Preview Report ETS RD1 Season #17 2024/25
We are heading into season #17 and will start the new campaign at a very well-known place: the amazing AMCA Apeldoorn track and facility. It is the third time in a row to kick off a new season at this great place and 257 entries are speaking for themselves. The crew from the AMCA club will ensure a smooth event as always and the weather forecast looks pretty stable at the moment (fingers crossed).
The ETS crew will go into the new season without any changes. Scotty Ernst will lay his legendary voice all over the race while Uwe Rheinard will be in charge to manage everything else around the event with his helpers and the local club. Hartmut Wenzel will care about the scoring and timing where he is always doing a perfect job. On the media site of things, RC Racing TV will produce another great live coverage (with some new features) in addition with the amazing pictures from Chris Sandner, the reports and live interviews from the ETS race reporters Oli Meggitt and Patrick Beck, and the technical support of Oliver Storm.
Sponsors for ETS Season #17 2024/24
We are proud and happy to have so many companies on our side who are supporting what we do. Without our wonderful sponsors, the ETS could not happen. The cooperation with most of the companies is lasting since many years, but we also like to welcome our new partners FlySky, Cayote, and PIPaero – welcome to the ETS family.
Our proud sponsors for ETS Season #17 2024/25
The new season consists of five instead of six races, with four races to count for the championship – a huge challenge for all racers as there will be only one throw out result for everybody. Now it is time to focus on the new season and our ETS racing classes. Not a lot has changed in the rules and the ETS will continue in the same way with the best possible transparency and clear and easy rules. We wish everybody a lot of fun, great success, and most important – a great time with your friends and the ETS family trackside. Let`s get it started….
New for Season #17: The ETS Constructor`s championship
You all know the constructors championship from Formula 1, and we like to do something in this direction to make the ETS even more thrilling for teams and manufacturers. Therefore we have created some simple rules to get the project underway. We are pretty sure that we have found a good balance to make it interesting, but not too complicated for the start. As the season will progress, we will see how it will work with these rules we have set for Season #17. We will also keep everybody updated about the actual standings in our reports after every race. Which manufacturer will become our first Constructor`s Champion?
Can somebody end Orlowski’s winning streak?
The Modified class is now sponsored by FlySky and will carry this name throughout the whole season. With 59 entries, there is a clear upwards trend for the premier class of electric touring car racing which is GREAT to see!
Last Seasons Top 3 in Apeldoorn: Michal Orlowski (1), Lucas Urbain (2), Eric Dankel (3)
Our reigning champion, Michal Orlowski (Schumacher), will be the man to beat after he won all the four races which he attended last season from pole position. His championship winning Schumacher Mi9 touring car is available to the public since a couple of weeks and we are excited to see how the Schumacher team will further grow during the season. As Orlowski is not a hunter anymore, he will feel a different pressure from now on as everybody expects him to win again and again and again….!
There will be many well-known names hunting Orlowski down for the overall modified championship of ETS season #17. The Awesomatix team with Marc Rheinard, Lucas Urbain, Eric Dankel, Simon Lauter (just to name a few) will use their current A800R which has received some factory upgrade parts lately. Dankel and Urbain had been super-fast at the TOS race in Apeldoorn some weeks ago and the whole team will be a serious contender for the race win at ETS RD1.
Mugen Seiki factory driver Ronald Völker will rock his MTC-2R together with Robert Pietsch, Remi Callens, and Sören Sparbier. Völker showed a very strong performance at the TITC in Thailand where he claimed the TQ spot and was not able to win the race just because of some very bad luck in the finals. Völker has never won in Apeldoorn, and it is something he will aim for with maximum motivation. Can the record ETS champion win the title back from Orlowski?
The Yokomo team around Chrissi Krapp, Yannic Prümper, and Antoine Brunet will use their brand new MS1.0 touring car for the first time at a major race in Europe. The MS1.0 looks improved compared to the BD12 and the team was already posting positive feedback on their social media platforms. Yannic Prümper won the race in Apeldoorn 2 years ago and it seems that this track suits his aggressive driving style a lot. Can he repeat the victory for Yokomo?
