With the current eighteenth season of the Euro Touring Series still in full swing, we have worked behind the scenes to fix the first three race dates of Season #19 2026/27 as early as possible. We are now happy to share these dates and venues with you. It is always our goal to give everybody the chance to plan ahead as we all know how difficult it is to arrange all these trips, vacations, etc.
Rotation adds different tracks to the calendar
As you can see on the calendar for Season #19, we have rotatet two tracks out (Aigen and Luxembourg), and replaced them with the fantastic Hudy Arena, and Andernach. We like to follow a rotating system from now on and will exchange the outdoor tracks more frequently than we did in the last 3-4 years.
It is important to keep the series interesting, and we are sure that the selection of tracks for next year is amazing. All the amazing tracks like Aigen and Luxembourg will come back to the calendar for sure….
HUDY Arena and Andernach back on the calendar
We are super happy to announce that we will return to the world famous Hudy Arena in July, and to the fully refurbished track of Arena33 (Andernach) in September. Both places are amazing and we hope that you will like the selection we have made.
We have not been in the Hudy Arena for an ETS since 2019, and the time has finally come to return to the home of the Hudy Family and their fabolous Xray brand. We are extremeley happy that the Hudy family will welcome us at their fantastic place, which is a MUST GO for all RC racers!
New tracks welcome
As we mentiones many times int he past: If you are a club that has all we need for a proper ETS event with 300 and more entries, you are always welcome to contact us. Then we can discuss and check if an ETS event will be possible in your area or not!
It requires things like a well maintained track, a good infrastructure with Hotels and Restaurants close to it, a motivated crew from the club, a covered pit area and additional space for tents, and kind of a canteen or snackbar trackside. The ETS crew is always open to talk to you!
After the weather was not with us during ETS RD2 in Austria, the third round of the season was a much better one with a lot of sunshine and only a small shower on Friday evening. With 340 entries, it was one of the biggest outdoor race in the history of the ETS so far, and we saw great racing on track. As always, there was alot to learn from drivers, cars, teams, and the action on track. Here are our 5 THINGS WE LEARNED…..
1) “Every streak comes to an end….”
We have talked and written about it all the time – Michal Orlowski`s impressive winning streak. With 12 wins in a row, he dominated the Cayote Modified class since January 2023 which is still unbelievable. The Schumacher driver won eleven of his twelve races from the pole position which is another record in the history of the ETS. At last weekend`s race in Luxembourg, the time had finally come and it was Bruno Coelho who was able to win the race after a spectacular performance.
Orlowski`s streak ended with a big bang and a disappointing fifth place overall, but Michal also had some bad luck when he lost the pinion of his Mi9 in A2. We will never find out what would have happened without this mechanical issue, but as they say: “It is like it is now”! Michal took the defeat like a true champion and we can be sure that he will be back at it when the ETS will meet again in January for RD4 in Daun. Michal is still leading the championship and his goal must be the defence of his title to win it for a third time in a row.
Once again – hats off to Michal Orlowski for his impressive series of victories, and also to Bruno Coelho for ending it in a spectacular way. We are looking forward for their next battle on track at the Euro Touring Series.
WATCH THE TRIPLE FINALS AGAIN
2) “Carbon is NOT DEAD”
As the touring car market is developing quickly and intense, it was cool to see many fast guys rocking their cars with an “old school” carbon chassis. Carbon is still very common on track, but in the last two years the trends had gone towards steel and aluminium chassis on many tracks and the top guys always tried to get their cars dialed in with these chassis.
In Luxembourg, Bruno Coelho won the Modified class with his Inf1nity IF14 Spec1ale on a carbon chassis, while Ollie Bultynck and Lukas Ellerbrock also used carbon to secure first and third on the Pro Stock podium for Awesomatix. That clearly shows that “carbon is not dead” and that you can still find a perfect and “easy to drive” setup on asphalt. Watch the press conferences where we also asked the drivers about their chassis choice!
3) “Gridelet joins “ETS Race Winners Club”
Cedric Gridelet from Belgium won the Hobbywing 21.5 Stock class and celebrated his first ever ETS victory at what just was his third try. He secured the pole position in qualifying and drove very strong with his Awesomatix A800RR in the finals. Congratulations Cedric, you have now officially joined the club of ETS race winners – something that you will never forget!
