Team Durango Top Four at Euro SC Masters

Team Durango report from Germany and the European Short Course Masters:

The inaugural European Short Course Masters took place last weekend at the MC Welden track near Munich, Germany. A total of four classes were on the cards with 2WD SC and 4WD SC being the main classes along with 2WD RTR SC and 1:8 4WD SC also featuring. The track is a mix of surfaces with the majority of the track being split between dirt or Astroturf. The track is usually for 1:8 off-road but still suitable for 1:10 scale trucks.
Friday saw open practice and right from the off, the Team Durango DESC410R was totally dialled in and the team drivers were very confident. The track had started moist and slowly dried and in turn, the grip level came up a lot. The team used the 1.5mm front anti-roll bar which worked well to calm the steering.
Saturday saw the start of qualifying after one last practice run. There were to be six rounds of qualifying in all with four on Saturday and two on Sunday. Team Durango’s Hupo Hönigl TQ’d the first two rounds with his DESC410R. The rain started after round two and some drivers decided not to run in the worsening conditions, but double IFMAR World Champion Martin Achter braved the weather to take the next two rounds of qualifying. After qualifying, Team Durango held the top three spots with the DESC410R ahead of Robert Hart and Ryan Maifield who’d been flown over especially as the ’secret weapon’ of the AE team to win the event.

Qualifying
1 Hupo Hönigl DESC410R

2 Martin Achter DESC410R
3 Jörn Neumann DESC410R

4 Robert Hart
5 Ryan Maifield

In the first 4WD SC A final, Hupo had the lead after the start but he had a problem and retired after two laps. Jörn took up the lead followed by Ryan Maifield and Martin Achter. Jörn put some quick laps and had built up a confortable lead whilst on the last lap, Martin Achter overtook Ryan to finish second. This was the best result the competition would have in the finals as it would turn out as the Team Durango cars stamped their superiority on the meeting. In the second leg, Hupo again had a good start and Jörn overtook Martin and was now in second behind Hupo. Hupo had a small mistake and Jörn closed in behind him. Both drivers had a nice battle for the lead and in the end it was Jörn who took the win, from Hupo and Martin. The last leg saw Hupo lead from the start as Jörn tried to overtake Martin. After one lap, Jörn went for the inside line on Martin for second. Hupo again had a small mistake and now Jörn was in the lead. Two laps before the end, Hupo overtook Jörn to take the win as Martin finihsed third.
In the end it was a stunning one-two-three-four for Team Durango as Gerd Pfifer took the first non-podium position in fourth with Marcel Louis Khorosh in ninth.  It really couldn’t have gone much better for the team as they blitzed the opposition.

Final
1 Jörn Neumann DESC410R
2 Hupo Hönigl DESC410R
3 Martin Achter DESC410R
4 Gerd Pfeiffer DESC410R
9 Marcel Louis Khorosh DESC410R

Source: Team Durango