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Coelho and Hagberg completing the podium in Slovakia

The last Cayote Modified A-Main was all about the remaining positions on the podium. Bruno Coelho (Infinity) was starting from first place as race winner Michal Orlowski (Schumacher) was not on the line anymore. Bruno took the win ahead of Xray`s Alexander Hagberg and both secured their positions on the podium. Marc Rheinard (Xray) would finish fourth overall ahead of Ronald Völker (Mugen Seiki). The modified class was (once again) highly competitive and it was spectacular to watch the cars driving (and somethimes crashing) on the Hudy Arena track!

Rahteisky wins for Xray, Bultynck got crashed out by Izsay – drama in Pro Stock A3

When the third Pro Stock A-Main started, the battle for the win between Ratheisky and Bultynck was expected with high expectations. Ratheisky took over the lead from his pole position and behind him it was Bultynck who had to defend his position against Izsay.

The Xray driver was right behind Bultynck and then it happened in lap three: Izsay was hitting Bultynck from behind when they both entered the infield section and the contact ended in a big crash in which other cars got involved as well. The race was ruined for both drivers, and Bultynck had no chance to fight for the win anymore – what a chaotic third Pro Stock A-Main.

However, out front it was Jan Ratheisky who brought home the win in A3 to seal a well-deserved overall victory at the Hudy Arena. It was his first Pro Stock win after a long time and he was super happy after the race but also said that “he hoped for a fight with Ollie which could not happen after the incident”.

Schmid wins A3 and takes second overall ahead of G. Valent

Race winner Robin van Gog was watching A3 relaxed (with a cold drink) from the side line and saw Kevin Schmid and Gergö Valent batteling for the win. They had been closley followed by Ethan Southall and Filip Bortoli and it was a nice four-horse race around the Hudy Arena track. Valent was all over Schmid and drove as careful as possible when the two leaders pulled a bit away from Bortoli and Southall.

Schmid worked really hard on his transmitter to keep every door slam-shut and Valent was still applying a lot of pressure in the last 60 seconds of A3. Their fight was for second and third overall on the podium and in the end it was Schmid who could withstand all the pressure from Valent to seal P2 in front of Gergö Valent at the Hudy Arena.

Kölbel takes A3 and second overall behind mighty race winner Ehrbar

Renè Kölbel (Xray) and Patrick Sommer (ARC) had to battle out second and third place in teh last 40+ Masters A-Main on SUnday afternoon. They were on a very similar pace during the entire run while Michel Zierold, Toni Mateo, and Anna Ehrbar had a nice fight for the positions right behind them.

Sommer was right behind Kölbel in the last 40 seconds of the race but Kölbel was able to hang on and brought home the win (and second overall) in A3. Zierold managed to make a nice pass on Sommer in the last lap of the race to finish second in the last final and to jump onto third place overall in the very last minute.

Kuschnarew wins big at ETS comeback

With everything on the line in A3, top qualifiern Hois was under pressure. He needed to deliver a win if he would keep his winning chances alive. This time, Hois managed his nerves and jumped into the lead with his Awesomatix A800MMX (!) on the sound of the tone. Behind him, David Kuschnarew was running in second place and he knew that aP2 would have been enough to win the overall race (he won A1 on Saturday) against Hois. Ben Gerhardt was right on the money too and the racce became a nice fight out front. After Gerhardt spun out in lap 10 of the race, Richard Oversloot took over the third position.

David Kuschnarew stayed calm and cool and drove to second place behind A3 winner Hois to seal the victory at his ETS comeback after many years. Filip Bortoli finished second overall and TQ Stefan Hois had to settle for third place after a thrilling set of Hobbywing 21.5 Stock finals.

Win on home soil: Hudy wins at the Hudy Arena

The third A-Main of the Formula class saw Jitse Miedema and Lukas Hoch batteling hard in the first minute of the race. After a little collision, Martin Hudy took over the lead and had the best shot for the win after taking A2 in the morning. Hoch lost his front wing during the crash with Miedema and tried to hold second place in front of David Ehrbar and Michal Wojcik.

Miedema had an even worse outcome and dropped down to sixth place. When the race came to an end, Martin Hudy celebrated his second ever ETS win and was super happy to do this on home soil, on the ground of the family`s company – what a great day for Martin Hudy and Xray. Lukas Hoch and Jacques Libar completed the podium of the Formula class.