4) Sparbier with impressive double A-Main performance
It is not easy to qualify for the A-Main in Pro Stock or Modified at the ETS, and it is even more difficult to squeeze into both finals at the same event. Not many drivers have achieved this in the past, and in the short term we can only remember of guys like Adam Izsay, Tim Benson, and Jan Ratheisky who lined up on the A-Main grid for Pro Stock and Modified at the same weekend.
Mugen Seiki`s Sören Sparbier managed to make both mains already at the last season finale in Wiener Neustadt (P1 in Pro Stock and P6 in Modified), and HE DID IT AGAIN in Luxembourg. Sören took a very strong fourth place in Modified and finished seventh overall in Pro Stock. A great performance and something we found “good enough” to write about 🙂
5) “The ETS is also great for RC beginners”
The “Spirit of the Event” award was handed over to Sebastian and Maximilian Müller – two brothers who took part at the ETS for the second time. The cool thing behind the story: They are still totally new in the RC hobby as they just got started with it at the end of 2024. But due to watching videos on YouTube and talking to members from their home club, they quickly became “fans of the ETS” and decided to join us immediateley.
After already joining us at the “rained out event” Aigen, they were not hesitating to sign up again for Luxembourg. The They did a great job and finished 41st and 44th in the Hobbywing 21.5 Mastets class. And the most important: They had a great time with us. They truly deserve this award for their courageous participation on the big ETS stage. Welcome to the ETS family, Sebastian and Maximilian!
5.1) “Entertaining Pit Walk`s with Martin and Milan”
Last, but definateley not least, enjoy the entertaining pit walks from Martin Hofer and Michal Milanowicz. They did a great job and showed that they need to do that more often in the future – THANK YOU GUYS…
Last weekend was a good one for Awesomatix team manager Max Mächler. With three TQ`s and three wins added to another second place, their points haul was close to perfection. Other teams like Xray and Mugen Seiki had strong weekends too and cemented their standings in the top three of the championship. At the end of the rankings, the battles for the positions is intense as well and some teams really need to improve the average points they score at the race weekends!
Trend: DOMINANT – Top force of season #18 so far with the title clearly in sight
Team Awesomatix is enjoying some smooth sailing in the constructors championship. The whole team did fantastic in Luxembourg and almost scored the maximum possible points. Lucas Urbain (Modified | 301), Olivier Bultynck (Pro Stock | 303), Roman Borschel (FWD | 303), and Cedric Gridelet (21.5 Stock | 303) scored the points for the team and Awesomatix is now 16 points clear of the second placed Xray team. If they will score constant A-Main results at the last two races of the season, they can take the constructors championship away from last season`s winner Xray.
2 – XRAY (1195 pts.)
Trend: CONSISTANTLY STRONG – Race win and good points to stay in touch with Awesomatix
With one victory in 40+ Masters and strong results from Ronnefalk, Libar, and Ratheisky, the team is still sitting in second place. They lost some ground to the leading Awesomatix team but still managed to score good points with David Ehrbar (40+ Masters | 303), David Ronnefalk (Modified | 295), Jacques Libar (FWD | 300), and Jan Ratheisky (Pro Stock | 297). For the upcoming indoor season, they will be trying their best, and they still have some last hopes to defend their current championship title with their soon to be released new touring car.
Trend: SOLID – Unchallenged third place, but loosing ground to the top two teams
The Mugen Seiki team is sailing along on a solid third place since the very beginning of the season. They always scored a strong amount of points but have not won a race yet in the current ETS campaign. In Luxembourg, the team managed to get enough cars into the A-Main of the counting classes and the points got delivered from Sören Sparbier (Modified | 298), Tim Benson (Pro STock | 300), Philipp Stadler (40+ Masters | 297), and Tasos Batas (21.5 Stock | 293). It seems that the Mugen team will not be able to fight for the championship title anymore, but they will do their very best to defend third spot until the end of the season!
4 – SCHUMACHER (891 pts.)
