If you’re one of those people who finds it hard to get out of bed early in the morning, the Euro Offroad Series is not for you! Doors opened to the race venue at 0700hrs this morning and there wasn’t exactly a stampede to get in. An hour later the pit area had filled and there were lots or weary bodies doing their best to wake up after a tough day yesterday. Thankfully there is lots of coffee available trackside!
The finals have started and the very first one was the Stock Truck A-main Leg 1. The final was scrappy at times, however Philip Marzinger consolidating his qualifying position to win the race without too many errors. 4th qualifier Christian Wukonig also kept it clean and managed to bump to 2nd. As Marzinger is substantially faster than the rest of the field, it is his to lose. The intestering race with be the race for 2nd place between Wukonig, Braciak and Geier.
Philip Marzinger on his way to the Stock Truck A-Main Leg 1 win
In the 2wd Stock class, Mick Burbach led from start to finish with skills you normally see in the higher modified class finals. His closest rival, Tristam Neal suffered with an incorrect tyre choice – it reminds me of that famous quote: “It’s always new boots for the final” – Albert Einstein. Hopefully Trish can put in more of a challenge for leg 2.
Mick Burbach on his way to the Leg 1 win
The 2wd Modified A-Main Leg 1 was thrilling to say the least. Micha Widmaier made a conservative start and was immediately under pressure from Michal Orlowski with Lee Martin and Jorn Neumann going with them to make up the 4 car break away group. After a few laps, Widmaier started to gap Orlowski – it was 2 seconds at one point showing how close the race was. The gap hovered between 1.5 and 2 seconds for several laps before Orlowski started to close up on Widmaier again. At the 4 minute mark the new foam surface came into play when Widmaier carried a little too much speed through one of the corners covered in the new surface and he had a half spin, allowing Orlowski through. Widmaier spent the next minute or so closing the gap to Orlowski successfully, but there was never an opportunity for a pass. To demonstrate the pace of Widmaier this weekend, just check out the fastest laps from the final.
