1) We have crowned some fantastic, and well-deserved champions!
The season finalse at the ETS is always covered by a special atmosphere as we crown our season champions during the trophy ceremony on Sunday. Season #17 was another show of high-class RC racing at all five rounds, and we finally found some well-deserved champions and podium finishers in all of our six racing classes!
Michal Orlowski – back to back champion and ten race wins in a row. He is shaping a new era…
Schumacher star Michal Orlowski said `he was nervous on Sunday morning due to a possible tenth consecutive ETS race victory and reading it all the time in the reports`. Hard to believe when we then saw how clean and dominant he drove in A2 to bring home the record-setting 10th victory in a row.
Michal won all five races of the season from pole position, and he never needed to race A3 as he always wrapped up his victories in the first two legs of finals – it does not get any better than this. Schumacher is now dominating the Modified class since two complete seasons and we are already looking forward how season #18 will unfold in a few weeks when his competitors will once again start to hunt the Orlowski down.
Once again: Congratulations to Michal Orlowski, Schumacher, Elceram, Cayote (and all other sponsors) for a great season!
Awesomatix driver Marc Rheinard secured the vice-championship after constantly scoring podiums (three times third), and Mugen Seiki`s Ronald Völker brought a difficult season to a good ending when he finished two times second at the last races in Daun and Wiener Neustadt to snatch the last spot on the podium away from the Awesomatix drivers Lucas Urbain and Simon Lauter.
Lukas Ellerbrock – Pro Stock champion after a superb season
The Awesomatix team has now won five of the last six championship titles in the Pro Stock class. Once Simon Lauter stepped up into the Modified class two seasons ago, and Max Mächler did not race all the races anymore, some people already said that the Awesomatix dominance may disappear now.
Well – they had all been completely wrong. Last season, a nice and fair fight for the title was going on between Olivier Bultynck (Awesomatix), Adam Izsay (Xray), and Lukas Ellerbrock (Awesomatix), with the Awesomatix drivers finishing first and second bringing the first championship for the ace from Beglium – Ollie Bultynck.
In Season #17 it was Lukas Ellerbrock who was on fire from the start of the season winning the season opener in Apeldoorn, taking a third place in Aigen, adding another win in Luxembourg, and backing up the good points haul with two more third places at the carpet races in Daun and at Arena Nova.
Once again: Congratulations to Lukas Ellerbrock, Awesomatix (and all other sponsors) for a great season!
In the end, Ellerbrock was two points ahead of Mugen Seiki`s Sören Sparbier who won the last two races of the season. Last season`s champion Olivier Bultynck had some ups and downs (one race win in Aigen) and finished third for the season. Season #18 will set everything back to zero and we are already looking forward to another intense fight for the championship in the Awesomatix Pro Stock class.
Mark Valent wins first FWD championship title for Schumacher
Mark Valent from Hungary lifted the big trophy for the overall ETS FWD championship title at Arena Nova. Valent had a great season and wa sable to win two races in Luxembourg and Daun. He only took part in 4 of our 5 races which added a lot of pressure to Valen`t performance at the season finale in Austria.
Once again: Congratulations to Mark Valent and Schumacher for a great season!
Valent scored a fifth place in Aigen, and a fourth place in Wiener Neustadt to win the championship four ponts ahead of Yokomo`s Frederik Hovgaard, and Awesomatix racer Phil Langner. Hovgaard won in Aigen, and Langner the last race of the season after a brilliant drive.
Jaroslav Kriz – upcoming talent wins 21.5 Stock title in first full ETS season!
Xray driver Jaroslav Kriz was celebrating the race win at Arena Nova in style as he knew that the overall championship title would be his. Kriz was getting better and better throughout the season and was able to win three out of the four races he attended – all from pole position. Kriz will be a driver to watch in the future as he is already getting help and support from many of his Xray teammates.
Once again: Congratulations to Jaroslav Kriz and Xray for a great season!
Being a teammate of Kriz, Danish racer Kristian Jensen became vice-champion after challenging Kriz well during the season. Jensen was able to win RD3 of the championship in Luxembourg which spiced up the battle again. Nadine Zühlke from germany reached the third position overall with her ARC car and brought a very strong season with two podium finishes and constant point scoring to a great ending.
David Ehrbar – hats off to “an old guy” winning two championship trophies!
Calling Ehrbar an “old guy” is not fair for sure. But as he has already reached the fourties, Ehrbar is also not a “young gun” anymore. And when you become older, you have more experience than others. And that is exactly what was visible when we watched Ehrbar performing throughout the whole season. He was (mostly) driving with the perfect balance between full attack, and well-considered driving.
Once again: Congratulations to David Ehrbar and Xray for a great season!