Orlowski conquers the Hudy Arena

Coelho and Orlowski driving in a world of their own – Hagberg recovers from A1with solid third place

The second Cayote Modified A-Main saw another impressive show of pure speed and performance from cars and drivers on track. Michal Orlowski sealed the deal with his Schumacher Mi10 in an impressive way (fastest lap 16.383) when he won A2 by 1.2 seconds from Infinity superstar Bruno Coelho (fastest lap 16.424). The Portuguese ace was squeezing everything he could out of his Infinity ride but Orlowski was just that litle bit faster and Bruno had no chance to attack Orlowski during the entire run.

Three to four seconds behind the leaders, Alexander Hagberg (who had a heartbreaking DNF in yesterday`s A1) was able to recover with a solid drive to P3 ahead of the much imoroved looking Xray of Marc Rheinard (4), and Mugen Seiki driver Ronald Völker (5).

A huge win for Orlowski at the Hudy Arena which he celebrated with his father and all his teammates after the run. The win is putting him now tied on points with Coelho (if Bruno will finish second overall) in the championship ahead of the next race at Arena 33 in Andernach (Germany).

Awesomatix strikes back: Bultynck wins A2 from Izsay and Ratheisky – A3 to be the Pro Stock decider!

Awesomatix driver Ollie Bultynck was able to strike back in A2 against all the Xray drivers. He was on new tires (same as Izsay) and found his way around TQ Jan Ratheisky quickly. Ratheisky was on used tires and did not defend too much – he would finish third in this race behind Bultynck and Izsay. Bultynck was driving a clean race and a very hard pushing Adam Izsay was not able to come close enough as he was sliding a bit here and there (especially in the right section of the track). The finishing order in A2: Bultynck, Izsay, Ratheisky, Kriz, Kretschmer, Sparbier, Dobnikar,  Havranek, Perez-Perez, Johannessen, and M.Valent.

Van Gog wins big at the Hudy Arena

After he won the first final on Saturday evening, Schumacher driver Robin van Gog started from the pole position again in A2 of the FWD class. Anther win would have been enough for him to seal the overall victory here at the Hudy Arena – and that was exactly what he delivered. Van Gog showed a great pace throughout the whole weekend and was in control of A2 from tone to tone. Awesomatix driver Kevin Schmid was trying all he could to stay close to van Gog and his pace looked very good too, but as van Gog made not the smallest mistake there was no way for Schmid to bring van Gog in trouble. Robin van Gog celebrated a well-deserved victory after A2 which he won ahead of Schmid, Ethan Southall, Filip Bortoli, and Gergö Valent.

Pure dominance from Ehrbar as he wins another 40+ Masters race

The 40+ Masters class is the David Ehrbar show since many years. Ehrbar was untouchable in A2 and secured another maximum point haul for the championship in the Hudy Arena. David won A2 by a MASSIVE gap of 6.6 seconds ahead of his Xray teammate Renè Kölbel, the ARC of Patrick Sommer, and the Awesomatix of Toni Mateo. Congratulations to David Ehrbar and Xray for another demonstration or pure perfection in the 40+ Masters class.

Bortoli takes Sunday morning A2 from Gnidiak and Gerhardt

TQ Stefan Hois had not a great first final on Saturday and was under serious pressure in the second leg. Filip Bortoli (started from P4) was chasing Hois around the track after the first minute of A2 and Hois never could pull a real gap to Bortoli. After Hois spun out in lap 4 of the run, Bortoli jumped into the lead and Hois found himself down in third place behind Juraj Gnidiak. Was it just too much pressure for Hois to start on TQ?

Bortoli was able to defend his lead for the rest of the main and crossed the line with a gap of almost 2 seconds ahead of Juraj Gnidiak, Ben Gerhardt, Max Weffers, and Mick Lätsch. The decision for the overall victory was shifted into the last and deciding third A-Main.

Hudy takes A2 from Libar and Stiebler

The second final of the Formula class saw Martin Hudy taking the win from third on the grid. Martin was able to take over the lead after Lukas Hoch had some trouble. Hudy won by 0.2 seconds ahead of Jacques Libar, Andreas Stiebler, and Jitse Miedema.

Under the Hood – Viktor Wilck`s Infinity IF14 Speciale

Infinity driver Viktor Wilck is running strong here at the ETS in the Hudy Arena. His IF14 Speciale is topped off with the new Xtreme Zenith body shell and Viktor is using Sunpadow batteries together with his Hobbywing Xerun ESC/Motor combo. The car is build up on a 1.2mm steel chassis from Infinity and the rest of the car is almost as it comes out of the box.

