The second race of ETS Season #18 2025/26 is in the books – and WHAT A WEEKEND IT WAS. For many participants, it will be a weekend to remember as mother nature had different plans and it was raining “cats and dogs” for just too long. It was a hard task for the organizers to keep the event going (in some way), and the whole weekend was one from which we all could learn a lot. Here are five of the things we learned during ETS RD2 in Austria….
1) “Always the same guy…” – Orlowski on a different level!
TWELVE in a row – WOW. Schumacher star driver Michal Orlowski secured another impressive win with his Cayote, Elceram, and Power HD equipped Mi9 rocket in Aigen. It was his 12th consecutive race win in the Modified class which is absoluteley impressive. We are watching Orlowski making ETS history right now as nobody ever had a winning streak like him in the long eighteen-year history of the series. Track reporter Patrick Beck mostly welcomes Michal with a friendly “always the same guy” before the post-race interviews!
Even if it might become a bit boring (does it?) to always report about the same race winner, we cannot highlight Orlowski`s impressive form enough. His winning streak is even more impressive when we keep in mind that he has won every single race he attended after he could celebrate his first ever ETS win at the finale of Season #15 (!) in Daun.
The following drivers joined Orlowski on the podium during his 12 victories: Marc Rheinard | Awesomatix (9 times), Ronald Völker |Mugen Seiki (5 times), Lucas Urbain |Awesomatix (4 times), Simon Lauter | Awesomatix (3 times), and one time Bruno Coelho (with Xray), Eric Dankel (with Mugen), and Adam Izsay (Xray).
Thanks to his determination in racing and the tireless effort he and his entire team put in, Michal Orlowski is currently the star of the touring car scene. Many drivers such as Marc Rheinard, Ronald Völker, Bruno Coelho, Lucas Urbain and certainly many others want to end Orlowski’s ‘walk in the park’, and time will tell how long he can continue to deliver perfect weekends. In any case, the hunt for Orlowski is already well and truly underway…
2) Bultynck stamps authority on Pro Stock class
Olivier Bultynck from Belgium is in a very comfortable situation now when we look onto the championship rankings of the Awesomatix Pro Stock class. The Awesomatix factory driver had a great weekend with his EAM powered A800RR in Aigen and was able to seal a very hard-fought pole position.
Qualifying was a very close affair and Bultynck posted the fastest of the three different TQ results (Kretschmer, Nedrebø, Bultynck) when he was seven tenths quicker as the rest of the world in Q3. Finally, qualifying was enough for Bultynck to take the maximum points haul away from Austria. Following his flawless victory at the ETS RD1 in Apeldoorn, the championship will now be decided solely by Bultynck’s performance until the end of the season – advantage Bultynck!
3) Rain is not a member of the ETS family!
Long story short – we DO NOT LOVE RAIN. The race weekend in Aigen-Schlägl was affected by a lot of heavy rain, small showers, drizzle, and the ever changing forecast which is nothing new in the “Böhmerwald” region in Austria. However, we still can feel kind of lucky as we had been able to get four rounds of practice and three rounds of qualifying in.
Making decisions was not easy and the whole ETS crew did their very best. However, some decisions had been good, others not. We would have loved to see more finals and not only the modified ones on track. To just see the modified triple finals was nothing we had planned – in the end it was still positive to see at least one classs finishing their racing programe before the event got to an early finish on Sunday morning.
Watch the after-race talk with Scotty and Patrick again if you want to learn more about the whole circumstances of ETS RD2.
4) Seis joins club of ETS race winners!
Home town boy Simeon Seis was on fire all weekend long in Aigen-Schlägl. The Mugen Seiki MTC-3 driver showed a fantastic pace in practice and was able to win two of the three rounds of qualifying in the Hobbywing 21.5 Stock class. Simeon had scored solid A-Main results in 21.5 Stock during the last two ETS races in Aigen, but this time it was easy to see that he has made the next step.
Even though he was robbed of the three A-Mains due to the rainy weather, we are convinced that he is a deserving winner of ETS RD2. Simeon is now officially part of the circle of ETS race winners – congratulations!
5) Filip Hudy is “One to Watch”!
Young Filip Hudy celebrated his the win of the B-Main in Aigen. Filip finished the weekend in 11th place in the Matrix Formula class and drove some really strong qualifying races. If Q4 would have happened, Filip would have had a serious shot for the A-Main!
The son of Xray’s Martin Hudy is passionate about our hobby and it’s fantastic to see how he is constantly improving and getting better. Filip is always in a good mood and walks around the paddock with a friendly smile on his face. We are delighted to have such a talented young driver competing in the ETS and are sure that we will be hearing a lot more from Filip in the future. He certainly has what it takes – maybe one day he will become an Xray team driver 🙂
