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Alexander Hagberg & Jan Ratheisky reports on their European Champion titles
We had the privilege of having the 2016 EFRA European Championships at our home track of the Hudy Arena. More than 130 drivers from all over Europe gathered for this great event, which would crown European Champions in three classes, TC Modified, TC 10.5 Stock, as well as the new Formula class.

The XRAY team was on pace from the first practice round, with Bruno Coelho setting the pace in the modified class, and with myself in the 3rd. We settled for the 2nd and the 3rd on the grid, after the 5 rounds of qualifications were finished. As always, it was a tire strategy game, where drivers had to choose to use or to save tires for the latter rounds/and even the finals. In the end, myself and Bruno had decided to save 3 sets of tires for the finals, to be able to maximize our chances to fight for the win in all three legs of the A-finals. Unfortunately, we lost out on TQ in the Q1 rocket round by less than 0.1s, and this would later prove to be one of the deciding factors for the rest of qualifying. I was particularly happy with my car at the last few runs, because I was also able to put in a TQ run on fresh rubber in Q5. I was feeling quite confident for the finals, even starting from 3rd on the grid.

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In the finals I was handed the lead twice, in A1 and A2, as Bruno and Ronald came together in two racing incidents. In A1, I was unfortunately not able to keep Marc behind me, and thus had to settle for 2nd place. In A2 I held the lead until the end, which gave me a very good position, going into A3, and considering that Ronald would have to win the final, and better my time, to be able to take the overall win. The song remained the same in A3 as in the other finals. Ronald and Bruno pulled away a little, but Bruno did not manage to overtake Ronald once again, and they collided slightly. I moved up to 2nd, and could start to chase down Ronald in the closing stages of A3. I tried a seemingly desperate move to catch him in A3, but I was not able to overtake, and thus the win went to Ronald. He beat me on the tie breaker, which was decided by only thousands of a second, in his favor. Nevertheless, this is racing, sometimes you win, and sometimes you lose. I will come back even stronger in the future, with the next goal being the ETS final event at the same track in July.

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In the 10.5T Stock class, Jan Ratheisky showed his class from early on. But it was Tom Kragfeski from Germany that had the quickest seeding time from practice, and started the qualifying from the number 1 position. Eventually Jan would be the stronger driver in qualifying, securing the overall TQ in front of XRAY team driver Mike Gosvig, and the French driver Alexandre Duchet. XRAY dominated the stock class in qualifications and put 9 cars in the A-main so we had secure already a podium finish whatever would happen.

In the stock finals Jan went on to win A1 on used tires, fending off a hard charging Mike Gosvig in 2nd, as well as Duchet giving the guys a good run for their money as well. A2 was a more straightforward affair as Jan managed to pull away on fresh rubber, giving himself a good gap to the others, and could cruise to take the win as well as the European Championship title! Very well done, and a big congrats on your performance! The A3 final would hand Alexandre Duchet the runner-up position as he managed to take the win there! Mike Gosvig would finish in a strong 3rd place for XRAY. So at the end a full podium for XRAY team, great job!

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In the Formula class, Jan would come out first again! His second title at this event! Our team leader, and the X1 team manager showed great calm and smart driving in the finals, to take the win from 3rd on the grid. The TQ holder Mike Gosvig (also running an XRAY X1) would have to settle for the 3rd and final podium spot, after some bad luck in the finals. But at least we had two XRAY cars on the podium, and we managed to win the first EFRA title in this category! Thank you to Jan and the entire team for your hard work! It’s great to see the successful Formula class getting some attention from the governing bodies. The first EFRA European Championships in this category must be considered a success!

Thank you to all XRAY drivers for your presence and your hard work! Next year we will aim for 3 out of 3 titles, as this year we only managed, 2 out of 3. Still a good result

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Race report by Jan:

Thursday - Practice and 1


Thursday - Practice and 1 Qualification rounds:
In Stock I wasn’t able to test before the event with the G36 tires so I started with my basic outdoor setup like I use at the ETS events. After changing the droop, rear diff and front springs I felt very happy with the car handling and in case of this I was able to TQ the first round of qualifiers.

In F1 I struggle a lot this time. The track was super-hot and whatever I try my car works complete different with each set of tires I tried. I used all my knowledge to build an understeering setup - one pair rear tires later, I bet to change for more steering. Very hard to make it work like I want this time. In the Q1 I badly get a set of tires which are working very tricky. Super no traction. My tire strategy would be to use that tires for all qualification rounds to gamble for the final. So it would be a hard way to get some good main position. I finished 3rd.

Friday - 4 more qualification rounds left:
In TC my strategy works very well. I finished 5th and 4th with my 1st set of tires. I was currently at the TQ Spot but could maybe loose it with using my 1st set of tires again. I don’t wanted to risk it so I took and good TQ run in the last heat and start TQ in the final.

In Formula I try very much to stay alive with my bad working rear tires. I was happy that I could manage to start 3rd on the grid even with this tires.

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Saturday - Finals:

In TC I gamble a bit and started my first Final with used tires. I was 5 mins under big pressure but was able to defend my TQ spot and won the final 1. The second round I mounted my saved set of tires and could win the heat with driving very easy and safe. So I won my first Stock euros... Yea!! :)

In Formula things didn’t go as planned with my final set of tires. My Qualification tires oversteers and my final set does the opposite way. I still managed to finish 3rd in leg 1. Despite some time I was 2nd but a mistake cost me a spot.

The second final I build some more steering in my car. The guys in front of me crashed so I could drive easy and win.

In the final leg I was leading after some laps again. Badly my rear tires getting already wore again and I build too much steering. After my mistake I finished 2nd that leg. So I was on a tie break with David. My win from 2nd final was faster so I’m very happy to win the first ever European Championship in the growing F1 class.

I will prepare myself the best way to defend it as well as I could next year ;)

Thank you very much everyone! :)

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1/10 Touring modified:
1. Ronald Volker
2. Alexander Hagberg - XRAY T4
3. Marc Rheinard
4. Bruno Coelho - XRAY T4
5. Victor Wilck
6. Michal Orlowski
7. Viljami Kutvonen
8. Christopher Krapp
9. Elliott Harper
10. Frederik Sudhoff

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1/10 Touring stock:
1. Jan Ratheisky - XRAY T4
2. Alexander Ducher - XRAY T4
3. Mike Gosvig - XRAY T4

4. Max Machler
5. Steve Favrelle - XRAY T4
6. Davide Bertuzzi - XRAY T4
7. Tom Kragefski - XRAY T4
8. Blazej Orlowski - XRAY T4
9. Asendorf Noah - XRAY T4
10. Mattia Collina - XRAY T4

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1/10 Formula:
1. Jan Ratheisky - XRAY X1
2. David Ehrbar
3. Mike Gosvig - XRAY X1
4. Oliver Bultynck
5. Stepen Lander
6. Martin Hudy - XRAY X1
7. Hector Albarracin
8. Matteo Berlincioni
9. Andrej Vnucko - XRAY X1
10. Herbert Weber
11. Andrea Selva - XRAY X1

Set-up sheets:
Alex Hagberg - European vice-Champion 2016
Bruno Coelho
Jan Ratheisky - European Champion 2016 Stock
Jan Ratheisky - European Champion 2016 Formula

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