Just a couple of days before ETS RD4 in Luxembourg, it is now possible for all racers to edit their technical data for the race. Many drivers asked us to open the system some days before the event, and that`s what we have done. We are always trying to make life as comfortable as possible for our ETS racers 😊.
Important for you, for us, the sponsors, and the public
Showing the Equipment Charts in our race reports is something which a lot of people have asked about. There are a lot of spectators watching our events from a distance and they like to know what the drivers are using at the ETS, which is still the most famous 1:10 scale onroad racing series in the world!
But we are not only collecting the data of the A-Main drivers – we are collecting the data of ALL drivers at the ETS to create statistics and overviews of the whole season. So, no matter in which class or final you are mostly ending – PLEASE EDIT YOUR EQUIPMENT 😊
It only takes two minutes of your time to let us know about the equipment you are using at ETS RD4 in Luxembourg. As you know, we post these Equipment Charts after Qualifying and after the A-Mains on Sunday. You can change your equipment at any time during the weekend so if you change something it is no problem to edit!
We are counting on you, and we will see us trackside in Luxembourg
We are heading to the last outdoor race of the fifteenth ETS season, and our way will lead us to Luxembourg. The last time the ETS stopped at this amazing racetrack was in 2016 which means that a lot of our current ETS racers have never been there. The track is very beautiful, features a lot of challenges (wait for the track check on Wednesday), and we are sure that everybody would like to drive on it. Now, sit back, relax, and learn about our “5 things to watch” during ETS RD4 in Luxembourg.
[the_ad_group id=”141″]
1) World Championship podium finishers
The dust has settled after the 2022 IFMAR touring car worlds, and we like to congratulate all champions and podium finishers for their results once again. In Luxembourg, we will see Stock vice world champion Simon Lauter (Awesomatix), and Formula World Cup winner Andreas Stiebler (Schumacher) racing with us. For sure, both will receive many congratulations and handshakes from the ETS family during free practice on Thursday!
Simon Lauter on the podium in Gubbio
2) Laguna Seca Corkscrew Corner
The corkscrew corner in Laguna Seca (USA) is one of THE most famous corners in racing all around the world. It goes dramatically uphill, turns to the left, before it ends in a downhill right turn! Always spectacular to watch, especially from onboard cameras.
In Luxembourg, all RC racers can experience the same, even if they are not sitting directly in the car. The track in Luxembourg features a similar section to Laguna Seca. After the cars have passed the drivers stand, they need to have a perfect entry into a hollow before then driving up a small hill with a left turn. On top of it, the left turn gets tight before a hard break to the right side lets the cars almost “falling down” a right turn to the entry of the main straight. It is always looking very spectacular and makes the LMCC Luxembourg racetrack to one of the most unique places for RC racing in Europe. Watch our event coverage and enjoy one of the coolest corners in RC!
Laguna Seca in Luxembourg
3) Local Heroes
As we mentioned before, the last ETS race in Luxembourg is dated back to 2016. We think that a lot of drivers have never driven on this track, and it will be exciting to see how long it will take them to find a perfect rhythm for the challenging track. The asphalt is relatively new (resurfaced some years ago), and drivers can use the curbs to go fast – but to a certain level only! We expect a few drivers having great chances to score top results as they are in the LMCC club or at least don`t live far away from the track. Let`s find out if Lucas Urbain, Jacques Libar, Joe Streff, Luka Jovicic, Dirk Rischard, and all other drivers from Luxembourg will have any practice advantage on their home track or not. We will find it out during the weekend at ETS RD4 in Luxembourg!
Lucas Urbain (Awesomatix)
4) Wetter Radar
As the weather is always a huge factor in September, the weather radar will be one to watch. Sadly, the drivers at the IFMAR worlds in Italy had to face some serious rain and thunderstorms and the whole event was affected in a bad way from the weather. The forecast for our ETS race in Luxembourg is looking pretty solid so far, with temperatures between 7 and 18 degrees and a mix between sunshine and clouds. No rain on the radar so far – fingers crossed!