Trend: UPWARDS – Moved up to P4 of the championship after scoring three good results
The team around Andy Murray and Michal Orlowski moved up a spot in the overall rankings and is now one point ahead of Team Iris. This time Michal Orlowski did not win the race, but still scored valuable points. The overall amount of points got stacked together from Michal Orlowski (Modified | 297), Andreas Stiebler (Pro Stock | 296), and Mathieu Dambrine (FWD | 298). If they will be able to continue like this, P4 can be a realistivc goal to achieve at the end of Season #18.
5 – ARC (591 pts.)
Trend: IMPROVED – Because of two A-Main appearances
It was a good weekend for ARC. Even without their current top driver Enrico Jung, it was all about Helge Johannessen (Pro Stock |298) and Torsten Baggendorf (40+ Masters | 293) to secure the points for the championship and the first double points result of the current ETS season. In the overall standings, ARC had now passed RC Maker and is ranked seventh overall!
6 – INF1NITY (302 pts.)
Trend: POSITIVE BUT – Team only scored points in Modified
Infinity was celebrating their first win at the ETS since Bruno Coelho has joined the them together with his mechanic Francesco Martini. It was a huge success for their new IF14 Speciale platform and Bruno was putting on an amazing show to win the first two Cayote Modified finals. But when lookig on the constructors championship, the 302 points from Coelho had been the only ones to count as there was no Infinity car in the A-Main of a different class. As they are still in the early stages of their “second life” in 1:10 scale electric racing, they need patience to further work on the strength of the team throughout the classes!
Trend: DIFFICULT – Not enough cars in several A-Mains
For RC Maker, it was a difficult weekend! Yannic Prümper had left the team some weeks ago (to Schumacher) and Antoine Brunet was the only top-gun on track. He scored a good 12th place overall in Modified but it was not enough to count his points as he was not in the A-Main. However, Carlos Gabriel do Pinhal scored the best result for the team and brought home 297 points from his strong 5th place in the Hobbywing 21.5 Stock class. The team is ranked in eight position overall and is still in striking distance to ARC`s P7. Can they improve their team resulty on carpet?
8 – IRIS (294 pts.)
Trend: NOT EASY – Poor result after strong start into the season
IRIS had a very positive start into the season and was ranked on a surprisingly strong fourth place after RD2 in Aigen. They have now lost a position, but are still ranked on a good fifth place. In Luxembourg, they only managed to secure 294 points, scored by Felix Hörenz in the 21.5 Stock class. After loosing Jesper Rasmussen as one of their top drivers, it will be interesting to see how the IRIS team will perform when the ETS will be back on carpet in January!
9 – YOKOMO (290 pts.)
Trend: STAGNANT – Team needs more drivers to compete for points
Yokomo recently released their good looking Master Speed MS2.0 touring car to catch up tp the top cars on the market again. Unluckily, Christopher Krapp could not race in Luxembourg due to work commitments. Frederik Hovgaard, who was super fast at the Euros in Utrecht, could not make the Pro Stock final and Yokomo only got the 290 points which Hovgaard was able to score at least in the FWD class. Yokomo is still dead last in the standings and they need to perform great on carpet if they want to climb the ladder until the end of the campaign!
Urbain wins A3 while Rheinard sneaks onto the last step of the podium
The last final of the Cayote Modified class saw Lucas Urbain taking the win from the pole position after race winner Bruno Coelho was not on the grid anymore. Urbain had a great battle with Michal Orlowski until the Schumacher Mi9 of the current ETS champion was airborne once riding the second curb in the fast infield chicane a bit too much. Luckily, Orlowski`s car was landing rubber side down and he could continue in second place.
Ronald Völker was third during most of the time until he got hit by Simon Lauter in the Laguna Seca. Both drivers lost positions and Sören Sparbier went by to take another third place after getting the same result from A1. The final result saw Bruno Coelho stepping onto the top step of the podium where he was joined by Lucas Urbain in second, and Marc Rheinard in third place.
Three out of three – Bultynck crowns perfect outdoor season!
After Tim Benson made a mistake in the opening lap of A3, his hopes for the win had been blown away. At the same time, Ollie Bultynck made not the same mistake as in A2 and drove a dominant race out front. Bultynck posted the fastest lap of the race and won by a gap of 1.1 seconds ahead of Lukas Ellerbrock, and Helge Johannessen. Even with throwing A3 away, Tim Benson took second overall on the podium on which he was joined by race winner Bultynck, and Lukas Ellerbrock in third. It was the perfect ending to a great outdoor season for Ollie Bultynck who managed to will all three races of the season so far!
