2019 EFRA 1/12th European Championship Finals Round Up

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Spec Championship

Michal Orlowski led away leg one from defending champion Ollie Payne, then Jörn Neumann in third. The order remained constant for the first couple of minutes until Neumann got a run on Payne along the straight and squeezed through to take second place. This action behind momentarily distracted Michal, causing him to hit the barrier and drop down the field, meaning Jörn had gone from third to first in the space of two corners. He reeled off the remaining laps to take the first leg from Ollie and a recovering Michal.

Leg two saw Orlowski lead away and take a lights to flag victory, while an early mistake dropped Ollie Payne down the field and into an early retirement. This allowed Niklas Johansson and Jörn Neumann to complete the top three.

Into the last leg and Michal Orlowski took another win to convert his pole position into a well deserved European title that he so narrowly missed out on last year. Though not able to run with Michal, Ollie Payne brought his car home second in the leg from Hupo Hönigl.

Spec Qualifying

After being fastest over three consecutive laps in Friday’s seeding practice, Michal Orlowski dominated the first four rounds of qualifying to seal himself pole position for the finals and give himself the best chance of going one better than his runner up position last year. With pole sealed, Michal elected to sit out the last round of qualifying allowing defending champion Ollie Payne to take the round and seal second on the grid, setting up a reverse of last year’s front row. Nicklaus Johansson rounded out the top three to set up what promises to be a close set of finals tomorrow.

Modified Qualifying

After topping seeding practice and the first three rounds of qualifying, Jörn Neumann was looking in a very strong position to take the overall pole position as the racers went into round four. With the best two scores from from five to count this would mean that any challenger would need to not only win the final two rounds, but also do so in a faster time than Jörn had managed. Alex Hagberg took round four to position himself as the only driver who could deny Jörn, but in a slower time than his competitor had managed so far. With Jörn starting first, Alex set off in hot pursuit in round five. A small mistake from Jörn put Alex to the front of the pack, then the spectators were treated to a thrilling battle as Alex tried to chase down the earlier fast time set by Jörn. The battle still wasn’t decided as the cars entered their last lap, but Alex just prevailed to set the fastest time by five hundredths of a second to take pole, with Jörn second on the grid and Michal Orlowski third.

With this being one of a handful of EFRA Euros that crowns multiple champions – Both Spec and Modified – Talking with the current champions is a good place to start. In Modified, Alex Hagberg is well on his way to becoming the “Michael Schumacher” of 1/12th with 5 wins in 5 years and there aren’t many who don’t predict him to make it a 6th! Meanwhile Alex himself seems quietly confident:

“The Euros is back at my “home” track, where we can look forward to a nicely organised event. The track is big and super flat – perfect conditions for an EC event. We’re running our updated X12 2019 version which features some minor updates compared to last year’s edition. In modified, my goal is to defend my title as well. I expect Ollie Payne and Michal Orlowski to be my biggest challengers.”

1/12th racing was for a long time seen as the class for the older generation, although there are actually very few ‘silver racers’ in the top heats now, and the 2 drivers Alex sees snapping at his heels are still teenagers. We’ll come to Michal in a minute, but first Ollie Payne – current Spec Champion, who bagged his first Euros last year and has since gone on to race all over the world. He says,

“This year Roche have the new P12 evo which I have spent a lot of time working on and I think it’s a huge improvement over the car from last year. I will be running both classes again this year so the plan is exactly the same. I’ll just do my best and see what happens!”

Also at the top of Ollie’s hit list is Polish superstar, Schumacher’s Michal Orlowski:
“We came to Hudy Arena two weeks ago together with the whole Schumacher team to have some practice in both off-road and 12th scale… Before that, I haven’t raced any 12th scale races since the Euros last year, but I’m very positive that we are very good prepared and ready to race. On top of that 12th scale Schumacher Racing team has done a lot of running throughout the last year and they have improved our cars massively, thus I have only positive feelings going into the event.”So with 2 crowns up for grabs, that’s just 3 dominant contenders, all confident in their own race platforms, throw Hupo Hönigl, Oliver Bultynck, Markus Mobers, Mark Styles and newcomer Jörn Neumann!! (to name but a few) into the mix and this could seriously be a Euros to remember!

But why is this ‘Old timers’ class so brimming with life and vitality right now? British star Mark Styles has a good theory:

“I think the biggest thing is the period of rules stability we’ve had in recent years. The switch to 6.5 motors and blinky speedos for modified has made it more accessible and something that more than just the elite drivers can race and enjoy. In stock I think 13.5 is a manageable speed for most people and competitive equipment is widely available… Finally, the provision for live streaming means that people at home can tune in, follow the action and wish they were there!”

For Hagberg the resurgence is also about keeping it accessible: “I think people are finding their way back to 12th scale again. The simplicity and affordability of the class is appealing to a bigger crowd than it used to a few years ago!”

For Schumacher’s Andy Murray it’s about brand commitment.
“I would like to think Schumacher Racing joining the class has helped. I know we have had a pretty strong team over the last few years and good number of us will attend this weekend too. This event is being run at possibly the most impressive venue in the world, so I’m sure many people can’t wait to visit the Hudy Arena for the first time.”

So consistent rules, manufacturer support, but also venue choice..? Andy could be on to something, over the last 5 years the event has been split between 2 locations. Firstly, Racing Arena Limburg, a wonderful facility, geographically accessible to many in 1/12 scale heartland of Northern Europe and the Hudy Arena in Slovakia, which takes a bit more travel for most, but upon arriving it is definitely worth the trip…

So, as racers begin to pack and fans get ready to watch the livestream from Friday morning, we turn to our host, Mario Hudy and ask the question on everyone’s lips… Is Alex going to make it 6 for 6?

“In racing you never know and anything can change until the last second. Our team has continued the work on the X12 and Alexander Hagberg being the vital part of the development team of the X12 pushes the performance all the time further. We believe that we are all well prepared for the upcoming Euros and for sure we have the highest goals and aims but at the same time we keep respect from all the competitors. I am sure that our team will be up for the task, and give their absolute best at our home court! We are looking forward to a competitive event!”