5) Parking Area
Another very important topic is the parking situation. There is only limited space behind the pit area (marked yellow), and therefore it is super important to park all cars as close and clever as possible. We will be there on Thursday morning to coordinate the parking process and we ask you to PLEASE park in straight lines without wasting too much space. The huge park & ride area can get used on Saturday and Sunday as well, but we will give you an update about that in the drivers meeting on Friday!
Parking Situation in Luxembourg
Watch the show
For everybody who will watch us from the distance – we are sorry that you will not be with us in Luxembourg. But you can enjoy all the racing action from home in our well-known ETS livestream by Pullstart TV. You will find the stream in the LIVE section of our website during the event!
Now it is time for all racers to get the final preparations done on their cars and equipment. Wednesday will be “travel day” for most drivers, and we will all see us in Luxembourg for the fourth round of ETS Season #15 2022/23 – see you there!
Young talents are important for every sport around the globe – and so it is also in the world of RC racing. Joshua Winkler from Berlin is our interview guest today, and we like to find out some facts about the young man who had a serious impact at the Orca 17.5 Stock class at the ETS. He attended his first ETS race in Aigen-Schlägl where he finished sixth overall before he drove to a very strong second place at Arena33 in Andernach!
ETS – Hi Joshua, we hope you had a good trip home after the ETS in Andernach! How did it feel to bring home the trophy from 2nd place?
Joshua – Hey. Yes, I had a very relaxed journey home. Bringing the trophy home was a very nice feeling and I was very happy about it.
ETS – You drove very strong in Andernach. Did you expect to be able to attack so far in front at your second ETS?
Joshua – Thank you very much. No, I didn’t expect that. After the German Championship in Andernach I was very excited and motivated for the next ETS race in Andernach. I liked the layout of the track so much and I got to grips with it quite quickly.
ETS – When you compare the finals of an ETS race with A-finals of other races, what is the biggest difference for you?
Joshua – The biggest difference is that the field of drives is much closer together than at regional races. Also, a small difference is that no one has an advantage because of the limited RPM, so nobody is much faster on the straight than anybody else and that’s awesome. It depends more on the driver and how he prepares his car for the race.
ETS – How big is the “Scotty factor” when you were driving? No one comments as emotionally as he does. Did that make you more nervous or is it more of a “cool thing” that he comments on the races?
Joshua – Well I always thought it was cool how he commentates the races. Because when you watched the video, you always wanted to stand up there on the driver’s stand and drive. But what I was afraid of was that for the first race in Aigen it would be distracting, because I’m not used to it and I thought I wouldn’t really be able to concentrate. But that was not the case, in fact quite the opposite. Scotty even pushed me and motivated me even more.
ETS – The Euro Touring Series is currently the most important racing series for 1:10 electric onroad. But of course, there are also numerous other, smaller racing series. Where else do you race?
Joshua – I come from Berlin. So, I try to take part in everything that is available here. That would be Berliner Touring Master (BTM) or ToniSport Onroad Series (TOS) and RCK. But at the moment I also try to take part in races outside of Berlin. But that’s sometimes difficult because I’m only 17 and don’t have a driving licence yet.
ETS – Do you remember where and when you did your first RC car race?
Joshua – Yes, it was on 30.11.2014 at the 1 Marzahner Racing Club e.V. as a rookie.
ETS – How did the whole RC car virus infect you? How did you get into our great hobby?
Joshua – I had a few RC cars at home through my dad that I used to take out to the car park. At some point I got interested in driving on a real race track. No sooner said than done, we found the tracks in Berlin Marzahn and drove there. The track is 15 minutes away from me by car. After this day, I was so excited about the hobby and knew that I really wanted to do it.
ETS– What was your first RC car?
Joshua – My first car was a LRP S10 Blast TC which I still have at home.
ETS – Do you train very often or less often? Which racetracks are the best for you to get to for training?
Joshua – When I have time, I usually meet up with Oliver Heise in Bernau at the RC “Speedracer” or if my dad can’t bring me, Oliver picks me up from home and we go there together. Most of the time we drive there 13.5, FWD and 17.5. The best track for me to reach is the one in Berlin Marzahn.
