Qualifying is over at ETS RD1 Season #17 2024/25 in the Netherlands. It was fast, it was intense, it was great… We can celebrate FOUR drivers who have sealed their first ever pole position at the ETS, and we see two familiar names on top of the Modified and Pro Stock classes. Check the results and don`t miss the complete first roud of finals on Saturday evening!

Game on in the Modified class – can somebody challenge TQ Orlowski in the finals?

Q3 – We saw another TQ run from Michal Orlowski in Q3. It was a very close race in the first three and a half minutes when Lucas Urbain, Marc Rheinard, Eric Dankel, and Ronald Völker stayed in a couple of tenths with Orlowski. Towards the end of the race, Orlowski was able to maintain the best pace and opened a gap of 1.3 seconds over Urbain who finished second for the round. It was the closest finish we saw so far, and the result earned Orlowski the important pole position for the finals. Behind Orlowski and Urbain, Marc Rheinard, Ronald Völker, and Lucas Urbain completed the top 5 for the round.

Q4 – The last round of qualifying saw many drivers battling for the best possible position behind out top qualifier Michal Orlowski. Orlowski took another close win (on used tires) against Marc Rheinard, Akio Sobue, Dominic Greiner, and Ronald Völker. With the result from Q4, Rheinard will now be Orlowski`s closest rival in the finals starting second on the grid. Lucas Urbain, Ronald Völker, Akio Sobue, Eric Dankel, Dominic Greiner, Antoine Brunet, Simon Lauter, and Yannic Prümper are completing the A-Main grid of the FlySky Modified class.

Ellerbrock is the man to beat in the finals where he will start from P1

Q3 – Reigning ETS Pro Stock champion Olivier Bultynck found his way back to the top in Q3. He was setting the fastest runtime with his Awesomatix car in the B-heat and was celebrating his TQ run after marshalling the top group. Bultynck had an advantage of only a tenth ahead of Lukas Ellerbrock who won the top heat, but it was enough to move the decision for pole position into the last round of qualifying. Tim Benson, local youngster Timon Coenen, and Robin van Gog rounded out the top 5.

Q4 – It was Tim Benson who took the win in Q4. Benson had a really good run and outpaced Ollie Bultynck and Lukas Ellerbrock to secure second on the grid. The starting order for the finals: Ellerbrock, Benson, Bultynck, Catelani, Sparbier, Janssen, Coenen, van Gog, Langner, and Christianse. Special congratulations to Timon Coenen, Robin van Gog, Phil Langner, and Vasco Christianse for making their first ETS Pro Stock A-Main. Excellent job guys, enjoy the finals!

TQ Delisé leads FWD drivers into triple A-Mains

Q3 – Nicolas Delisé (Xray) took the win in the third round of Hobbywing FWD qualifying from Roman Borschel (Awesomatix) and Manuel Stankowitz (Iris). Delisé was the only driver posting a lap time under the 19 seconds mark (18.952) and stamped authority onto Q3. With him having two TQ runs, it was only Manuel Stankowitz who had a chance to snatch the TQ away from Delisé in Q4. Torsten Baggendorf and Phil Langner completed the top 5 in Q3.

Q4 – The last FWD qualifying heat was INSANE. After five minutes we had the top 8 separated by only 0.570 seconds – WOW. Roman Borschel was the lucky guy to win the heat by two thousands of a second and was followed by Jacques Libar, Phil Langner, and Henrik Heitsch. Nicolas Delisé is our top qualifier and will see all these guys in his rear-view mirror on the sound of the tone in the upcoming A-Mains. Congratulations for your first ETS TQ Nicolas Delisé!

Anderson is TQ – Sievers starting second on the grid – Ehrbar wins Q4

Q3 – After Eric Anderson had won the first two rounds of 1up Racing 40+ Masters qualifying, Elibert Sievers was able to fight back in Q3 where took the win with his Awesomatix A800R by seven tenths of a second from Eric Anderson (Awesomatix) and Xray`s David Ehrbar. Ehrbar`s teammates Werner Schmitzer (fastest lap of the heat 17.788) and Mirco Thalheimer made it into the top 5 as well while the decision for the overall TQ was shifted into Q4 between Sievers and Anderson.

