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Orlowski ‘makes up for 2WD’ with 4WD victory at Nurburgring

Posted: 16 Sep 2018 09:04 AM PDT

Reigning double Euro Offroad Series Champion Michal Orlowski has won 4WD at the season opener at the Nurburgring in Germany, the Schumacher driver saying ‘this makes up for 2WD’ in which he finished 3rd yesterday. Orlowski secured his 5th EOS career win of 4WD when he again managed to stay ahead of second place qualifier Bruno Coelho, the Xray driver only coming into contention in the final round of qualifying. Top Qualifier, after taking 3 of the four rounds of qualifying, Orlowski again came under pressure from Coelho in A2 but got a break when his rival got caught up on the wall. Handing the Pole a comfortable lead, two laps later he would have his own mistake allowing Schumacher team-mate Joern Neumann to close right in for a challenge on the lead but the tight track would catch the German out allowing the recovering Coelho back into 2nd. From there he was closing down the leader but another error gave enough breathing space for Orlowski to take the final by more than a second & a half, his first 4WD victory from the TQ starting position. Winning A3, new rules for Season #8 prevented Orlowski from racing the third A-Main, Coelho would finish 2nd with Daniel Kobbevik, 2nd in A3, rewarded for a great performance with the final step on the podium.

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Orlowski ‘makes up for 2WD’ with 4WD victory at Nurburgring

Posted: 16 Sep 2018 09:04 AM PDT

Reigning double Euro Offroad Series Champion Michal Orlowski has won 4WD at the season opener at the Nurburgring in Germany, the Schumacher driver saying ‘this makes up for 2WD’ in which he finished 3rd yesterday. Orlowski secured his 5th EOS career win of 4WD when he again managed to stay ahead of second place qualifier Bruno Coelho, the Xray driver only coming into contention in the final round of qualifying. Top Qualifier, after taking 3 of the four rounds of qualifying, Orlowski again came under pressure from Coelho in A2 but got a break when his rival got caught up on the wall. Handing the Pole a comfortable lead, two laps later he would have his own mistake allowing Schumacher team-mate Joern Neumann to close right in for a challenge on the lead but the tight track would catch the German out allowing the recovering Coelho back into 2nd. From there he was closing down the leader but another error gave enough breathing space for Orlowski to take the final by more than a second & a half, his first 4WD victory from the TQ starting position. Winning A3, new rules for Season #8 prevented Orlowski from racing the third A-Main, Coelho would finish 2nd with Daniel Kobbevik, 2nd in A3, rewarded for a great performance with the final step on the podium.

‘A big thanks to Trish, Jurgen, my Dad and Robin for supporting me. This makes up for 2WD’, said Orlowski on taking maximum 4WD points from the first of the extended season’s six rounds. He continued, ‘I was on new tyres and felt I had the pace to keep a small gap between me and Bruno but I like to make things hard for myself. When I had a small cushion I had a crash and then had Joern pushing me’. Leading the 4WD points table and 3rd in 2WD, he said, ‘its a positive start to the season. We now know that we have pace on tight tracks which we were not normally fast on. I am looking forward to the rest of the season’. He concluded, ‘it doesn’t matter how you start but how you finish’.

Commenting on the deciding A2 race, Coelho said, ‘Orlowski was on new tyres and I was on used so I had to push and pushed a little too much and got stuck up on the wall’. He continued, ‘others made mistakes and I could get back to second but the problem this weekend was we arrived on the right set-up too late. The wheel problem delayed us from working on set-up and I hope they can sort this for the next race’. Summing up his 2nd place overall the former champion said, ‘for sure second is a good start. There are six races this season and only 4 count. We didn’t end last season so well and the Schumacher was very good. We have not raced on carpet together for a while so nobody was sure where everyone was at but the pace we are leaving here with compared to the others I’m happy’.

Despite racing A3 with a broken front right bearing, Kobbevik was delighted to again open the season with a podium finish as he had done last year. The 13-year-old said, ‘it the same as last year but this time we went better in 2WD, I got a 5th and 3rd from the weekend so I’m very happy’. Going into A3 battle for the final podium position with multiple champion Joern Neumann he said, ‘I made a mistake at the start but tried to stay calm. I knew I need to beat Joern and knew it would be a long 5-minutes so anything was possible and in the end it worked out for me. I’m very happy’. Behind Neumann in fourth Lee Martin would end a tough day 5th ahead of Martin Bayer.

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Video – 4wd A-main Leg 3

Posted: 16 Sep 2018 09:02 AM PDT

Video – 4wd A-main Leg 2

Posted: 16 Sep 2018 06:49 AM PDT

Video – Mod Truck A-main Leg 2

Posted: 16 Sep 2018 06:48 AM PDT

Orlowski holds off Coelho to win A1

Posted: 16 Sep 2018 05:54 AM PDT

Michal Orlowski has won the first A-Main of 4WD at the EOS opening round at the Nurburgring. The Schumacher driver came under intense pressure from Xray’s Bruno Coelho, who momentarily took the lead at the end of the straight before coming off worst when the two buggies touched. Giving Orlowski a huge break, the reigning champion would make a mistake half way through the race, which now 2nd placed Joern Neumann emulated, allowing Coelho a second go at his rival. Having just put in the fastest lap of the race, 3/10ths better than that of Orlowski, he would make a mistake at the centre table, allowing Top Qualifier Orlowski to take the win. Behind, Daniel Kobbevik completed the Top 3 just ahead of the recovering Neumann.

