March 19, 2017

Coelho eases to A1 win

Bruno Coelho eased his way to a completely dominant win in the opening 4WD A-Main at Round 4 of the Euro Offroad Series in Germany.  Having pulled off a clean sweep of the four qualifiers to claim his third TQ of the season, the Xray driver made light work of the opposition to win by 10-seconds even after sitting behind traffic for the final few laps of the race.  Martin Wollanka would make it an Xray 1-2, getting by 2nd place starter Lee Martin after the Yokomo driver made a mistake on the opening lap.  Despite a 3-second crash, which dropped him to 6th, Joona Haatanen would work his way back up the order to complete the Top 3. Running behind battling Xray team-mates Martin Bayer and Hupo Honigl this would eventually play into the hands of both Haatanen and Lee Martin, who would salvage fourth after his earlier mistake, as the pair got together on the penultimate lap. Bayer & Honigl would go at it again on the final lap clashing somewhat spectacularly on the final dash down the main straight with Bayer somehow getting 5th.

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March 19, 2017

No surprises in Germany as Coelho claims TQ

With the final day of the Euro Offroad Series in Germany opening with the penultimate round of qualifying, there were no surprises as Bruno Coelho again set the pace to claimed his third TQ of the season.  Having taken both of yesterday’s 4WD qualifiers, the Xray driver became the Top Qualifier by again setting the pace over team-mate Martin Wollanka with over 4-seconds in hand.  Behind them, again it was Lee Martin who was best of the rest, the Yokomo driver having at one stage been at the top of the timing screens but ended up third with two mistakes over the 5-minutes.

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March 18, 2017

Coelho in a different class in Q1

Bruno Coelho was in a different class to his rivals in the opening round of 4WD qualifying at the Euro Offroad Series, the reigning champion topping the times by almost 6-seconds.  Having set the pace in practice, the Xray driver lead away the field putting in a perfect run setting the fastest lap in the process. Behind Coelho, who is looking to successfully defend his EOS title this weekend at Arena33, Yokomo’s Lee Martin would post the second fastest time, splitting the Xray’s as Martin Bayer completed the Top 3 ahead of Hupo Honigl.

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March 18, 2017

Coelho win sees Orlowski crowned EOS Champion at Arena33

Bruno Coelho has claimed his first 2WD career win of the Euro Offroad Series, the Xray driver’s victory at Arena33 also deciding the outcome of this season’s championship which has an all new champion in Michal Orlowski.  With Lee Martin Orlowski’s only remaining title challenger at the penultimate round of Season #6, the stakes going into A3 couldn’t be higher.  With the opening two A-Mains producing two different winners, Joona Hataanen winning the first and Martin the second, the Top 3 on the grid would all be contenders for the overall win in German.  For reigning champion Martin it was a win or nothing situation. While Haatanen would lead for the first 3-minutes, the Top Qualifier would suffer a mistake through the steps section after the straight with Coelho there to capitalise.  While a win for Coelho ahead of Hataanen would leave him on the same points as his rivals, it would come down to the winning race times to decide how they got to stand on the podium.  Once in front however Coelho would prove fastest pulling clear to go the extra lap bettering the previous best set by Martin to give him the overall win. The star of the weekend, the tie breaker would leave Hataanen third deferring the rising talent’s debut on the top step of the podium to another day.  While Hataanen waits for that day, two years after his break through win in the EOS, his close friend Orlowski realised his long time ambition by adding an EOS title to his CV, the young Pole having been a part of the championship from the first ever race in 2012.

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March 18, 2017

Martin wins A2 ahead of lucky Coelho

Lee Martin has won the second A-Main encounter at the Euro Offroad Series at Arena33, the Yokomo driver maximising on two unlucky incidents for early race leader Bruno Coelho.  With an early mistake putting Top Qualifier & A1 winner Joona Haatanen out of contention, it was 2nd place qualifier Coelho who took control. Building up a gap over Martin, that was to be greatly reduced as a marshal put Xray team-mate Martin Wollanka in his path causing the two to make contact. With Martin now within striking distance, Coelho’s bad luck would continue and two laps later the Portuguese driver got caught up in an error by Joakim Nicolaisen. Collecting the out of shape Associated, Coelho would also get driven over by Martin’s Yokomo which was barely hampered.  Eager to regain his position Coelho would lose control of his XB2 giving Martin the breathing space he needed to take home the win, Coelho trailing by 7/10ths of a second with Neil Cragg a distant 3rd.

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March 17, 2017

Haatanen claims maiden EOS TQ

Joona Haatanen has claimed his maiden TQ of the Euro Offroad Series, the up & coming star of the championship securing the top spot for tomorrow’s 2WD A-Main at Arena33.  Having taken the opening two rounds of qualifying, the Team Associated driver could only be denied his first pole position by Yokomo’s Lee Martin who had topped Q3.  In the end however Martin, who had the advantage of the fastest TQ time, couldn’t get it done with Bruno Coelho finally delivering on his fast pace to take the fourth & final qualifier, making Haatanen the Top Qualifier and demoting Martin to third on the grid.

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March 17, 2017

Martin finally hits the top in Q3

Having topped the times in all three rounds of practice at the Euro Offroad Series this morning, Lee Martin finally posted a TQ run in the third qualifier at Arena33.  Kicking off qualifying with an error on his opening lap but managing to salvage a P2 for the round, on his second attempt further errors left him with a P4.  Improving his car for the penultimate heat, he would set a new fastest qualifying time to push the decision of Top Qualifier in Germany out to the final round of qualifying.  With Joona Haatanen having taken the opening two qualifiers, only Martin can deny the Team Associated teenager his first overall TQ of the EOS but in order to achieve this the former Champion must top Q4.  With Hataanen third in the penultimate round, it was early pace setter Bruno Coelho who would finish second, a roll half way through the heat ending his chances of the overall TQ.

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March 17, 2017

Haatanen heads Associated 1-2 with another TQ run

Joona Haatanen backed up his Q1 TQ by again topping the times in the second round of qualifying at the Euro Offroad Series in Germany.  The up & coming Finnish talent would lead a Team Associated 1-2 at Arena33 as elder team-mate Neil Cragg managed to set the second fastest time despite running in the second quickest heat.  Behind the two B6s it was Martin Bayer who was best of the rest, the Xray driver some 5-seconds off Haatanen’s TQ pace.  With top seed Lee Martin getting a P4 for the round ahead of Hupo Honigl, for championship leader Michal Orlowski the second round of qualifying proving to be the Pole’s highest placing on the time sheets so far but the winner of the last two EOS encounters has yet to get to terms with the challenging track layout.

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