It was a busy Friday at ETS RD2 in Aigen as we tried to get as much qualifying done as possible. However, as it was expected to get too dark in the evening hours due to the massive cloud layers, the decision was made to shift Modified Q4 to Saturday morning as it is almost impossible to go for proper modified racing in the twilight.

But somehow, mother earth was not with the ETS racers anyway, and in the LAST 20 seconds of Modified Q3, it started to rain heavily and the day was DONE for everybody. What a shame, especially for the modified drivers who only had been seconds away from completing the third round of qualifying. Here is the full story for you…

Tragedy in the last seconds of Q3 when the rain ended the day way too early

Q3- The third round of Modified qualifying became a punching ball for mother nature. We try to keep the story short. Bruno Coelho was setting a new TQ time when he won his heat after a brilliant drive with the new Inf1nity Spec1ale car. In the penultimate group it was Serpent’s Dominic Greiner who had a good run to take the win (around two seconds slower than Coelho).

Then it was time for the “top dogs” and we saw another intense race on track in which Orlowski, Rheinard, Völker, Lauter, and Dankel had a great pace. It was a battle on distance between them as they all raced against the time of Coelho for the overll win of Q3. Orlowski was leading in the last minute of the heat and his forecast was three to five tenths quicker – but then the bad weather arrived, and it started to rain with 20 seconds to go. We could immediately see cars spinning off track and spinning into the grass, and after the heat was finished it was clear that the complete third round of Cayote Modified qualifying needed to get repeated.

It was really hard for all racers and you could see how sad everyone was that the rain was hitting the event so hard, only seconds away from completed Q3.

After the announcement was made to end the day, Q3 is now on the schedule for Saturday morning and will get repeated completely. With the results of the day, Marc Rheinard is the overnight TQ ahead of Orlowski, Völker, Matsukura, Coelho, Dankel, Lauter, Hagberg, Urbain, and Wilck. Let`s hope for a chance to repeat the washed out round of qualifiyng on Saturday morning!

Q4 – Cancelled

Pole position for Bultynck as he sets new TQ time in Q3 before rain ended qualifying

Q3– Awesomatix factory driver Olivier Bultynck finally found a better pace and took the third round of Pro Stock qualifying. The heat was very intense and tight – so had been the results. Louis Kretschmer, Enrico Jung, Sören Sparbier, and Mark Valent all made the top five and stayed within one second off Bultynck` s four-minute pace.

As we had seen three different TQ`s so far (Kretschmer, Nedrebø, Bultynck), it was all to play for in the fourth and last round on Friday evening. However, the rain denied the final round and due to the fastest overall time in Q3, the pole position went to Ollie Bultynck and the Awesomatix team.

Louis Kretschmer (Awesomatix) will line up second on the grid ahead of Enrico Jung (ARC), Sören Sparbier (Mugen Seiki), Mark Valent (Schumacher), Mathias Nedrebø (Xray), Nico Catelani (Inf1nity), Tim Benson (Mugen Seiki), Lukas Ellerbrock (Awesomatix), and Adam Izsay (Xray).

Q4 – Cancelled

Xray`s Valent is FWD TQ after super-close qualifying

Q3- Gergö Valent posted another TQ run in FWd Q3, this time he was three tenths faster than his teammate Max Weffers. Q1 winner Phil Langner recovered from his bad Q2 and secured third place for the round. Pawel Staszewski and Jacques Libar made it into the top 5 as well. Before the last round of qualifying, Gergö Valent had the best shop for the overall TQ with Phil Langner being his biggest competitor. With the cancellation of Q4, Valent will start from P1 into the finals – congratulations. Phil Langner and Max Weffers will try to challenge him from second and third on the grid!

Q4 – Cancelled

Stocker is top qualifier in “rainy” Aigen-Schlägl

Q3 – Alexander Stocker was able to fight back in Q3 after losing Q2 to Michel Zierold. This time, Stocker had a huge gap of 2.5 seconds over Zierold and brought himself into the best position to seal the TQ spot in the upcoming last round of 40+ Masters qualifying. Ronald Arts, Mirco Thalheimer, and Philipp Stadler completed the top five in Q3. Once the decision was made to remove Q4 from the schedule due to the bad weather forecast, Alexander Stocker was the official TQ and he will start ahead of Michel Zierold and reigning champion David Ehrbar into the finals which will hopefully happen in dry conditions tomorrow!

