French frontrunner Antoine Brunet is here at ETS RD5 in Daun right after he switched chassis sponsors from Xray to Yokomo. Antoine is running the actual BD12 platform which is equipped with T-Work`s titanium screws, ballstuds, and turnbuckles. Antoine is using a Hobbywing combo together with a Power HD Servo, the FlySky Noble Pro radio, and Nosram Betteries.
Michal Orlowski is in the form of his life. He won Q3 here on Saturday morning and is already the overall TQ of the Matrix Modified class. Awesomatix factory driver Lucas Urbain showed that he is still there as he took second for the round just 0.7 seconds behind Orlowski. Adam Izsay took third place and has (almost) secured second on the grid for the finals – what an amazing result for the rising Xray star. Simon Lauter and Marc Rheinard rounded out the top five in an interesting qualifying session. Q4 will be up next, and we are looking for the rest of the A-Main grid to get set. There are some big names on the back foot now – can they make the fnal?
Bultynck confirms his Q2 result with another TQ run on Saturday morning
After fighting back in yesterday evening`s Q2, Awesomatix driver Ollie Bultynck was able to lay down another TQ run onto the carpet of the Sporthotel Grafenwald here in Daun. Bultynck posted the fastest lap of the heat and his advantage over his second and third placed rivals Adam Izsay (Xray) and Lukas Ellerbrock (Awesomatix) was 1.4 seconds in the end. Bultynck has the best shot for the overall TQ now with only Adam Izsay being able to deny him pole position. Ellerbrock took third for the round, directly in front of Sören Sparbier (Mugen Seiki) and Louis Kretschmer (Awesomatix).
Izsay seals overall TQ spot – who will line up second on the grid?
Adam Izsay will start from pole position in the triple A-Mains of the Hobbywing Frontwheel class. The Xray driver posted his third consecutive TQ run of the weekend which was enough to book the best spot on the grid in advance. Roman Borschel took second for the round, followed by Gergö Valent, Phil Langner, and Ben Moorey. Ahead of Q4, many drivers have a chance to take second on the grid – who will get the job done?
First race in the class, first pole position – Ehrbar on top
Another run, another win from David Ehrbar. This is how we can sum up qualifying in the 1up Racing 40+ Masters class. David Ehrbar had a clean sweep in qualifying and will start from the pole into the triple A-Mains. Behind Ehrbar, his Xray teammate René Kölbel finished second followed by another Xray of Danish racer Caspar Morgen. Ulrich Dinger and Werner Schmitzer took fourth and fifth for the round. With the pole position already decided, the fight for the back spots on the A-Main grid was still wide open after Q3.
Langner fights back and wins late Friday evening qualifier
After struggling in the first two rounds, Phil Langner was able to get a clean run together in Q3 and posted his first TQ run of the weekend. His time was 1.6 seconds faster than Tristan Bergheim`s best run from Q2. A fact that kept the hopes for pole position alive for Langner ahead of Q4. Bergheim took P2 for the round, followed by Florian Müller and Jan Gehrig. Elena Fuchs had an amazing drive posting the fifth fastest time out of the second fastest group.
Jan Ratheisky took the win in a very early round of Saturday morning qualifying. He won the heat in front of overnight TQ Andreas Stiebler and was able to set a new fastest overall runtime. This result brings him back into the fight for pole position and the decision will be down to Q4 later on. Robert Kampehl, René Kölbel, and David Ehrbar completed the top 5.
The second heat of Modified qualifying saw the drivers pushing to the limits again. The track here in Daun is fast, flowing, very grippy, unforgiving, and far away from easy to go fast with a Modified touring car. Michal Orlowski was leading the run for the entire time, followed by an (again) sensational driving Adam Izsay (Xray).