ETS – Do you have a favourite racetrack? If so, tell us about that track and why you like it better than others?
Joshua – Not really, but the track in Andernach was my favourite so far. I like the layout a lot. You have a long straight and a lot of corners which you must hit perfectly.
ETS – You are currently racing with an Awesomatix A800MMX. Why Awesomatix?
Joshua – When I drove Dennis Fadtke’s Awesomatix once, I was very surprised how well the car worked. The car gave me what I was looking for in my Xray for a long time. It was much easier to drive. Above all, I was much faster with Dennis’ car on the first battery than with my own car. That was the decisive point.
ETS – Setting up a modern touring car is not that easy, and you always need someone to learn from! Who have you learned the most from so far?
Joshua – So far, I have been able to learn a lot from Oliver Heise, Dennis Fadtke, Julius Johannes Schäfer, Stefan Schulz and now at the ETS races from Max Mächler and Simon Lauter, and I will try to learn even more in the future.
ETS – What fascinates you so much about RC car driving? Is it the technology, the speed, or simply the adrenaline you feel when you’re on the driving stand?
Joshua – A mixture of everything. I find it very fascinating how the driving behaviour changes when you take out or add a screw or a shim. Also, the adrenaline you have when you are on the line and when you feel that you are a bit nervous.
ETS – Do you have a favourite driver or role model in RC car racing? Several answers are allowed
Joshua – I don’t have a favourite driver. But my role models are Max Mächler and Simon Lauter. It’s simply amazing what they get out of the cars in AWESOMATIX PRO STOCK. Stefan Schulz is also a role model for me. How well he drives in the FWD class is no longer normal.
ETS – What do you do when you are not driving RC cars? Are you still a student or have you already finished school? What are your plans and career aspirations for the future?
Joshua – I am currently training to be a plant mechanic.
ETS – Do you have any other hobbies besides RC car racing that you do in your spare time? Or does racing already take up more than enough of your time?
Joshua – I played football for a long time in the club. But the problem was that the games always took place on Saturdays or Sundays, and that overlapped with the racing days or training days. I always had to decide whether to go to the game or to the race. Since I enjoyed driving the RC car much more, I decided to go for it. Despite the demand from a good football club and top scorer in the session to stop playing football and concentrate fully on RC car driving.
ETS – What other goals have you set for the ETS season #15 2022/23?
Joshua – I don’t really have any goals for this season. I want to have fun and learn a lot and hope that other drivers will help me.
ETS – Joshua, thank you very much for this great interview and for your time. We are very happy to call you part of the ETS family. We wish you nothing but the best, and most of all, good luck and success on the track!
Joshua – I also thank you for your attention and wish all riders of RC Sport good luck and fun at the track.
Hanno van den Boogaard once again edited a nice video clip from the ETS in Germany . Enjoy some impressions and let us take you back to the action and experiences from ETS RD3 at Arena33. Once again, thanks to Hanno from RC Race Video! Enjoy the some highlights from ETS RD3 again:
In our series of “Young Guns” Interview we are presenting you our young drivers attending the Euro Touring Series. One of them is Nele Knodel from Rechenberg (Baden-Wurttemberg) Germany. We took some time to talk to Nele about RC racing and her life beside the racetrack. Enjoy another ETS “Young Guns” Interview.
ETS – Hello Nele, great that you took the time for us. How are you doing after your last ETS race in Andernach?
Nele – Thank you, I’m doing very well. I am still enjoying the holidays at home 🙂
ETS – You finished 15th in the Arena33, which was certainly not a bad result in a strong field of drivers. How did the race go from your point of view?
Nele – Actually, I am quite satisfied with the result. Surely it could have been a bit better, but I’m already looking ahead to the next one.
ETS – When did you start with the RC hobby and on which race track did you do your first, real laps?
Nele – I started, when I was 10 years old, on the indoor track of the Mini Car Club Crailsheim e.V.
ETS – Can you still remember your first remote-controlled car?
Nele – Yes for sure, it was a Tamiya TT-02 that my dad built for me. A great car to get started back in these days!