Local hero Libar takes A3 and second overall ahead of Langner
The podium behind race winner Roman Borschel was wide open ahead of A3 where Libar, Langner, and Dambrine went for it. Phil Langner created a lot of pressure on Libar`s car during the first laps and it was great to watch their FWD cars on track. Langner was two tenths behind Libar during the whole run and Mathieu Dambrine was also able to match the leaders pace.
With all of them having a chance for second overall, the tension was high, and no mistake was allowed. Nicolas Delisè and Max Weffers followed the trio in fourth and fifth spot, running another couple of tenths behind them. In the end, Jacques Libar made no mistake and took the win under the applause of all his friends to seal second overall ahead of Langner and Dambrine.
Stocker wins A3 to finish second overall ahead of Arts
The last A-Main was a close fight between Ronald Arts, Alexander Stocker, and Toni Mateo. Stocker found a way around Arts after five laps and Mateo was also pushing hard behind the Dutch driver Arts. Philipp Stadler quickly joined the fight and was running in fourth position while having a great pace. Out front, Stocker had checked out completely when the cars entered the last minute of the race. Stocker took the win in A3 to secure the second overall position on the podium. Ronald Arts took second place which was enough for him to take third overall.
Threhout and Choque taking second and third overall behind winner Gridelet
After his wins in A1 and A2, overall race winner Cedric Gridelet watched A3 on site and saw Gilles Choque taking the early lead from third on the grid. He was leading ahead of Carlos Gabriel do Pinhal, Christoph Kappes, and David Reip. The two locals Choque and Gabriel do Pinhal showed great driving and David Reip was also joining the battle for the lead in the last minute of the race.
Reip found his way around Gabriel do Pinhal and was all over Choque with 45 seconds to go. But as much Reip was pushing, there was no chance to pass Choque as he just made no mistake. With the results from A3, Aurelien Threhout and Gilles Choque secured their podium positions!
Libar and Wojcik joining race winner Ehrbar on the podium
David Ehrbar was not lining up on the grid anymore as he had already sealed the victory in the first two final races. But even without Ehrbar, the last A-Main was another great display of ETS Formula racing. Andreas Stiebler had a lot of work to do on his radio when Luka Jovicic was all over him in the first minutes before he could make a nice pass on Stiebler. But shortly after, they collided and lost many positions. Jacques Libat took full advantage and won A3 ahead of Martin Hudy, and Michal Wojcik.
Coelho wins first ETS with Inf1nity after Urbain and Orlowski’s hopes of victory were dashed!
The second Cayote Modified A-Main was on the line right after lunch on a sunny Sunday and the stage was set for another great show. It was not as spectacular as A1 on Saturday evening, but there was still some drama going on.
Lucas Urbain was leading the race after the start and Michal Orlowski was following him as close as he could. In lap 10 of the race, Lucas had a bad breaking into the hairpin on the left side in front of the driver stand and went very wide. Michal Orlowski was right there and could motor by on the straight before entering the Laguna Seca as the new race leader.
After Urbain`s “trouble”, Coelho was right behind him and could see Urbain making another mistake when he rolled his car over before coming down of the corkscrew again. Urbains race and his chances to win seemed to be ruined in just four corners as he was not able to recover afterwards. Marc Rheinard was now taking over third position and started to hunt down race leader Orlowski together with Brunó Coelho.
In the next couple of laps, the running order was Orlowski, Coelho, Rheinard, Urbain, and Lauter and all spectators had been excited for something else to happen – and it did. In lap 13 of A2, Orlowski`s car stopped out of nowhere before the hairpin and the leader was out…. What a drama for Orlowski who lost the race, and his impressive winning streak in the same moment.
After the race, Orlowski reported that the pinion fell off after they had completely rebuilt his car onto a different chassis plate in a hard and demanding night shift. Finally, the pace was way better and Orlowski was in contention for the win, but this small technical failure brought everything to an unlucky end.
One driver did not care about all the drama – Bruno Coelho. The reigning IFMAR world champion brought home the victory in A2 and earned himself and his team the first ETS win after joining Inf1nity in 2025. Coelho was super happy after the race and celebrated it with his mechanic Francesco Martini and all the others. Coelho was there when it counted and after his impressive performance in A1 yesterday, another great drive and a bit of luck was enough to take the big trophy home from Luxembourg!