Q4 – The last round of qualifying was in the hands of David Ehrbar. The Xray driver finally found himself on top of the board for the first time this weekend and won it by a couple of tenths ahead of Sievers and Anderson. Ehrbar will now start from third on the grid behind second placed Elibert Sievers and our 40+ Masters top qualifier Eric Anderson from the USA. Torsten Baggendorf and Werner Schmitzer will line up in fourth and fifth place for the triple A-Mains. A1 will be on the line later today with A2 and A3 following on Sunday. Congratulations to Eric Anderson for his great qualifying performance and his first ever TQ at the ETS!

Siebert claims his first ever TQ at the ETS

Q3 – Timo Siebert took the win in Q3 of the Orca 21.5 Stock class. Siebert was one second ahead of second placed Nadine Zühlke after five minutes and scored his second TQ run of the event. Jan Vogler was the fastest guy on track (hot lap of the race 18.043) until he lost a lot of time and his lead in lap 14 – only P8 for Vogler in this round. Wesley van Dijken finished third in Q3 and was followed by Stefan Rommens and Holger Wittek. The decision for pole position went down to Q4 and it was all between Nadine Zühlke and Timo Siebert.

Q4 – Mugen driver Timo Siebert will start from the best spot on the grid after he was able to seal the TQ in the last round of qualifying. His hardest rival Nadine Zühlke had to stop her car in the closing stages of Q4 and Siebert managed to win the heat ahead of Wesley van Dijken, Stefan Rommens, Tobias Baumbach, and Michael Koos. We are expecting some thrilling finals and nice battles between all racers in the Orca 21.5 Stock class. Congratulations to Timo Siebert for his first ever ETS TQ – good job!

Jovicic earns pole position in close Formula qualifying sessions

Q3 – The third round of Matrix Formula qualifying saw René Kölbel on top of the board. The Austrian racer outpaced second placed Michael Lipperheide by 0.8 seconds and moved up to second place in the overall standings behind round 1 and 2 top qualifier Luka Jovicic who finished third for the round. Ahead of the last round, it was Luka Jovicic with the best chance for claiming the pole position.

Q4 – Luka Jovicic was back on pace in the deciding leg of Formula qualifying. Jovicic took another win ahead of René Kölbel and Andreas Stiebler when they crossed the finish line only separated by nine tenths of a second after five minutes. Luka Jovicic was very delighted after the run as he claimed his first ever overall TQ at the Euro Touring Series and received many congratulations for his great result. The starting order for the finals will be Jovicic, Kölbel, Stiebler, Ehrbar, and Lipperheide – good luck to all Formula drivers!

The second round of qualifying at ETS RD1 in the Netherlands marks half-time of qualification and everybody is trying to push as hard as possible for a good result. Some drivers have already scored some decent results while others are under pressure now and need to deliver something. Here is what happened in Q2 in Apeldoorn!

Orlowski wins Q2 as the pack is closing in – Rheinard and Völker recovering from unlucky Q1

In the second round of FlySky Modified qualifying, Schumacher driver Michal Orlowski was starting first out of the gate just to drive one of the slowest opening laps of the heat dropping down to P5. It was Lucas Urbain (Awesomatix) and Ronald Völker (Mugen Seiki) taking over the lead in the first minutes of the race until Orlowski popped up on top of the board again once he found his rhythm on track. Orlowski had a very strong second half of the race and took another win.

But this time, his gap to second placed Marc Rheinard (Awesomatix), third placed Ronald Völker, and fourth placed Lucas Urbain (Awesomatix) was not as big as in Q1 anymore. Rheinard crossed the line 1.6 seconds behind Orlowski with only 0.2 seconds in between Rheinard, Völker, and Urbain. With two out of two, Michal Orlowski is very close to lock in the pole position for the finals now. Story to be continued…..

Ellerbrock again in Q2 while Benson threw away a potential TQ run

Q2 of the Awesomatix Pro Stock class took place on an early Saturday morning and we saw a close fight between Tim Benson (Jambo One) and Lukas Ellerbrock (Awesomatix) again. With both drivers on used tires, it was Benson who jumped into the lead in the early stages of the race. He was leading by 0.5 seconds before he made a small but costly mistake in the fast chicane after the straightway in lap 13.

