Hupo Hönigl wins Austrian buggy nats Rd4

The fourth round of the Austrian electric off-road nationals took place in Krieglach. 36 drivers in 2WD and 28 entries in 4WD tried to tackle the dusty clay track that got better during the practice heats but later on started to break up. Some drivers tried to race mid motor buggies in 2WD one of which was Team Durango’s Hupo Hönigl, but the tricky surface made the buggies difficult to drive and since these cars need a different racing line most of the drivers came back to rear motor machines for the qualifiers and finals. Sunday Morning started with four rounds of qualifying and when the dust settled the Team Durango duo of Hupo Hönigl and Martin Kreil lead in 2WD with equal points, but a faster time gave Hupo the TQ spot. 3rd and 4th went to the Team Associated duo Pinisch/Pfeifhofer, also equal in points with 3rd going to Peter Pinisch. In 4WD Hupo took 3 out of 4 rounds, taking the TQ in front of Yokomo’s René Trauner and Stefan Pfeifhofer (Team Associated) with Martin Kreil in 4th and Pinisch in 5th position.

Top 10 2WD buggy qualifying
1. Hupo Hönigl – Dualsky/Dualsky/H-Speed
2. Martin Kreil – Dualsky/Dualsky/H-Speed
3. Peter Pinisch – LRP/Reedy/Reedy
4. Stefan Pfeifhofer – Vampire Racing/Reedy/Reedy
5. Rene Trauner – Vampire Racing/Vampire Racing/Vampire Racing
6. Andreas Janda – Dualsky/Vampire Racing/Vampire Racing
7. Roland Hauleitner – Nosram/Reedy/Reedy
8. Tristan Hackl – LRP/LRP/LRP
9. Christian Lanzl – LRP/Novak/Vampire Racing
10.Philipp Stocker – Hobbywing/Hobbywing/nVision

Top 10 4WD Buggy qualifying
1. Hupo Hönigl – Dualsky/Dualsky/H-Speed
2. Rene Trauner – Vampire Racing/Vampire Racing/Vampire Racing
3. Stefan Pfeifhofer – Vampire Racing/Reedy/Reedy
4. Martin Kreil – Dualsky/Dualsky/H-Speed
5. Peter Pinisch – LRP/Reedy/Reedy
6. Philipp Stocker – Hobbywing/Hobbywing/nVision
7. Markus Berer – Xray/Hobbywing/LRP/Vampire Racing
8. Christopher Pfeiffer – Dualsky/Dualsky/H-Speed
9. Roland Hauleitner – Nosram/Reedy/Reedy
10.Marcus Prihoda – Hacker/Hacker/Hacker

In 2WD Hupo was able to win the first two A-Mains, but it wasn’t an easy race as he was under pressure from Peter Pinisch the entire race. The 2nd leg was an easier affair for Hupo and he took the overall win early in front of Martin Kreil who grabbed the win in the last leg securing him the 2nd place overall in front of Peter Pinisch.

2WD buggy results
1. Hupo Hönigl – Dualsky/Dualsky/H-Speed
2. Martin Kreil – Dualsky/Dualsky/H-Speed
3. Peter Pinisch – LRP/Reedy/Reedy
4. Stefan Pfeifhofer – Vampire Racing/Reedy/Reedy
5. Rene Trauner – Vampire Racing/Vampire Racing/Vampire Racing
6. Andreas Janda – Dualsky/Vampire Racing/Vampire Racing
7. Christian Lanzl – LRP/Novak/
8. Philipp Stocker – Hobbywing/Hobbywing/nVision
9. Tristan Hackl – LRP/LRP/LRP
10.Roland Hauleitner – Nosram/Reedy/Reedy

In 4WD Hupo was the man to beat. The first leg was pretty easy and he won in front of René Trauner and Martin Kreil. In the 2nd leg Stefan Pfeifhofer was able to follow Hupo, but he couldn’t make a move to pass the factory Team Durango Driver. So Hupo also took the win in the 4WD category class and sat out leg 3. Now it was up to Stefan Pfeifhofer to take the win and he lead from start to finish securing him the runner-up spot in front of René.

4WD buggy results
1. Hupo Hönigl – Dualsky/Dualsky/H-Speed
2. Stefan Pfeifhofer – Vampire Racing/Reedy/Reedy
3. Rene Trauner – Vampire Racing/Vampire Racing/Vampire Racing
4. Martin Kreil – Dualsky/Dualsky/H-Speed
5. Peter Pinisch – LRP/Reedy/Reedy
6. Philipp Stocker – Hobbywing/Hobbywing/nVision
7. Markus Berer – Xray/Hobbywing/LRP/Vampire Racing
8. Roland Hauleitner – Nosram/Reedy/Reedy
9. Marcus Prihoda – Hacker/Hacker/Hacker
10.Christopher Pfeiffer – Dualsky/Dualsky/H-Speed

The next and final round of the Austrian Nationals will be run in Steyregg, normally the second race of the season but this year the race had to be postponed to due the weather conditions.

Thanks to Patrick Ehmer for sending the report.