I am really happy to win here for Inf1nity and all my sponsors. After we did not achieve what we wanted at the last two ETS races and the Euros in Utrecht, my time had come this weekend. We showed that the car is working great and that the whole project is on the right way. The races had been really great the whole weekend long and I am thankful and happy for this great result! Bruno Coelho (PT) Inf1nity | Hobbywing
In the second Pro Stock A-Main, it was top qualifier Ollie Bultynck who spun out in the first lap on the downslope of Laguna Seca. Tim Benson went by and after Bultynck then stopped his car, Benson took the victory in A2 which he controlled in a perfect way ahead of Lukas Ellerbrock. Jan Ratheisky and Jesper Rasmussen had a great fight for third place in which Ratheisky`s car looked really fast.
Ratheisky was able to close in on Ellerbrock but never had a serious shot to ride an attack on the A800RR in front of him. Schumacher driver Andreas Stiebler scored his best ever Pro Stock finish when he drove all the way from tenth on the grid to fourth position. With the results from A2, the decision for the overall race win was shifted to the deciding third leg of A-Mains.
Borschel holds off Libar and Langner to win big in Luxembourg
After he took the win in A1 on Saturday evening, top qualifier Roman Borschel had to execute another clean run to win the big trophy here in Luxembourg. Jacques Libar was right behind him for the entire race and showed that he really knows how to go fast on this track. But, in lap 10 of the race, Libar made a mistake and dropped back to fourth place.
This was like a “merry Christmas” for Roman Borschel who drove to the overall victory in front of Phil Langner, and Matthieu Dambrine. After a brilliant weekend, Roman Borschel celebrated the win in Luxembourg – congratulations!
Ehrbar takes A2 and the overall victory in Luxembourg
A1 winner David Ehrbar had another good start into A2 and immediately opened a small gap to Ronald Arts and Alexander Stocker. But after some laps, Stocker and Arts had been able to return to Ehrbar`s rear-view mirror and the top three had a great battle for the lead of A2.
Stocker seemed to have a better pace than Arts, but he did not find a way to pass the Awesomatix of Arts with his Xray ride. In the last lap of the race, Ronald Arts rolled his car over when riding a curb allowing Stocker, Mateo, and Thalheimer to go by – bad luck for Arts.
There never was a moment to relax for Ehrbar in A2, but the reigning 40+ Masters champion was standing his ground and sealed the deal here in Luxembourg already after A2.
Gridelet celebrates his first ETS victory after a dominant performance
The second Hobbywing 21.5 Stock A-Main saw once again Cedric Gridelet leading the field after the sound of the tone. Aurelien Threhout was giving his very best and was able to follow Gridelet by a constant gap of one second during the first two minutes. At the middle of the race, Gridelet was stretching his legs and extended his lead to almost 2 seconds – a fantastic drive from the Belgian racer. Kristian Jensen was running in third place for the entire race with Gilles Choque always staying in striking distance.
Felix Hörenz had a great race when he moved up to P5 coming from eight on the grid. After the five-minute run, Cedric Gridelet was celebrating his first ever win at the ETS – it only took him three attempts which is really amazing.
Congratulations to Cedric for a great performance and his well-deserved victory in Luxembourg!
Another Formula victory for Ehrbar after he took the win in A2
TQ David Ehrbar saw Andreas Stiebler and Jitse Miedema pushing really hard behind him in the opening laps of Matrix Formula A2. Miedema touched Stieblers car after four laps in the hairpin before the front straight, but both could continue without loosing time. Jacques Libar was all over the back of Miedema then in the fight for third spot while Stiebler created massive pressure on Ehrbar`s leading Xray chassis in front of him.
At the 2-minute call, Ehrbar had been able to pull a gap to Stiebler and he could enjoy the rest of the run on the fantastic “Mini Circuit Ville de Luxembourg” to add another ETS Formula race win to his belt.
Andreas Stiebler took another second place in A2 and was followed by Jitse Miedema, Jacques Libar, and Luka Jovicic. Congratulations to David Ehrbar for another stellar performance in “his” Formula class!
