The 2011 NeoBuggy race took place over the Easter weekend, comprising four days’ racing on one of the best dirt tracks in Europe.  Team Durango shipped-in many of their team drivers from around the world to compete with the DNX408. Many people consider the annual NeoBuggy race to be the ‘indoor’ World Championships, such is the level of competition. Indeed of all the A-main finalists from last year’s 1/8 World Championships in Pattaya, only Reno Savoya was missing from this year’s NeoBuggy event.

US team driver Ryan Lutz put in the first 13-lap run of the meeting to TQ the penultimate round of qualifying. Ryan did another 13 lapper in the sixth and final round of qualifying to become the only driver at the meeting to achieve two 13-lap qualifying rounds. Showing a consistently fast pace throughout qualifying (his DNX408 achieved the fastest lap during qualifying too), Ryan finished second overall behind former World Champion Jared Tebo. All of the Team Durango drivers were super-dialled on the challenging Harper Adams / DXR track. Each member of the team was really happy with how their DNX408s were handling.

Team Durango neo11 photos on flickr

Before the finals day on Sunday, the Neo Junior Championship took place on Saturday evening. 15 year-old Australian team driver, Kyle McBride, battled back from an appalling start and was catching the first placed driver David Ronnefalk as time ran out; Kyle set the fastest laps of the race on his way to second place.  A great result for the youngster at his first NeoBuggy race. Kyle said afterwards that he was really happy with how his DNX408 was performing, and whilst disappointed he couldn’t win the race, he was, on reflection, satisfied with his achievement. He and his father Scott said they couldn’t wait to come back and do even better at NeoBuggy 2012.

Monday was finals day and UK team driver Elliott Boots drove well and was running 8th in his semi-final but he lost out to Adam Drake on time for the fastest eighth-place finisher in the semis which was the last-chance 15th spot bump-up into the A-main. Austrian team mate Hupo Honigl was on target for the A-main too but an excursion into the fence ended his chances early.

Ryan Lutz

Elliott Boots

German team driver Jorn Neumann drove a steady race in the semis and kept his cool to ensure he bumped-up into the A-main, whilst Team Durango 1/8 buggy Team Manager Chris Doughty had engine issues in his quarter-final that prevented him advancing toward the semis.

Kyle lost-out to his US team mate Billy Fischer in the quarter-finals, and just missed the final bump-up spot for the semis.

Billy Fischer

Kyle McBride

Ryan Lutz and Jorn Neumann both qualified for the A-Main with Ryan fifth and Jorn 11th on the grid.  The start of the race was brutal, but Ryan made it up to third on the opening lap before dropping down a couple of places.  Both drivers’ DNX408s were dialled, but neither had much luck on their side this time. Ryan was running in seventh place, lapping at the same pace as the leaders, when an electrical problem forced him to retire with just nine minutes left on the clock.

Ryan Lutz in the A-Main

Jorn Neumann in the A-Main

Jorn finished 11th in the main which reflected neither the performance of the team over the weekend, nor the pace of the DNX408, which all the team drivers were delighted with. Many of the team have less than six months’ experience with the DNX408, so second place overall in qualifying combined with a stellar performance from all the team was a great result, even if the finals didn’t go their way this year.

Some statistics from the NeoBuggy demonstrate how well the DNX408 performed at this year’s event:

Team Durango are very proud of their result at the 2011 NeoBuggy race. After only six months since the launch of the car, the Team Durango DNX408 has proven itself to be amongst the fastest and best handling buggies you can buy.

Team Durango would like to thank the organisers of the NeoBuggy race. We look forward to supporting next year’s race, which is sure to be just as spectacular as this year’s event. We would also like to thank our team drivers for their outstanding efforts. Finally, we would like to thank all of the Team Durango customers who attended the race with their DNX408s. They were supported throughout the event by the pro team, and we hope to see even more DNX408s at NeoBuggy in 2012.

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Team Durango neo11 photos on flickr

Thanks to neobuggy.net for the juniors race photo