ETS Preview Report – RD5 Season #17 2024/25 Wiener Neustadt, AUT
The last race in Daun was a blast with so many racers attending. But now, only 6 weeks later, the ETS will be back on track again to crown the champions at the season finale. Next weekend, we are once again at the fantastic Arena Nova to crown our champions and to celebrate a fantastic season.
The 1. MRC Wiener Neustadt will be the hosting club and the crew around Sascha Klug did a fantastic job when the ETS raced at Arena Nova for the first-time last year. The stage is set and it is time for a quick championship update before we go racing!
Who will take second overall behind champion Orlowski?
After Michal Orlowski has already sealed the championship in Daun after a fantastic season with four TQ`s and four wins (!), he is only racing for “the glory” with us in Wiener Neustadt. But as we all know how ambitious Orlowski is, we can be sure that he likes to make it five out of five for the season. If Orlowski will win in Austria, it would be his tenth (10!!!) consecutive race victory at the Euro Touring Series – something we have never seen before. Let`s see how the Schumacher driver and newly crowned TITC race winner will perform at Arena Nova!
Rheinard to battle out second spot with Urbain and Völker
With the championship already decided, the thrill of the modified class will move our eyes onto the fight for second place in the championship. Awesomatix driver Marc Rheinard (897 points) is best of the rest now with his point advantage over teammate Lucas Urbain at 3 points. Mugen Seiki`s Ronald Völker also has a chance for the vice-championship title as he is tied on points with Urbain (both at 894).
What needs to happen for the drivers? Well, if Lucas or Ronald will score a TQ and win at Arena Nova, the driver will score 1197 points in the end. If Rheinard would finish second behind Urbain or Völker, he would be tied on points (1197). In this case, Rheinard would lose his second place because of not having scored a win during the season!
So, the only serious chance for Urbain and Völker to take second overall from Rheinard is a TQ and win. But as there are so many fast drivers registered for the race at Arena Nova, we will see how things will proceed during the weekend. Awesomatix driver Simon Lauter is sitting one point behind Urbain and Völker and he will do his very best to maybe step onto the overall podium as well. One thing is for sure – we will see a thrilling race in our Matrix Modified class!
Ellerbrock needs a top 5 finish to lift the big trophy – can he deliver?
The Awesomatix Pro Stock class will see a showdown between championship leader Lukas Ellerbrock and his teammate (and still reigning Pro Stock champion) Olivier Bultynck. Mugen Seiki`s TITC winner Sören Sparbier is sitting third overall but has no chance to step into the fight for the title anymore.
Right now, Lukas Ellerbrock is having a comfortable gap of four (4) points ahead of champion Olivier Bultynck. If we imagine that Bultynck would win the race at Arena Nova from pole position, he will equal out the points to Ellerbrock as both drivers then would have two wins, two third places, and two TQ`s to their favour ending on 1204 points both. In this case, we would look onto the throw-out result where Bultynck would have a P6 form the race in Daun.
Everything would come down to Ellerbrock`s result at Arena Nova then, which means that everything upwards from a fifth place would earn him the championship trophy. If Bultynck would win from TQ and Ellerbrock finishes sixth, thew would have exactly the same results throughout the whole season – it this will happen we need to think about how to decide in a shootout or whatever. When Ellerbrock will only finish seventh, he would lose the title to Bultynck if the ace from Belgium would win at Arena Nova from TQ.
There are many “if`s” and “when`s” in this story and it is not easy to break it down into words but as Ellerbrock was very strong all season long it is hard to imagine that he will not finish in the top 5. But as we have seen many crazy things in RC racing, we need to wait until Sunday afternoon to find out who will be the Awesomatix Pro Stock champion of ETS Season #17 2024/25. Will it be Ellerbrock? Will it be Bultynck? The only thing which is clear is that the title will (once again) go to the Awesomatix team.
FWD title decision between Valent and Hovgaard, podium wide open!
Our Hobbywing Frontwheel class saw three different winners so far this season. Xray´s Nicolas Delisè won the season opener in Apeldoorn and Frederik Hovgaard (Yokomo) took the win in Aigen, before Schumacher driver Mark Valent scored two back-to-back victories in Luxembourg and Daun to take over the championship lead.
Valent is now five (5) points ahead of Hovgaard, but the job is not done yet. As Valent has only raced three times this season, he has already taken his throw-out result and cannot take the season finale the easy way. Frederik Hovgaard will do his very best to deliver a great fight until the end and behind them we have a stacked field of racers fighting for the podium including Jacques Libar, Dominik Reile, Gergö Valent, and Phil Langner.
The FWD class is again the biggest with 84 entries and everybody is expecting a nice race at Arena Nova. Let`s find out who will be on top of the overall championship on Sunday!
Battle for podium positions at Arena Nova
David Ehrbar (Xray) will come to Arena Nova to collect his championship trophy on Sunday. Ehrbar sealed the deal at the last race in Daun where he took his third win of the season – a well deserved champion. Behind him, the remaining spots on the 40+ Masters podium are wide open.
Awesomatix driver Michel Zierold is sitting second now and is two points ahead of US racer Eric Anderson, and René Kölbel from Austria. They all have a good shot to become vice-champion and we will follow them throughout the whole weekend to find out who can take the maximum out of it. The 1up Racing 40+ Masters class is always thrilling to watch as there are so many experienced and fast drivers going for it. Who will step onto the podium of the overall season? We will find out about it next weekend at Arena Nova!
P4 wanted – Kriz on the road to the title
In the Orca 21.5 Stock class it is championship leader Jaroslav Kriz (Xray) from Slovakia who has the best shot for the ETS title. If he will finish fourth overall at Arena Nova, he will have a total of 1204 points which nobody will be able to beat. Kristian Jensen is ranked second overall now, and his best possible overall points score can become 1203 points if he will TQ and win the event. If he delivers this result, he will only take the championship trophy when Kriz will only finish 6th or lower.
So, for Kriz the mission is clear – P4 or better to win his first ETS championship title. The mission for Jensen: Win the race from TQ and hope for Kriz to finish 6th or worse at Arena Nova. Game on in the Orca 21-5 Stock class!
Who will take third overall behind champion Ehrbar and Stiebler
The Matrix Formula class has been decided – Xray`s David Ehrbar is our champion, beating our outgoing champion Andreas Stiebler (Schumacher) in an exciting season of top-class formula racing. These two positions on the overall season podium are already taken and only third overall is up for grabs.
Many drivers behind them have a good chance for the remaining spot on the podium. These drivers are Luka Jovicic (Xray), Michal Wojcik (Xray), Renè Kölbel (Xray), and Thomas Stenger (Xray). We are hoping for another great race and we are sure the Formula drivers will provide us a great show at Arena Nova!
