John Trottmann 
The first day of ETS Season #18 was kind of an up and down journey for everybody. The day started with a dry track and almost one complete round of practice until the on-track action stopped for many hours due to the constant rain falling out of the sky. The rain stopped after 2p.m. and the track was ready to go again at 4p.m.
The ETS crew then decided to stretch the day as long as possible to give everybody two more rounds of practice under the floodlight which is installed all around the track. Two more rounds of practice will follow on Friday morning before we then return to some serious qualifying.
Völker, Orlowski, Urbain, Coelho, and Rheinard – stunning top 5 on first day of Season #18 at AMCA Apeldoorn
The Cayote Modified class saw Mugen Seiki`s Ronald Völker posting the fastest three consecutive laps on the fast and flowing track in Apeldoorn. As the track was finally dry, we saw two very fast rounds of practice on track when the modified drivers went all in to see where they stack up against the others.
Völker`s MTC-3 looked sharp on track, but so did the Schumacher Mi9 of our reigning back-to-back ETS champion Michal Orlowski, and the Awesomatix A800RR of Lucas Urbain. Beside the best three-lap pace, Ronald Völker had the fastest lap of the day to his favor as well with a stunning 13.490.
Inf1nity`s new star driver Bruno Coelho finished fourth for the day which is really good when we keep in mind that they are still running their prototype cars with the complete team. Marc Rheinard completed the top five with his Awesomatix A800RR while Viktor Wilck (Inf1nity), David Ronnefalk (Xray), Alexander Hagberg (Xray), Simon Lauter (Awesomatix), and Jilles Groskamp (Inf1nity) completed the overnight practice top 10.
What will happen tomorrow? Who will be on top of his game when qualifying starts? Many questions ahead of a promising Friday at the first event of the Cayote Euro Touring Series Season #18 2025/26.
The Top 5 after Thursday practice (over 3 consecutive laps)
1. Ronald Völker (DE) 40.567 Mugen Seiki MTC-3|LRP
2. Michal Orlowski (PL) 40.715 Schumacher Mi9|Elceram
3. Lucas Urbain 40.994 Awesomatix A800RR|ORCA
4. Bruno Coelho (PT) 41.025 Inf1nity|Hobbywing
5. Marc Rheinard (DE) 41.056 Awesomatix A800RR|Cayote
Awesomatix 1-2 with Bultynck and Mächler ahead of Xray`s Izsay
The Awesomatix Pro Stock class saw Season #16 champion Olivier Bultynck on top of the board. Bultynck was a tenth quicker than his team manager Max Mächler – both rocking the new and updated Awesomatix A800RR platform on track. Xray driver Adam Izsay was third fastest ahead of reigning Pro Stock champion Lukas Ellerbrock (Awesomatix), and Jan Ratheisky. All stock touring cars are now powered by Hobbywing motors and speed controllers and the drivers seem to be very happy with the HW electronics in their cars.
The Top 5 after Thursday practice (over 3 consecutive laps)
1. Olivier Bultynck (BE) 48.778 Awesomatix A800RR
2. Max Mächler (DE) 48.891 Awesomatix A800RR
3. Adam Izsay (HU) 49.103 Xray X4`25
4. Lukas Ellerbrock (DE) 43:512 Awesomatix A800RR
5. Jan Ratheisky (DE) 49.458 Xray X4`25
Last year`s race winner on top as Delisè tops day one in Apeldoorn
Nicolas Delisè won his first ETS race at last year`s season opener in Apeldoorn and it seems that he has some good memories to this event. Delisè was the fastest on track after the rain break with his Xray car but was closely followed by the Awesomatix of Roman Borschel and the Schumacher of Robin van Gog. Dominik Reile and Jacques Libar completed the top 5 after a rain interrupted first day of ETS Season #18 2025/26.
The Top 5 after Thursday practice (over 3 consecutive laps)
1. Nicolas Delisè (BE) 58.274 Xray
2. Roman Borschel (DE) 58.302 Awesomatix
3. Robin van Gog (NL) 58.383 Schumacher
4. Dominik Reile (DE) 49.962 Iris
5. Jacques Libar (LU) 50.072 Xray
Champion Ehrbar under pressure
David Ehrbar had a good day on track with his Xray car. But the reigning champion saw many guys almost matching his pace. Torsten Baggendorf was only a tenth behind Ehrbar and Manuel Stankowitz also looked strong with the Iris car. With Ronald Arts and Alexander Stocker in the top 5 for the day, we can already point out that qualifying will become a close affair in our 1up Racing 40+ Masters class.
The Top 5 after Thursday practice (over 3 consecutive laps)
1. David Ehrbar (DE) 52.552 Xray
2. Torsten Baggendorf (DE) 52.667 ARC
3. Manuel Stankowitz (DE) 52.772 Iris
4. Ronald Arts (NL) 52.806 Awesomatix
5. Alexander Stocker (DE) 52.959 Xray
Strong day for Xray racer Jensen
Last season`s vice champion Kristian Jensen was the fastest driver in the Hobbywing 21.5 Stock class. The Danish racer outpaced Nadine Zühlke (Xray) and David Reip (RC Maker) by a couple of tenths. The two Mugen Seiki cars of Kai Gerhardt and local hero Levi Berkenbosch rounded out the top five.
The Top 5 after Thursday practice (over 3 consecutive laps)
1. Kristian Jensen (DK) 53.254 (Xray)
2. Nadine Zühlke (DE) 53.603 (Xray)
3. David Reip (DE) 53.835 (RC Maker)
4. Kai Gerhardt (DE) 53.952 (Mugen Seiki)
5. Levi Berkenbosch (HU) 54.109 (Mugen Seiki)
Schumacher driver Stiebler clearly the fastest in Apeldoorn
Andreas Stiebler had a very good pace on track with his Schumacher car. He was seven (!) tenths quicker than “the rest of the world” and was followed by Jacques Libar, reigning champion David Ehrbar, season final race winner Thomas Stenger, and Michael Lipperheide. Let`s see if Stiebler can convert his strong pace into a TQ run on Friday…
The Top 5 after Thursday practice (over 3 consecutive laps)
1. Andreas Stiebler (AT) 47.342 Schumacher
2. Jacques Libar (LU) 48.129 Xray
3. David Ehrbar (DE) 48.172 Xray
4. Thomas Stenger (DE) 48.322 Xray
5. Michael Lipperheide (DE) 43.897 Xray
