Austrian 1/10th Electric Off-road Nats Rd4 – Report

Round 4 of the Austrian 1/10th scale Electric Off-road nationals was held this past weekend at the MAC Traiskirchen track in the south of Vienna. The track, home of two European Championships, held some difficulties for the racers but the hard-packed and sugared surface made for equal conditions for everyone. A total of 72 racers signed in for the 2WD and 4WD classes and in the 2WD class it was former European Champion Hupo Hönigl who set the pace and who came out on top after the four qualifying rounds in front of Team C driver Martin Kreil and new Schumacher signing Peter Pinisch.

2WD qualifying top 10:
1. Hubert Hönigl
2. Martin Kreil
3. Peter Pinisch
4. Roland Hauleitner
5. Stefan Pfeifhofer
6. Marcel Rekettye
7. Christian Lanzl
8. Thomas Rössler
9. Philipp Stocker
10.Rene Trauner

The 4WD class was a much closer affair. Schumacher’s Peter Pinisch would take the wins in the first two qualifying rounds, but at the end it was again Serpent’s Hupo Hönigl who took the TQ by setting the fastest times in the remaining two legs. Behind him it was Yokomo’s Rene Trauner who grabbed the 3 spot for the finals.

4WD qualifying top 10:
1. Hubert Hönigl
2. Peter Pinisch
3. Rene Trauner
4. Martin Kreil
5. Stefan Pfeifhofer
6. Marcel Rekettye
7. Lucas Grainer
8. Roland Hauleitner
9. Philipp Stocker
10.Marcus Prihoda

The finals proved to be very hard for the drivers due to the increasing grip of the track that was betting bumpier thanks to the hot weather conditions, making it tough for the drivers to get clean and mistake-free runs. In the 2WD class it was again Hupo who made the best out of the conditions by scoring wins in the first and second A-final. As he took the overall win early Hupo made way for the remainder of the drivers to battle for the runner-up spot and now it was Peter Pinisch who took the win to secure the 2nd place on the podium in front of Martin Kreil who rounded out the top 3 result.

2WD A-final result:
1. Hubert Hönigl – Serpent/Dualsky/Dualsky/H-Speed
2. Peter Pinisch – Schumacher/Reedy/Reedy/Reedy
3. Martin Kreil – Team C/Tekin/Tekin/H-Speed
4. Marcel Rekettye – Yokomo/Dualsky/Dualsky/H-Speed
5. Roland Hauleitner – Team Associated/Reedy/Hobbywing/Reedy
6. Stefan Pfeifhofer – Team Associated/Reedy/Reedy/Reedy
7. Thomas Rössler – Team Associated/Reedy/Reedy/Reedy
8. Christian Lanzl – Serpent/Reds Racing/Nosram/Reedy
9. Philipp Stocker – Schumacher/Team Orion/Hobbywing/Team Orion
10.Rene Trauner – Yokomo/Vampire/Vampire/Vampire

In the 4WD finals Hupo was again the man to beat and he ultimately took the overall win by coming in 1st in A1 and A2 despite some proper pressure from behind. The third and final A-main was won by Peter Pinisch who cemented his second runner-up spot of the day. In 3rd Rene Trauner rounded out the 4WD podium.

4WD A-final result:
1. Hubert Hönigl – Serpent/Dualsky/Dualsky/H-Speed
2. Peter Pinisch – Schumacher/Reedy/Reedy/Reedy
3. Rene Trauner – Yokomo/Vampire/Vampire/Vampire
4. Marcel Rekettye – Yokomo/Dualsky/Dualsky/H-Speed
5. Martin Kreil – Team C/Tekin/Tekin/H-Speed
6. Stefan Pfeifhofer – Team Associated/Reedy/Reedy/Reedy
7. Roland Hauleitner – Team Associated/Reedy/Hobbywing/Reedy
8. Marcus Prihoda – Team C/Dualsky/Dualsky/H-Speed
9. Lucas Grainer – Team Associated/Dualsky/Dualsky/H-Speed
10.Philipp Stocker – Schumacher/Team Orion/Hobbywing/Team Orion

With two 4th place finished up and coming start Marcel Rekettye got the trophy for the best youngster.

Thanks to Thomas Rössler for the report.