HPI Challenge European Final 2002 - Athens, Greece
Being the 4th time we'd organised the HPI Challenge European Finals we thought we'd hold it in a more popular, and hopefully warm holiday destination of sunny Athens - here is a diary of events direct from the HPI Europe crew...
 The Bulgarian Team |
 The Swiss |
 Austria |
 The hosts, Greece |
Thursday - Travel Day
The day started around mid-day with a trip from HPI Europe headquarters - destination Greece. After a fairly lengthy flight from Luton we touched down in Athens airport around 8pm local time and attempted to find our Hotel President, very much a city-central hotel in Athens...
Well what can I say apart from Athens is an incredibly busy city with well over 4 million residents the place is bustling with people and more relevant in our case, an insane place to drive as traffic is unlike anything I'd ever experienced before, even when compared to a city like London this city is 2 or 3 times busier and the roads are simply a dangerous place for anyone unfamiliar, and I certainly wouldn't recommend driving around Athens if you're slightly nervous put it that way (one driver in our team hired a hire-car, crashed it in under 20 mins of driving through Athens and so decided to take it back and use taxi's instead - which was a dam good choice if you ask me)!! I'm still not sure from watching if there were really any laws that were upheld on the roads in Greece so I was happy to be using taxi's and a hired Bus - Travelling was an interesting experience anyway!!
 The Acropolis |
 The Amphitheatre |
 The HPI Team |
 Athens from high up |
Friday - Track Preparation Time
Anyway on with the show, let's go check out the Fanatix RC Track which was about 20km from our hotel and just outside the centre of Athens.
Well it can only be described as superb as the track was brand new for this race and the facility is absolutely second-to-none, everyone was impressed. Although pretty large it looked superb from the sidelines and was the perfect type of circuit to provide close and high speed racing for all Classes raced during the weekend. With the 6 classes we run it was suggested that we run different layouts on the track (which was easily achieved). For the Mini/GTi's, Electric Sport and Stock Nitro classes using the shortest layout, the Electric Pro using a mid length track and the Nitro Mod, Supers and Proceed running the largest layout and wonderfully demonstrating the incredible speed of these highly modified cars.
 Denmark |
 Russia |
 Germany |
 The United Kingdom |
Friday - Practise Day
First up this day gets hectic as before anyone can race they need to book in and collect their, now famous, Handout Equipment that proves such a levelling factor in the weekends racing as everybody 'hires' the same equipment from Team Orion (Motors and Batteries) and Nosram (Electronic Speed Controls). The motors and batteries from Orion were familiar as they were similar to those that had been used in previous years. The Electronic Speed Controls however were top spec'd Nosram Dominator Power speedo's the same as HPI factory driver Atsushi Hara uses in his touring cars!!
Did mention that the drivers can buy the 'hired' equipment at ridiculously reduced prices after the meeting... well what else can the suppliers do with the used equipment?
Anyway as i said this was practise day and there was plenty of action with racers pushing to find the ultimate limits when there was no pressure not to crash. The racing was timed so you could see who was fast and who needed to work on their set up's some more!!
 Drivers Briefing |
 Greg, the Organisers and Team Managers |
 The unpopular people of the weekend, the scrutineers! |
 Sorry mate, it's too wide |
Saturday - Official Qualifying
This is when the serious business starts come 9am on the Saturday as the official Qualifying commences shortly after the Drivers briefing and introduction to the team on hand and of course the all important sponsors of HPI Europe, Team Orion, Nosram and all the helpers at the Fanatix Race Track - thank you all!!
First up and the kinda cute Mini / GTi's take to the track. I say kinda cute cause the new Citroen Saxo's and the even smaller HPI Mini cars looked tiny on this track, this was one of the classes bound to suffer with the size of the track and controlled gear ratio's... but then don't they say that "it's the same for everyone" or something else like "may the best man win", actually we were thoroughly entertained by the Saxo's over the weekend providing some of the closest racing, I'd say that was a perfect result myself!!
There was only 1 heat of this class so it was safe to say that our 2 English drivers racing made the A Final, Rob Fitzgerald ended up a very respectable 4th and Michael Creasey struggling somewhat down in 9th position.
Here is the A Final after qualifying in the Electric Mini/GTi Class.