Q4 – Cancelled

Home-race pole position for Seis in Aigen

Q3– After already winning Q1 and Q2, Simeon Seis got the job done once more in Q3 and won his heat. Seis took the win ahead of the Iris car of Loris Buchhalt, and the RC Maker of David Reip. Tobias Baumbach and Elena Fuchs completed the top five. BUT, as Ben Gerhardt posted a faster overall time in the second fastest group (!) he earned the TQ honors in Q3 of the Hobbywing 21.5 Stock class – great job Ben. The decision for the overall pole position was shifted into Q4 with a fight going on between Gerhardt and Seis in two different groups – that was the plan until Q4 got cancelled. Congratulations to Simeon Seis for his first ETS TQ, it is well deserved!

Q4 – Cancelled

Stiebler on pole after strong qualifying performance

Q3- After Andreas Stiebler won the first two rounds of Formula qualifying, David Ehrbar took the third round to keep the battle for the overall TQ wide open. Michal Wojcik, Luka Jovicic, and Jacques Libar completed the top 5 once again. With Q4 got cancelled, Andreas Stiebler is the overall TQ ahead of David Ehrbar and Michal Wojcik.

Q4 – Cancelled

Orlowski wins Q1, Rheinard takes Q2 and sets the fastest overall runtime so far!

Q1 – The first round of Cayote Modified qualifying first saw Bruno Coelho setting a TQ time in the third fastest group (in which he was after some bad luck in practice). The second fastest heat was in the hands of Xray`s Alexander Hagberg, but the Swedish driver was not able to beat Coelho`s time over the four minutes.

Once the top group started, we saw a four-horse battle between top seed Marc Rheinard (Awesomatix), Ronald Völker (Mugen Seiki), Michal Orlowski (Schumacher), and Japanese top star Naoto Matsukura (Inf1nity).

In the beginning it was Marc Rheinard who jumped into the lead, but after some laps it was the name of reigning modified champion Michal Orlowski which popped up on top of the board. Orlowski was able to maintain a gap od around one second over Matsukura, Rheinard, and Völker for the entire run and took the very important TQ away from Q1.

Behind him, Matsukura, Rheinard, and Völker finished within half a second and Bruno Coelho scored an overall fifth place for the round. Behind the top five, Alexander Hagberg (6^th), Viktor Wilck (7^th), Eric Dankel (8^th), Mattia Collina (9^th), and Sören Sparbier (10^th).

Q2 – As the Modified top heat started, all eyes had been on Q1 winner Orlowski who was starting first out of the gate. But after lap one it was Völker leading when he posted the fastest lap of the day so far with a 14.688. Naoto Matsukura was also very fast with his Inf1nity and right in the mix together with the Awesomatix A800RR of Marc Rheinard.

As the race unfolded, the top four were driving in a couple of tenths all the time until Matsukura made a little, but costly mistake in the infield section. He dropped back to ninth position. Rheinard was meanwhile in the lead before Völker took it back. The lead changed multiple times int eh last laps of the run and also Michal Orlowski came closer and closer to the leader on the scoring board.

Once the run was finished, Marc Rheinard took the win by 0.013 (!) of a second from Ronald Völker, and Michal Orlowski. Völker was visibly disappointed to miss out the TQ for the round by such a smal lmargin – can he fight back in Q3, or will Orlowski or one of the Inf1nity drivers win the next round?

Bruno Coelho posted the fourth quickest time in the c-heat again and showed his strong pace, and Awesomatix racer Eric Dankel took a strong P5 away from Q2. Coelho has not the easiest job as he is clearly the fastets in his group but not on track with the other top guns at the same moment.

His position in the final is already secured but it will be difficult for him to fight for the win here this weekend. But as nothing is impossible, we should not count the three times world champion out of the competition.

Kretschmer leads Pro Stock class after two rounds of qualifying!

Q1 – Awesomatix driver Louis Kretschmer was in control of Pro Stock Q1 where the German outpaced top seed Olivier Bultynck (Awesomatix) by 1.2 seconds. The sun was out, and the conditions had been fine for the round, and it was Mugen Seiki`s Sören Sparbier who was able to post the third fastest time ahead of Enrico Jung (ARC).

