European Championships 2008

Pictures made by partner website RedRc.net

This weekend were the Euros held in Villa Real at the Nitro15 track in Spain. Manufacturers and Drivers from all over Europe have came to Spain for this event. The warm-up euros weren't really crowded because of the Reedy Race of Champions which was held at the same weekend. For many drivers this was the first time around the track. For drivers like Elliot Harper, winner of the Warm-Up Euros, the circumstances changed (compared to the warm-up Euros) and had to use a different set-up.

Shinosuke Adachi from Japan was present to help his Kyosho teammate Steen Graversen.		Tamiya designer Kiyo Suzuki came from Japan to support Jilles, Hupo, Marc and Viktor.		Sanne Siegler is over from Corally The Netherlands to support their drivers. Marc Fisher is doing a great job!

From the start of the event it seemed that the current European Champion, Ronald Völker, was setting the leading pace. Ronald had much support from Reto Koening (LRP R&D) and his personal mechanic Steffen Leinburger. Ronald Volker had taken the TQ spot after a dominating qualifying series. The only racer who could stop Ronald from the pole was the Tamiya driver Viktor Wilck. But Viktor had his fastest time taken away for not marshalling the fifth and final qualifier, leaving him on the third spot behind Marc Rheinard. Here are the top ten qualifying standings:

Newcomer in a Euros A-Main is Elliot Harper. The 16-year-old British driver had already won the warm-up race. One of Elliot Harper’s British Championship rivals is Chris Grainger who is now the current British champion. Chris was very ill and had to pass these Euros and go home to England. Too bad cause he already had tested the Yokomo Prototype at the Euros Warm-Up race and was Yokomo's best chance for the title.

The TRF driver Hupo Hönigl took the BQ spot (with 15 points, equal to Elliot Harper) and won the B-Main.		Team Orion's Dutch motor guru Oscar Jansen was present to support the team and to be Teemu Leino's personal assistant.		A picture of the XRay Team. Juraj Hudy (Chief Designer) was also present to support this huge team.

In the first A-Main led Völker right in front of Marc Rheinard, who was pushing really hard. Rheinard was trying to overtake Völker a number of times but couldn't find a way pass him. In lap 5 Marc hit in a attempt to pass Völker. The Hot-Bodies Cyclone TC of Völker went in a slide while Marc was waiting for him it was his teammate Viktor Wilck who couldn't avoid Völker's car and crashed. Viktor Wilck's Tamiya hadn't any damage while Völker had to end his race. The XRay drivers Teemu Leino and Alexander Hagberg passed Viktor and ended up in second and third. Andy Moore wasn't really pleased off his car and finished in fifth. Jilles Groskamp was pushed of the track, but could recover to finish back in sixth. Here are the standings from the first final:

The start of the second final was really clean. Ronald led the pack in front of Marc and Viktor. Marc was really pushing hard and was on Ronald's tail. Ronald couldn't handle the pressure and hit the the curbstone to hard and flipped his car rubber-side in front of Viktor Wilck who was also pushing really hard. Ronald couldn't find his leading pace again and was eventually overtaken by Viktor Wilck, Andy Moore and Jilles Groskamp. Normally this would have meant that Marc Rheinard would be the new European Champion, but his car was disqualified due using to long battery cells. Viktor and Marc where both using the Boomerang EP4600 cells and both were beyond the EFRA limit while the batteries were still hot. They had waited for them to cool down and to do a recheck. Viktor's batteries passed while Marc's did not. This had meant that the race for title was still open.
Here are the full official standings of the second final:

In the third final Ronald Völker and Marc Rheinard managed to stretch a gap between the third car, Viktor Wilck. Marc and Ronald where really racing close to each other while Marc waited with his attempts to pass Ronald. Tamiya was doing some good work with Jilles Groskamp driving in the third spot, Tamiya would take the whole podium. Unfortunately Jilles' pinion came loose in lap 9 and had to end his race and dropped overall standings from third to the seventh position. With just one minute to go Marc passed Ronald but had to brake late and Ronald was able to take the inside of the corner and the first place back. Marc tried to pass Ronald a couple of times but lost to much ground with one attempt and finished second and secured his European Championship title. Viktor Wilck finished third and Steven Weiß in fourth. Here are the top ten standings from the third final:

With two of the three finals counting are here the final results of the European Championships 2008:

No. 1 Marc Rheinard's Tamiya TRF416:

No. 2 Viktor Wilck's Tamiya TRF416:

No. 3 Ronald Völker's Hot-Bodies Cyclone TC:

Picture/Information source: RedRc.net