1. Werner Puchas
2. Franz Pletka
3. Nik Nikolakopoulos
4. Rob Fitzgerald
5. Peter Schwartz
6. Erwin Marton
7. Foti Agelakopoulos
8. Michael Creasy
The Electric Sport class was up next with 3 full heats of Sport 2 cars and Sprints, this was going to be a show down of old car versus new car!!!
A great drive from Werner Puchas left him with a healthy gap on pole from second placed Michael Kess from Germany and and right battle between Albert Neuhold and Joe Cook from Southend for third which Albert won.
Here are the Top 10 after qualifying in the Electric Sport Class.
1. Werner Puchas
2. Michael Kess
3. Albert Neuhold
4. Joe Cook
5. Sergio Leung
6. Erich Liboswar
7. Jay Collison
8. Andreas Kruse
9. Peter Major
10. Gino Stathopoulos
 Private Helicopter - Very posh |
 Under Weight?? |
 The Plane is in here somewhere... |
 ... Here it is! |
The Electric Pro Class is always a good class to watch, generally the better drivers in the Challenge gain their experience and give the Pro Class a go at some stage and this weekend was no exception with 4 full heats and definitely some of the best Pro class drivers from across England, Germany, Switzerland, Greece, Hungary and Austria ending up in the A Final.
Greek driver Vagel Parachristos took pole with a very well sorted car and consistently out-driving the rest of the field, although some less consistent drivers perhaps could've threatened on another day Vagel did look very smooth and confident with his car beating off competition from British drivers Dominic Carter, Robin Lucas and Kris Ritchie all ending up in the A Final, and once you're in the A Final, anything can happen.... Did it?
Here are the Top 10 after qualifying in the Electric Pro Class.
1. Vagel Papachristos
2. Dominic Carter
3. Robin Lucas
4. Wern Spannbruckner
5. Sebastia Frazschky
6. Kris Ritchie
7. John Sotiropoulos
8. Balist Rajki
9. Lorenz Schmid
10. Artyom Lopukhin
The Nitro Stock Class was very close in qualifying again with the controlled gearing used and control weight limits these cars were performing very similarly out on the track which again was great to see... It's a class that's difficult to find performance as there is little you can do to change within the rules, minor shock oil selection and perfecting the Carb settings to your limit (remembering you needed these engines to be lasting the weekend as well as a long 20 minute final meant you had to show your engine some respect or it let you know it wasn't happy by stalling half way through these hot races (track temperatures rose to just under 50(C (Temperature guns on site proved this)!!!
Here are the Top 10 after qualifying in the Nitro Stock Class.
1. Maxim Gulin
2. Attila Svadja
3. Vrabel Guyla
4. Akis Gaitis
5. Filip Karabalis
6. Robert Renshaw
7. Artyom Lopukhin
8. Giannakos Tsonos
9. Antonis Zoulias
10. Damian Petrv
 Competitors from all over Europe |
 The Brit pit |
 The Austrian pit |
The Nitro Modified racers looked happy when they arrived at the track as this layout was going to suit these awesome cars down to a tee... With 2 speed gearbox's fitted and tuned exhausts these things were running flat out and it did come down to a bit of experience to perfectly set up the carb and fuel mixture for maximum performance. I had money riding on Jonathan Dobney from the UK Team to walk this race having watched him race all year in the UK HPI Challenge and he didn't let me down as he stormed qualifying and was looking very strong throughout.
Here are the Top 10 after qualifying in the Nitro Modified Class.
1. Jonathan Dobney
2. Filip Louis
3. Steve Brunsden
4. Attila Csuzdi
5. Alex Koukourakis
6. Rakosi Zsolt
7. Luke Hawkins
8. Mitsos Mitropoulos
9. John Arkoumanis
10. Allain Gaillard
The Super Nitro's were in a similar boat as they too looked awesome on this large track, remembering that these guys were running on one of the larger track layout's possible and with a big sweeper bend at the start of the main straight (about 80m long) these cars were probably reaching over 50mph which is impressive by anyone's standards!!
We had 2 UK drivers contending for positions one of whom was the Defending 'World Champion' in the form of Dominic Carter, and again young challenger Kris Ritchie, so we had our fingers crossed.
Here are the Top 10 after qualifying in the Super Nitro Modified Class.
