ETS Preview Report RD2 Season #16 2023/24 Aigen-Schlägl, AUT
After a fantastic season opener in the Netherlands, the ETS circus travels to Austria this week. The hosting club, MAV Aigen-Schlägl, is already well prepared and everything is set for another great show of RC racing at the highest level. The ETS raced in Aigen for the first time in 2022 with 148 drivers in attendance. Now, we are extremeley happy about 203 entries which clearly shows that everybody really liked the track and the venue during last years ETS weekend. Thank you to everybody for siging up for the race – the MAV Aigen-Schlägl is awaiting all of us!
RC Racing TV for the first time at the ETS
The famous RC Racing TV will join us in Austria to broadcast the event with one of their great livestreams. It is something that the ETS wanted to do at one time since a long period, and now it will happen in Austria.
RC Racing TV will send a small crew to Aigen to broadcast the event from Friday to Sunday on their YouTube channel. As usual, we will also show the stream on our website. If you will not be racing in Aigen, mark the date in your calendar and follow our stream “made by RC Racing TV”.
Drivers party on Thursday evening
Last year, the MAV Aigen organized a nice barbeque on Thursday evening with ToniSport donating some free drinks for everybody. Everybody had a good time and a nice evening. The best about it is, that it will happen again this year!
After free practice on Thursday we will have another great evening for our ETS family, directly beside the beautiful racetrack in Aigen. All racers already received an E-mail to select the menu of their choice and we are looking forward to a nice evening with some cold drinks, good food, and a lot of funny trash talk 🙂
What to expect from racing?
The first race of the new season in Apeldoorn was very close and exciting in all classes. Four out of six classes saw the top qualifier taking the win. Only in Matrix Modified (TQ Marc Rheinard), and in ToniSport Formula (TQ Jan Ratheisky), the TQ was not able to win the race. Michal Orlowski (Modified) and Andreas Stiebler (Formula) had been able to win the race from second and third on the grid. The track in Aigen is very open and overtaking is possible for sure. We can expect thrilling races and we hope for a lot of action to happen during ETS RD2.
Matrix Modified
Rheinard aiming for Apeldoorn recovery while race winner Orlowski races Offroad Euros
The race in the Matrix Modified class was a drama for TQ Marc Rheinard (Awesomatix). He won A1 in a dominant way before A2 and A3 didn`t go to Rheinards plans. That means Marc Rheinard will travel to Austria with the big goal to recover from a very bad result (7th in the end). Michal Orlowski took the overall win for Schumacher in the Netherlands after a blistering performance. With Orlowski racing at the Offroad Euros in Belgium this weekend, he will not have a shot for the victory in Aigen.
Mugen Seiki`s Ronald Völker will also try everything he can to score a better result compared to Apeldoorn (4th place). He won the German nationals last weekend and comes to Aigen with a good momentum. Völker`s teammate Eric Dankel had his best ever ETS race in the Netherlands and is also expected to be in a very good form.
Jan Ratheisky, Patrick Gollner, Marco Kaufmann, and Oliver Havranek will fly the flag for Xray, while Yokomo is sending their factory team with Christopher Krapp, Yannic Prümper, and Frederik Hovgaard to ETS RD2. Alex Kunkler will rock the Iris ONE, and Mattia Collina and Andy Murray will be on the line for Schumacher. All in all, we are expecting another great race on a fast and spectacular track for the modified class.
Awesomatix ProStock
Can Bultynck extend his championship lead?
Olivier Bultynck was driving in a class of his own at the season opener in Apeldoorn. He took an impressive TQ and won A1 and A2 in style ahead of Lukas Ellerbrock, and Max Mächler. It was another podium lockout for Awesomatix and their A800R touring car. The team around Max Mächler will travel to Aigen with good memories as they had been very dominant there last year. The team will see a strong lineup and it will demand a lot from their competitors to challenge them in Austria.
Stefan Schulz, Adam Izsay, Jan Ratheisky, Jacques Libar, David Ehrbar (Xray), Enrico Jung and Dominic Vogl (Yokomo), Sören Sparbier, Jonas Völker, and Niclas Storm (Mugen Seiki), Manuel Stankowitz (Iris), as well as Tim Benson (Jambo One) are some of the drivers who will try to beat the Awesomatix team in Aigen. It will not be an easy job for anybody, but we are sure to see a great fight in the Awesomatix ProStock class.
Hobbywing Frontwheel
High quality in the FWD class – but who will win ETS RD2?
ETS RD1 in Apeldoorn produced some amazing FWD racing – especially at the front of the A-Main. It was a close fight between Adam Izsay, Max Weffers, Robin van Gog, and Kevin Sparbier and Izsay was victorious in the end by a very small margin. Robin van Gog will not start in Aigen, but other drivers like Jonas Völker, Jacques Libar, Andy Murray, and newly crowned German national champion Daniel Pöhlnmann will all try to achieve a great result in a very stron Hobbywing Frontwheel drive class.
1up Racing Masters
Kölbel is the hunted driver at the second race of the season
Renè Kölbel`s 40+ Masters victory in Apeldoorn surprised many people. It was a very well deserved win which also saw some drama in the finals. Renè will arrive to Aigen as the championship leader and everybody will have an eye on him. We expect him to be fully motivated at ETS RD2 in his home country Austria.
When we look on the list of entries, we see many well-known names. Elibert Sievers, Michel Zierold, and Manuel Stankowitz all are former ETS race winners in this class and they know what it needs to run on top of the field. Former european champion Andreas Myrberg, Mirco Thalheimer, Torsten Baggendorf, Joachim Altenhof, and Frank Fuchs are frequent A-Main runners too, and they will all be in the mix of the 1up Racing 40+ Masters class at the MAV Aigen-Schlägl
Orca 21.5 Stock
Bergheim to face strong contenders after first race win in Apeldoorn
After winning his first ever ETS race in the Netherlands, Tristan Bergheim will be the man to beat at ETS RD2 in Aigen. This time, the field will be even more competitive with Daniel Pöhlmann and Jan Gehrig joining guys like Tobias Baumbach, Timo Siebert, and the Seis family. The Orca 21.5 Stock class will be great to watch on the big track in Aigen and we expect some super close racing during the weekend. Can Tristan Bergheim win again, or will we see another driver walking away with the win?
ToniSport Formula
Who will win the second Formula race of the season?
At the first round of ETS Season #16, the ToniSport Formula class was a hard fought contest between the big dogs Jan Ratheisky, David Ehrbar, Renè Kölbel, and Andreas Stiebler. In the end, Schumacher racer Stiebler stood on top of the podium after Ratheisky and Ehrbar had a controversial battle on track. They all made their entries for our race n Aigen where they will go for it once again. It is hard to pick some favourites before the race but one thing is clear: The tension will be very high and the Formula cars will go super fast on track with the new Hobbywing ETS combo.
That was our quick preview report for ETS Rd2 in Austria. We hope that everybody will enjoy the time on the great track in Aigen. If you cannot join us, just follow our website ets.racing and you will get informed about all the action going on!
Let`s go racing!
