Martin Sørlie from Norway, who joined the team end September, made his debuts with the Team Magic E4RS III Plus last week-end at the Mountain Model Camp.
Martin, who didn’t raced TC since years, obtained a great result for his first race with the E4RS III Plus, by winning first final round and finishing overall second.
Great Job !
Original Report – from Martin Sørlie:
This weekend was very exciting, as it was the first time I could do a real test with the TM E4RS III Plus on a rather large carpet track.
In attendance was multiple Norwegian champ and ETS-finalist Helge Johannessen, so the rest of us had to get up early if we were to beat him. To start with I struggled a bit with a very slippery car, having built it with the aluminium chassis, and running Volante 28s with ETS additive. Most guys were running Sorex 28, and according to Helge, they were three tenths faster. Good for me, since I was only two tenths behind him. I don’t really think I’d be any quicker with other tires, but it’s a nice thought.
I changed back to the standard CF chassis pretty quickly, and also tried with some different springs and roll centres. I didn’t really know where to go, but I managed to get a rather safe, yet fast car. Still needs work, but I was very happy to come within a tenth of a second of the best lap of Helge. In the end, I qualified fourth. My last two qualifying runs were quite good, but with three out of five counting, fourth was the best I could do.
For the finals I figured the best I could do was leave the car as is, and focus on my driving. For the first main I just stayed behind for a while in fourth until Ketil Pettersen ahead of me made a mistake. Then it was all about trying to stay within striking distance of the leading duo. They fought frantically, and just a tap from Helge messed up their bodies, and I could pass for an easy victory.
For the second final, it was a rather similar story. Sadly, on the last lap, a lapped back-marker T-boned me ’til kingdom come, so I had to limp home in third with a broken suspension arm. This meant I was on point for victory, and as long as I beat Helge in the last final, I could still win it.
Well, it would have been a dream start to the indoor season. I made my way to third quickly in the last final, and halfway through I could barely believe my luck, as Helge made a big mistake, and suddenly I passed for second. Helge quickly regrouped, and started adding the pressure. I couldn’t take it this time, and he made a nice pass in the infield. For a lap I tried to hassle him until I realised I couldn’t keep up or distract him enough, so I settled for third in that final and a second place total.
All in all a great weekend, and I’m very pleased with the car. It was a nice warmup for the first round of ETS, hopefully I can get in some more practice before I go there.
Overall Results:
1. Helge Johannessen
2. Martin Sørlie – Team Magic E4RS III Plus / HRC Racing
3. Ketil Pettersen
4. Andreas Daving
5. Jonas Ramsrud
6. Jørn Kristian Borgevad
7. Olav Dahle
8. Roy Bråten
9. Anders Hantveit
10. Steinar Orholm
11. Sebastian Støle Hansen
12. Tommy Hansen
13. Roger Larsen
14. Kristian Orholm
15. Terje Teigen
16. Atle Erlandsen
17. Kai Høgden
18. Andreas Bakkene Myhre
19. Lars Erik Bø