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Orlowski holds off Coelho to win A1

Posted: 16 Sep 2018 05:51 AM PDT

Michal Orlowski has won the first A-Main of 4WD at the EOS opening round at the Nurburgring. The Schumacher driver came under intense pressure from Xray’s Bruno Coelho, who momentarily took the lead at the end of the straight before coming off worst when the two buggies touched. Giving Orlowski a huge break, the reigning champion would make a mistake half way through the race, which now 2nd placed Joern Neumann emulated, allowing Coelho a second go at his rival. Having just put in the fastest lap of the race, 3/10ths better than that of Orlowski, he would make a mistake at the centre table, allowing Top Qualifier Orlowski to take the win. Behind, Daniel Kobbevik completed the Top 3 just ahead of the recovering Neumann.

Reacting to the race, Orlowski said, ‘I was on my set of tyres from Q4 but forgot to make a change to my car for this. I knew straight away in the warm-up that the car didn’t feel as I wanted it’. Eventually winning by half a second, the Polish ace said, ‘It was a good battle with Bruno. I got lucky at the end of the straight that he rolled over but then made a stupid mistake after the corner table top which let him catch back up but I was able to keep ahead’. Looking to A2, he concluded, ‘now I will be on new tyres so I hope to be to pull away’.

‘It was a good final. I had a little bad luck with Orlowski. I got down his inside but we touch and I ended up in the wrong direction’, commented Coelho. Winner the last time the EOS ran at the Nurburgring, he continued, ‘he then had a mistake and I got back with him. I tried to overtake at the table but touched the board’. For A2 the Portuguese driver said, ‘the car is working very nice after some changes so I will make pressure on him to get a mistake and hope I have more luck next time’.

‘Stable but not fast’, was Kobbevik’s reaction to his P3. The 13-year-old Norwegian talent said a change of tyres was the reason the car lacked the same speed as earlier but with new tyres planned for A2 he feels ‘the next one should be fast’ as he ‘wont need to push’ as hard as he did in A1. The Xray driver said, ‘I had a good race with Bruno and Joern at the end but I’m looking for better on the new tyres’.

Neumann was pleased with his opening race saying, ‘It was very good. At the start I could make some good passes and got up to second but then I saw Michal crash and crashed also. The rest of the race I was behind Daniel Kobbevik and there was no way to pass him, it is very difficult on this layout’. On tyres the German said he ran new tyres adding he is happy with his performance as he likes more running on used tyres reporting his Schumacher on used tyres is ‘at the end much faster than the beginning (of the 5-minutes)’.

View the complete event results here.

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Video – 4wd A-main Leg 1

Posted: 16 Sep 2018 05:20 AM PDT

Arena 12 1/12th scale pan car wheels

Posted: 16 Sep 2018 03:17 AM PDT

Coming from Czech company Arena 12 are new 1/12th scale pan car wheels in a unique turbine design. Designed using the latest CAD software and CFG calculations, the shape of the wheels offers a host of advantages such as improved downforce, greater mechanical grip, higher stability at top speed and also reduced centrifugal forces. The turbine-shaped spokes will also add to the overall cooling as a side effect. The wheels are available in two hardnesses – soft, which is ideal for beginners and club racing, while the hard rims offer improved traction and lower roll resistance. The directional wheels are available pre-trued using an universal rubber compound.

Source: Arena 12 [arena12.cz]

Coelho TQs final qualifier to line up 2nd Nurburgring

Posted: 16 Sep 2018 03:12 AM PDT

Having had a fraught 4WD qualifying at the Euro Offroad Series season opener at the Nurburgring, former Champion Bruno Coelho came good in the final round to post a TQ run and secure 2nd on the grid behind Top Qualifier Michal Orlowski. While Orlowski wrapped up pole position in the penultimate round, the fourth & final qualifier was crucial for Coelho who needed a good result just to make the A-Main after wheel issues in Q1 & 3. The second most successful 4WD winner of the EOS behind Joern Neumann, he delivered the perfect run with the fastest TQ of the weekend ahead of Orlowski, Daniel Kobbevik and Joona Haatanen. The result means he demotes team-mate Kobbevik and the Associated of Haatanen one spot on the grid and is right back in contention for career win no. 9. Despite retiring from both of this morning’s qualifiers, Joern Neumann completes the top half of the grid ahead of Martin Bayer and Lee Martin.

