XRAY wins LRP Masters

Report from Alexander Hagberg

The LRP TCM is one of the highlights of the indoor season, but also serves as an end of that season with the race being held in March. This year, the race had moved to a new location again, in Rüsselsheim, outside of Frankfurt, in southern Germany. The race saw some 300 entries in 5 classes.

The organizer had built the biggest carpet track I have ever seen, with a 50 meters long straightaway. The track was challenging with many corners and was (in my opinion) a bit too technical. Car set-up and driving both would play an equally important role on the way to quick lap times.
XRAY was present with most of its European factory team. In the Modified class, I managed to qualify 5th overall, with two 3rd places as my best results. It was a shame to have come so close to 3rd overall on the grid, only to be demoted to 5th in the very last round. I knew that passing would be difficult on this technical track so it would definitely be a tough job to make the podium. Anyway, I was optimistic. Marco Kaufmann also made the A-final on 9th, with his T4'14. Martin Hudy finished on the unlucky BQ position for the 4th consecutive time. Martin definitely had the pace for the A and a well handling car, but it just wasn't to be, once again.
In the 10.5T blinky stock class, Marek Cerny found a blistering pace for the very last and deciding qualifier to take overall TQ in front of Oliver Franke and fellow XRAY driver Jan Ratheisky on 3rd. Andreas Myrberg qualified 5th for XRAY with a good pace as well.

In the finals, I could use some more luck as I finished 5th and 6th in A1 and A2 after some minor mistakes/crashes with other drivers. I improved a lot for A3, following two set-up changes, after discussions with Martin, deciding to go for a heavier rear diff fluid as well as a high rear diff position, transformed the car and gave me the chance to fight for a higher position again. I managed to finish 2nd in A3 behind Ronald. I would still only finish 5th overall which is a bit disappointing, but that's racing. Will be working harder for future races to find a better set-up for the controlled LRP CPX tires.

In the stock class, Marek Cerny took a convincing win in A1 in front of Jan Ratheisky, making it an XRAY 1-2 at that point. In A2 however, Marek was slow off the line due to a cogging from the motor/sensor, which handed the win to Franke. Marek made a strong comeback to win A3 and take the overall win. Marek benefitted from a coming together between Franke and XRAY driver Ratheisky. Jan Ratheisky would finish 3rd overall for XRAY in the popular stock class!
Big thanks to all XRAY drivers present and especially to our team drivers who made the A-main! We are looking forward to the outdoor season! Until then....

Open Stock Top 10:
1. Marek Cerny - XRAY T4'14
2. Oliver Franke
3. Jan Ratheisky - XRAY T4'14
4. Steffen Leinburger
5. Bernhard Bopp
6. Tony Streit
7. Jan-Philipp Staab
8. Patrick Gassauer
9. Andreas Myrberg - XRAY T4'14
10. Thorsten

Modified Top 10: 1. Viljami Kutvonen
2. Ronald Völker
3. Yannic Prümper
4. Freddy Südhoff
5. Alexander Hagberg - XRAY T4'14
6. Dominik Fleischmann
7. Marco Kaufmann - XRAY T4'14
8. Marc Fischer
9. Dionys Stadler
10. Lucas Urbain