Benson lost almost a second of time and handed the lead over to Ellerbrock on a silver plate. As they crossed the finish line, Ellerbrock scored his second TQ run of the weekend by half a second over Tim Benson. Olivier Bultynck (Awesomatix) was third fastest, and Rob Janssen (Awesomatix) , Sören Sparbier (Mugen Seiki), and Nico Catelani completed the top 5. The TQ is not decided yet, but the pendulum is clearly swinging to the Ellerbrock side of things!

Stankowitz recovers from a bad Q1 and takes his first TQ run of the weekend

After having a bad run in Q1, Iris driver Manuel Stankowitz was back in the game and took the win in Q2 with six tenths of a second from Roman Borschel (Awesomatix). Stankowitz was the only driver posting a 19.0 lap and clearly had the fastest car on track.

Behind Stankowitz and Borschel, it was the trio of Jacques Libar (Xray), Max Weffers (Xray), and Torsten Baggendorf (ARC) rounding out the top 5 in the second round of Hobbywing Frontwheel qualifying. Q1 winner Nicolas Delisé had to retire his car after 8 laps in Q2 but he will still be in the fight for pole position on Saturday.

Two out of two – Anderson close to seal the overall TQ in the Netherlands

Eric Anderson posted another TQ run in the 1up racing 40+ Masters class. He took full advantage of the clean track in front of him and drove a very clean race with his Awesomatix A800R. In the end, he had an advantage of 1.2 seconds over Torsten Baggendorf (ARC), Elibert Sievers (Awesomatix – fastest lap of the race), and Werner Schmitzer (Xray). With two out of two, Eric Anderson is the top favourite for pole position before the 4ß0+ Masters will head into Q3 and Q4 on Saturday.

Siebert fights back and takes Q2 from Zühlke and Vogler

After making a costly mistake in Q1, Timo Siebert got it together in Q2 and took the win for the round. Nadine Zühlke took second place and was still on top of the rankings after Q2. Jan Vogler, Stefan Rommens, and Wesley van Dejken completed the top 5 on Friday evening. After his TQ run, Timo Siebert is now back in the fight for the pole position and the next two rounds of qualifying will possibly decide it between him and Nadine Zühlke on track.

Jovicic on top at qualifying half-time

It was a perfect Friday for Luka Jovicic as he took another win in Q2 of the Formula class. Andreas Stiebler found some pace for Q2 and moved up to second place in front of David Ehrbar and René Kölbel. Everything is looking really good for Jovicic now and he “only” needs to deliver one more perfect run to book the sweet spot on the grid for the triple A-Mains on the beautiful AMCA track!

The first round of qualifying is in the books and we have our first TQ runs of the season on the scoreboard. It was a thrilling day at AMCA Apeldoorn and all participants had been on fire on track. The rest of qualifying will take place on Saturday and it is game on at ETS RD1 Season #17 2024/25 in the Netherlands.

Masterclass from Orlowski as he dominates eventful first round of Modified qualifying

The opening round of FlySky Modified qualifying saw Michal Orlowski taking the win with his Mi9 by a huge gap of 4.6 seconds over second placed Awesomatix driver Lucas Urbain. Eric Dankel (Awesomatix) took third for the round and Yokomo`s Yannic Prümper posted the fourth fastest time coming out of the B-sort. His Yokomo teammate Antoine Brunet was able to take fifth place away from Q1.  Orlowski was flying out there and posted the fastest overall runtime we have ever seen so far at an ETS race in Apeldoorn – what a statement it was from the reigning ETS champion!

BUT what sounds like a “business as usual” story was even more eventful as many of the drivers in the top heat had huge trouble during their five-minute qualifying run.

We start in lap one: The cars got off the line and fourth place starter Akio Sobue (Axon) was riding the curb in the banked right turn after the timing loop too much and spun into the gras – he stopped some laps later to save tires. Marc Rheinard (Awesomatix) was starting behind Sobue and somehow lost his rhythm after the Sobue incident to spin out as well. Rheinard stopped immediately to save tires. The same for Atsushi Hara – mistake in lap one and he stopped his A800R car too. Dominic Greiner retired his Serpent after only four laps.

