Back on pace – Rheinard wins Q3 from Orlowski, Coelho, and Völker. Which Awesomatix car will claim the pole position?

After Lucas Urbain took the win in Q1 and Q2 on Friday, all eyes had been on him as most spectators expected him to seal the overall TQ already in Q3. When the top heat started, it was the Mugen of Ronald Völker popping up on top of the board after they made some massive setup changes to the car overnight. Völker was leading ahead of Coelho, Orlowski, Urbain, and Rheinard in the first minute of the race. In the third lap, Lucas Urbain made a mistake in the Laguna Seca section and dropped all the way back to the end of the field.

At around 2:30 minutes in the race, Marc Rheinard found himself on top of the field – just a few hundreds ahead of Orlowski, Coelho, and Völker. The Awesomatix driver also found some good pace overnight and was able to hold off Michal Orlowski (hot lap 16.596) till the end – by the gap of ONLY 0.007 seconds. Bruno Coelho took third for the round ahead of Völker who lost one second (and P3) when he rolled his MTC-3 in the downslope section of the corkscrew.

The final result in Q3 was Rheinard, Orlowski, Coelho, Völker, Sparbier (out of the b-sort), Ronnefalk, Hagberg, Dankel, and Lauter. As Marc Rheinard posted the fastest overall run so far in Q3, the fight for the overall pole position is still alive and will be on the line in Q4 between the Awesomatix duo Lucas Urbain and Marc Rheinard.

Ellerbrock takes Saturday morning Q3 – TQ wide open!

After being a bit on the back foot yesterday, our current Pro Stock champion Lukas Ellerbrock was able to TQ the third round of qualifying with his Nosram powered Awesomatix A800RR. Ellerbrock was on a fresh set of tires in Q3 and could win the heat by a gap of 0.5 seconds over Danish ace Jesper Rasmussen and Louis Kretschmer.

Jan Ratheisky and Jacques Libar completed the top 5 and the decision for the overall TQ was shifted to Q4.Tim Benson had the fastest run so far, followed by Ellerbrock and Bultynck – all set for a showdown in the last round of Pro Stock qualifying!

Borschel claims FWD pole position in ultra-close Q3

The third round of FWD qualifying took place on early Saturday morning and it was once again Roman Borschel who was able to win the top heat. But the race was tough and super-close when the top 6 drivers finished the race within one second (!) after the four-minute run. Phil Langner took second place and was only 0.142 seconds behind Borschel with Max Weffers another tenth behind in third spot.

Home-town boy Jacques Libar finished fourth ahead of Matthieu Dambrine (fastest lap of the heat 24.114) and Cedric Gridelet. With three out of three, Roman Borschel already sealed the top qualifying position and will start from the sweet spot into the finals.  The fight for the positions behind is still going on and Q4 will tell more about the starting grid for the triple A-Mains!

Ehrbar, Arts, and Mateo on top of Q3

David Ehrbar posted his first TQ run of the weekend when he won Q3 by a gap of 1.1 seconds from Q2 winner Ronald Arts, and Toni Mateo. Torsten Baggendorf and Mirco Thalheimer took fourth and fifth and the battle for the pole position is now all about Ehrbar, Stocker, and Arts in the last and upcoming fourth round of 40+ Masters qualifying. With Alexander Stocker`s time from Q1 being the fastest, he probably has the best shot for the TQ here at ETS RD3 in Luxembourg!

Jensen becomes third TQ of the weekend

Kristian Jensen won the third Hobbywing 21.5 Stock qualifying round and is now back in the fight for the best starting position on the grid. The Danish racer won Q3 by half a second from Cedric Gridelet, Aurelien Threhout, Elena Fuchs, and David Reip. Ahead of Q4, we now have three racers with a chance to TQ the event. Threhout, Gridelet, and Jensen will battle it out!

Mighty Ehrbar dominates Formula Q3

After Ehrbar and Stiebler had both taken a round of qualifying on Friday, it was clear that the decision for the pole was going down to Q4. When Q3 started in the morning, Andreas Stiebler was having another good run with his Schumacher car on track. Michal Wojcik was following him within a couple of tenths in the first two minutes until David Ehrbar took the lead in the closing stages of the race when he was hammering down some impressive lap times!

Ehrbar`s fastest lap (19.483) was almost three tenths faster compared to all the others and Xray driver Ehrbar managed to win Q3 by 0.1 ahead of Andreas Stiebler (Schumacher), Jitse Miedema (Fenix), Luka Jovicic, and Jacques Libar. Before the deciding last qualifier, David Ehrbar had the best chance to TQ the event as he was the only driver with a 13-lap run on the score card so far!

Lucas Urbain remains on top of the Cayote Modified class after two rounds of qualifying. The Awesomatix factory driver posted another TQ run when he won Q2 by 0.2 seconds from Schumacher`s Michal Orlowski. In the opening laps of the heat, Urbain opened up a gap of five to seven tenhths ahead of second placed Bruno Coelho, and Michal Orlowski.

