French Championship round five - LVDM - 30 & 31st October 2008

FRENCH VERSION HERE

Saturday, october 30th  – Practice and qualifying

The fifth and last round of the french championship was hosted by the LVDM club, on the city of La Ville aux Dames, near Tours (center of the country). The RC track featured so much jumps that no racer went to try the nearby skate park. Kudos to Bertrand Kamga and the club staff for the selective, jumpy track.

Temperatures were quite low in the morning but the weather was nice. Some electric problems lead to a 2-hours delay on the timing. We had a 4-minutes practice and a timed practice before entering the hottest race of the year, La Ville aux Dames meaning Ladies’ Town ; )

FOUR WHEEL DRIVE

There were 2 big news on the pits. The much anticipated Cat SX was here in the hands of official Schumacher driver Jean-François Cave, Vincent Héligoin being also expected soon on the team. The LiPo version will get for sure some attention, LiPos being legal next year on several euro countries, including France!
The Yokomo B-Max 4 was the other show-stopper. Arnaud Ledun received his on Friday night, and thanks to the power failure on Saturday morning, the car was ready to hit the track for the timed practice.

Arnaud Ledun's B-MAX 4

Jean François CAVE's CAT SX

QUALIFYING

As the title had been already won by Cyril Baldini (winning the first 4 races), the qualifications at the Euros and the Worlds were the main goal... and winning the race, of course!

Vincent Héligoin, Cyril Baldini et Antoine Rossetti

4wd French 2008 championship overall result

A-Main drivers details 4x4 Open

PIT WALK

Who is that Associated driver?

2 Ways to adjust the camber. On the left : mountain-style, on the right : maybe a hobbit? My precious!

Cédric “Dremel lover” Devillers works on Arnaud's B-Max.

Father and son!

Great composure of Frédéric Pain, even on the B main!

So much work, only to make the ugliest shell of the race!

Vincent héligoin will be on the Schumacher team next year.

The pro and the alcoolic way to fill shocks!

Cyril Baldini seems interested on the new B-Max

...Don’t trust that smile!

Nooo, not my new car!

Cyril’s speed secret.

2 WD OPEN

Lots of X-6s on the pits, thanks to Alexander Valente, 07 French champion and official X-Factory driver, and Lionel Labbez, 08 French champion on a ”private” X-6.

QUALIFYING

Karl Maignien, on a Losi XXX-CR, takes the TQ in front of Lionel Labbez and local hero Laurent Caillet. Olivier de Montfumat takes the 4th place. It’s the only B4 on the A-main! Cyrille Hélias places once again his Academy on the A-main, as well as Xavier Ansellem with his B4-based prototype.

FINALS

First final was won without much surprises by Maignien, being the only one to score 12 laps. He was followed by Labbez at 2 seconds. Calliet is third, Ansellem fourth. With an erratic handling car, de Montfumat finishes last.

Karl won the second final, missing the 12 laps for less than one second. Once again, Labbez is second and Caillet, third.

Labbez won the third final by a confortable margin, followed by Valente and Calliet.

2WD podium : Lionel Labbez, Karl Maignien and Laurent Caille.

2wd French 2008 championship overall result

A-Main drivers details 2wd Open

TRUCK

Car number 2, are you sure you really want to win that race?

Karl Maignien won, followed by Alban Dudek and Martial Desrameaux

Podium drivers details Truck

2WD PROMOTION

Ludovic Valtier is unstoppable this year. He won the event in front of Fouad Elward and Fabrice Lafranque. Ludovic Valtier wins the 2WD Promo National challenge.

Podium drivers details 4x2 Promotion

Kudos to the LVDM staff for their hard work on the track that is now one of the very best in France, despite numerous holes. Hey, this is off-road, after all.

Text by Arnaud Ledun, English version by Raphael Gayoso.
Pics by Cédric Devillers (mainly) and Arnaud Ledun.

Many thanks to Arnaud and the guys for putting this report together