1. Patrick Bariot
2. Thanasis Limnios
3. Dominic Carter
4. Daniel Trnka
5. Kostas Agrafiotis
6. Jean Pasc Nikolai
7. Kris Ritchie
8. Jean Luc Chuisnard
9. George Arkoumanis
10. Peter Katsikis
Sunday - HPI Challenge European Finals
So with Qualifying out the way there was only 2 matters remaining... Ahh yes the Concourse competition which we like here at HPI, a great competition completely separate from the racing as this isn't about how fast you are (or aren't), it's simply about who has the flashest set of wheels at the race track, the Concourse de Elegance competition to be exact.
This year we thought we'd change the plan a little, we lined all the countries up along the main straight and their cars in front of them and picked the best 'countries' bodyshell, 1 from each country.
 Good efforts, but not eligible for the win |
 Finalists |
 The winning Audi, headlights.. |
 Robin 'the King Of Paint' Lucas |
Now I don't want to sound biased here but there was one car that simply stood out from the rest, a very nice Audi Estate painted with a Greek Flag, a Chequered flag and generally a nice paint scheme all round. However what shone out about this model was the working headlights (Front and Rear), fitted exhaust, window wipers and the customary 'fake' Brake Disks... all in all very nice... Robin Lucas!! Basically Robin is well known in the UK for his magic paint schemes and this one was no different and deserved to win.
But anyway, on with the Finals!!!!
The first race on to the track was the Mini/GTi cars and with a damp track from the overnight rain lots of people were out wanting to see if the dampness had effected the grip....
Mini/GTi - A Final (Leg 1)
From the start Werner Puchas (Car 1) hit the front of the pack and took the first corner nice and cleanly and the rest followed pretty much in order. It was clear straight away that Werner had one of the best cars and was looking strong with only a couple of laps gone and it was no surprise when he finished in exactly the same position 7 minutes later with Nic Nikolakopoulos (Car 3) and Fotis (the race organiser - Car 7) behind.
Mini/GTi - A Final (Leg 2)
From the start Rob Fitzgerald (Car 4) made a great move taking him from 4th straight into 2nd position and pulling away from 3rd.The leader Car 1 was again showing great speed and quickly had the length of the straight from Rob still in 2nd. In 3rd was Fotis (Car 7) again, the first of the 2 Mini cars running this weekend and battling hard to protect his 3rd place position with the newer Saxo Sprints behind.
Approaching the end of Leg 2 and Pole man Werner was still looking good and soon crossed the line to take the first of the European Championships.
Mini/GTi - A Final (Leg 3)
A collision at the start meant Werner again pulled away and started his cruise, the interesting race was for 2nd and 3rd (between Fotis and Nic) as this would give the result for 2nd and 3rd overall.
Half way through and Car 1 was long gone but 2nd and 3rd were battling really close together and giving us spectators a great race to watch but while they were slowing each other down 4th placed Rob Fitzgerald tagged along and raced in their slipstream for the last 3 minutes but could not make a pass..
With that class finished this was the end result with the best 2 finals taken into consideration and if a tie occurred, that position was settled by using the highest qualifying driver to separate each other.
Here are the results from the Mini/GTi Class - A Final.
1. Werner Puchas
2. Nik Nikolakopoulos
3. Rob Fitzgerald
4. Foti Agelakopoulos
5. Franz Pletka
6. Erwin Marton
7. Peter Schwartz
8. Michael Creasy
 Saxo Cup? |
 The Austrians made up most of the GTi Field |
 GTi Class |
Sport - B Final (Leg 1)
The first of the B Final Sports class took to the track again in the damp conditions early Sunday morning with Ray Cockman sat on Pole (just missing the A Final then) but his car didn't look the best in the slippy conditions. Damian Petrov took full advantage and quickly moved through from 3rd to the front and set the only 20 lapper of the final from Panos Diamadoulis and Ray in third.
Sport - B Final (Leg 2)
The Rocket-man Ray Cockman flew off from the start to pull a good lead but it didn't last for long as he made a mistake coming onto the straight on lap1 allowing Car 3 (Damian) to pass.
As the race settled the places up front remained largely the same and the finishing order was Damian, Ray and Michael Marmaras.
Sport - B Final (Leg 3)
The Rocket-man lead all the way from start to finish in Leg 3, a cracking drive considering he claimed his eye sight was starting to let him down before the meeting and before we convinced him to make the trip!! Ray drove possibly his best race of the weekend not putting a foot wrong, and thoroughly deserved the win, a nice finish for his weekend.
