This weekend I traveled to Wels for the last round of EOS series. Normally we have time to practice a bit before race but this time it was very difficult because we came back from NEO RACE on Tuesday night and due to busy schedule my cars have not been ready at all. So I had one day to make everything ready for last round of this great series.
Arriving on Thursday to have dinner later with the rest of our team and discuss starting setups for the race.
Friday started with 2wd and Stock stadium trucks. Since the first practice cars of all our team drivers have been on point. This time the tire wear was much higher then at previous races so the tires were the key to fast times. But I managed to do good runs on bad tires when others crashed and gave points away. So I saved A main already after two rounds of quali.
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As for the other two, I decided to test something on my car to improve my times. In the end it was tight on points and I started from 6th. I was driving nice and clean but a few mistakes cost me chance to fight for better position and I finished 6th. Bruno Coelho took the win in 2WD class and Max Gotzl won Stock Truck class.
On Saturday afternoon we started with practice for 4wd and mod. truck. In 4wd I was fast since the first practice but had a crash so I had to start only in the second best heat. But in there I had no problem because other drivers in my heat were really nice to me and let me pass every time when I got close to them. First quali was very good. No pressure, just drive and my lap times were so good that it moved me to the top spot for first round. Bruno TQed two more and I was starting second for main. Super happy!
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First final I wanted to drive safe and finish in top 3 to have good points for first final but it turned into an interesting 5 minutes. After fights with some guys I couldnâ™t finish with good points. Second main, Bruno made a small bobble on double double section and I got the lead. My legs started to shake immediately. Only few drivers know what is to have Bruno Coelho behind you. But somehow I drove clean and saved the inside line and managed to keep first place until end. It was only 0,100s difference on line between us.
I knew that third main would be difficult for Bruno to win but he forced me to try my hardest. Already twice used tires just had no performance and Bruno pulled away and tried to beat my fastest time from second main. In the end we had same points but my time was about 0,300 better so I won overall. Really great moment to fight for win after amost two years.
Truck class was still open for overall win in season. And basically who would win the last race would win overall. I started from the pole and Hupo behind me. He drove exceptionally good this time. I tried to improve my truck but in the end he drove better and won this last race. He deservs this win!
Overall it was amazing weekend for Team XRAY. We won all 4 classes, we had most cars in A-main and most cars in the w hole race.
Thanks to all XRAY drivers, customers and friends for their racing in this great series. See you soon on start of next EOS season.
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Report by Bruno Coelho
2WD
My car worked very well from the begging making only small changes in the setup to make it faster since the track was very technical. In the qualifies I was able to TQ starting like this in the first position for the finals. In the finals everything was a little different and I had a very good fight with Ryan Maifield and after the 3 great finals I won with the same points as him but I had the fastest 5 minutes.
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I'm very proud on how our XB2 is working in this moment and we did a big step forward compared to the beginning of the season. I can say that if our car was working like this in the first races I could've had the chance to win also the 2WD EOS Championship and I can't wait to the start of the new season.
4WD
With our XB4 everything was very clear. We completely dominated the whole EOS and this race was just one more. I TQed three qualifies and Martin Bayer made the second place starting like this in second position in the finals behind me. In the first final I made a mistake dropping to the last position and I decided to stop to save the tires for the rest of the mains. Second final was one of the best battles of the weekend, I made a mistake in the first lap and Martin overtook me. We then fought until the finish line and Martin has beaten me by 0.050s. The thread final I finally didn't made any mistake and I was able to win matching the same points as Martin but he did the fastest 5 mins winning by 0.100s.
The season finished and is the second consecutive year that XRAY won the 4WD EOS Championship. I'm very happy and proud to be part of this great team working every year harder and harder to achieve the best result possible at all times. One more time thank you very much to Martin Bayer for the great work during this season and also a big thanks to all the XRAY team for the great support."
Bruno
Truck Stock report by Max Gotzl
The final round of Euro Offroad Series 2016/17 was held last weekend in Wels, Austria. That was a nice race with again a lot of good racing atmosphere and fun.
We started as always at 8 oâ™clock with Stadium Truck Stock free practice. Some parts of the track were very dificult with the Stock, but all jumps were possible to jump. After the timed practice I was on the top of the board. In qualifications I made three fast runs what meaned the overall TQ for me. Adam Izsay was second and Juraj Hudy third.
A1 was very close final, right after the start I and Adam made a big mistake and Juraj got a huge lead. After this I didnâ™t make any more mistakes, while Juraj did and in the last corner I got to the 1st position and finished 1st. In A2 Adam took the easy win because of a lot of mistakes from me. But in A3 there was a lot of trafic after the start, I was lucky a went away but Adam got stucked in there. And it was again an easy win for me and meaned the overall win.
In the overall season I had secured win after the third race in Poland, which was my 3rd win in a row and there were three races counting. On the 2nd place finished Adam Izsay who won one race and had more points than 3rd Juarj Hudy.
The whole season was great, thank you all so much for it. All my cars powered by HobbyWing electronics and in the end of season by SRT servos were super good from the beggining to the the end of the season. Thanks to all my sponsors for the best support I could get now and hope next season will be as good as this one (maybe better).