Chassis: Infinity IF14 Speciale
Body Shell: Xtreme Zenith 0,4mm
Speedo: Hobbywing Herun XR10 G3
Motor: Hobbywing Xerun V10 G3 4.5T
Battery: Sunpadow 6800mAh
Radio: Sanwa M17S
Servo: Sanwa
Tires: Matrix D36 ETS Handout
Sponsors and support: Infinity, SMJ, Hobbywing, Pro Spec, Sweep, Sunpadow, NettoRC, MPE, TP-design

Orlowski takes first final after Coelho’s costly error

Michal Orlowski was the man in A1 of the Modified class. The Schumacher lead driver executed a clean race from his TQ spot and saw Bruno Coelho crashing out in lap eight of the run.

Coelho was riding the curb at the very end of the infield a bit too much and rolled his Hobbywing powered Infinity car onto the roof. It was a very costly mistake for Coelho (lost four seconds) who then needed to fight his way back to second in an intense fight with the Mugen of Ronald Völker, and the Xray of Alexander Hagberg.

Hagberg was running in second place after Coelho`s mistake and it looked like he could get a P2 from this final until a ballstud in his car came loose – bad luck for Hagberg who was out of the race after three and a half minutes.

Meanwhile, Coelho was showing great patience behind Völker and after the Mugen driver was riding a curb to hard, Coelho was able to pass and get his second place back. Before this scene, Coelho once touched Völkers car but immediatley waited for Völker to continue in the same order again – great sportsmanship!

Out front it was the Michal Orlowski show. He broke the Hudy Arena track record (16.207) and had not a lot of pressure in the last two minutes of the race. He was able to control everything until the end. The finishing order in A1 was Orlowski, Coelho, Völker, Lauter, Collina, Greiner, Rheinard, Havranek, Brunet, Wilck, and Hagberg.

Ratheisky converts TQ spot into A1 victory for Xray – Bultynck defends his second place

The first Pro Stock A-Main was a great show of Pro Stock racing throughout the field. TQ Jan Ratheisky converted his pole position into a start to finish win ahead of Ollie Bultynck (fastest lap of the race 18.883) and Jaroslav Kriz. Adam Izsay lost a position (dropped from P3 to P4) after he had put a lot of pressure onto Ollie Bultynck during the early stages of the final.

This helped Ratheisky for sure to maintain his lead out front. In the end, Ratheisky had an advantage of 1.8 seconds over Bultynck and Kriz when he crossed the finish line after five minutes. Adam Izsay and Oliver Havranek completed the top five.

Van Gog executes a perfect first A-Main in Slovakia

Top qualifier Robin van Gog had a clean start off the line and was leading A1 ahead of Kevin Schmid and Gergö Valent. After three laps, Valent made a mistake and dropped down to fifth place while van Gog and Schmid were pulling a big gap over the rest of the field. But when Schmid also made a mistake after 3 minutes, it was Czech racer Filip Bortoli who found himself in second place which he needed to defend until the end of the race against Ethan Southall.

Somehow, Southall and Valent found their way around Bortoli in the last lap and took P2 and P3 over thew line. Robin van Gog brought home an unchallenged win in A1 ahead of Southall, Valent, Bortoli, and Schmid.

Dominant Ehrbar leaves no doubt who is the BOSS in Trencin

On the sound of the tone, TQ David Ehrbar was putting his head down and checked out immediately from the rest of the field. He already had an advantage of 1.1 seconds after the first lap and his teammate Renè Kölbel had no chance to match Ehrbar`s lap times while running in second place. Michel Zierold was running in third place, followed by Toni Mateo and Patrick Sommer.

The field was pretty much sorted and not a lot happened in this final which David Ehrbar won by a very impressive gap of 3 seconds ahead of Renè Kölbel, Michel Zierold, Toni Mateo, and Patrick Sommer.

Amazing pass earns Kuschnarew the win in A1 – bad luck for Hois afterwards!

Stefan Hois brought the field around the first lap and had the mirror full of David Kuschnarew`s ARC, and Ben Gerhardt and Filip Bortoli followed them also in striking distance making it a four-horse race on top of the field. Hois had a lot of work to do to not miss any apex but in lap 6 it happened. Hois was a bit wide in the sweeper before the straightway and Kuschnarew made a clean and very nice pass on the inside to take over the lead.

Hois lost a bit of ground in the following lap and got involved in a crash as well which dropped him back to fourth place. Kuschnarew had a huuuge lead ahead of a hard fighting Max Weffers who defended like a lion against Dutch racer Richard Oversloot. After an intense race, Kuschnarew brought home the win in front of Weffers, Oversloot, Hois, and Mick Lätsch.

Hoch takes A1 in style and leads impressive Xray 1-2-3

The first A-Main of the Matrix Formula class was fully in the hands of top qualifier Lukas Hoch and his Xray car. He drove a clean race and took the win with a gap of one second over Martin Hudy who had a great battle with Jacques Libar. Jitse Miedema and Luke Lee completed the top 5 on Saturday evening with two more finals to come up on Sunday.

