The biggest ever ETS is underway at the Sporthotel Grafenwald in Daun. With 490 entries, the event consists of 45 heats (!) and a lot of time for the racers to wrench on their cars to find the fastest setup. The technical track layout in the typical “Daun t-shape” is a big challenge for all racers but once the traction came up mid-day, the lap times were dropping down and everybody was posting fast lap times. With four rounds of qualifying coming up on Friday and Saturday, all Thursday practice sessions had been counted for seeding. Time to look onto the seeding results now….
Völker, Rheinard, and Orlowski the top three after opening day in Daun
The Cayote Modified class saw many drivers fighting hard against the track. It took some time for everybody to get used to the layout and the conditions, but familiar names popped up on top of the board frequently. Mugen Seiki`s Ronald Völker was fastest in three out of four practice rounds while Schumacher driver and championship leader Michal Orlowski finished the day in second place – some 0.232 seconds behind Völker.
Awesomatix top gun Marc Rheinard had a very good overall pace in his car and took third for the day while he was followed by teammate Simon Lauter and a strong performing Yannic Prümper (Schumacher). Mugen Seiki`s Sören Sparbier was sixth fastest ahead of the two Swedish Xray drivers Alexander Hagberg and David Ronnefalk, the Serpent of Dominic Greiner, and the Yokomo of Christopher Krapp.
The Top 5 after Thursday practice (over 3 consecutive laps)
1. Ronald Völker (DE) 40.533 Mugen Seiki MTC-3|LRP
2. Michal Orlowski (PL) 40.765 Schumacher Mi9|Elceram|Cayote
3. Marc Rheinard 40.921 Awesomatix A800RR|Cayote
4. Simon Lauter (DE) 41.195 Awesomatix A800RR|Hobbywing
5. Yannic Prümper (DE) 41.371 Schumacher Mi9|Cayote
On the way to the title – who will stop Bultynck?
The Awesomatix Pro Stock class saw (once again this season) Olivier Bultynck on top of the board after seeding practice. The Awesomatix factory driver was 0.178 seconds quicker than the newest signing of Schumacher – Jesper Rasmussen from Denmark. He had a very good first day with his new Mi9 and was second fastest, just 4-thousands (!) of a second ahead of Lukas Ellerbrock (Awesomatix), Louis Kretschmer (Awesomatix), and the Xray of Adam Izsay.
Last year`s race winner Sören Sparbier was sixth quickest with his Mugen MTC-3 and was closely followed by the new ARC A11 of Enrico Jung, Roman Borschel (Awesomatix), Mark Valent (Schumacher), and Timon Coenen (Awesomatix).
The Top 5 after Thursday practice (over 3 consecutive laps)
1. Olivier Bultynck (BE) 44.072 Awesomatix A800RR
2. Jesper Rasmussen (DK) 44.250 Schumacher Mi9
3. Lukas Ellerbrock (DE) 44:254 Awesomatix A800RR
4. Louis Kretschmer (DE) 44.303 Awesomatix A800RR
5. Adam Izsay (HU) 44.352 Xray X4`26
Trella tops FWD practice ahead of championship leader Langner, and Borschel
Xray racer Pawel Trella from Poland was the fastest driver during the four rounds of seeding practice on Thursday. Trella posted the three fastest consecutive laps of the day in the third round of practice and was one and a half tenths quicker than Phil Langner in second place. Roman Borschel posted the third fastest time ahead of Yokomo racer Frederik Hovgaard, and the Awesomatix of Kevin Schmid. Behind the top five, Dominik Reile, Gergö Valent, Timon Coenen, Adam Southgate, and the Buchhalt brothers Loris and Matheo made it into the top group for qualifying as well.
The Top 5 after Thursday practice (over 3 consecutive laps)
1. Pawel Trella (PL) 51.517 Xray
2. Phil Langner (DE) 51.660 Awesomatix
3. Roman Borschel (DE) 51.722 Awesomatix
4. Frederik Hovgaard (DK) 51.758 Yokomo
5. Kevin Schmid (DE) 51.912 Awesomatix
BOOM…… Zierold is top seed in ultra-competitive Masters class
Awesomatix driver and mister “Boom RC” Michel Zierold left a mark when he had the strongest three-lap pace of the day in the last round of seeding practice on Thursday evening. Zierold outpaced the second placed Mugen MTC-3 of Philipp Stadler by 0.032 seconds only, which was still enough to sit P1 overnight. The Xray duo of Danish ace Caspar Morgen, and reigning 40+ champion David Ehrbar was claiming third and fourth for the day while Iris driver Manuel Stankowitz was completing the top 5 on a solid pace.
The Top 5 after Thursday practice (over 3 consecutive laps)
1. Michel Zierold (DE) 47.560 Awesomatix
2. Philipp Stadler (AT) 47.592 Mugen Seiki
3. Caspar Morgen (DK) 47.813 Xray
4. David Ehrbar (DE) 47.900 Xray
5. Manuel Stankowitz (DE) 48.047 Iris
Romondia fastest at ETS comeback
ARC driver Luca Romondia was way ahead of the competition when he was setting the three-lap pace with his brand new A11 by 0.7 seconds ahead of the two RC Maker SP1 cars of Daniel Anthes and David Reip. Loris Buchhalt was fourth quickest with his IRIS ride and Wolfgang Swoboda completed the top 5 after a competitive Thursday. It was a great start into the event for quick Luca Romondia who raced many times at the ETS in the past and is having kind of a comeback this weekend.
The Top 5 after Thursday practice (over 3 consecutive laps)
1. Luca Romondia (DE) 47.361 (ARC)
2. Daniel Anthes (DE) 48.113 (RC Maker)
3. David Reip (DE) 48.154 (RC Maker)
4. Loris Buchhalt (AT) 48.187 (Iris)
5. Wolfgang Swoboda (DE) 54.109
Schumacher`s Stiebler on top of day one in Daun with 4 Xray cars in tow
It was Andreas Stiebler from Austria who came out of seeding practice as the fastest driver of the day. He had a comfortable gap of half a second over fast Balint Rajki from Hungary and German Formula ace David Ehrbar. Xray designer Martin Hudy and Robert Kampehl rounded out the top five after seeding practice. With the start of qualifying on Friday, we will see the true 5-minute pace of all Formula racers – game on!
The Top 5 after Thursday practice (over 3 consecutive laps)
1. Andreas Stiebler (AT) 43.784 Schumacher
2. Jacques Libar (HU) 44.271 Xray
3. David Ehrbar (DE) 44.291 Xray
4. Martin Hudy (SK) 44.357 Xray
5. Robert Kampehl (DE) 44.431 Xray