Here are the results from the B Final Sports Class
1. Damian Petrov
2. Ray Cockman
3. Panos Diamadoulis
4. Michael Marmaras
5. Danny Bo Engholm
6. Patricia Chuisnard
Sport - A Final (Leg 1)
The first of the prestigious A Finals, this one was for the Electric Sport Class. From the start there was a pile up which involved Albert Neuhold (Car 3) and young Joe Cook (Car 4) leaving a large gap to the front. Car 3 soon charged through the field to catch 3rd and 4th placed cars who where driving very well and holding their racing lines. The top 2 drivers were so close a crash was inevitable and when it happened Car 3 swept past and won the race.
Sport - A Final (Leg 2)
Joe Cook made a blinding start straight into 2nd from 4th and proceeded to chase the leader hard while under pressure from Werner Puchas (Car 1) who crashed at the start. After half way Michael Kess (Car 2) way under pressure from the pole man who was pushing really hard from Jay Collison with his Sprint, as the buzzer sounded Car 2 had Car 1 right side by side, another great finish!!
Sport - A Final (Leg 3)
We'd heard young charger Jay Collison was 'going to go for it' since he had a chance to make it into the top 3 overall.. Quiet soon into the race and Joe was on a real charge and he was really making some moves and soon found himself in 4th place chasing 3rd really hard. Coming into the last sweeper onto the straight he even got his nose inside 3rd place's car but a slight touch and the challenge was all over and he had to settle for 4th, but where does that put him overall I wonder?
A stewards inquiry meant Jay gaining himself a 10 second penalty for aggressive driving which ended up dropping him down the order, but I good effort I thought all the same, even if it didn't work out - he did as he said, have nothing to lose!!
Here are the overall results from the Sports Class A Final.
1. Werner Puchas
2. Michael Kess
3. Albert Neuhold
4. Erich Liboswar
5. Peter Major
6. Sergio Leung
7. Jay Collison
8. Andreas Kruse
9. Gino Stathopoulos
10. Joe Cook
 Sport Class |
Electric Pro D Final
1. Daniel Schweizer
2. Freddy Nielsen
3. Cristoph Deutsch
4. Martin Petrov
5. Nikola Simeonov
6. Dimitar Leskovski
7. Romilos Karavezis
8. Jan Boilerehause
9. Spiros Desillas
Electric Pro C Final
1. Selm Romedi
2. Maxim Gulin
3. Roland Spiess
4. Thomas Plank
5. Stefan Kruse
6. Christoph Marton
7. Nik Nikolakopoulos
8. Alekos Savvakis
9. Kim Nielsen
10. Vladimir Golikov
Pro - B Final (Leg 1)
With a strong Brit contingency in this final we should stand a chance, and with the track now showing signs of drying and the grip coming up we had hopes for a result. After a clean start Sebastian pulled away and Ricky Copsy (Mr B Final specialist) gave chase but Sebastian was in a different class and walked the first Leg.
Pro - B Final (Leg 2)
Sebastian again got a good start with Marco Cannes (Car 3) and Mark Cox (Car 2) chasing hard in a close battle for the lead. With 3 minutes gone Ricky Copsey (Car 8) was joining the front pack and this race was really hotting up. Sebastian kept his cool to round of the double in the B Final but it was close at the end with Ricky chasing for 2nd but ultimately Albert held on, but another good race..
Pro - B Final (Leg 3)
With the result already decided this was a battle for the remaining places. Again Werner got a good start off the line but was soon chased down by Marco, this time he made his pressure count when he took the lead and remained in that position, ultimately taking 2nd overall.
Here is the results from the B Final Pro Class
1. Sebasti Leunberger
2. Marco Cannas
3. Ricky Copsey
4. Justin Griffiths
5. Allain Gailard
6. Martin Kruse
7. James Hart
8. Luke Hawkins
9. Mark Cox
10. Csaba Palla
Pro - A Final (Leg 1)
This was going to be a great race potentially for the Brit's again as we had Dominic Carter and Robin Lucas in 2nd and 3rd and looking very competitive.
From the buzzer Dominic shot through to lead from Vagel Papachritos and Robin not far behind. On lap 3 Dominic made the error and dropped to 2nd with Robin still chasing hard. By midway Vagel had pulled a short lead until a back-marker caused a crash and Dominic nipped past as did Robin making a close few laps racing to the end. At the buzzer it was Dominic with Robin a short way back and Vagel, unlucky, but right under his rear bumper at the finish. A Close race but Dominic won it... bring on Leg 2!!