Xray will trust their drivers Adam Izsay, Harley Eldridge, and Alessio Menicucci. Adam Izsay had a great race at RD5 in Daun where he finished second behind race winner Orlowski. A real breakthrough for the Hungarian racer. Harley Eldridge made it into the A-Main at the season finale in Austria and became the first ever female racer to qualify for the Modified A-finals at the ETS. Alessio Menicucci will come back to the ETS after a longer break but we all know that he is still very fast on track.
But there are some more BIG NAMES on the list of entries. First, Atsushi Hara from Japan. Hara is one of the most famous RC racers of all time and he will race an Awesomatix A800R and will pit together with his good friend and old rival Marc Rheinard. Everybody is super happy that Atsushi can make the trip over to Europe to race with the ETS family again.
Akio Sobue will fly the flag for the Axon team with their TC10/3. Akio is a crazy fast racer and we can expect a lot from him. He finished sixth at last year`s ETS race in Apeldoorn when he used kind of a first Axon prototype car. Let`s see how the full production version of the Axon car will compete against all the others.
Dutch superstar and former IFMAR world champion Jilles Groskamp will be the hottest iron on the list for Infinity. Jilles moved back to Europe after he lived in Thailand for a long time and he should be well prepared for the event in his home country. Jilles is always very analytic when it comes to setups. tires, and laptimes, and he will try everything to achieve a good result!
Dominic Greiner from the Serpent team will have Jeff Hamon from Australia racing with him. Greiner already knows the track in Apeldoorn from several nitro races and he can be a guy to watch during the weekend for sure. Can Greiner (or Hamon) put the Serpent car into the A-Main?
Will Season #17 bring us another three-horse race between Bultynck, Izsay, and Ellerbrock, or will somebody crash the Pro Stock party?
We saw an epic battle for the Pro Stock championship title last season. Lukas Ellerbrock (Awesomatix), Adam Izsay (Xray), and Olivier Bultynck (Awesomatix) won two races each and made it the most thrilling fight we have seen in many years. In the end, Ollie Bultynck was the lucky guy and took the big trophy away from the season finale in Wiener Neustadt while Lukas Ellerbrock snatched second place away from Adam Izsay on the last day of the campaign.
Last Seasons Top 3 in Apeldoorn: Olivier Bultynck (1), Lukas Ellerbrock (2), Max Mächler (3)
The top three drivers had been very dominant last season and we are really looking forward to the hunt for the most prestigious stock racing title on the planet. With many other talented drivers on the list of entries (64 in total) there are many potential contenders which all will try to make life harder for last season`s top trio.
The first of these guys can be Tim Benson (Awesomatix) who was close to win the race in Apeldoorn in the last two years. But he never got the job done and finished two times second. He has kind of an open bill with Apeldoorn and will be one to watch in the next days.
Other names on the list of entries with the potential for a top result are Sören Sparbier (Mugen Seiki), the Dutch drivers Rick van den Akker (Xray), Rob Jansen (Awesomatix), and Robin van Gog (Awesomatix), as well as routineer Jacques Libar (Xray), and the youngsters Phil Langner (Awesomatix), Benjamin Elbisser (Xray), Maximilian Unterschütz (Mugen Seiki) and Niclas Storm (Mugen Seiki). We also noticed the return of Italian racer Nico Catelani to the ETS. He was also very good in the past and we are excited to see him in Apeldoorn again. Some of the “golden boys” will also race in Apeldoorn (Helge Johannesen, Henrik Heitsch) and we know that there are so many more names which we forgot to put into the mix here.
The Awesomatix Pro Stock class is waiting for us, and we hope for another outstanding season of 17.5 stock touring car racing on the highest level. Let`s find out who will be the surprise of the new season 🙂
WANTED – ETS is looking for a new FWD Champion!
Adam Izsay won the championship in a very dominant way during the last season. Now, Adam is focussing on racing Pro Stock and Modified only, and that means we are looking for a NEW champion in the Hobbywing Frontwheel class.