ETS – You live in Rechenberg, a small town in Baden-Württemberg. Are there many clubs and race tracks in your area? Do you belong to a club, if so which one?
Nele – Unfortunately, most of the tracks are a bit further away from us. I belong to the Mini Car Club Crailsheim e.V. and the RC MSC Greuthof. We race indoors in Crailsheim and outdoors in Greuthof most of the time.
ETS – Who do you usually travel with to the races? Do you also work on the set-up of your cars yourself, or do you have someone who does that for you?
Nele – I always go to the races with my dad. I do some of the setup work myself, only when it gets too complicated I still need some support.
ETS – Do you train often, or do you try to do as many races as possible?
Nele – In the summer months we usually only race, in the winter we often train on Saturday or Sunday on the indoor carpet track in Crailsheim.
ETS – What is your favourite race track, and why?
Nele – I don’t really have a favourite track, but I really enjoy racing in Bad Berneck at the Race Arena. It’s not a very big track, but it’s challenging.
ETS – The races of the Euro Touring Series are special just because of their size. Do you also race in other, smaller races? Do you remember where you did your first race?
Nele – Yes, I mostly race at smaller races like the RCK Challenge, RCK Kleinserie, TC Indoor Masters and ToniSport Onroad Series. My first race was at the age of 11 in Plauen where I started in the Rookie class at the LRP-HPI Challenge (Rookie).
ETS – What cars do you currently have in your fleet, and why did you choose these cars in particular?
Nele – I just switched from ARC to Awesomatix A800MMX because I wanted a new challenge. So far, I am really pleased with the handling and the speed of my A800MMX.
ETS – What fascinates you most about RC car driving?
Nele – I like the technology, how the whole thing has to be built up and coordinated with each other.
ETS – As you can easily see, the boys outnumber the boys at ETS. Is it an additional incentive for you to beat the boys in the races?
Nele – To be honest, a little bit 😊.
ETS – You are currently still a schoolgirl! Do you have any plans or career aspirations for the future?
Nele – I don’t have any career aspirations yet. My plan is to successfully complete my ABI in 2 years and then I will see 🙂
ETS – Do you have any other hobbies besides RC car racing that you do in your spare time? On your social media profile you can be seen with a horse – another great passion of yours?
Nele – Yes it is a big passion for me. Usually, I go riding with the horse two or three times a week.
ETS – When you talk to your friends about your RC car hobby, how do you explain to them what exactly you do? What do your friends say about it?
Nele – Often my friends don’t talk about it, but when they do, most of them are fascinated by it.
ETS – Is there any kind of role model for you in RC car racing? Or drivers you particularly enjoy watching drive?
Nele – I don’t really have a role model. But of course I like to watch the fast experienced drivers.
ETS – Nele, thank you very much for this great interview and your time. We are very happy to call you part of the ETS family. We wish you all the best, and most of all good luck and success on the track!
Nele – You’re very welcome, and thank you very much.
The Euro Touring Series only grew and got as famous as it is nowadays , because the crew around Scotty Ernst and Uwe Rheinard always aimed for the best experience for all drivers. It is not a secret that our racing format is not super exciting to watch before we head into the finals – especially when somebody is watching without having all the knowledge about RC racing in detail. At the last race in Andernach, we made a test run to try something new at the ETS. We will discuss in the next months, if something like that should be implemented into our series for the next season!
Super Pole – a spectacle in the world of nitro onroad racing
The Super Pole is a fixed size at all major events in the world of nitro onroad racing. The TQ is set for the main final and is not running in the semi finals. A huge benefit, as semi finals are always an additional risk of not making the final because of crashes, technical problems, and bad luck. That means, even if you had qualified second, you still can lose everything in the semi finals! In the Super Pole, the drivers who have qualified from second to fifth on the grid (4 drivers) are on the line. Everybody is driving alone on the track, and gets for example 5 laps to drive. The fastest lap is counting to the decide the Super Pole winner. A lot of pressure and attention to each driver on the drivers stand – and a great show with everyody watching around the track. The winner of the Super Pole earns second on the grid behind the TQ and doesn`t need to run in the semi finals as well. That is what makes the super pole so attractice in Nitro racing!
