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Country: Czech Republic
Chassis: XRAY XB4
Motor: LRP
Speedo: LRP
Batteries: LRP
Development Parts: Longer top deck, otherwise standard

It’s been an intense and fabulous set of Final races in the 4WD 1:10 scale European Championships, and we are sure that the results are as unexpected to you as they were for us!

Lee Martin put in a super-fast set of qualifying runs, coming back from breaking his car in the second qualifying round to take the TQ over the early favorite Jörn Neumann, who started from second. Jörn’s teammate Hupo Hönigl started from third, with Martin Bayer in fourth and former 2WD World Champion Neil Cragg starting from fifth.

A Final #1

Lee started off quick but crashed on the small double jump before the bridge, which allowed many of the racers to sling past, including Martin, Jörn and Hupo. From this point, Martin led the race all the way to the finish as the rest of the racers made mistakes and held each other up trying to get a good finishing position. Lee Martin made up much of the ground he’d lost, getting past everyone else to settle into second place and start working on catching Martin around this very difficult track. After a mistake from Martin, Lee was directly behind him and started cranking up the pressure, but Martin would not crack! After a couple of mistakes from Lee, Martin had plenty of space behind him but some very small bobbles allowed Lee to catch up and pile on the pressure again and put a last-corner dive on Martin going into the final corner, but Martin crossed the line just half a car length ahead of Lee to take the first win! Finishing order: Martin Bayer, Lee Martin, Jörn Neumann.

A Final #2

The second A Final saw Lee, Jörn and Neil lead away on the first lap until a mistake over the small tabletop by Lee let Jörn past. A crash from Neil let David Ronnefalk pass into third, and the order between Jörn, Lee and David would grow and shrink over the next few laps. Jörn pulled away then crashed out of the first corner, allowing Lee and David to catch up once again, then David pulled off a very brave pass going up the ‘Green Mile’ of astroturf, passing Lee to get into second place! One lap later David use the long astroturf section again to get directly behind Jörn, and then pulled off a terrific pass to get into the lead! Jörn made a tight pass coming back through the esses to get back into the lead, which he maintained for the final couple of laps to take the win. Finishing order: Jörn Neumann, David Ronnefalk, Lee Martin.

A Final #3

The third A Final started off cleanly, and Lee held his lead until he crashed over the tabletop once again, letting several cars past. Jörn crossed the finish line with a gap to Martin Bayer, who’d finished fourth in the A2 Final and passed Jörn coming out of the Green Mile and into the banked ‘Tarzan Curve’, taking the lead over Jörn and allowing Neil Cragg to move into third. Jörn needed to keep Neil behind, driving defensive lines but he soon caught up to Martin and then flipped going into Tarzan, allowing several drivers to catch him! Martin was soon caught up by Neil but Martin put his foot down and soon built up a large gap, helped by David Ronnefalk who got past Neil just before the bridge. Jörn also got past Neil and was quickly pressuring David, but David pulled away and started pressuring Martin. On the last lap, Jörn then David made big mistakes on the Green Mile but were still able to apply huge amounts of pressure to Martin for the last half-lap of the race, even touching coming off the huge central bridge! David made a huge mistake over the last set of doubles, cartwheeling into the dust and giving Jörn second as Martin came over the finish line to win the 2013 EFRA 1:10 4WD European Championship!

The Final results are:
1 Martin Bayer CZ
2 Jörn Neumann DE
3 Lee Martin GB
4 David Ronnefalk SE
5 Neil Cragg GB
6 Darren Bloomfield GB
7 Hupo Hönigl AT
8 Lorenzo Crolla FR
9 Martin Kreil AT
10 Paul Bradby GB

Come back to efra.ws later this week, from Wednesday, with live video streaming, live timing and commentary from the RC Racing TV team at the 1/8th On-Road Championships AND the Large Scale Off-Road Championships!

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Martin Bayer reports on his win at European Championship

Immediately following a successful week of 1/8 off-road racing, I travelled with my teammate Reno Savoya to Spain for the European Electric Off-road Championships.

The race program started with the 2WD class. We were using a 2WD prototype buggy based on the XB4 1/10 4WD offroad buggy. The car felt very good, but the track proved difficult with many low traction areas.

I worked diligently during my free time to continuously improve my set up. After qualifying was completed, I was sitting in 8th position. I was quite pleased with this result considering it was my first race using this prototype on clay.

In the final I improved my position, finishing in 6th place. I believe that I could have managed an even better result were it not for some small mistakes, but in general I was pleased with the outcome.
1. Jörn NEUMANN – DE
2. Neil CRAGG – GB
3. Lee MARTIN – GB
4. Darren BLOOMFIELD – GB
5. Hupo HÖNIGL – AT
6. Martin BAYER – CZ XRAY XB2 PROTOTYPE
7. David RONNEFALK – SE
8. Christoffer SVENSSON – SE
9. Wesley van HELMOND – NL
10. Oliver SCHOLZ – DE

The next day after completing the 2WD racing, we commenced with the next challenge – 4WD with the XB4.

The car felt excellent on the track right away from the very early moments in practice. I still put in the extra effort to make the car even faster and more consistent throughout the practice and qualifying rounds.After some missed opportunities for a stronger showing in qualifying, I still was able to manage a very respectable 4th position.

There was an additional practice session prior to the final that allowed me to try a final setup change. The change made the car feel even more incredible, so I decided to use this updated setup for the main

Right from the start in the first main, I was able to apply pressure and take the lead. I was able to maintain that lead and hold it until the finish.

In the second main, I made a mistake that dropped me to the back of the pack. I managed to keep my cool and was able to recover to 4th place.

Before the third final I ran the calculations to determine the results I would require in order to secure the win. There were still 4 drivers who could win the championships depending on their result in this final main. I decided to make a minor adjustment to my setup to increase the stability and improve my chances.

When the race started, I quickly moved into 3rd position, and on the 2nd lap I was able to take the lead. Once in the lead, I focused on remaining calm and driving a clean race in order to maintain my lead and secure the championship.

1 Martin Bayer CZ XRAY XB4
2 Jörn Neumann DE
3 Lee Martin GB
4 David Ronnefalk SE
5 Neil Cragg GB
6 Darren Bloomfield GB
7 Hupo Hönigl AT
8 Lorenzo Crolla FR XRAY XB4
9 Martin Kreil AT
10 Paul Bradby GB

This was a really amazing race. It was my first race on clay and my first time racing for a European Championship in this class.

I would like to thank all my sponsors, especially Team Xray for the amazing car and LRP for the amazing power.