Xray driver David Ehrbar is running his X4`25 here in Luxembourg – a car that earned him many race victories during the last 12 months. HIs car is featuring a 1.5mm Alu Chassis, Hudy Titanium Screws, Hudy Tungsten Weights, Ehrbar Engineering Ceramic Bearings, Xray Low Friction Belts, and the hardest available suspension parts for the most precise handling on track in warm conditions!
Urbain, Orlowski, and Coelho putting on a great show
The first A-Main of the Cayote Modified class was one of the best finals we have seen in a long time. After the five-minute run, the crowd was spending massive applause for the drivers who delivered a fantastic show of racing. WATCH THE VIDEO!
On the sound of the tone, TQ Lucas Urbain started off the line, closely followed by Orlowski, Coelho, and Rheinard. Urbain was able to open a little gap to Orlowski, who lacked a bit of pace in the first laps and already had his rear-view mirror full of Coelho. The reigning IFMAR world champion was hunting down the reigning ETS champion and was hard on the binders many times. Coelho had a fantastic pace and was putting on a great pass on Orlowski in the long sweeper after the straightway in lap 5 of the race.
Orlowski was a little wide there and Coelho immediately took the chance and took second place. He then started to hammer down some hot laps and quickly closed the gap to race leader Lucas Urbain. It was spectacular to watch them going for it and several times a murmur went through the audience around the track.
In lap 15 of the race, Coelho was all over Urbain once they entered the Laguna Seca corkscrew and in the uphill section Urbain went a little wider than normal. Coelho placed his Infinity car directly beside Urbains Awesomatix before the downhill section, and passed him coming onto the straightway.
Lucas Urbain showed great driving in this moment as he left Bruno enough room to not collide with the ace from Portugal. Michal Orlowski was right behind them and tried to overtake Urbain around the outside in the long sweeper after the straight. But as there was a bit less traction, Orlowski spun around and lost his position to Sparbier and Rheinard.
After all these spectacular moments, Bruno Coelho won the first A-Main after an epic drive ahead of Lucas Urbain, Sören Sparbier, Marc Rheinard, and Michal Orlowski. What a show of racing – WATCH THE VIDEO and don`t forget to follow our RCRacingTV livestream on Sunday!
Bultynck wins uneventful A1 from pole position after a clinic drive
Top qualifier Ollie Bultynck drove to the win in A1 of the Pro Stock class. The Awesomatix driver had some pressure from Tim Benson in the first minute of the race but could extend his lead to almost 2 seconds over the following minutes. Benson also drove a great race with his Mugen Seiki MTC-3 and was another 1.5 seconds ahead of third place starter Lukas Ellerbrock (Awesomatix). Not a lot happened in the first leg of finals when the top 6 finished exactly how they had started with Johannessen, Ratheisky, and Kretschmer completing the top 6.
Borschel holds off local hero Libar to win A1 from the pole
Pole sitter Roman Borschel brought the field around the first laps and Jacques Libar followed him some meters behind. Phil Langner lost his third position to Matthieu Dambrine, while nothing else happened in the first two minutes. After two and a half minutes, Borschel`s gap to Libar was at around five tenths of a second and Libat pushed really hard to further close it down. But as Borschel did not make any mistake, Libat had to settle for second in A1. Dambrine, Langner, and Delisè completed the top five on Saturday evening!
Ehrbar delivers in A1 – Arts and Stadler second and third!
On the sound of the tone, TQ David Ehrbar launched his Xray car off the line and took over the lead. Ronald Arts also had a good start with his Awesomatix A800RR and was matching Ehrbar`s lap times – so did Alexander Stocker (Xray). The top three broke away from the rest of the field and behind them it was Philipp Stadler running in fourth place with his Mugen Seiki MTC-3.
At the half-time of the race, Stocker rolled his Xray car onto the roof on the uphill section of the corkscrew and handed his third position over to Philipp Stadler on a silver plate. Torsten Baggendorf had a great first final as well when he drove from P10 on the grid all the way up to fifth place behind the Xray of Mirco Thalheimer! On top, David Ehrbar left no doubt about his race craft and took the win by half a second ahead of Ronald Arts.