What is our idea of a “Electric Super Pole”?
Our idea is, to do a super pole run with the top 3 or top 5 after qualifying, before the A-Main finals. But as we don`t like to change the starting grid with this super pole (like in nitro), we are thinking of an “Additional Championship Point” for the winner of the super pole. One point can be very important at the sharp end of the championship, and this kind of format could bring some more heat to every ETS event.
Watch the video!
How does it work?
We will do it in the same way as in Nitro. Everybody gets one warmup lap before then driving 3, or 5 fast laps on track. We will count the fastest 2 laps to make it even more important to not only nail one perfect lap. The winner of the Super Pole gets one extra point for the championship. Until now, it is only an idea, and nothing is decided yet. But we did a test run at Arena33 during ETS RD3 with the top 3 of the Awesomatix Pro Stock class after qualifying. Max Mächler (TQ), Simon Lauter (2nd), and Jan Ratheisky (3rd) had been on the line and Jan Ratheisky drove the fastest laps, winning the Super Pole test run. He would have earned the “extra point” for the championship in this case. Watch our video to see what was going on in Andernach. By the way: The drivers must do their laps in the opposite direction as racing goes – not an easy task without any practice 🙂
What do you think?
Would you like to see this format at the ETS? leave some comments below the video or below our social media posting on Facebook. Maybe you will race in the Super Pole at the ETS one day 🙂
The third round of ETS Season #15 was a huge success. With 190 entries, it was another strong turnout and the ETS crew around Uwe Rheinard and Scotty Ernst did what they are best at: Organizing great weekends of RC racing! Against the forecast, the weather was almost on point for the whole weekend. Drivers only faced a quick shower on Friday morning.
Team and driver performances
Now it is time to review the race results of the top drivers and teams at ETS Season #15 2022/23. We saw most of the top drivers form RD1 and RD2 on track with some others joining again. Let`s read what the teams and drivers achieved at Arena33 in Germany!
Matrix Modified and Awesomatix Pro Stock
Rheinard finally wins in Modified while Mächler defends Pro Stock championship lead
Awesomatix was the brand of the weekend. The team dominated all touring car classes, claimed 5 pole positions and 5 overall wins. That was the strongest, and most dominant performance we have ever seen at the ETS from one brand. Team manager Max Mächler was very proud and happy in his social media postings after the race, and who can blame him for that 😊. He was happy about still being the championship leader in the Awesomatix ProStock class, but he was even more delighted about the results of his team drivers. With six cars in the Pro Stock A-Main, and another three cars in the Matrix Modified A-Main the Awesomatix A800MMX was the car of choice for 40% of the top drivers in both A-Mains in Andernach.
Marc Rheinard found his way back to winning in the Matrix Modified class again and took maximum points for the championship which is still wide open after we saw three different winners at the first three races (Prümper, Krapp, Rheinard) of the current season. Rheinard is now sitting in second behind Krapp in the rankings (tied on points with Völker)!
A perfect momentum for Rheinard to get back into a winning rhythm, especially when we keep in mind that the IFMAR worlds in Italy is only three weeks away from us. Rheinard`s teammate Lucas Urbain also showed an amazing performance at Arena33 where he was top seed for qualifying after practice. In the end, Lucas finished sixth after not getting everything together during the race. But pace wise he was right there. Michele Manzo made the bump-up from the B-Main and was the third Awesomatix driver in the Modified A-Main.
In the ProStock class, Mächler won ahead of reigning champion and Awesomatix teammate Simon Lauter. Both showed great racing in the finals where they had been able to hold off a hard challenging Xray driver Jan Ratheisky. Alex Kunkler finished fourth overall in his last race for Awesomatix, and Olivier Bultynck (8th), Louis Kretschmer (9th), and Frederik Mikkelsen (11th) completed the top result for Awesomatix at the German ETS. Let´s see how the team will do at the next ETS in Luxembourg. Right now, it is hard to imagine that they will lose performance on the way!