Last Seasons Top 3 in Apeldoorn: Adam Izsay (1), Max Weffers (2), Roman Borschel (3)
When we look on the 53 entries for Apeldoorn we immediately see some fast guys with a shop for the win. Local hero Robin van Gog (Awesomatix) is expected to be fast, Max Weffers will be full of motivation after changing to an Xray chassis. We have other strong drivers like Manuel Stankowitz (Iris), Phil Langner (Awesomatix), Benjamin Elbisser (Xray), Jacques Libar (Xray), Roman Borschel (Awesomatix), Torsten Baggendorf (ARC), Henrik Heitsch (ARC), and Nicolas Delise (Xray) which should all have a serious shot for the A-Main in Apeldoorn. Who will be Izsay’s successor at the end of the season? The hunt for the title begins this week in Holland!
Can Zierold repeat his strong performance, or will Ehrbar dominate the class as he did at the end of Season #16?
The 1up Racing 40+ Masters class saw a nice and clean battle for the title between René Kölbel (Xray), Michel Zierold (Awesomatix), and Mirco Thalheimer (Xray). All drivers had been able to win races last season and the title went to Michel Zierold and Awesomatix in the end. BUT, it was David Ehrbar who took the win at the last two races of the season (Daun and Wiener Neustadt) when he started to race in the 40+ Masters class beside his Formula racing programme. As Ehrbar looked way far ahead of his competitors, we are leaning ourselves out of the window now (what we normally never do), and appoint him as the top favourite for the title in the new season!
Last Seasons Top 3 in Apeldoorn: René Kölbel (1), Eric Anderson (2), Toni Mateo (3)
Michel Zierold, René Kölbel, Mirco Thalheimer, Manuel Stankowitz, Toni Mateo, Frank Fuchs, Werner Schmitzer, Torsten Baggendorf – these are the names we know from the 40+ class since a couple of years now. Will David Ehrbar be able to beat all of them in the new season? Well, it will not be an easy task for Xray driver Ehrbar and the first race in Apeldoorn will give us a first taste of the power rankings for the new season. US racer and “Mister EAM Battery” Eric Anderson will also join the party. He had a nice weekend last year and was on the podium !
Who will follow in Bergheim’s footsteps? New champion to be crowned in Season #17
Season #16 of the Euro Touring Series saw Awesomatix driver Tristan Bergheim becoming the first ever 21.5 Stock champion after implementing these motors to the series. The races had been great and Bergheim was our well-deserved winner after a thrilling battle with young and quick Phil Langner (Awesomatix). The last race of the season was the decider and as Bergheim and Langner are now both stepping up into the Pro Stock class, we need to find a new champion 😊.
Last Seasons Top 3 in Apeldoorn: Tristan Bergheim (1), Timo Siebert (2), Tobias Baumbach (3)
Well, Timo Siebert (Mugen Seiki) was third overall at the end of the last season and he is really investing a lot of time into practice and preparation. He has never won an ETS race before, can Season #17 become his time to succeed? We have 20 entries for the class (was somehow that low as well in Apeldoorn last year) and names like Tobias Baumbach (Xray, former ETS race winner), Elena Fuchs (Xray), Jan Vogler, Nadine Zühlke (ARC), Michael Koos (to only name a few) can all be in contention for a podium or race win in this racing class. We are more than excited to see who will step into the role of the dominating driver this season!
Stiebler chasing the title hattrick in the Formula class
The Formula class is fully packed with fast guys (total of 26 entries) and reigning champion Andreas Stiebler (Schumacher) will try to win his third consecutive title in a row this season – something that only Xray`s Jan Ratheisky was able to do in the past when he won four (!) in a row between 2012 and 2016. Stiebler will see his main competition in Jan Ratheisky (not racing in Apeldoorn) and David Ehrbar (Xray) once again as these three drivers are dominating the class since years.
Last Seasons Top 3 in Apeldoorn: Andreas Stiebler (1), Jan Ratheisky (2), Herbert Weber (3)
German 1:12 scale stock champion Thomas Stenger (Schumacher) has signed up for the race – maybe he can get up to speed as well to battle with the top dogs. The Xray trio Luka Jovicic, René Kölbel, and Herbert Weber is always quick and they will also be in the mix for the top positions of the Matrix Formula class during ETS Season #17 2024/25 together with Alex Bremer (Schumacher), Chris Grenz (Xray), and Robert Kampehl (Schumacher). Formula drivers – let`s bring the heat!
Thay was our little preview report ahead of the season opener in Apeldoorn. We will be practicing n Thursday before the real action starts on Friday – follow us on Facebook, YouTube, and on our website ets.racing!