Top qualifier Cedric Gridelet brought the field around the first laps after a clean start of the top 5 cars. Aurelien Threhout was running in second place, followed by Kristian Jensen and Gilles Choque. Gridelet had the fastest car out there and Threhout was not able to match the pace of the leader. Gridelet was a tenth quicker in every lap and slowly extended his lead. But after the leader struggled in lap 9, Threhout was back in the game and a lot closer to the car in front again. However, Gridelet showed strong nerves and got the job done. He took the win in A1 by a gap of 0,7 seconds ahead of Threhout, Jensen, Choque, and Kappes. A perfect start into the triple finals for our top qualifier – more to follow on Sunday!
Thrilling Formula A1 ends with a win for Xray`s Ehrbar
TQ David Ehrbar had a very bad start when he went wide in the long left directly after the sound of the tone. Second place starter Andreas Stiebler immediately took advantage and went by with his Schumacher ride. Ehrbar could reciver quickly from his bad launch and continued the race in second place ahead of Jitse Miedema. When Stiebler had a little slide in lap 5, Ehrbar was back in the game and ran nose to tail with Stiebler. Miedema had the same pace and was sitting in third spot – sometimes the best place to be. Stiebler got it wrong after 8 laps coming into the Laguna Seca and Ehrbar, Miedema, and Wojcik went by.
After that, Miedema started to hunt down Ehrbar with his Fenix chassis and Michal Wojcik also joined the party for the race win in A1. He was able to pass Miedema in the penultimate lap and also came closer to Ehrbar in the last seconds, but Ehrbar was able to stand his ground and took A1 ahead of Wojcik, Miedema, Stiebler, and Libar.
Qualifying is DONE at ETS RD3 in Luxembourg and we are looking forward to the first round of finals which will take place on Saturday afternoon. The weather is great, the sun is out, and the stage is set for some amazing racing on the “Mini Circuit Ville de Luxembourg”.
A-Main timetable:18:33 Hobbywing 21.5 Stock | 18:41 1up Racing 40+ Masters | 18:48 Matrix Formula | 18:56 FlySky Frontwheel | 19:03 Awesomatix Pro Stock |19:11 Cayote Modified
Urbain to start from pole position ahead of Orlowski, Coelho, Rheinard, and Völker – thrilling finals to come…
Urbain is top qualifier, can he end Orlowski`s winning streak?
In the last heat of Cayote Modified qualifying, the TQ was up for grabs between Rheinard and Urbain. Schumacher driver Michal Orlowski crashed the party and took the last round ahead of Bruno Coelho (gap 0,331), Lucas Urbain and Ronald Völker. With Urbain winning two rounds of qualifying and Rheinard and Orlowski one each, it was Urbain who was celebrating the overall TQ after the run. However, it seems that Coelho, Völker, and especially Orlowski had picked up a bit of pace and all spectators are really looking forward to the first A-Main which is scheduled for 7pm this evening.
A-Main Starting Grid
TQ Lucas Urbain (FR) Awesomatix | ORCA 2. Michal Orlowski (PL) Schumacher | Elceram | Cayote 3. Bruno Coelho (PT) Inf1nity | Hobbywing | Sunpadow 4. Marc Rheinard (GER) Awesomatix |Cayote 5. Ronald Völker (GER) Mugen Seiki |LRP 6. Sören Sparbier (GER) Mugen Seiki | LRP 7. Simon Lauter (GER) Awesomatix | Hobbywing | Nosram 8. David Ronnefalk (SWE) Xray | Cayote 9. Alexander Hagberg (SWE) Xray | Hobbywing |EAM 10. Viktor Wilck (SWE) Inf1inty | Hobbywing |Sunpadow
Johannessen takes Q4 by surprise – Bultynck is top qualifier
Scotty Ernst announced it as “old but gold” when Helge Johannessen won the last heat of Pro Stock qualifying by kind of a surprise with his ARC. The Norwegian top driver was super quick in Q4 and will line up fourth on the grid for the finals now.
Ollie Bultynck (Awesomatix) took second for the run and was only two tenths behind Johannessen – enough for Bultynck to seal the overall TQ here in Luxembourg. Jan Ratheisky took third spot away from Q4 which was putting him to fifth on the grid while Kevin Schimd`s strong P4 was just good enough for the overall BQ now.