Schumacher Mi10 takes TQ at XRAY headquaters

Coelho, Hagberg, and Völker lining up behind TQ Orlowski – the stage is set for an epic show!

The triple A-Mains of the Cayote Modified class are expected with high anticipation for a great show of RC racing on the challenging, fast, and flowing track of the Hudy Arena. Schumacher star driver and current ETS champion Michal Orlowski was able to seal the pole position when he added another win in Q3 after yesterday`s two wins in Q1 and Q2.

A great and important achievement for Orlowski who did not start from a pole position at the ETS since the race in Aigen (Austria) last year. He was in a good mood during the press conference and said that they “will prepare the car now for the finals and then just see what happens”.

Bruno Coelho from the Infinity team won the last round of qualifying which secured him second place on the grid after a thrilling set of qualifiers for the three-time touring car world champion. Bruno will throw all he can onto Orlowski in the finals to challenge the Schumacher driver for the win and it looks like he is the only driver with the pace to do that.

The best Xray driver in qualifying was Alexander Hagberg who will start from a very good third place – sometimes the best place to be as Scotty (Ernst) always says. The third place is Alexanders best ETS qualifying result since a couple of years and he was very happy in the press conference after qualifying. His Xray X4`26 looked very balanced on track and Alex was clearly the “best of the rest” behind Orlowski and Coelho.

Mugen Seiki factory driver Ronald Völker will have his shot in the finals from fourth place on the grid. He scored a P3 in the opening round of qualifiying with his LRP powered Mugen MTC-3 and backed it up with a second place (after switching to a Lens Bodies Ghibli 3.0 body) in Q4. Ronald was not super happy with the handling of his car and said that he is even more surprised that it was good enough for P4 on the grid.

Former Reedy Race champion and ETS race winner Viktor Wilck was fifth fastest in qualifying with his Infinity IF14 Speciale. A very strong result for Viktor and the best for him at the ETS since many years. Let`s see if he can keep up with the top 4 in front of him during the triple finals.

A-Main starting grid for the Modified class

TQ Michal Orlowski (POL) Schumacher|Elceram|Cayote
2. Bruno Coelho (POR) Infinity|Hobbywing|Sunpadow
3. Alexander Hagberg (SWE) Xray|Hobbywing|Team EAM
4. Ronald Völker (GER) Mugen Seiki|LRP
5. Viktor Wilck (SWE) Infinity|Hobbywing|Sunpadow
6. Simon Lauter (GER) Awesomatix|Hobbywing|Nosram
7. Marc Rheinard (GER) Xray|Team Cayote
8. Oliver Havranek (SVK) Xray|Hobbywing|Nosram
9. Mattia Collina (ITA) Schumacher|Elceram|EZpower
10. Dominic Greiner (GER) Serpent|Hobbywing|Nosram

Rahteisky shows the muscles and secures mighty pole position in Trencin

Xray`s Jan Retheisky will start from the very important pole position into the triple Pro Stock A-Mains at the Hudy Arena. Jan took the last qualifying run on Saturday to get the job done against Awesomatix racer Ollie Bultynck, and his own teammate Jaroslav Kriz Jun. who also had a chance to TQ the event until the very end of qualifying. However, Ratheisky had not been on a Pro Stock pole since a couple of years and we are excited for the finals to find out if he can bring home the win for Xray on home soil.

A-Main starting grid for the Pro Stock class

TQ Jan Ratheisky (GER) Xray
2. Olivier Bultynck (BEL) Awesomatix
3. Adam Izsay (HUN) Xray
4. Jaroslav Kriz Jun. (SVK) Xray
5. Oliver Havranek (SVK) Xray
6. Mark Valent (HUN) Schumacher
7. David Perez Perez (Xray) ESP
8. Helge Johannessen (NOR) ARC
9. Matej Dobnikar (SLO) Xray
10. Sören Sparbier (GER) Mugen Seiki

TQ van Gog to defend P1 against Schmid and Valent in the finals

The upcoming FWD finals will be very exciting – that`s for sure. We have seen three different TQ drivers and it was Dutch Schumacher racer Robin van Gog who managed to win two rounds of qualifying putting him on pole position. Kevin Schmid (Awesomatix) took one round as well and has qualified second on the grid ahead of the other TQ driver Gergö Valent who is the highest qualified Xray racer in third place after quaifying here at the Hudy Arena. Ethan Southall from the UK had a fantastic set of qualifying runs and will start from P4 ahead of a very racy Filip Bortoli.