After a couple of laps, Orlowski came closer to race leader Urbain (on the scoring system) and also closer to the Infinity car of Coelho which was running right in front of him on track. After Coelho lost half a second after a small mistake in lap 12 of the race, the reigning world champion opened for Orlowski and let him go by.

The running order now was Urbain, Orlowski, Coelho, Völker and Lauter and the song remained the same until they crossed the finish line. With two victories for the day, Lucas Urbain is the overnight TQ here in Luxembourg and only a small step away from sealing the pole position. Can he end the series of Orlowski pole positions at the ETS?

DRIVER STATEMENTS AFTER Q2

I had a good run and was able to open a gap just at the beginning, but somehow Scotty announced Michal to come closer and closer and I really had to keep everything perfect to win Q2 . Luckily, the conditions had changed a bit when the “happy hour clouds” arrived before the run. I like these conditions a lot and knew that I could push the car to the absolute maximum. Tomorrow I will do all I can to seal the overall TQ here on my home track!
Lucas Urbain (FR) Awesomatix | ORCA

It was bad in the beginning, and strong in minute five which did not exist 🙂 My car was a bit loose in the beginning and I lost some time to Lucas and Bruno. After the first laps it was pretty ok and to the end of the run I was in the fight for the win again. As we expect warmer temperatures tomorrow, I am sure that it will suit our car better. We will discuss some possible small setup changes and see what Saturday will hold for us!
Michal Orlowski (PL) Schumacher | Elceram | Cayote

I tried to stay with Lucas at the beginning of the run but Michal was catching up a bit after the first minute. My car basically felt good, but after I made a smal lmistake (lost 0.5 seconds) I needed to open for Michal. After that, I just tried to save a top three result in Q2. I am feeling good with the car and we only will make some small tweaks tomorrow when we see the weather conditions. It will be another exciting day for sure!
Bruno Coelho (PT) Inf1nity | Hobbywing

Today was difficult as I did not have the balance I wanted to have in my car. It was too difficult to drive which is something you don“t want to have here in Luxembourg. We will talk through possible changes for tomorrow and will try our best to fight back in Q3 and Q4.
Ronald Völker (GER) Mugen Seiki | LRP

Mugen Seiki 1-2 as Benson takes Q2 from Sparbier

The second round of Pro Stock qualifying saw the two Mugen Seiki drivers Sören Sparbier and Tim Benson on top after the intense four-minute run. Both had been on new tires (Sparbier skipped Q1 to save tires) and showed a good pace on track, only separated by half a second in the end. Tim Benson was able to win the heat and posted the fastest lap as well (20.053).

Xray racer and newly crowned stock TC European champion Adam Izsay finished on a solid third spot ahead of Ellerbrock (who also skipped Q1) and Jan Ratheisky (Xray). With still the faster overall runtime to his favor, Ollie Bultynck is the overnight TQ here at ETS RD3 in Luxembourg.

Borschel hammers down another TQ run ahead of Libar

Roman Borschel (Awesomatix) backed up his great Q1 with another blistering win in the second round of FlySky FWD qualifying. Xray racer Jacques Libar took second place for the round and was four tenths behind Borschel.

Nicolas Delisé scored another good result and finished third, ahead of championship leader Max Weffers and Phil Langner. After the Q2 results, Roman Borschel was very close to the overall TQ.

Arts takes Friday evening Q2 from Ehrbar and Morgen

Awesomatix racer Ronald Arts from the Netherlands won the second 40+ Masters qualifier with an advantage of 0,4 seconds over reigning champion David Ehrbar (Xray), and “Danish Dynamite” Caspar Morgen (Xray).

Mirco Thalheimer scored fourth place with his Xray car ahead of Q1 winner Alexander Stocker (Xray). With Arts and Stocker having already scored one TQ run each, the battle will continue on Saturday!

Gridelet takes Q2 from Koos and Jensen

Cedric Gridelet from Belgium took the win in the last race of the second day at ETS RD3 in Luxembourg. He was three seconds faster (!) as the rest of the class and posted the fastest lap of the heat as well with a stellar 21.744.

Michael Koos was second fastest in Q2 and scored a big amount of good points when he was followed by the Mugen of Christoph Kappes (running in the B-group), Kristian Jensen (Xray), Carlos Gabriel do Pinhal (RC Maker) and Q1 winner Aurelien Threhout.

Stiebler fights back in Q2 – the battle for the pole is getting HOT

After David Ehrbar took the win in Q1 of the Matrix Formula class, Andreas Stiebler was able to win the second qualifier on the challenging Luxembourg track. Stiebler was able to beat Ehrbar`s overall runtime by 0.166 of a second and is now sitting in first position overnight.

Jitse Miedema took second for the round with his Fenix chassis and David Ehrbar, Luka Jovicic, and Jacques Libar rounded out the top five again. What will happen on Saturday in the F1 class? The fight for the pole position is getting intense now….

Coelho and Orlowski taking second and third behind the “master of the track”!

