| Basic facts for XRAY: |
Final standings
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There were a lot of reports and news from the European Championship, so we want to bring a different perspective and view, through the XRAY eyes. The following report is just an opinion of XRAY and is concerned just about XRAY and their team.
Official reports you can find at www.myTSN.com or www.team-orion.com
• it was a great and exciting battle of all the best European drivers
• it was only the second European Championship for XRAY, who made a great step forward from the last year
• all teams were presented to provide support, XRAY had one of the most professional team support available
• XRAY team tested at several warm-ups with the best results
• the track record (held by Jilles) prior the Euros at warm-ups was 5:16 and it was tought it can be very hard to beat
• all XRAY drivers raced the brand new T1 EVO2, some drivers used new C-hub suspension, some drivers used ball suspension, some used mix of both
• Jilles Groskamp was the top XRAY driver and definitely one of the top three favorites for the title and Jilles and his car were one of the most followed up duo
• Markus Mobers who switched to drive XRAY just two weeks before was so lucky with the car, he improved at his home track by 0.5 sec
• most drivers suffered on the power equipment on this very fast track, even some top drivers claimed to be slow :o) |
| Practice days for XRAY: |
Top 3 drivers celebrating
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• Markus Mobers was in the practice very hot and setting one of the best times (5th best in the timed practice), though Markus had a bad luck all the race as this was his first European Championship and was placed in bad heat with a lot of traffic and crashes
• Jilles won both timed practices with a huge lead |
| Qualifiers for XRAY: |
Start of the qualifiers
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• XRAY car was the stabile car with top performance all day, in any weather or track conditions that reflected in the stabile and consistent lap times all day long
• in the first qualifier Jilles started from 9th position, getting after first laps into the lead and won by incredible 5 second lead (0.3 sec/1 lap faster than second car)
• all the time the sky was ready to rain, everybody prayed for the track to stay dry
• after the fifth qualifier results were:
1. Levanen Juho 5:11:41
2. Drescher Craig 5:11:71
3. Groskamp Jilles 5:12:83
• David Spashett was able just in the lasts qualifiers to move from C final to A
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Start of the finals
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• in the sixth qualifier when the track had the most grip ever most of drivers improved, Juho improved to 5:10:59, Craig improved to 5:11:54 and Jilles even he dumped the batteries in the last two laps improved and still overtook the improved time of Craig to 5:11:01 but it was not enough to overtake Juho, so he had to start from second position in the final
• Chris Grainger suffered on the power, but in the last qualifier when he was so fast and his times were enough for overall 5th position, he missed the start and due this did not get to A main
• Teppo Kaupinen had a great racing line, lap same as lap, but also quiet slow, good enough for B final
• in the last 6th qualifier we could see 3 disqualifications: car wider 0.5mm, car underweighted, driver not marshalling himself |
| Final #1: |
Chris Grainger used pivot ball suspension
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• the start of the first final was incredible, Jilles after the start where everybody started the exactly same time with 2 meters spacing, excellerated and overtook Juho just at the straight, that means in 12 meter long straight, he was faster 2 meters
• the belt driven car had much higher acceleration from zero at starts of all 3 finals
• Juho was cruising behind Jilles for few laps and both made a big lead. After a time Craig hook up on Juho. Afterwards Juho when Jilles was going into 180° corner crashed into Jilles' car, that made both to spin, giving Craig room to pass them into lead, Juho in the second. Jilles recovered from the crash and followed those two. Craig overheat tires as he had to push to much not to be passed and lost first position
• the first final finished: Juho, Jilles, Craig |
| Final #2: |
Chris Grainger
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| • three minutes before the final it started slightly to rain. Nobody had set-up for slipery track and there was not time for anybody to change the set-up, just Jilles thanks to the construction of the XRAY, just changed the firm top deck by the flexible one, to give the car more flexibility. The change was made in 10 seconds, another 5 seconds were needed to check the tweak |
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Jilles working on his T1 EVO2
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• in the second final at the start again Jilles accelerated and after few meters was at the same line as Juho, but as they were going into the corner, Jilles had to back up. After the first corner a big crash involved almost everybody. Jilles was the handy and happy enough to go through just with crashed front body and got into lead. Jilles was cruising the rest of the final with a huge lead (5-8 seconds).The second final finished: Jilles, Craig, Teemu.
• if Jilles would not lost the first final he would be already after second final the overall winner |
| Final #3: |
Markus Mobers' T1 EVO2
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• due to the circumstances in the first final, there were 3 drivers who could take the win: Juho, Jilles and Craig... Everything depended on the third final as the results from first two finals were Jilles 2+1, Juho 1+9 and Craig 3+2
• the third final repeated the two before, Jilles had again incredible start, immediately catch on Juho and they were car by car the whole straight and it was already expected Jilles will drive next to him the whole corner and will pass him in the corner. In the last moment, Jillles crowded back to Juho. The whole start was clear and no crash involved.
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T1 EVO2 in Finish pits
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• Jilles was pushing the whole first laps on Juho. Jilles had few opportunities to attack Juho the same way, like he did to him in the first final, but Jilles as fair driver did not do that.
• Jilles was saving batteries too much, as he had enough power in the end to hook up closely on Juho in the close 0.3 sec
• till the end of the third final nothing changed, Jilles passed the line second by Juho, followed by Craig.
• final results: Juho, Jilles, Craig |
| Other remarks for XRAY: |
Barry Baker liked the XRAY girls
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• everybody had a lot of fun and excitment, it was a great championship
• in the D final, Martin Hudy and Rene Pupke had a great battle like A finalists
• Juraj Hudy was testing all the weekend, spending time in pits helping all other drivers and he could be awarded as the oldest driver at this championship
• XRAY has specially for this championship manufactured and tested several different hardness of arms and several hardness of new wheels |
| Final remarks for XRAY: |
Jilles Groskamp, the European Vice-Champion 2002
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• Jilles with his new T1 EVO2 was the most consistent driver+car duo all the event
• XRAY had a great success and the new T1 EVO2 proved to be one of the most competetive race car, the most stable and consistent all the day long in any weather conditions, the most easy to set-up and maintanance
• see you next year in Austria |
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