A-Main Starting Grid
TQ Olivier Bultynck (BEL) Awesomatix | EAM 2. Tim Benson (GER) Mugen Seiki |Nosram 3. Lukas Ellerbrock (GER) Awesomatix | Nosram 4. Helge Johannessen (NOR) ARC | EZ Power 5. Jan Ratheisky (GER) Xray | Nosram 6. Louis Kretschmer (GER) Awesomatix | ORCA 7. Jesper Rasmussen (DNK) Awesomatix | Ruddog 8. Sören Sparbier (GER) Mugen Seiki | LRP 9. Adam Izsay (HUN) Xray | Nosram 10. Andreas Stiebler (AUT) Schumacher | Gens Ace
Jacques Libar won the last FWD heat to secure second place on the grid with his Xray car. Mathieu Dambrine was close to Libar in Q4 but had to settle for second, only four tenths behind. Phil Langner, Max Weffers, and Alexander Stocker rounded out the top 5.
TQ Roman Borschel (GER) 2. Jacques Libar (LUX) 3. Phil Langner (GER) 4. Matthieu Dambrine (GBR) 5. Nicolas Delisè (BEL) 6. Max Weffers (GER) 7. Cedric Gridelet (BEL) 8. Alexander Stocker (GER) 9. Frederik Hovgaard (DK) 10. Robin van Gog (NL)
Ehrbar claims another pole position in the Masters class – Arts to start second behind him
David Ehrbar was on a mission when he won the last round of 1up Racing 40+ Mastets qualifying on Saturday to seal another hard-fought pole position in the class he dominates since almost two years. Toni Mateo from Gran Canaria scored a valuable second place in the last heat and was only 0,15 of a second behind Ehrbar. Mateo was followed by Alexander Stocker, Michel Zierold, and Ronald Arts. With the triple finals ahead on Saturday (A!) and Sunday (A2, A3), there is a lot to expect from the Masters class racers. Let the show begin…
A-Main Starting Grid
TQ David Ehrbar (GER) Xray 2. Ronald Arts (NLD) Awesomatix 3. Alexander Stocker (AUT) Xray 4. Toni Mateo (ESP) Awesomatix 5. Philipp Stadler (AUT) Mugen Seiki 6. Frank Fuchs (GER) Awesomatix 7. Caspar Morgen (DNK) Xray 8. Mirco Thalheimer (GER) Xray 9. Christian Grabher (SUI) Mugen Seiki 10. Torsten Baggendorf (GER) ARC
Maiden pole position for Gridelet at ETS in Luxembourg
After some years of a break, Cedric Gridelet from Belgium found his way back to RC and is attending his third ever ETS race this weekend in Luxembourg. He just took it easy and the result was the overall TQ in the 21.5 Stock class – what an amazing job. French driver Aurelien Threhout finished second in the last heat and Kristian Jensen, Gilles Choque, and Tim Jarosch rounded out the top 5 at the last chance to qualify good.
A-Main Starting Grid
A-Main Starting Grid
TQ Cedric Gridelet (BEL) Awesomatix 2. Aurelien Threhout (FRA) 3. Kristian Jensen (DNK) Xray 4. Gilles Choque (LUX) 5. Carlos Gabriel do Pinhal (LUX) RC Maker 6. Michael Koos (GER) 7. Christoph Kappes (GER) Mugen Seiki 8. Felix Hörenz (GER) 9. David Reip (GER) RC Maker 10.Tim Jarosch (GER)
Xray on pole as Ehrbar wins last heat of qualifying ahead of Stiebler and Miedema
After a very intense qualifying, David Ehrbar has claimed another pole position in the F1 class. He won Q4 by six tenths from Stiebler and Miedema and we can expect a thrilling set of finals in the Formula class. Can Ehrbar stand his ground here in Luxembourg?
A-Main Starting Grid
TQ David Ehrbar (GER) Xray 2. Andreas Stiebler (AUT) Schumacher 3. Jitse Miedema (NLD) Fenix 4. Luka Jovicic (LUX) Xray 5. Michal Wojcik (POL) Xray 6. Jacques Libar (LUX) Xray 7. Martin Hudy (SVK) XRay 8. Mathias Domig (AUT) 9. Robert Kampehl (GER) Xray 10. Michael Lipperheide (GER) Xray
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.
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!
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!
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!
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
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!
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….