Ehrbar was able to win TWO championship titles in our Matrix Formula, and 1up Racing 40+ Masters class. Running two classes is always a challenge – to win both of them is a huge accomplishment. David Ehrbar won the Formula title ahead of Schumachers outgoing champion Andreas Stiebler, and Michal Wojcik (Xray) from Poland. In the 40+ Masters class, Ehrbar defended his title from a super fast Michal Zierold, and US racer Eric Anderson (both running Awesomatix cars). David won four races in the Masters class and two in Formula and is a well-deserved double ETS champion!
2) Mugen Seiki MTC-3….. Is the Pro Stock dominance of Awesomatix over?
The second topic we need to talk about os the new Mugen Seiki MTC-3 touring car. The platform was already used by Mugen lead driver Ronald Völker, and young Jacob Cruz at the IFMAR worlds in Bakersfield (US) in November, and Völker also finished second with the car in Daun and took the win at the Mibo International race. Völker was having another good weekend in Wiener Neustadt finishing second on the Modified podium behind Orlowski.
But when looking onto Pro Stock, a class that was in the hands of Awesomatix for a long time, we need to highlight the race results of Sören Sparbier. The young German racer was running in the Pro Stock A-Mains frequently with the “old” Mugen MTC-2R, but never had a chance to challenge Ellerbrock, Izsay, or Bultynck for race wins. With the arrival of the MTC-3 things changed dramatically. Sparbier won his first ever ETS race after a fantastic performance in Daun, flew over to the TITC in Thailand to win the Open Brushless class, to just come back to Europe taking another ETS win at the season finale at Arena Nova. What a sensational streak….
But what does it mean for the future? Can the Mugen team stay on top of the Awesomatix Pro Stock class with Sparbier next season, or will the empire strike back in full force? However, the MTC-3 seems to be a big step forware for the Japanese manufacturer. Three cars made it into the Modified A-Main in Wiener Neustadt, wheeled by Völker, Sparbier, and Kili, while Gollner had some tough luck but still was able to win the B-main.
3) Martin Hofer is back, and we are mega happy about it
German racer Martin Hofer made a comback to the ETS, and to RC car racing in general after a break of several years. Martin is a legend of the sport and a member of the ETS family since the very early years. Hofer raced for famous teams such as Schumacher, Yokomo, and Awesomatix, and is a former ETS Pro Stock champion, German national champion, and EFRA Euros podium finisher himself.
Martin is a class act on, and off the track as he is friendly, entertaining, and very fast on track. He announced that he has signed a contract with Xray and that he plans to run the complete next ETS season with us. At Arena Nova he raced in the B-Main of the Pro Stock class with his Xray car and we can be sure that he will find his way back to the top ten of the class sooner or later. Hofer is back…. his cool hairstyle already broke the internet!
4) The driver`s dinner and our tomboa raffle at the ETS Season Finale was a blast…
On Friday evening we had a fantastic drivers dinner with delicious food – supported by “legendary” race mechanic and former Yokomo car designer Yikijiro Umino from Japan. He supported the local club to make the dinner affordable for everybody and we like to thank Umino Sa n from teh bottom of our hearts – ARIGATO.
After a very nice speech from local council Nikolaus Dopler, the buffet was open. The typical Austrian food was as delicious as last year, and the whole evening was amazing, ending in our big tombola raffle for which every racer received one ticket. We also honoured our frequent ETS racers (4 or 5 races) with a special price to thank them for supporting us all season long.
We like to thank the following companies for supporting our Tombola Raffle in Wiener Neustadt
Hobbywing, BWT, FlySky, 1upRacing, Xtreme, Cayote, Axon, Destiny, Gens Ace, LRP, Mugen Seiki, Power HD, RC Maker, Schumacher, T-Work`s, Yokomo, MR33, Blitz, Mon-Tech, and Mugen Shop NL.
5) Another unbelievable job from the 1.MRC Wiener Neustadt
It is hard to find the right words if you like to describe the job which the 1. MRC Wiener Neustadt has done all week long. From setting up the pit area and the canteen at the early start of the week, helping to build the track, the drivers stand and much more, all the way to the BEST EVER canteen in history of the ETS.
We have many great canteens at our ETS races and all the clubs try hard, but what the 1st MRC Wiener Neustadt did last week was absolutely incredible. They served a breakfast with fresh eggs and bacon in the morning, the famous Austrian Kaiserschmarren, as well as daily changing lunch menus, including vegetarian options, Schnitzel, and other tyoical Austrian specialities.
They had fresh coffee and cappucion, mineralized water from the BWT dispenser, draught beer, and many other highlights. They permanentley worked with 8-10 people in the canteen making everything working smooth during the entire event. We can only say “hats off” to the crew around Sascha Klug – AMAZING JOB!
