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Martin, Yannick & Juraj
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| The Warm Up race for the European Championship took place from May 13th - 15th at the beautiful, technically difficult track in Reims, France, with 120 drivers from over all of Europe attending. The high value of this race meant that top drivers from XRAY, Kyosho, Mugen, Hobao, and Crono teams were present. Team drivers from the XRAY team - Yannick Aigoin from France, Magnus Palson from Sweden, Ryan Donovan from England, Martin and Juraj Hudy from Slovakia, plus plenty of top drivers from France - were ready to show their best. |
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Promo Pack |
| All drivers were pleasantly surprised by the XRAY Promo Packs that were given to all XRAY drivers for free. In this package were included a new modified chassis, new motor holder, new braces, and all the other new option parts. |
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Flooded track
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| The Warm Up race lasted 3 days â“ Friday, Saturday and Sunday. On Friday, there were two practices in groups and one timed practice. Because of the strong rain on Friday morning, the track was flooded. This discouraged the majority of the drivers from practicing. The first race was actually the timed practice, and was also the first contact with the track. |
| Qualifying |
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| The initial plan for Saturday included five qualifications, but because of the bad weather they had to be reduced to four, and only three qualifications would count in the final result. Worse luck struck Yannick Aigoin, who didnâ™t finished two qualifications because of problems with electrics. |
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| Although he was very fast in the two remaining qualifications, he was still missing one qualification to count and therefore he finished only 45th. Magnus decided to risk and wait for finals and start from the end of the starting list. Martin Hudy finished after qualifying in 31st position; considering that this was his 1st off-road race this year, this was a satisfactory result. Jerome Sartel won the qualifying, second was Philipe Lachat, and third Renaud Savay. |
| Finals |
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| On Sunday the weather finally improved and the rain stopped. The first finals were driven on the still wet track, but during the day it became dry and in the 1/32 finals it was already dry. |
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| The dry surface gave many problems to the drivers, because it was totally different from the wet conditions in which they practiced and qualified; many drivers didnâ™t choose appropriate tires. Yannick Aigoin showed a beautiful buggy ride, and he proved to the public the absolutely perfect performance of his XB8 car. He started a mistake-free ride in the 1/16 finals and he was able to reach 1/8 finals and then 1/4 finals. From this final he went without any problems to the semi-finals and ended up in the finals. |
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Yannick started from the 4th position in finals. After the first corner there was a collision and he dropped to last place, however he was driving excellently and was soon in 3rd place again. The break point was in the 6th minute, when he hit the driver who was driving in the opposite direction on the track, which caused his driveshaft to fall out. The mechanics put it back in immediately but he lost precious seconds. For the rest of the finals he decided to test different types of tires. He changed 5 types and ended in 9th place. The finals were won by Robert Batlle from Spain, who achieved first position after leader Savoya Renaud broke.
Final Results
1. Robert BATLLE Hyper 7
2. Nicolas RODRIGUEZ MBX5
3. Julien LATTANZIO MP777
4. Miguel MATIAS MP777
5. Jon HAZLEWOOD EB4
6. JĂ©rĂ´me AIGOIN Pirate RS2
7. Renaud SAVOYA MBX5
8. Graham ALSOP Hyper 7
9. Yannick AIGOIN XRAY XB8
10.Philippe LACHAT CL1 |
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Although Yannick Aigoin didnâ™t finish the finals, he was driving excellently and his buggy showed perfect performance. Yannick and the rest of the Team XRAY drivers are already looking forward to the European Championship, and they were very satisfied with their XB8s. XB8 designer Juraj Hudy had a great possibility to test at the race to find the best set-up for the upcoming Championship as well to analyze new ideas and innovations.
All drivers, either professionals or amateurs, were positively surprised by the approach from XRAY, not only because they were supported by the team promo pack, but also by the helpfulness and willingness of XRAY factory and Mr. Hudy to answer all technical and set-up questions. This ensured to all the drivers that not only XRAY products but also the companyâ™s customer service is of the highest quality. |
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| We are looking forward the European Championship and to showcase the best possible performance. |
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