A-Main starting grid for the FWD class

TQ Robin van Gog (NLD) Schumacher
2. Kevin Schmid (GER) Awesomatix
3. Gergö Valent (HUN) Xray
4. Ethan Southall (GBR) Schumacher
5. Filip Bortoli (CZE) Xray
6. Max Weffers (GER) Xray
7. Tomas Sova (CZE) Xray
8. Jacques Libar (LUX) Xray
9. Maximilian Weißenbach (GER) Awesomatix
10. Loris Buchhalt (AUT) Iris

Ehrbar adds another pole position to his 40+ Masters carreer – Kölbel and Sommer 2nd and 3rd on the grid!

Xray driver David Ehrbar stamped authority onto the masters class once again. Ehrbar took the win in the first three qualifiers and logged in another pole position. Behind him we saw a fantastic driving Renè Kölbel (Xray) qualifying second on the grid after he could lay down a stellar TQ run in the last qualifier to jump ahead of ARC driver Patrick Sommer who will line-up in third position for the triple finals. The 40+ Masters A-Main is stacked with all the top drivers of the class and we expect some hard and fair battles on track!

A-Main starting grid for the 40+ Masters class

TQ David Ehrbar (GER) Xray
2. Renè Kölbel (AUT) Xray
3. Patrick Sommer (GER) ARC
4. Michel Zierold (GER) Awesomatix
5. Toni Mateo (ESP) Awesomatix
6. Anna Ehrbar (GER) Xray
7. Caspar Morgen (DNK) Xray
8. Mirco Thalheimer (GER) Xray
9. Torsten Baggendorf (GER) Xray
10. Manuel Stankowitz (GER) Awesomatix

Hois claims maiden ETS pole position

Stefan Hois from Austria will start from the best spot on the grid into the triple finals at the Hudy Arena. He earned his first ever ETS pole position after a brilliant qualifiyng performance on a track he knows quiet well from many races in the past. However, it was a surprise for many racers in the 21.5 class because Hois was “only” in the B-Main at the season opener in Apeldoorn. Can he celebrate his first ETS victory here in Trencin?

Routinier David Kuschnarew will start second behind Hois and he will use all his experience as well to create a lot of pressure on Hois during the finals. However, Kuschnarev himself will see many fast guys starting behind him with Ben Gerhrdt looking like the biggest thread so far after qualifying!

A-Main starting grid for the 21.5 Stock class

TQ Stefan Hois (AUT) Awesomatix
2. David Kuschnarew (GER) ARC
3. Ben Gerhardt (GER) Xray
4. Filip Bortoli (CZE) Xray
5. Juraj Gnidiak (SVK) Xray
6. Richard Oversloot (NLD)
7. Max Weffers (GER) Xray
8. Mich Lätsch (GER) Awesomatix
9. Kevin Sparbier (GER) Mugen Seiki
10. Jonas Kordick (GER) Awesomatix

Pole position for Czech racer Hoch at ETS RD2

It has been a long time since David Ehrbar was not sitting on pole position in the Formula class. Xray racer Lukas Hoch from the Czech Republic was able to TQ the event already after Q3. He was showing great performances throughout all rounds of qualifying and demonstrated the pure speed of the Xray car on track. Can he bring home the win against many of his Xray team mates, the Fenix of Jitse Miedema, and the Schumacher car of Andreas Stiebler? We will find out very soon…!

A-Main starting grid for the Formula class

TQ Lukas Hoch (CZE) Xray
2. Jitse Miedema (NLD) Fenix
3. Martin Hudy (SVK) Xray
4. Jacques Libar (LUX) Xray
5. David Ehrbar (GER) Xray
6. Michal Wojcik (POL) Xray
7. Andreas Stiebler (AUT) Schumacher
8. Luke Lee (GBR) Xray
9. Alexander Mayer (AUT)
10. Chris Grenz (GER) Xray

Under the Hood – Alexander Hagberg`s Xray X4`26

Xray factory driver Alexander Hagberg is using his X4`26 at the Hudy Arena with great success so far. Qualifying went very well for the Swede and we had the chance to top off the Xtreme Zenith body shell from his Xray ride. Alexander is using a 1.2mm steel chassis, short lower arms, a 1.1mm front anti-roll bar, the Xray PSS system in the front shocks, as well as 2.9 rear springs.

As always, Alex is trusting his Hobbywing combo which is energized by Team EAM batteries. A Sanwa M17S is in Alexanders hands to transfer all of his inputs to the car and a matching Sanwa servo is responsible for the steering of the car.

