Orlowski takes back European 1:12 title
Schumacher’s Michal Orlowski has taken back his 1:12 EFRA European Championship title in Sicily, Italy. Having lost his 2022 title to 8-time Champion Alexander Hagberg last year in Great Britain, the reigning World Champion put in a pretty dominant performance at the Paradise RC Arena securing the TQ ahead of team-mate Ollie Payne as Hagberg’s Xray lined up third for his title defence. Winning A1 by a convincing margin over former World & European Champion Marc Rheinard, Orlowski wrapped up the title with another win in A2, this time over Hagberg. With A3 a battle for the other two podium placings, it initially looked like Hagberg would finish runner-up ahead of Rheinard as he crossed the line first but an earlier incident in the race with Payne was reviewed with race officials handing Hagerg 5-second penalty that promoted Rheinard to the A3 win and demoted the Swede to third on the overall podium. In 1:12 Spec, Simon Lauter secured the TQ with his Awesomatix from Payne and Jan Ratheisky. In the finals, Ratheisky’s Xray took the first 8-minute encounter. Lauter was able to convert his pole position into a win in A2 but it was then Payne who won the decider. In the end, Lauter got the title on tie break from Payne with Ratheisky completing the podium.
Images: Michal Orlowski