Tim Benson was fifth quickest with his runtime coming from the second fastest group. The top 10 got completed by Lukas Ellerbrock, Mark Valent, Gergö Valent, Max Mächler, and Jan Ratheisky.

Q2 – Mathias Nedrebø from Norway took the second round of Awesomatix Pro Stock qualifying for Xray. His win was a bit unexpected as he “only” seeded tenth into the top heat. Louis Kretschmer backed up his TQ run with a solid second place ahead of Nico Catelani (Inf1nity), Alex Kunkler (Xray), and Adam Izsay (Xray).

With so many Pro Stock drivers on a strong pace, and the fact that the stock tire is much faster in run one compared to run two, the rest of qualifying will also be a strategic tire game for many racers. Let`s see who will end up on the grid for the A-Main, and who will manage to claim pole position!

Langner takes Q1, Valent victorious in the second round!

Q1 – Top seed Phil Langner won the opening round of FlySky Frontwheel qualifying ahead of Max Weffers (Xray) and Matheo Buchhalt (Iris). Langner crossed the line with an advantage of 0,435 seconds after an intense four-minute qualifier – a great start into qualifying for both drivers.

Matheo Buchhalt who seeded tenth after practice had a flawless drive to the third quickest runtime while Jacques Libar and Gergö Valent rounded out the top 5 in Q1.

Q2 – In the second we saw Xray driver Gergö Valent taking the win. Q1 winner Phil Langner rolled his car over in lap five and was out of contention. Valent had to deliver a perfect drive to win the heat as Matheo Buchhalt, Max Weffers, and Pawel Staszewski followed him closely (separated by only 0.022 at the end!!!).

Alexander Stocker rounded out the top five in Q2. Phil Langner and Gergö Valent have the best shot now for the overall TQ with one heat win each, but nothing is decided yet.

Stocker and Zierold batteling for Masters class pole position

Q1 – Xray racer and reigning 40+ Masters champion David Ehrbar was right on pace again when qualifying started on Friday morning. Ehrbar was able to win the first heat with a gap of eight tenths of a second to his teammate Alexander Stocker.

Mugen driver Philipp Stadler had a great run to third for the round and was followed by the Awesomatix of Ronald Arts and the IRIS car of Manuel Stankowitz.

Q2 – Michel Zierold was the man “on fire” when he too the win in Q2 of the Masters class. Zierold was three tenths faster as Philipp Stadler and another half a second ahead of third placed Alexander Stocker. Thomas Wegmann and David Ehrbar completed the top five in Q2. With Ehrbar and Zierold taking one of the rounds each, the battle for the TQ has officially started at ETS RD2 in Austria!

Seis leads 21.5 Stock at qualifying half-time in Austria

Q1 – Austrian racer Simeon Seis took the opening round of 21.5 Stock qualifying by two seconds from the two Germans Tobias Baumbach and Nadine Zühlke. Seis had a great run and also posted the fastest lap for the entire round with a 19,832. Felix Hörenz from Switzerland and Juraj Gnidiak from Slovakia finished fourth and fifth on Q1.

Q2- The second round of qualifying saw again Simeon Seis taking a strong win. The Mugen Seiki driver was clearly the fastest driver on track and took the heat by 2.5 seconds from second placed David Reip, Kristian Jensen, Nadine Zühlke, and Felix Hörenz. A great performance so far from Simeon Seis – can he seal the pole position in Q3?

Stiebler wins first two rounds of Formula qualifying

Q1 – Schumacher driver Andreas Stiebler won the first heat of Matrix Formula qualifying on home soil. Stiebler (fastest lap 18.267) was one second ahead of the Xray gang with Jacques Libar (2^nd), David Ehrbar (3^rd), Luka Jovicic (4^th), and Martin Hudy (5^th). Ahead of Q2, everybody had one question: Can the Schumacher driver withstand all the pressure from his Xray competitors?

Q2 – Andreas Stiebler was again “on a mission” in Q2 when he took the win ahead of Martin Hudy, Michal Wojcik, Jacques Libar, and Dominik Ruf. However, the gap from Stiebler to Hudy was at three tenths of a second only and it seems that the Xray drivers have unlocked some pace from their package to match the strong pace of Stiebler`s Schumacher car. The rest of qualifying will show us what to expect for the finals!