Chassis: Xray X4`26
Body Shell: Xtreme Zenith 0,4mm
Speedo: Hobbywing XR10 Pro G3
Motor: Hobbywing Xerun G3 4.5T
Battery: Team EAM 6400mAh
Radio: Sanwa M17S
Servo: Sanwa PGS-LH II
Tires: Matrix D36 ETS Handout
Sponsors and support: Xray, Hudy, Hobbywing, Team EAM, Sanwa, Pro Spec, AVID, TQ Wire, Hiro Seiko, Hot Race Tyres, A-Paint, P-Stickers

Under the Hood – Ollie Bultynck`s Awesomatix A800RR

Olivier Bultynck is using his famous A800RR with the brand new TITANIUM chassis from Awesomatix. This chassis is filling the gap (in weight) between Aluminum and Steel and is another tuning option now for all Awesoamtix racers. A carbon bumper mount, aluminium battery holders, and some MXLR front and rear body supoorts are added to the car as well. The car is also featuring the AM279 rear belt tensioner, a MXLR flex bumper, as well as titanium ball studs and a set of ceramic bearings.

Team EAM batteries are in use for the best possible performance on the Hudy Arena track (Ollie is using the 6400 pack) and Ollie is rocking his FlySky radio together with a Power HD GTS-2 servo to control his car like a champion.

Chassis: Awesomatix A800RR
Body Shell: Zoo Racing Wolverine MAX 0,4mm
Speedo: Hobbywing XR10 Stock Spec G2 ETS
Motor:Hobbywing G4R 17.5T ETS
Battery: Team EAM 6400mAh
Radio: FlySky Noble Pro +
Servo:PowerHD GTS-2
Tires: Matrix Z36 ETS Handout
Sponsors and support: Awesomatix, Hobbywing, FlySKy, Team EAM, MR33, Inov8, PowerHD, MXLR, RC Discharger, Manzo46

Two out of two – perfect day for Schumacher`s Orlowski

Champion Orlowski super-strong, Coelho with a great recovery, and a brilliant day for Hagberg at the Hudy Arena…

Schumacher`s Michal Orlowski had a pretty good day at the Hudy Arena as he was able to TQ both qualifying runs with his Schumacher Mi10 car, powered by Cayote batteries and controlled ba an Elceram speedo. The competition was tough and Orlowski was able to execute two very strong runs against the best in the business. He was very happy with the day saying that “the car was feeling good on track, even if it was always difficult to push so hard against all the others on track”. With two TQ runs to his favour, Orlowski can go into the remaining two rounds on Saturday in a very good mood!

Top seed Bruno Coelho had a “shmedium” Q1 when he made a mistake already in lap one of the race sending his Hobbywing powered Infinity car into the grass coming onto the straightway. He was not able to recover from that and had to take a disappointing seventh place for the round. In Q2, Coelho was able to recover as he was right in contention for the win against Orlowski. The decision for the win came down to the last lap of the race where Bruno had to lift the throttle for a moment to prevent contact with a crashed car in front of him. He lost one or two tenths of a second and came short to Orlowski by 0.1 seconds in the end. Not the result he wanted but still a very good recovery after Q1.

Behind Orlowski and Coelho we saw an extraordinary driving Alexander Hagberg scoring a second place in Q1 and a third place in Q2 putting him on a rock-solid third place overnight ahead of Mugen Seiki`s Ronald Völker, the Infinity of Viktor Wilck, Awesomatix driver Simon Lauter, Xray`s Marc Rheinard, Mattia Collina (Schumacher), Dominic Greiner (Serpent), and Lucas Urbain (Awesomatix).

Ratheisky leads Xray 1-2-3 at qualifying half-time in the Hudy Arena

Xray was looking very dominant in the first two rounds of Pro Stock qualifying on home soil. Jaroslav Kriz Jun. took the win in Q1 from Bultynck, Havranek, and Kretschmer while it was Jan Ratheisky who took the win in Q2 in front of Izsay (by only 0,046 of a second), and Mathias Nedrebo.

Pro Stock champion Bultynck looks like the only Awesomatix driver with a serious chance to challenge the performance of the Xray team here but he will need to deliver two mighty runs in Q3 and Q4 on Saturday to deny Xray the pole position at the Hudy Arena. The top ten after two rounds of qualifiyng: Ratheisky, Kriz, Izsay, Bultynck, Nedrebo, Havranek, Valent, Catelani, Kretschmer, Knopp.