Meanwhile, it was Mugen Seiki`s Ronald Völker who was Orlowski`s hardest contender on track running 2-3 seconds behind the Schumacher driver in a close fight for second place with Urbain. But Völker also suffered from bad luck when he had to stop his car due to an electronic issue after 18 laps running in second place.

We saw a lot of bad luck and unusual things for the top drivers in this heat, but others capitalised a lot from that. Yannic Prümper took P4 out of the B-group, Max Mächler posted a great run to P7 out of the C-group with many others scoring good points in Q1.  Will “normality” come back in Q2? Can anybody battle Orlowski for the TQ? Many questions ahead of Q2 which will take place on Saturday morning here in Apeldoorn.

Ellerbrock takes super-close first Pro Stock qualifying

Top seed Lukas Ellerbrock (Awesomatix) was really exhausted when he arrived in the interview section under the drivers stand after Q1. The Awesomatix driver had a perfect run on track, but his main contender Tim Benson (Jambo One) also did a fantastic job out there. They were matching lap times lap after lap, and Ellerbrock won the heat by a margin of only 0.216 seconds after five minutes. Benson said that he “lost it to Ellerbrock in the opening laps of the race where he just didn`t drive perfectly”.

It was a very important TQ run for Ellerbrock who has never won in Apeldoorn in the past – the same as Tim Benson. Reigning champion Olivier Bultynck (Awesomatix) posted the third fastest time out of the B-group and Sören Sparbier (Mugen Seiki) and Rob Janssen (Awesomatix) completed the top 5 or the day.

FWD Q1 goes to Belgium and Nicolas Delisé

The first round of Hobbywing Frontwheel qualifying saw top seed Manuel Stankowitz having some trouble. The iris driver dropped back to last place after he lost a lot of time in lap 6 allowing Nicolas Delisé (Xray) and Phil Langner (Awesomatix) jumping in into the lead. Max Weffers also joined the party, and the trio had a nice battle for the win in Q1. After five minutes, it was Delisé who took the win by 0.8 seconds with Weffers another second behind them.

Benjamin Elbisser (Xray) and Henrik Heitsch (ARC) completed the top five in the first of four rounds of qualifying in Apeldoorn. Can Stankowitz fight back in Q2? He posted the fastest lap of the heat which clearly shows that the pace is there.

US racer Anderson wins Q1 in Apeldoorn

Eric Anderson, the man behind the EAM battery brand, took the win in the opening round of 1up Racing 40+ Masters qualifying. Eric had a great run with his Awesomatix A800R and won the heat by half a second over Dutch local hero Elibert Sievers (Awesomatix), and Xray driver David Ehrbar. Torsten Baggendorf took finished fourth, and top seed Werner Schmitzer dropped down to fifth place in Q1. A great start into qualifying for Eric Anderson, not a perfect one for Werner Schmitzer. What will happen in Q2? We will find out later this evening!

Zühlke wins opening round of qualifying

In the Orca 21.5 Stock class, top seed Timo Siebert was in the lead of the race until he made a mistake in lap number eight where he lost 2 seconds of time. Nadine Zühlke took full advantage of it and posted a TQ run ahead of Stefan Rommens, Timo Siebert, Jan Vogler, and Michael Koos. Can Timo Siebert fight back in Q2 this evening, or will Nadine Zühlke win another round of 21.5 Stock qualifying?

Jovicic TQ`s first Formula qualifier of the new season

Luka Jovicic drove a great race with his Xray car in Q1 of the Formula division. He had the fastest lap of the race to his favour (16.137) and won with a comfortable gap of three seconds ahead of his teammate David Ehrbar, and reigning ETS Formula champion Andreas Stiebler (Schumacher). Patrik Sadrinna and Michael Lipperheide completed the top 5 in a very interesting and competitive field of Formula drivers. Q2 will be up next and Jovicic will have another shot for a solid TQ run.