Lee Martin Retains 2WD Euro Title

The Mini-Racing Club in the Southern French town of Pau are hosts for the 2011 EFRA 1:10 Off-Road European Championships and the 2WD finals day saw some great racing. With the weather ranging from scorching hot in practice to damp and slimy on finals day, the key to being fast was forward drive. Multiple former European Champ Neil Cragg took pole position with his Associated B4.1 from defending Champ Lee Martin and his Tamiya TRF201. To compliment the mix of manufacturers, Jörn Neumann placed his Durango DEX210 in third place.
The finals were a case of what could have been for Neil. A mistake on the critical double-double jumps at the start of leg one let Lee into the lead, never to be given back. The second leg saw no mistake from Neil as he took the leg, this time ahead of team mate Paul Bradby. The final leg again saw an error from Neil on the jumps, but with a marshal missing from his spot it cost Neil badly. Lee again took the lead and didn’t look back to seal his second 2WD European Championship. Neil fought back to take second with local French driver Antoine Rossetti finishing a fine race in third place with his B4.1. These three also made up the podium positions in the same order.

2WD Result
1    Lee Martin – Tamiya
2    Neil Cragg – Associated
3    Antoine Rossetti – Associated
4    Jörn Neumann – Durango
5    Hupo Hönigl – Durango
6    Paul Bradby – Associated
7    Peter Pinisch – Associated
8    Ellis Stafford – X Factory
9    Martin Kreil – Durango
10  Rene Trauner – Tamiya

Practice for 4WD starts on Thursday with the finals on Saturday.
Look out for more news from the event here and in the printed version of Racer Magazine soon.