’s Martin Bayer, last year’s title runner up claiming his first win of the season ahead of Top Qualifier Naoto Matsukura and Saturday’s 2WD winner Michal Orlowski.

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May 17, 2015

Matsukura wins A1, Martin heads title fight

Matsukura wins A1, Martins heads title fight

Naoto Matsukura took an easy win in the opening A-Main at the Euro Offroad Series season #4 finale. Starting from the TQ positon, the Kyosho driver finished almost 7-seconds clear of second placed Martin Bayer with Michal Orlowski completing the Top 3. While up front the race was rather processional, further back all the attention focused on the title battle between Lee Martin and Joern Neumann, the pair clashing early on. In the end it was Martin who would be the top finisher in 4th with Neumann finishing 6th behind Martin’s new Yokomo team-mate Marc Rheinard. Commenting on his race Matsukura had little to say other than he ‘drove safe’ and he needs to ‘do same again once more’ to get the overall win he predicted when he topped seeding practice.

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May 17, 2015

Matsukura is Top Qualifier at EOS finale

Naoto Matsukura is Top Qualifier at the Euro Offroad Series season finale. Making his Kyosho debut in the championship, the Japanese star secured his 7th EOS overall TQ when he topped the times for a third time in the fourth & final round of qualifying at the Hudy Racing Arena. Lining up behind him will be former team-mate Lee Martin, the Yokomo driver’s quest to add to 4WD Championship to the 2WD title he won at the previous round in Austria, looking good with defending champion Joern Neumann starting fifth. Winner when the EOS travelled to the Slovakian event last season, Martin Bayer will start 3rd while yesterday’s 2WD winner Michal Orloswki lines up fourth on the grid for the triple A-Mains.

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May 17, 2015

Matsukura takes Q2 & 3 at Hudy Arena

Naoto Matsukura took the 2nd and 3rd round of qualifying at the Euro Offroad Series finale at the Hudy Racing Arena. Having thrown away at TQ run in the opening qualifier when he crashed on his final lap, the Kyosho driver would come back to post two convincing TQ runs leaving the Japanese ace poised to claim the overall TQ in Slovakia. Behind Matsukura, Q3 would see a repeat of the Q2 Top 3 with Martin Bayer 2nd fastest and Q1 pace setter Lee Martin third. For defending champion Joern Neumann, the latest two qualifiers would prove challenging. Suffering a stripped diff gear in Q2, nursing his Serpent home in P12, after rebuilding the diff and fitting all new bearings for Q3. After just two warm-up laps however one of the bearings would seize leaving the German a non-starter with his hopes a fourth consecutive EOS 4WD title fading and going in the favour of Martin.

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May 17, 2015

Martin tops opening 4WD qualifier in Slovakia

Title protagonist Lee Martin has taken the opening round of 4WD qualifying at the Euro Offroad Series season finale in Slovakia. Chasing the championship double, the 2WD Champion topped the times from last year’s Hudy Racing Arena winner Martin Bayer and qualifying top seed Naoto Matsukura. With Martin himself somewhat surprised by the result, it was a significant first strike for the Yokomo driver as title rival & defending champion Joern Neumann set the fourth fastest time. With both drivers coming into the event tied on points, the title will effectively be decided by which of the two driver finishes higher in this evening’s A-Main.

Continue reading this report here or our full event coverage here.