Simon Lauter, Chrissi Krapp, Marc Rheinard, Ronald Völker, Lucas Urbain, and Antoine Brunet were all battling for the positions behind them until Rheinard had to stop his car in lap 13 after a hitting a barrier. Antoine Brunet (Yokomo) was rolling his car coming onto the straightway in lap 20 which meant the end for him. Lucas Urbain (Awesomatix) lost 6 seconds in lap 22 which cost him some good points (Urbain posted the fastest lap of the heat). Mattia Collina, who is racing in the second fastest group, posted the third fastest overall runtime with his Schumacher car.
The top 5 result of Matrix Modified Q2 was: Orlowski, Izsay, Collina, Lauter, and Krapp
Michal Orlowski is the overnight TQ here in Daun and right now it is hard to believe that somebody can break his dominance tomorrow. But we have seen many things in RC racing in the past so let`s wait for Saturday 😊
Awesomatix strikes back as Bultynck takes close Q2 on Friday evening
After Adam Izsay won Q1 for Xray, it was Olivier Bultynck who took the second Pro Stock qualifier for Awesomatix. It was a very important heat win for Bultynck as he is still part of an intense championship battle with Ellerbrock and Izsay. Lukas Ellerbrock, Louis Kretschmer, and Sören Sparbier finished right behind the top duo. The next round of qualifying will be on Saturday morning, and we can`t wait to find out who will start from the sweet spot of the Pro Stock grid.
Valent, Langner, and Heitsch chasing dominant Izsay in Q2
The second round of Hobbywing FWD qualifying saw again season dominator Adam Izsay out front. He posted his second TQ run of the event, and he was followed by Roman Borschel, Mark Valent, Phil Langner and Henrik Heitsch. Izsay is still driving in a world of his own, but the others are not far away and Izsay is not allowed to do any big mistakes if he likes to stay on top of the game until the end of the weekend!
Another TQ run for David Ehrbar in the second round of 1up Racing 40+ Masters qualifying. This time, Ehrbar`s advantage was way smaller than in Q1 as Ulrich Dinger was only 0.4 seconds behind Ehrbar at the end of the run. Dinger seems to be the hardest contender for Ehrbar right now. Behind the leaders we saw René Kölbel, Michel Zierold, and Werner Schmitzer making the top 5 in Q2.
Another TQ run for Bergheim after Langner crashed out
Tristan Bergheim scored another TQ run in the Orca 21.5 Stock class. We saw a close and intense fight on the scoring and timing between Phil Langner and Tristan Bergheim, which came to an end in lap 19 where Langner crashed his car in the tight chicane in the left side of the track. Langer was out of the race and Jonas Wiese took over second place for the run (same as in Q1). Florian Müller, Jan Gehrig, and Timo Siebert rounded out the top 5.
With two TQ runs already in his bag, Tristan Bergheim is looking very strong now. Phil Langner needs to strike back in the last two rounds if he wants to snatch the TQ spot away from his championship rival!
Schumacher`s reigning ETS champion Andreas Stiebler was on point again in Q2 on Friday afternoon. He took another win in front of Jan Ratheisky and was 1.3 seconds ahead. With two wins, Stiebler is very close to seal the TQ spot for the triple A-Mains now. David Ehrbar, Robert Kampehl, and René Kölbel completed the top five. Stiebler also drove the fastest lap of the heat with a 12.792 compared to the 12.877 hot lap of Jan Ratheisky. Both drivers were the only ones posting 12 second laptimes in Q2.
Andreas Stiebler is running his successful Schumacher Icon2 Worlds Formula car here at ETS RD5 in Daun. His car is equipped with a TRG rear wing, a Mon-Tech front wing, magnetic bodyshell mounts in the front, and a titanium screw set from Riptech-RC.
The first round of Matrix Modified qualifying saw top seed Michal Orlowski taking the win. But what looked like “business as usual” for the Schumacher factory driver was not an easy mission. The track provided such a high amount of traction and many drivers struggled with traction rolling or being up on two wheels for a several times during the run.
In the first minutes of the race, Yokomo`s Christopher Krapp was on top of the board in a close fight with Adam Izsay, Michal Orlowski, and Marc Rheinard. In lap 10, Ronald Völker had to retire his car, followed by Patrick Gollner in lap 14 and race leader Krapp in lap 18 – all after crashing it too hard!