Valent and van Gog leading the FWD class at qualifaying half-time

The first two rounds of FlySky Frontwheel qualifying saw Gergö Valent (Xray) and Robin van Gog (Schumacher) scoring a TQ run each. However, both of them also scored a bad result in the other run which means that they need to deliver one more good result in Q3 or Q4 to lock in a top spot on the grid. The most consistant driver in Q1 and Q2 was Ethan Southall from the UK who scored a second and a fourth place. The top five after the second round of qualifying was completed by Filip Bortoli and Max Weffers!

Ehrbar, Sommer, and Mateo topping 40+ qualifying on Friday

David Ehrbar did what he always does in 40+ Masters: He TQed both rounds of qualifying on Friday with his amazing looking Xray X4`27 car. ARC racer Patrick Sommer had a very impressive day as well and secured two second places behind Ehrbar to secure second place overnight – a really strong result for Sommer. Toni Mateo from Gran Canaria must be still on a high after Spain won the FIFA World Cup last week as he was able to secure two thirds places with his Awesomatix on Friday. The overnight top five got completed by Michel “Mr. BoomRC” Zierold (Awesomatix), and Renè Kölbel (Xray).

Austrian racer Hois holds overnight TQ at ETS RD2 in Slovakia

What a great day for Stefan Hois from Austria! He was abel to TQ both rounds of qualifying in the Hobbywing 21-5 Stopck class. He took the win in Q1 with a small gap of half a tenth over Ben Gerhardt and managed to extend this gap to one second over Gerhardt in Q2. Behind the top two drivers, David Kuschnarew is sitting in third place at qualifying half-time. Kuschnarew has not raced at the ETS since six or seven years bot quickly showed that he can still wheel a car around the track fast and consistant. Filip Bortoli and Juraj Gnidiak completed the top five on Friday evening!

Hoch in control of the Formula class

Czech Xray driver Lukas Hoch took the first two runds of Matrix Formula qualifying and is a well-deserved overnight TQ here in Trencin. Behind him we saw two more Xray cars, driven by the one and only Martin Hudy, and Jacques Libar. Jitse Miedema was the best “non Xray” driver and was able to put his Fenix car on P4 for the day ahead of our reigning ETS Formula champion David Ehrbar, and Andreas Stiebler.

Under the Hood – Jacques Libar`s Xray X4F`27

Jacques Libar from Luxembourg is rocking the “all new” Xray X4F`27 here at the ETS in Slovakia. The car is fresh on the market and Jacques is using some Xray option parts such as lower long h-arms, a one-piece topdeck, a t-brace, a 30g weight, the carbon bumper plate as well as a Hudy servo horn and some Hiro Seiko screws. The rest of the car is as it comes out of the box and Jacques is looking pretty competitive on the Hudy Arena track.

His car is powered by the Hobbywing ETS combo while the energy is coming from a Sunpadow 4800mAh shorty. The steering is managed by a Savöx servo and a Sanwa M17 is in Jacques hands while he is driving his car!

Chassis: XRAY X4F`27
Body Shell: Bittydesign A3F
Speedo:Hobbywing G3S V2 ETS
Motor:Hobbywing Justock 17.5
Battery: Sunpadow 4800mAh
Radio: Sanwa M17
Servo: Savöx SB-2267SG
Tires: Matrix
Sponsors and support: XRAY, HUDY, Savöx, Sunpadow, ToniSport. SMI, Milansport, Bittydesign, Father and Mother 🙂

Coelho is top seed in Slovakia

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Dry track, no rain, Friday is a good day so far at the Hudy Arena…

Friday saw a much better start into the day as the sun was out and the track was dry. The first seeding round got completed followed by the second one to set the qualifying heats. Here is a quick update about the top guys in every class!

Infinity, Schumacher, Xray, and Awesomatix in the top 5

The Cayote Modified class saw a close battle for the top seeding positions between Bruno Coelho, Michal Orlowski, and Marc Rheinard. They came out of seeding practice within 0.32 of a second and had a gap of 0.4 seconds over fourth placed Viktor Wilck, and Simon Lauter.

Bruno was happy with his day so far and commented that his car “was a bit too stable in the rear” which they will try to adjust now with some small changes on the setup of their Infinity IF14 Speciale.

Reigning ETS champion Michal Orlowski was also happy “to be that close to the drivers who practiced in the Hudy Arena last weekend” with him being in contention at the 1:8 electric buggy euros in Estonia. Orlowski looked comfortable on track which is always a thread for his competitors when it`s time for qualifying!

Marc Rheinard was the fastest Xray driver in seeding practice and told us that his car “was still not perfect with room for improvements”. He will check his car once again before qualifying to be ready for a TQ battle against Orlowski and Coelho.