Pro - A Final (Leg 2)
With dark rain clouds above we hurried the start through with the hope of at least getting this second race run in the dry.
From the start Vagel (Car 1) got a clean start but Kris Ritchie (Car 6) made the best first lap climbing from 6th to 2nd in 3 laps and looking very quick with young Dominic hanging in there in third but not looking like making a challenge for the lead.
Crossing the line the first three had closed right up, but maybe the leader had backed off enough to take it easy and not make the mistake. Saying that and 1 lap more and it might have been more interesting as i'm sure Kris had the pace to make a move, but it wasn't to be this time.
Pro - A Final (Leg 3)
With a win for Dominic and Vagel each and a second place already for Kris Ritchie meant there was absolutely everything to race for in this final Leg of the Pro Class...
From the start Vagel, Dominic and Kris pulled away from the pack and were pushing as we'd hoped, early on Kris's car slid out and that dropped him back into the 'pack' which makes life difficult, but out front we had a battle royal.
On lap 10 Vagel crashed allowing Dominic to take the lead but under immense pressure Vagel soon was back chasing. A slight mistake from Dominic (maybe interference?) meant Dominic's car swerved Sharpe right and off the track meaning his challenge was over, but a 2nd position is still a great result, shame about the interference thou!!
Here are the results from the A Final Pro Class
1. Vagelis Papachristos
2. Dominic Carter
3. Lorenz Schmid
4. Kris Ritchie
5. Robin Lucas
6. Sebastian Frazschky
7. John Sotiropoulos
8. Artyom Lopukhin
9. Balist Rajki
10. Werner Spannbruckner
 'A' Final grid |
 TQ man, Vagel Papachristos |
 Carter, looking for the win |
 Pro Class |
Nitro Stock B Final - 20 Minutes
Tolis Vagelis won this final by many many laps, it looked like he was unfortunate during qualifying because he was by far the quickest driver. With only 6 racers in this final this was a pretty open race and Tolis stayed consistent through to the end.
Here are the results from the Nitro Stock B Final
Nitro Stock B Final
Pos Name Nat Total Time Laps
1. Vagelis Tolis Gre 17:12.400 57
2. Kosta Chalivelakis Gre 20:13.890F 54
3. George Georgis Gre 16:02.650 52
4. Sakis Malafouris Gre 20:08.900F 52
5. Dimitris Mpastas Gre 20:00.510F 39
6. Martin Kruse Ger 2:02.620 8
7. Kostas Kouretas Gre 0.000 0
Nitro Stock A Final - 20 Minutes
Maxin Gulin started with a wonderful controlled pace for the first 10 minutes but his engine seemed to drop speed as the race went on and this allowed Damian Petrov (Car 10) to come through the grid to take the lead, unfortunately Maxin dropped right back but the battle up front continued right until the last lap with Attila Svadja coming from now-where to win from Vrabel Guyla and Damian dropping to 3rd..
Here are the Nitro Stock A Final results.
Nitro Stock A Final
Pos Name Nat Total Time Laps
1. Attila Svadja Hun 20:11.480F 71
2. Vrabel Guyla Hun 20:14.730F 71
3. Damian Petrov Bul 20:15.200F 71
4. Maxim Gulin Rus 20:14.880F 70
5. Giannakos Tsonos Gre 20:07.990F 69
6. Filip Karabalis Gre 20:11.280F 67
7. Akis Gaitis Gre 20:02.210F 66
8. Antonis Zoulias Gre 20:07.520F 61
9. Robert Renshaw UK 15:36.550 29
10. Artyom Lopukhin Rus 1:05.020 4
 Nitro Stock |
Nitro Modified B Final - 20 Minutes
A jumpstart from Car 3 meant an immediate 10 second penalty and the first visit to the 'penalty box' similar to F1 this is a simple stop and go penalty rather than an adjustment on the computer after the race.
On 15 minutes Daniel Trnka was showing his speed and looked really quick round the whole track. By the end he had lapped 2nd place Bill Marinatos by 7 laps and clocked up a magnificent 53 laps, easily on pace with the A Finalists.
