It is time for another 5 THINGS report after so many things happened during ETS RD1 in the Netherlands last weekend. We once again like to thank everybody for coming and we hope you all enjoyed your time with us at AMCA Apeldoorn.
ENTRIES FOR ETS RD2 @ HUDY ARENA WILL OPEN TONIGHT (Tuesday) AT 20:00 CET
1. DEVELOPMENT NEVER STOPS
Avalon Racing`s VORTEX body shell sets the world on fire with full Modified A-Main lockout
Just a few days before ETS RD1 in Apeldoorn, the rumours had it:
“Have you heard about the new Avalon body? That was 2 or 3 seconds faster ove five minutes in practice”
“You will need to run it if you wanna have a chance for the A-Main in Modified”
“It doesn`t look nice, but is fast as hell”
Many comments like these had been circulating around and almost every racer was in panic to get an Avalon Vortex body ahead of the event to prepare it.
But let`s start the story at the very beginning: Some years ago, young RC racer Julius Schäfer and Andy Kühne (on the picture below) made their very first touring car body shell – more or less, just for fun. The body was been tested a couple of times and after it was not immediatley workign well, they kept it hidden and continued to improve it beside their regular jobs. Fast forward in 2026, they finally released the body shell and their new brand to the market.
The so called “VORTEX” body shell is totally performance orientated and the guys knew that the look “is not that close to a real car anymore”. They quickly added that it “is already like this since many years”. But as Julius (designer of the body) and Andy (Co-founder of Avalon Racing) were completley working within the current EFRA and ETS rules, the body became approved by EFRA and ETS and the first shells had been available to the public by April 20, 2026.
It was just so curious that nobody really found out about the potential of the body directly after the release. Only some stock racers tested it and reported positive things on some tracks (Andernach for example), but also found out that the body has a bit too much downforce for the slower stock classes on other tracks (Apeldoorn for example). This fact led most of the stock drivers to stick to their well-known Zoo Racing Wolverine MAX bodies.
Finally, it was Awesomatix factory driver Lucas Urbain who fired up the hype when he had a stellar run during testing in Apeldoorn on the weekend before the ETS. It was “unfortunateley impossible to hide it” for Lucas and the madness started. ALL drivers who made it into the Modified A-Main used the Avalon body, and the B-main as well. It seemed that the Vortex was simply providing more pace throughout the overall run after drivers had to adjust some small setup parameters here and there (as well as their driving style). Let`s see how the Avalon will perform at the next race in the Hudy Arena. AVALON a new force has awoken up!
Watch the Modified Press Conference (from minute 3:45) where Michal Orlowski, Bruno Coelho, and Ronald Völker shared their thoughts about the whole body shell situation:
AVALON RACING FACEBOOK STATEMENT
We are still absolutely speechless trying to process what happened last week in Apeldoorn. Having released our very first bodyshell just 1.5 months ago, we never expected in our wildest dreams to achieve a full A-Main lock-out in the Modified class at our very first Euro Touring Series race! Almost every single driver in Modified A- and B-final chose the Vortex bodyshell. Seeing our hard work dominate the track like this is mindblowing. We are incredibly grateful that years of intense development and testing have finally paid off so massively. A huge thank you to all the drivers for your trust and for putting the Vortex on top of the world! Let’s keep this momentum going! A special huge thank you goes out to Lucas Urbain for what you did just some days before ETS Apeldoorn started.Also big thank you to our close friend Ronald Völker RC for testing (sometimes crashing) our prototypes over the last years and giving hard feedback to push us even more.Last but not least we thank Toni Rheinard and his team TONISPORT for putting us on the ETS bodylist very last minute which gave us the opportunity to show the world what our Vortex is capable of. Julius & Andy
2. Practice is overrated (or not?)
Coelho and Schulz won in Apeldoorn without extra practice
Normally, most racers come to the track to practice before any big ETS event. Bruno Cleoho (Infnity) and Stefan Schulz (Xray) showed that it is also possible to have success without investing so many days ahead of an event. Bruno was running in Apeldoorn last time durign the 2025 ETS race and had a very good reason to not come for practice this time. He married his long-time girlfriend Joana in Portugal andhad the best time of his life.
When he showed up in Apeldoorn, the question was if the ring on his hand will slow him down, or speed him up (joking). Bruno`s the answer came with a huge statement. He was super fast during Thursday practice, dominated Q1 and Q2 on Friday, as well as A2 and A3 on Sunday to take the overall victory together with his mechanic and friend Francesco Martini. What a stellar performance!
Stefan Schulz was the second top racer who arrived in Apeldoorn with almost zero preparation. Due to a very important family commitment, Stefan arrived in Apeldoorn on Friday morning (missed all practice sessions) and was allowed to just turn some laps before the track opened. However, Stefan had a very strong weekend. He made it into the Pro Stock A-Main and took the win in the hard-fought FWD class with his Xray X4F`26. He was also using the new ZooRacing APEX body shell on his car to give it a first win at the very first try – congratulations Stefan Schulz!
3. RC is about respect, friendship, and memories
Mächler received a nice little gift from Rheinard after his departure to Xray
After six years, marc Rheinard left Awesomatix and moved to Xray. The whole thing came almost “out of nowhere” for the world of RC and some people thought about “bad things must have happened there”. But that is absolutley not what it was. Marc Rheinard left the team in a good mood with everybody as he just wanted to take on a new challenge in his carreer with joining Xray. To say thank you, he gave one of his Awesomatix cars with a nice bodyshell and some memories in a box to Max Mächler who really enjoyed to unpack this amazing present – class act!
4. Berkenbosch is a winner
After throwing a pissible victory away last year, he finally delivered on home soil
Last years ETS in Apeldoorn was a rollercoaster for young Dutch racer Levi Berkenbosch. He was TQ after qualifying and completley messed up his race due to many small mistakes in the finals. One year later, Levi was ready for his first ever ETS win. He claimed the pole position again and had his nerves under control when he took A1 and A2 to join the club of ETS race winners. A great success for Levi who celebrated the win on home soil with all his friends and family members around the track. Congratulations from the whole ETS crew on your first win Levi!
5. Cayote Coin Collection has started
Beautiful event coin handed out to 60 racers after qualifying
Our proud ETS title sponsor Team Cayote has started their amazing CAYOTE COIN COLLECTION. Racers had the chance to earn themselfes one of the nice looking, limited edition, Cayote coins. Every coin is featuring a certificate and a coin number, and the first one was branded with “ETS Apeldoorn” on the back side. The coins had been given to racers after qualifying.
All top 5 qualifiers of each class could collect one, as well as the top three B-Main qualifiers and the pole sitters of all C- and D-Mains. There also was a vote for the “Driver of the Week” as well as a “Social Media Challenge” to win additional coins too. A very cool campaign which will be spread all over the world at eight big events in total. One (or maybe two) more ETS event will be included.
5.1 RC is cool…. many kids are racing!
We were thrilled to see so many children and teenagers join us at the starting line in Apeldoorn. RC racing is for everyone, no matter your age, but seeing young children having fun with their cars on the track and enjoying a great time with their parents at our events always warms our hearts. Thank you all so much for coming, and keep racing with us…