Behind the top three we saw a very competitive Viktor Wilck (4) ahead of Simon Lauter(5), Jilles Groskamp (6), Ronald Völker (7), Alexander Hagberg (8), Mattia Collina (9), and Sören Sparbier (10) completing the top ten!

The Top 5 after seeding practice (over 3 consecutive laps)

1. Bruno Coelho (POR) 49.293 Infinity|Hobbywing|Sunpadow
2. Michal Orlowski (PL) 49.389 Schumacher|Elceram|Cayote
3. Marc Rheinard (GER) 49.495 Xray|Cayote
4. Viktor Wilck (SWE) 49.906 Infinity|Hobbywing|Sunpadow
5. Simon Lauter (GER) 50.108 Awesomatix|Hobbywing|Nosram

Champion Blutynck ahead of Xray`s Havranek and Ratheisky

The reigning ETS Pro Stock champion Ollie Bultynck from the Awesomatix team is top seed for qualifying. He was able to hold off the hard pushing Xray trio of Havranek, Ratheisky, and Kriz by one tenth of a second. Mugen Seiki`s Sören Sparbier was fifth quickest ahead of Adam Izsay, Matej Dobnikar, Louis Kretschmer, Maty Knopp, and Wiktor Smid. Q1 and Q2 are on the line soon – who will end the day on the overnight TQ spot?

The Top 5 after seeding practice (over 3 consecutive laps)

1. Olivier Bultynck (BEL) 56.590 Awesomatix
2. Oliver Havranek (SVK) 56.725 Xray
3. Jan Ratheisky (GER) 56.755 Xray
4. Jaroslav Kriz Jun.(SVK) 56.852 Xray
5. Sören Sparbier (GER) 56.877 Mugen Seiki

Van Gog leads after seeding practice

Dutch FWD ace Robin van Gog was the quickest racer in the two seeding practice rounds at  the Hudy Arena. He was 0.2 seconds ahead of Kevin Schmid and Ethan Southall. Qualifying is up next and the battle for the top spots in FWD will be intense!

The Top 5 after seeding practice (over 3 consecutive laps)

1. Robin van Gog (NLD) 1:07.955 Schumacher
2. Kevin Schmid (GER) 1:08.176 Awesomatix
3. Ethan Southall (GBR) 1:08.336
4. Gergö Valent (HUN) 1:08.451 XRAY
5. Filip Bortoli (CZE) 1:08.534

Ehrbar dominates 40+ Masters class before the start of qualifiyng

David Ehrbar was on fire and outpaced the other Masters drivers by a FULL SEDCOND over the three fastest consecutive laps on the Hudy Arena track. His wife, Anna Ehrbar, was second fastest ahead of Renè Kölbel, Michel Zierold, and Manuel Stankowitz. Can Anna hunt David down in qualifying? Or will we see another “David” show here in Trencin?

The Top 5 after seeding practice (over 3 consecutive laps)

1. David Ehrbar (GER) 1:00.590 Xray
2. Anna Ehrbar (GER) 1:02.024 Xray
3. René Kölbel (AUT) 1:00.590 Xray
4. Michel Zierold (GER) 1:02.036 Awesomatix
5. Manuel Stankowitz (DE) 1:02.221 Awesomatix

Xray`s Weffers is top seed for qualifying

After making it onto the podium at the season opener in Apeldoorn, Xray racer Max Weffers showed that he is still in a good form when he topped the time sheets during seeding practice at the Hudy Arena. Behind him, his teammate Ben Gerhardt was second fastest in front of Juraj Gnidiak and Stefan Hois. The top five had been very close and it is hard to point out a favourite for qualifying.

The Top 5 after seeding practice (over 3 consecutive laps)

1. Max Weffers (GER) 1:01.275 Xray
2. Ben Gerhardt (GER) 1:01.310 Xray
3. Juraj Gnidiak (SVK) 1:01.324 Xray
4. Stefan Hois (AUT) 1:01.470
5. Kevin Sparbier (GER) 1:01.470 Mugen Seiki

Libar ahead of Stiebler and Hudy

Jacques Libar from Luxembourg posted the fastest time and is top seed of the Formula class here in Trencin. Schumacher driver Andreas Stiebler was closest to the Xray of Libar and took P2 ahead of Martin Hudy, Lukas Hoch, and Jitse Miedema.

The Top 5 after Thursday practice (over 3 consecutive laps)

1. Jacques Libar (LUX) 59.379 Xray
2. Andreas Stiebler (AUT) 59.521 Schumacher
3. Martin Hudy (SVK) 59.819 Xray
4. Lukas Hoch (CZE) 1:00.006 Xray
5. Jitse Miedema (NLD) 1:00.596 Fenix