It was already the SIXTEENTH season of the Euro Touring Series which came to an end and which is done and dusted now. We had six amazing races and the highest average of racers attending the races (248 per race) since 5 or 6 years. Also at the last round of Season #16 there had been 5 things which we learned and noticed and here they are….
1) The job of the 1. MRC Wiener Neustadt was OUTSTANDING
Organizing an ETS event is a lot of work.! Well, that is nothing new and we have seen so many great races over the last 16 seasons. All the clubs which organized ETS races with us in the past have worked hard for the best possible outcome and we are proud of each and every race we had in all these years. Last weekend it was the 1.MRC Wiener Neustadt with the team around Sascha Klug who was in charge to make sure everybody was having a good time. And what a hell of a job they did. It was also very nice that the “Bürgermeister” of the city, Klaus Schneeberger, joined us on Friday evening to see what the ETS is all about!
There was no single negative word about something all weekend long. As we arrived on Monday to start setting everythign up, the first helpers had already been waiting to unload the truck. The whole team worked togehter super good and it was a breeze to transform the empty hall 3 of Arena Nova into a paradise for all ETS enthusiasts.
Also on the side of food and drinks there was nothing to complain about. The food was amazing all the time as it was fresh and veryyyy tasty. There had been good coffee machines in use and the BWT water dispensers worked fine too. One of the highlights was the drivers dinner on Froday evening which the club organized as well – it was just fantastic and we didn`t have had this since many years!
A lot of drivers said that it was “the best indoor ETS event they have ever attended” and this was probably the best compliments the club could get for all their hard work! THANK YOU 1.MRC WIENER NEUSTADT
2) We have crowned six well-deserved champions at Arena Nova in Wiener Neustadt
All our champions received their trophies and many congratulations during the trophy ceremony on Sunday. There is not a lot to say about them as everybody has worked so hard throughout the season to take the nice trophy and the honours back home!
Michal Orlowski – the champion was in a class of his own in the Matrix Modified class
Michal Orlowski won four out of four races and three of them from pole position. We have not seen such a dominant champion in some years after Bruno Coehlo or Ronald Völker had been on a roll at the ETS. Congratulations to Michal Orlowski, Schumacher Racing, and the whole team behind him!
Olivier Bultynck – worked hard and was fighting for the Pro Stock title like a lion
Ollie Bultynck had a great season with his Awesomatix A800R. He was able to win two races and finished also two times in second place. It was a thrilling showdown with him (1206 points) , his teammate Lukas Ellerbrock (1205), and Xray`s Adam Izsay (1205) until the very end. Thank you guys for these great races all season long and congratulations to Ollie Bultynck and his team for winning the Pro Stock title!
Adam Izsay – a true master of the Hobbywing FWD class
Nobody was able to keep up with the pace of Adam Izsay this season. After Stefan Schulz won the prestigious FWD title in the last two years, it was Adam Izsay who made it three consecutive titles for Xray. Adam won four races from TQ and scored the magic number of 1212 points – it doesn`t get any better than this!
Michel Zierold – mister BOOM RC wins the 1up Racing 40+ Masters title
Awesomatix driver and Boom RC founder Michel Zierold is the champion of the hard-fought 1up Racing 40+ Masters class. Michel Zierold was scoring constant points all season long with two third places, one second place, and one race win (RD2 in Aigen). Michel was very happy when he lifted up the trophy for which he printed the plastic stands by himself 🙂 Thank you Michel, and congratulations for winning the 40+ Masters title!
Tristan Bergheim – drove a strong final race and was holding off quick Phil Langner
The Orca 21.5 Stock class was a nice and fair fight between champion Tristan Bergheim and his strong challenger Phil Langner. Tristan had the better ending for himself when he drove to TQ and victory in Wiener Neustadt. With three race wins, two second places, and one third place, he was on the podium at every race and is a well-deserved champion. Congratulations to Tristan and his dad for getting the job done!
Andreas Stiebler – the strongest force in Formula racing since two years
Andreas Stiebler defenden his championship title from last season. His competitors had been fast and very strong, but Stiebler was always there when it was counting. The Schumacher driver scored 1211 amazing points when he won four races of the season (three from pole position). Let`s see if anybody can beat him in Season #17!
3) Tim Benson is a “Beast” in creating and building amazing racetracks and made his masterpiece at Arena Nova
Tim Benson is well-known for always being fast on track and for always having a casual saying on his lips. But since a couple of years he is also famous for the fantastic carpet tracks he is able to build. He did it for the first time when the ETS stopped in teh city of Neumünster in 2021 where drivers fell in love with his track layout.
After creating more great layouts for the ETS races in Daun and Hann. Münden, Tim Benson knocked it out of the park once more and made the track for the season finale at Arena Nova possibly the “best ever ETS carpet track”. Together with all the helping hands from the local club and the ETS crew the track looked just fantastic with all the green carpet inlays, the full flag banners all around, and the super cool layout Tim had drawn.
By the way: beside building the track, Tim was also super successful at the weekend where he finished 2nd in the Awesomatix pro Stock class and 11th in the Matrix Modified A-Main. Congratulations Tim and once again THANK YOU for doing this great job for us in Wiener Neustadt. The whole ETS family appreciates it a lot!
4) Harley Eldridge made history and was the driver of the weekend
Xray racer Harley Eldridge was the driver of the weekend as she wrote history. After some great runs, she qualified herself straight into the Modified A-Main and became the first famle racer to ever achieve this in the history of the Euro Touring Series. Well done Harley! She worked hard for this in the past years together with her dad and it was finally paying off at the ETS in Austria. Harley also received the “One to Watch” award from Uwe Rheinard and Scotty Ernst during the tropy ceremony!
As I came here I was aiming for a solid B-Main result. But to make it into the A-Main with a P5 and P6 in qualifying is just fantastic and I am super happy and proud about it.
Harley Eldridge (UK) Xray
5) We saw many “first timers” in Austria which was just fantastic
Another thing which wa samazing to see was that almost 30 drivers attended their first ETS at Arena Nova in Austria. We saw many “first timers” from Austria, Hungary, Slovakia, and also from Macau. We are super happy that more and more people want to join our events and we hope that all these drivers felt welcome in the middle of the ETS family. Thank you all for coming and being a part of this amazing season finale at Arena Nova in Wiener Neustadt – you rock!
