Several Team XRAY drivers (Ben and Martin) participated at the Friendship Race in Austria. With other top drivers in attendance, not only was the competition tough, but there was also a wide range of different cars to compare against. The temperature inside the hall was fairly cold and the carpet did not have any grip; our initial set-up from Prague (where was a lot of grip and we ran different tires) did not work at this track.
We did not have much experience with the new T1 Factory Kit on a low-grip track, so we set out to try different setups to see what would work best. Ben made a few small modifications to his setup and qualified 3rd in the final. The last run was the heat that decided for final qualifying positions, as the track finally had enough grip. Martin changed his setup (which did not work) and did not even finish his last qualifying run so he started 8th in the finals.
For the finals Martin used Benâ™s setup, but made a few changes to give the chassis more flexibility. This made the car very fast and gave enough grip. Ben had bad luck in first final run, while Martin was able to get up to 6th place after the start but was crashed right away and was fell back to 8th place. Martin hit the trigger and during the final run moved through the pack from 8th to 2nd position!
In the second run, Ben moved to 2nd place but in the last lap fell back to 3rd place. This time it was Martin that had a bad run, and dropped to 10th place after start due the heavy traffic. He did his best but finished in 5th place.
For the third (final) run the grip was even more improved and was a very exciting final to watch. After the start Ben dropped to 5th place, but fought back for 3rd place during the run. Martinâ™s good run was cut short when he was crashed in a corner and dropped to 8th place. He then again pulled the trigger and showed the most exciting run of the event. His laps were 0.2 sec faster and even with the bad luck at the start, he moved from 8th place to 2nd place again. Martin did not let off anywhere, he simply flew through the corners at an amazing speed. It was amazing to watch!
Final result:
1. Peter Pinisch 2. Martin Hudy Xray
3. Thomas Pumpler
4. Benjamin Gröschel 5. Ben Cosgrove Xray
6. Alexander Stocker
7. Michael Krämer
8. Andy Krämer
9. Hubert Hönigl
10.Rene Kölbel