‘It was a good clean round without a big mistake. I just had a small touch with the board but the main thing was I was able to finish with 4-wheels’, was how Coelho summed up his TQ run. The newly crowned Touring Car World Champion continued, ‘the car feels good but it is not 100% there. Orlowski is very strong. I am struggling a little bit at the table but that’s his best bit of the track there. The track is very small and easy to make mistakes so I will try to bring it home’. Asked about his wheel issue, he said, ‘for that one we put the front left wheel on with thread lock and it stayed on so that seems to be a solution for this EOS. I hope for the next one they find a solution to the problem. They say the mould is the same but I think the plastic is softer and that’s why we and the other teams have had problems. It looks worse for Xray but that is because we have the most drivers using our car’.

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Orlowski Top Qualifier at the Nurburgring

Posted: 16 Sep 2018 02:23 AM PDT

Michal Orlowski is the 4WD Top Qualifier for the opening round of the Euro Offroad Series at the Nurburgring. The Schumacher driver claimed only his second ever 4WD TQ when he topped qualifying for the third time in Germany this morning despite it been a rough 5-minutes by the Pole. With a fastest lap that was 3/10th faster than his closest rival, the reigning champion lost 6-seconds with two significant errors but still had enough in hand to top the times from fellow teenagers Daniel Kobbevik and Joona Haatanen. Behind them Martin Bayer would enjoy his best run so far collecting a P4 for his efforts but for team-mate Bruno Coelho the promising P2 he produced in Q2 last night came to little as he retired after losing a wheel, the same issue hampering him also in Q1. Running in the second fastest heat Kája Novotný posted the fifth fastest time with the Sworkz of Micha Widmaier completing the Top 6 ahead of Lee Martin.

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Orlowski Top Qualifier at the Nurburgring

Posted: 16 Sep 2018 02:21 AM PDT

Michal Orlowski is the 4WD Top Qualifier for the opening round of the Euro Offroad Series at the Nurburgring. The Schumacher driver claimed only his second ever 4WD TQ when he topped qualifying for the third time in Germany this morning despite it been a rough 5-minutes by the Pole. With a fastest lap that was 3/10th faster than his closest rival, the reigning champion lost 6-seconds with two significant errors but still had enough in hand to top the times from fellow teenagers Daniel Kobbevik and Joona Haatanen. Behind them Martin Bayer would enjoy his best run so far collecting a P4 for his efforts but for team-mate Bruno Coelho the promising P2 he produced in Q2 last night came to little as he retired after losing a wheel, the same issue hampering him also in Q1. Running in the second fastest heat Kája Novotný posted the fifth fastest time with the Sworkz of Micha Widmaier completing the Top 6 ahead of Lee Martin.

‘It wasn’t a good run. All of us were having bobbles and made mistakes’, was Orlowski’s reaction to his Q3 performance adding, ‘My time was 6-seconds slower than my Q2 (TQ) time and I even had a mistake on that run’. He continued, ‘That was my 3rd run on the same tyres and while the car is going good so far we might use the last heat to do some changes as we have some ideas to improve the car’. Asked about starting from the TQ, he replied, ‘we’ve been there before last season and it didn’t start out a good race. We will concentrate on trying to get the full championship points from the race’. Claiming his debut TQ in 4WD last season in Austria at the end of the finals he only came away with a 4th place.

Kobbevik said, ‘it was a good run overall. I was a decent clean run until I had a big mistake at the last minute’. The 13-year-old continued, ‘I’m looking good for the front of the grid. I think already I am safe for the Top 3’. On his car, the Xray driver said, ‘it is pretty good to drive and it is fast so I will make no changes, just put on new tyres for the next one’.

Winner of 2WD, Haatanen said, ‘at the beginning my own mistakes caused a couple of crashes but I still got 3rd out of it. I was stupid because without the mistakes it could have been a TQ’. The 15-year-old Team Associated driver added, ‘the car feels like so much steering at the start but by the end it gets comfortable and feels easy to drive. I need to be more calm at the beginning of the next one’. Asked if he planned to change his car for the final qualifier he replied, ‘I will keep it the same and just get more comfortable with it for the finals’.

Bayer described the penultimate qualifier as ‘a good run with no mistakes’ adding ‘I surprised myself I didn’t crash’. The Xray team manager continued, ‘My car is very easy to drive and I am able to drive with no mistakes. I just had two bobbles’. Holding fifth on the grid going into the final qualifier he concluded, ‘I have secured the A-Main so I’m happy’.

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Orlowski again in Q2

Posted: 15 Sep 2018 12:29 PM PDT

Michal Orlowski ends day two of the Euro Offroad Series at the top of the 4WD qualification ranking, the Schumacher driver backing up his Q1 TQ with another in the second round. Starting out the run mixing times with both Joona Haatanen and Daniel Kobbevik with whom he fought out the opening qualifier, in the end it was Bruno Coelho who finished second fastest some 1.7-seconds back with Haatanen repeating his P3 from Q1. Joern Neumann was another to repeat his position, finishing 4th ahead of Martin Bayer with Kobbevik dropping down the order with a mistake on the penultimate lap to complete the Top 6. Two more qualifiers await drivers in the morning at the Nurburgring before the first 4WD winner of Season #8 is decided in the triple A-Mains.

View the complete event results here.

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