Racer kindly received this race report by Xray team driver Thilo Alexander Toedtmann:
“The 1:10 200mm EFRA European B Championship was held last week at the Club ARCA RC Track in Alcobendas near Madrid in the capital city of Spain. The race showed some strong competition with practice on Monday running on controlled tyres. Everyone had a good time with beautiful Spanish spring weather all week and constant temperatures around 27-degrees.
The track has a flowing and challenging layout and will also host the EFRA Electric Touring Car European Championships later the year. All contenders had a lot of free practice to find a perfect set-up before the event actually started on Thursday with controlled practice, qualification and of course the opening ceremony. The Xray team showed good performance from the start with me leading free and controlled practice with my Xray NT1 equipped with the new 2014 shocks that really helped with the hard and big control tyres in 37 shore front and 40 shore rear. Also the other NT1 drivers seemed dialled in as Simon Wood (GB) as well as Dennis Sting (GER) Vincent Berthon (F) and Turco Brice (F) made it five NT1s in the top ten after practice.
On Friday I was holding provisional TQ with two rounds left for Saturday morning which under cooler conditions, gave the chance of faster times leaving the overall TQ open. On the final qualifier I unfortunately made a mistake on the last lap as I thought I had already finished and thus lost the TQ spot falling back to tird. In the semi final B, Xray drivers Berthon, Turco and Wood all made it through with a flawless 58 lap run. I was into the faster semi final A. Keeping up with TQ man Joe Kerry right from the start, I made a mistake coming onto the straight getting my body tucked that was needed to be fixed by a marshal. From there on I drove a safe race securing second spot for the 45-minute A final encounter. Also from the semi A, Dennis Sting and Peter Spratley gained their ticket to the main with their Xrays so there were six NT1s in the final.
From the start of the main final Joe Kerry and I broke away from the field. I was a bit faster and tried to find a way past the young Brit, but he kept his lines tight and the door firmly closed. As I had no mechanic for the finals, I got help from the Spanish Xray distributor Micromodel and Carlos who personally organised two very good and cool pitmen for me. After we pitted at the same time, I was able to take the lead on the third pit stop and immediately got a comfortable margin between me and the chasing field. The final saw different strategies in fuel and tyre stops. While we changed all four tyres at about half way, Dennis Sting planed to only change the left side and Simon Wood even made the final without any tyre changes. At the end of the final there was a mix-up with marshals running all over the track making it bit thrilling in the last minutes but in the end I was able to win the EFRA European B Championship two laps in front of Joe Kerry and Simon Wood who were both on the same lap.
Result – EFRA 1:10 IC 200mm European B Championship
1. Thilo Alexander Toedtmann – Xray
2. Joe Kerry
3. Simon Wood – Xray
4. Victor Pelaez Olivares
5. Dennis Sting – Xray
6. Vincent Berthon – Xray
7. Turco Brice – Xray
8. Alex Thurston
9. Jose Miguel Blanco Ballester
10. Peter Spratley – Xray
It was a very enjoyable week for everyone involved and, of course, especially for me as the weather and atmosphere was perfect and the dedicated work I did to improve my driving and car was truly worth it. The next race will be the second round of the Euro Nitro Series to be held on the track of MAC Aigen-Schlägl in Austria. You can view the winning set-up here.
Source: Xray
