Spectacular first final as Urbain, Völker, Orlowski, and Coelho all suffer from collisions
What a race we saw in the first A-Main of the Cayote Modified class at the ETS season opener in Apeldoorn. The grid was set under the floodlights of the AMCA track and Michal Orlowski brought the cars around the first lap of the race.
In the second lap of the race, Lucas Urbain had some trouble when he entered the left turn after the front straight. He got a bit off the racing line and Bruno was side by side with him. Völker could capitalize for a moment and passed Bruno`s car. This led to the situation that Urbain, Völker, and Coelho entered the straightway together and we saw a drag race down the straight. Urbain and Völker had been side by side at the middle of the straight and when Urbain started to break he was somehow in front of Völker`s car.
Ronald had no chance avoid hitting the back of Urbain`s A800RR and both cars flew off the track. We had a similar situation last year when Rheinard and Sobue had almost the same take off in A1. After the crash, Völker was out of the race and Urbain was only able to score a P6 in the first A-Main – a big disappointment for both drivers.
Bruno Coelho was now running in second spot and started to hunt down race leader Michal Orlowski. Coelho was on fire with his Inf1nity Speciale prototype car. He closed the gap to Orlowski, and everybody was expecting a battle for the win between them. But somehow, Orlowski lost traction when entering the chicane after the straightway and spun sideways. He immediately tried to counter steer and when he returned to the racing line Bruno was there and the cars collided. It was the end of the race for Bruno. Michal could still finish fifth for the run, but it was a nightmare for both – same as it was earlier in the race for Völker and Urbain.
After all these unlucky race incidents, Marc Rheinard had taken over the lead and was defending his position against a crazy fast Awesomatix teammate Simon Lauter. Before A1, Rheinard joked when he said “I will win the first one from P5 on the grid” – and it happened. Lauter drove a hell of a race and was all over Rheinard in the last lap, but the five-time world champ brought it over the line and celebrated the win. WHAT A RACE.
Behind Rheinard and Lauter, Alexander Hagberg finished third ahead of Tim Wahl and Michal Orlowski. A2 and A3 will be on the line on Sunday and just say: DON’T MISS THE SHOW!
Bultynck shows the muscles in Saturday evening A1
In lap one of the race, all drivers had a good start and Ollie Bultynck showed that his qualifying pace wasn`t pure luck. The Awesomatix driver checked out from the rest of the field while a nice three-horse race for the positions was going on behind him. Enrico Jung (ARC) was able to take second place from Adam Izsay after seven laps and Ellerbrock was running in fourth place. At the halftime of the race, Bultynck`s lead was at almost three seconds which is a lot in the world of Pro Stock racing.
In the last minute of the trace, Izsay was right on the back of Jung again and they had a great fight for second place – with the better ending for ARC driver Jung. Izsay finished third and Lukas Ellerbrock and Jan Ratheisky rounded out the top five in the first Pro Stock A-Main. Bultynck is now half way there and the others will need a miracle to happen if they want to stop him from winning on Sunday!
Dominant van Gog takes opening leg of FWD finals
Top qualifier Robin van Gog left no doubt about his pure speed this weekend in Apeldoorn. The Schumacher FT9 driver had a perfect start and was driving almost in a world of his own (fastest lap 19.309) in A1 when nobody was able to close in on his tail. Roman Borschel, Max Weffers, and Jacques Libar all kept their positions for the entire race and behind them it was Phil Langner who could find a way by Nicolas Delisè to take fifth place away from A1. Van Gog looked so strong in A1 that it is hard to bet against him on Sunday – let`s see what will happen in our FlySky Frontwheel class in Apeldoorn!
Arts takes A1 as Ehrbar and Stocker putting on a big show!
David Ehrbar brought the field around the first lap after a clean start from his hard-fought pole position. Alexander Stocker and Ronald Arts followed him as close as they could and the top 3 immediately pulled away from the rest of the field. Stocker was shadowing Ehrbar around the track with the gap always between 2 and 4 tenths of a second. In lap 8, Stocker was all over Ehrbar and the pressure was immense.
Stocker tried to make the leader nervous with driving different lines and was “looking high and low” but there was no way to go for him am Ehrbar was defending like a lion. In lap 12 of the race the cars slightly touched each other after running side by side for many corners, and Ronald Arts was able to jump onto the captain`s seat of the race. Arts had a big lead in the last minute of the race and brought home the victory in A1 under the applause of his fellow Dutch countrymen. It was a thrilling race to watch as Ehrbar, Stocker, and Arts went for it, and we can expect more of that in A2 and A3 on Sunday.
Zühlke wins first 21.5 Stock A-Main after chaotic start
Top qualifier Levi Berkenbosch had a very bad start on the sound of the tone and dropped back to the end of the field in the very first corners of the race – what a disaster for the young Dutch racer. Nadine Zühlke took over the lead after the chaotic first lap and opened a gap of 1.5 seconds to second placed Kristian Jensen until the half time of the race.
Kristian Jensen had his mirror full of sixth place starter Cedric Gridelet and was not able to close in on the leading car anymore. Nadine Zühlke drove a perfect race and crossed the finish line to win A1 ahead of Jensen, Gridelet, Reip, and Hörenz. A1 was a thrilling start into the triple finals. Can TQ Berkenbosch recover from his unlucky race on Sunday?
Hudy wins first A-Main from eight on the grid!
Andreas Stiebler made a nice pass on David Ehrbar`s Xray car in lap five of the first Matrix Formula A-Main. Stieber’s car looked “right on the money” and Ehrbar had a lot of work to do to defend his second spot against his teammates Thomas Stenger and Luka Jovicic for the rest of A1. Martin Hudy also joined the party (from eight on the grid !!) and after Stenger lost his position, Hudy was able to take second spot ahead of Ehrbar. Hudy closed in on Stiebler in the last 50 seconds of the race and risked a brave pass at the end of the straightway. It worked out for Martin Hudy and he brought home the win in A1 with all his team spending applause for “the boss”. Many positions changed during the run and the top five saw Martin Hudy ahead of Andreas Stiebler, David Ehrbar, Luka Jovicic, and Robert Kampehl.