Michal Orlowski took over the lead and brought home a 2.5 second advantage over Izsay and Rheinard. Pekko Iivonen posted the fourth fastest run coming out of the second fastest group and Simon Lauter (Awesomatix) scored good points with a P5 for the round.
It was not easy out there as the traction was very high. I was up on two wheels in the warmup lap and it was clear that “not crashing” would be the key to success. I was on two wheels two more times during the run when riding curbs but luckily, I had no traction rolls till the end. It was a good start into qualifying, but it is still a long way to go!
Izsay takes Q1 on a silver plate after heat winner Benson got his result deleted
Adam Izsay took the win in the first round of Awesomatix Pro Stock Qualifying. BUT, he got handed the win over after the race as it was top seed Tim Benson who originally crossed the finish line in first spot. There was an issue with Tim`s car in the technical inspection after the race which caused a disqualification for Tim. Bad luck for Benson, and a lucky punch for Adam Izsay.
The championship contenders Olivier Bultynck (Awesomatix) and Lukas Ellerbrock (Awesomatix) took second and third for the round and Sören Sparbier (Mugen Seiki) and Jan Ratheisky rounded out the top 5.
1-2-3 for Hungary as Izsay wins Q1 ahead of the Valent brothers
Adam Izsay (Xray) seems to be unstoppable. He took the win in the first of four qualifiers here at ETS Rd5 in Germany. However, the very fast Valent brothers finished right behind him making it a 1-2-3 result for Hungary. Gergö (Xray) took second place, his brother Mark (Schumacher) third. Roman Borschel and Henrik Heitsch completed the top 5. Behind the top 5 we saw so many good drivers battling for positions and making it into the A-Main at this race with 110 FWD entries will be a big deal for everybody.
Impressive pace from Ehrbar earns him TQ in round 1
David Ehrbar took full advantage of having a clean track in front of him. He took an impressive win by 3 seconds over all his competitors. His Xray car looked superb on track and Ehrbar knows how to put in clean runs. Ulrich Dinger (Awesomatix) and Andreas Myrberg (Iris) had a great fight for second and third place and took good points from Q1 as well. René Kölbel and Michel Zierold completed the top 5 in the opening round of 1up Racing 40+ Masters qualifying.
Bergheim takes opening qualifier from Wiese and Gehrig
Tristan Bergheim posted a TQ run in the opening round of qualifying. Phil Langner was a little quicker in the first laps until he suffered from a body tuck in lap 6 after hitting the barrier coming onto the straightway. That cost him 6 seconds and threw him all the way back to P4 which he saved until the end. Timo Siebert had a good run until he also lost a lot of time behind a backmarker – in the end he could not finish his run. Out front, Tristan Bergheim did what he had to do. He won the round ahead of Jonas Wiese and Jan Gehrig.
Schumacher`s Stiebler wins first Formula qualifier ahead of Ratheisky and Ehrbar
The top three drivers posted identical hot laps in Q1 of the ToniSport Formula class, but it was Andreas Stiebler who showed the best consistency. He took the win by a relatively big gap of 2 seconds from Jan Ratheisky. Third placed David Ehrbar was another 4 seconds behind. Andy Murray and Robert Kampehl completed the top 5 for the round.
Dominic Greiner is racing at the ETS for the first time since announcing his retirement from nitro racing. The former IFMAR world champion is kind of a one-man team here in Daun with Serpent`s actual X20`24 touring car. He is running the car almost out of the box with the only real option is a tungsten plate under his Nosram LiPo battery. It is great to have Dominic here at the ETS!
The end of seeding practice is always defining the heats for the four rounds of qualifying at the ETS. Here in Daun, two consecutive hot laps are responsible for every driver`s ranking. Having a good three lap pace is giving drivers a lot of confidence before Q1 and therefore everybody was trying to extract the maximum out of their packages on the very demanding racetrack in Daun!