Here's the result for the B Final Nitro Modified Class
Nitro Modified B Final
Pos Name Nat Total Time Laps
1. Daniel Trnka Swi 20:03.770F 53
2. Bill Marinatos Gre 20:00.730F 46
3. Tasos Prodromos Gre 20:01.380F 39
4. Marco Cannas Swi 15:03.070 34
5. Jan Boilerehauge Den 17:36.550 34
6. George Glianas Gre 9:20.160 21
7. Minas Mpakalis Gre 3:47.160 9
Nitro Modified A Final - 30 Minutes
Well i've never seen anything like this, 4 laps into the race and Jonathan Dobney (TQ man) had a tyre split on him forcing him to make an un-necesssary pit stop, fortunately he was considering the need for a tyre stop anyway and had a spare tyre at hand. Of course this meant losing several laps but that didn't seem to distract him as he then patiently picked each place back lap by lap until reaching the front of the A Final again - a most impressive and I suppose dominant drive by anyone's standards!!
Here's the result for the A Final Nitro Modified Class
Nitro Modified A Final
Pos Name Nat Total Time Laps
1. Jonathan Dobney UK 30:00.050F 83
2. Filip Louis Gre 30:11.850F 80
3. John Arkoumanis Gre 30:01.160F 79
4. Rakosi Zsolt Hun 30:18.210F 79
5. Luke Hawkins UK 21:11.420F 67
6. Attila Csuzdi Hun 27:28.850 65
7. Mitsos Mitropoulos Gre 30:09.660F 61
8. Alex Koukourakis Gre 30:19.850F 58
9. Steve Brunsden UK 21:39.610 35
10. Allain Gaillard Swi 56.230 3
 Our host, Fotis Agelakopoulos |
 Nitro Mod screams away |
 Nitro Mod |
Super Nitro Modified B Final - 20 Minutes
There were only 6 starters in this Super Nitro B Final and from. the start Car 2 took the lead and looked quiet consistent with, unusually for Super Nitro racers, a Touring car type body which offers less down force than the Toyota GT1 or BMW shells availible.. but it looked really good so maybe he knew something we didn't on this huge track!!
At the end the order was:-
Super Nitro B Final
Pos Name Nat Total Time Laps
1. Kostas Moros Gre 20:03.340F 54
2. Kostas Zotiadis Gre 20:16.430F 52
3. Stavros Gaitis Gre 20:01.670F 50
4. Freddy Vagger Gre 20:18.190F 48
5. Jens Engholm Den 19:34.670 39
6. James Hart UK 0.000 0
Super Nitro Modified A Final - 30 Minutes
The Super Nitro Class often produces some of the most entertaining races especially with the long race times and high rates of attrition mainly drive train and tyre related...
We even had the reigning World Champion in Dominic Carter and several highly rated drivers also in the A Final to contend with.
Up front Patrick Bariot was sat on pole and looking very quick through qualifying but early problems dropped him back but as we know 30 minutes racing is tough and you have a long time to make a come back. From about half way Kris had moved up to second and soon enough problems for car 3 meant Kris inherited the lead, a lead he wasn't going to give up eventually finishing 4 laps up on Patrick who also made quiet a come back to finish a hard fought 2nd and Daniel Trnka 3rd.
Here's the result for the A Final Super Nitro Modified Class
Super Nitro A Final
Pos Name Nat Total Time Laps
1. Kris Ritchie UK 30:03.030F 84
2. Patrick Bariot Fra 30:06.240F 80
3. Daniel Trnka Swi 30:16.700F 77
4. Kostas Agrafiotis Gre 30:21.830F 77
5. Jean Pasc Nikolai Fra 30:09.130F 76
6. George Arkoumanis Gre 30:17.980F 76
7. Peter Katsikis Gre 30:20.410F 73
8. Dominis Carter UK 28:15.090 71
9. Jean Luc Chuisnard Fra 22:49.580 36
10. Thanasis Limnios Gre 4:45.140 7
 Looked awesome in qualifying, but couldn't get the win |
 Fast all weekend |
 Super Nitro |
Until Next Year...
So with all the racing finished it was a short break to double check the results and then announce the 6 Class European Champions, a fantastic feat for anyone in their chosen hobbies, but at the same time a well done to all the competitors who qualified for the event, we managed to bring all the best HPI Drivers in Europe together for another HPI Challenge European Final and a brilliant race.
My personal thanks go out to Fotis @ the Fanatix Race Track for his and his teams sheer hard work, 3 months ago there wasn't a race track in place, but when we arrived we were presented with a fantastic RC Circuit and it all seem to be worth it when you see the hard work paid off, but thank you and all your helpers, you deserve plenty of success in Greece in the future and I'm sure you'll get it!!!
So until next year, take care and keep enjoying the racing....
Greg Hill
