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July 11, 2009

Savoya on pole for Main Final

He was the top Qualifier here in Austria and now thanks to victory in his Semi, with the faster time of the two, defending Champion Renaud Savoya will start from pole position over Spain’s Robert Batlle. Setting the fastest lap of the Semis, the French ace cruised to the win and despite one mistake finished four seconds clear of Batlle and now the pair will line up in the same 1-2 order as in Crete last year. Afterwards Savoya said the race went to plan except for his roll in the last two minutes. Batlle felt his Associated, which had a problem in the 10 minute warm-up, was not so bad but now plans to change to a heavier oil in the shocks for the 45-minute final.

Follow our lap by lap coverage of the Main final on our event site here.

July 11, 2009

The Big day arrives in Austria

For Europe’s top buggy racers today is the culmination of months of testing and preparation and in just over seven hours from now one of them will be crowned the 2009 EFRA 1:8 Off Road European Champion here in Wolbling, Austria. While weather was the big talking point at the start of the week, the sun is now beating down on the track for the big day. Currently the lower finals are underway with our coverage, which is supported by Team Orion, Mugen Seiki, LRP and Kyosho, getting underway with a round-up of the 1/4 Finals. For the Semi Finals and Main we will be bringing you live lap by lap updates as Top Qualifier Renaud Savoya looks to defend his title.

View our full event coverage here.

July 11, 2009

German Nationals still affected by rain

After three days the German Nationals 2008/2009 (1/8 on-road) are still a rainy affair. Following the rainy weather at the first day of unofficial practice on Wednesday the weather continued to be contrary but with more dry periods on Thursday. Nearly all of the 88 competitors were present and tried to catch any single lap on the challenging 260 meter track of the AMC Hildesheim located south of Hanover. Weather turned to the worse on Friday, the first official day of the one event decision for the German 1/8 crown.

Continue reading the report

July 10, 2009

Savoya on target in Austria

He took TQ honours on his way to the European title last year and if that pattern is anything to go by it is looking good here in Austria for defending Champion Renaud Savoya with him being crowned the 2009 Top Qualifier. The factory Mugen driver claimed the honour when his only challenger Yannick Aigoin rolled during his final attempt at being the No.1 qualifier. With his second European TQ safe in the bag, Savoya wasn’t quite finished however, going on to put in another superb drive to take his third 185 points maximium of the five qualification rounds.

View our full event coverage here.

July 10, 2009

The Drake dominates down under

Adam Drake has been in touch to tell us about the RC Pro Australia event that took place last weekend. A dominant performance by Team Losi, Adam Drake TQ’d 10 out of 12 rounds of qualifying to take the overall TQ in 1/8th buggy and 1/8th truck. Adam also went on to win both 30 min semi finals and both 60 min finals. Adam led every lap of the buggy and truck 60 min finals to win the former from Jeremy Kortz and Ryan Lutz, and the latter from Craig Laughton and Tim Gaukroger.

Click here from more reflections on the event from Adam

July 10, 2009

Another qualifier for defending Champion Savoya

Renaud Savoya has TQ’d the penultimate qualifier here in Austria becoming the first name to appear at the top the time sheets twice. The defending Champion ran an identicial car to yesterday changing only to the softer M3 Revolver to win the round from Darren Bloomfield and promising Czech driver Martin Bayer. Track conditions for the first of today’s two heats was more slippery than yesterday due to the damp conditions but Savoya said his car worked well and combined his no driver errors he was very pleased with his heat which puts him in with a strong chance of repeating his overall TQ at last year’s European Championships.

View our full event coverage here.

July 9, 2009

Savoya continues French reign in Austria

Renaud Savoya continued the French reign here in Wolbling, Austria, as he TQ’d the third qualifier on day 3 of the Euros heading home arch rival and fellow countryman Yannick Aigoin. The defending Champion was clearly pleased with the run saying afterward, ‘It is getting better now. The car is improving all the time’. Running harder shocks and switching to Proline’s Caliber M2 tyre, Savoya was much happier with the feeling of his MBX6 and knocked 2 seconds off his first qualifying run with 7 laps in 5:14.059.

View our full event coverage here.

July 9, 2009

Other Aigoin takes 2nd Qualifier in Austria

Yannick Aigoin has topped the second round of qualifying for the 2009 EFRA European Championships here in Austria. Setting both a new fastest run time and lap record, the French star said he was suprised to beat Robert Batlle’s time having watched the Spaniard’s run as he waited for his own group. Running the same set-up as this morning, only switching from Caplier to Revolver tyres, he said his Losi/Novarossi combination is working really well and he will leave it the same for the third qualifier.

View our full event coverage here.