Matrix Modified
Orlowski leads by one thousand of a second from Izsay and Rheinard
The Matrix Modified class was close as always. As only two consecutive hot laps are counting due to the shortened three-minute seeding rounds, the field was even close together. Orlowski`s fastest time was 0.001 (!) faster than the laps of Adam Izsay. Mard Rheinard and Ronald Völker followed in third and fourth spot with Simon Lauter taking fifth position. The top 10 had been separated by 0.265 of a second only but we are sure that this scenario will change a bit in qualifying as the track is very demanding and it will be mandatory to put in absolute clean runs.
The Top 5 after Thursday practice (2 consecutive laps)
1. Michal Orlowski (PL) 23.710 Schumacher|Hobbywing 2. Adam Izsay (HU) Xray 23.711 Xray|Hobbywing 3. Marc Rheinard (DE) 23.764 Awesomatix|ORCA 4. Ronald Völker (DE) 23.800 Mugen Seiki|LRP 5. Simon Lauter (DE) 23.820 Awesomatix | Hobbywing
Benson ahead of Lund and Izsay in very close Pro Stock class
In the Awesomatix ProStock class it was Tim Benson who was the fastest in seeding practice. Benson skipped half of yesterday`s practice runs on purpose and was right on pace in the two rounds of controlled practice on Friday morning. Last weekend`s GP3F winner is looking confident on track and will be in the mix for the podium here in Daun for sure. Casper Lund from Denmark was second fastest, followed by Adam Izsay, Lukas Ellerbrock, and Patrick Danielsen.
The Top 5 after Thursday practice (2 consecutive laps)
1. Tim Benson (DE) Awesomatix 25.570 2. Casper Lund (DK) Awesomatix 25.723 3. Adam Izsay (HU) Xray 25.820 4. Lukas Ellerbrock (DE) Awesomatix 25.825 5. Patrick Danielsen (DK) Xray 25.837
Izsay is top seed, three Hungarian racers ranked in the top 5
Xray`s Adam Izsay continued where he stopped yesterday – on top of the field. He was joined by his fellow countrymen Mark and Gergö Valent who both made it into the top 5 after seeding. German ARC driver Henrik Heitsch is sitting in third place, and Benjamin Elbisser (Xray) from France will start from P5 into qualifying.
The Top 5 after Thursday practice (2 consecutive laps)
1. Adam Izsay (HU) Xray 29.934 2. Mark Valent (HU) Schumacher 30.012 3. Henrik Heitsch (DE) ARC 30.099 4. Gergö Valent (HU) Xray 30.176 5. Benjamin Elbisser (FR) Xray 30.275
David Ehrbar is running strong at his first ETS 40+ Masters outing. He was laying down the fastest two consecutive laps onto the black carpet, but the rest of the field was right in the hunt. Championship leader Mirco Thalheimer showed a much-improved pace compared to yesterday and is seeded fifth in the top heat behind Ehrbar, Kölbel, Morgen, and Dinger.
The Top 5 after Thursday practice (2 consecutive laps)
In the Orca 21.5 Stock class, Tristan Bergheim found his way back on top of the board. His advantage over Phil Langner was half a tenth of a second before Lutz Jentsch followed in third place with almost the same gap. Jan Gehrig and Timo Siebert took fourth and fifth place like they did yesterday in free practice. Qualifying will start soon and we are already excited who will be able to claim the pole position here in Daun.
The Top 5 after Thursday practice (2 consecutive laps)
Jan Ratheisky is our top seed in the ToniSport Formula class. Current points leader Andreas Stiebler came out of seeding practice in second spot, with David Ehrbar, Robert Kampehl, and Michal Wojcik rounding out the top 5.
The Top 5 after Thursday practice (2 consecutive laps)
1. Jan Ratheisky (DE) Xray 25.913 2. Andreas Stiebler (AT) Schumacher 25.981 3. David Ehrbar (DE) Xray 26.431 4. Robert Kampehl (DE) Schumacher 26.520 5. Michal Wojcik (PL) 26.568