With “knowing the track like the back of his hand”, it was Awesomatix driver Lucas Urbain who was able to TQ the first round of qualifying ahead of Infinity`s Bruno Coelho, and champion Michal Orlowski (Schumacher). When the heat started, top seed Ronald Völker was leading the field out of the gate with his Mugen car. Behind him, Bruno Coelho was coming closer and closer until Völker needed to open for him in lap eleven. But as this happened, Lucas Urbain was already leading the race after posting a new track record lap time of 16.415 (!) in the second lap of the race.

I had a tough day yesterday and I struggled a bit. I checked the pictures of my car on track in the evening and noticed something which we changed for today. It was a lot better then, and even the warmer temperatures played to my favour as I know these conditions very well here in Luxembourg. I was fully sending it out there and I am happy to start qualifying with a TQ run!
Lucas Urbain (FRA) Awesomatix|ORCA

Urbain was flying around the Mini Circuit “Ville de Luxembourg” and showed that a win will only go over his table this weekend. Coelho had a stellar pace as well and delivered a great run to finish only three tenths behind Urbain. Coelho maybe lost a tenth here and there before he was able to pass Völker on track and the next round of qualifying will be even more exciting to watch between the top guys.

Our reigning ETS champion Michal Orlowski took third for the round (0,9 behind Urbain) with his Schumacher Mi9 ahead of Ronald Völker (Mugen Seiki), Marc Rheinard (Awesomatix), Simon Lauter (Awesomatix), David Ronnefalk (Xray), Alexander Hagberg (Xray), Eric Dankel (Awesomatix), and Sören Sparbier (Mugen Seiki). The heat is on in the Cayote Modified class and the rest of the weekend will become a thriller…..

Bultynck wins Q1, Kretschmer bins a good run, Benson second!

The first qualifier of the Awesomatix Pro Stock class saw current championship leader Ollie Bultynck taking the win with his EAM powered Awesomatix A800RR. Early in the run, his teammate Louis Kretschmer was leading the race but crashed out in lap seven – bad luck for the German. Meanwhile, Tim Benson was pushing hard behind Bultynck and took second overall for the round ahead of Xray`s Jan Ratheisky.

My run was clean and ok but my car was not turning like I wanted it to do. Once Louis (Kretschmer) crashed out it was bit easier for me to control the pace but it was for sure one of the more lucky TQ runs I had so far…
Ollie Bultynck (BEL) Awesomatix | EAM

Andreas Stiebler had a fantastic run with his Schumacher Mi9 in the third fastest group (!!!) and took a mighty fourth place for the round. However, it was a great start into the event for Bultynck (hot lap 19.802) and it will be exciting to see how qualifying will unfold when we keep in mind that Lukas Ellerbrock and Sören Sparbier were both sitting out Q1 to have a tire advantage later on!

Top seed Borschel takes Q1 in Luxembourg from Gridelet and Delisè

Awesomatix privateer Roman Borschel took the win in the opening round of FlySky FWD qualifying by three tenths of a second from Cedric Gridelet and Nicolas Delisé. Matthieu Dambrine from the UK scored a strong fourth place and was followed by Alexander Stocker and Robin van Gog. The heat was very close, and the lead changed multiple times during the run.

Robin van Gog lost some time in lap 5 which was very costly for him as he had a great pace and posted the fastest lap of the heat with a 23.877. It was a perfect start into qualifying for Borschel – let`s see what he can do in the next round against the strong competition!

Stocker takes Masters Q1 from Ehrbar and top seed Arts

The first round of 40+ Masters qualifying was a close race between top seed Ronald Arts, champion David Ehrbar, and the returned “King of the class” Alexander Stocker. Toni Mateo from Gran Canaria was also in the mix but had to take fourth place for the round after four minutes. Alexander Stocker (fastest lap 21.593) outpaced his Xray teammate David Ehrbar (21.751) by 0,4 seconds and is in a good situation now while Ehrbar needs to fight back in Q2 if he wants to take the pole position here in Luxembourg. Top seed Ronald Arts finished third for the round – can he improve his pace again?

Perfect run earns Threhout the victory in Q1

He was only seeded in eight place, but French racer Aurelien Threhout managed to post the fastest overall runtime in the 21.5 Stock class. Gilles Choque from Luxembourg finished a second behind him and took second place for the round, followed by Felix Hörenz in third spot. Carlos Gabriel do Pinhal had a superb run in the b-sort and scored good points with a P4, followed by his RC Maker teammate David Reip, and Mugen driver Christoph Kappes. The 21.5 class is wide open and it seems that the class will unfold absolutely great during the rest of the weekend!

Dominant Ehrbar wins Formula Q1 by a good margin from Miedema and Stiebler

Xray driver and championship leader David Ehrbar came out on top of the board after the first round of Matrix Formula qualifying. He had a pretty comfortable gap of 2,3 seconds over the rest of the field where it was Fenix driver Jitse Miedema being his closest follower in second place. Top seed Andreas Stiebler took third from Q1 with his Schumacher car and the four Xray cars of local heros Luka Jovicic, Jacques Libar, Xray designer Martin Hudy, and Michal Wojcik rounded out the top seven for Q1.