Double podium in Modified, double A-Main in Pro Stock – the BD11 is on the run!
Team Yokomo was the surprise of the season so far. Nobody really expected Yannic Prümper and Christopher Krapp to win the first two races in the Netherlands and in Austria. As the Arena33 racetrack is completely different when we compare it with Apeldoorn and Aigen-Schlägl, people had been very interested to find out how the BD11 would perform at the flat, and very smooth asphalt in Andernach. And the BD11 did amazingly well again.
Yannic Prümper and Christopher Krapp had been right on pace from the start of practice, and Prümper only missed the overall TQ by a very small margin to Rheinard. Prümper and Krapp started from second and third into the finals and finished in the same order behind the race winner. They missed just a little bit this weekend, but their double podium finish was never in danger during the triple A-Mains. Enrico Jung had a strong qualifying session as well and booked 6th on the grid, which he only lost (back to P9) because of a controversial time penalty after leaving the track. Frederik Hovgaard bumped up into the A-Main and showed that he can be the desired reinforcement for Enrico Jung in the Awesomatix ProStock class. Overall, the Yokomo team made a very smart and strong impression again, and now we can be pretty sure that Krapp and Prümper will fight for the overall title until the very end of the season. The team will also travel to Italy for the IFMAR worlds in September to show the strength of the BD11 on the Gubbio track!
Völker fourth overall in Modified after average weekend while best Mugen driver finishes P15 in ProStock
Last season, the Arena33 was in the hands of Mugen Seiki`s Ronald Völker. He won the first two races of the season with his MTC2 in Andernach, and nobody was able to challenge him seriously for these wins. This time, the expectations to Mugen and Völker had been the same. All eyes had been on a fight between Rheinard and Völker, as they finished first and second at the German nationals two weeks earlier. But for some reason, Völker was not on pace for winning the race all weekend long. His car looked fine on track but just missed a little bit of corner speed in the slower sections of the track.
Völker and his mechanic Robert Pietsch tried different setups to extract more performance from their car, but in the end Völker qualified only fifth on the grid. In the finals, he was able to improve up to fourth after he made two great passes on Xray`s Marco Kaufmann who started right ahead of Völker. In the first A-Main it was a sensational and risky pass at full throttle on the main straight, and in A3 the Mugen driver overtook Kaufmann at the slowest part of the track – in the tight centre chicane. It was great to watch and Völker got some extra applause for that but in the end, he was not very satisfied with the overall outcome of the weekend.
Mugen Seiki teammate Eric Dankel qualified for the A-Main for a sixth time in a row now and scored his best ETS overall result since years with P7 overall. Eric had some amazing fights with Ratheisky, Orlowski, and Urbain in the finals and showed that he is in a great form. In the Awesomatix ProStock class, Mugen Seiki is still in need of a top driver and potential and frequent A-Main contender. No MTC2 car was in the A-Main while the best Mugen Drivers finished in the B-Main with Nicolas Delisé (15th), youngster Maximilian Unterschütz (16th), and Kevin Sparbier (17th). Let`s see if the team can improve at the next race in Luxembourg. Mugen Designer Robert Pietsch and Ronald Völker will now start to prepare for the upcoming IFMAR world championships in Italy where they want to fight for the title for sure!
Ratheisky with strong podium finish in Pro Stock but Xray far away from winning in Modified
In the Awesomatix ProStock class, Jan Ratheisky was in contention again after missing out the last couple of ETS races due to different reasons. Jan was immediately back on pace, and he won the third round of qualifying with his Xray X4. He started behind the Awesomatix duo of Lauter and Mächler, and it looked like his car had the pace to win the race as well. But as Jan was all on his own out front (Awesomatix driver Kunkler started from P4 behind him), he had no chance to win against the Awesomatix team in Andernach. But it was great to see Jan`s incredible driving skills on track and he showed that the Xray car can fight for the win. The last win for Xray happened at Arena33 last summer when Alexandre Duchet won RD1 and RD2 of the last season. Since then, we saw six races without an Xray win in the ProStock class at the ETS. A series which we never saw before from Xray in the history of the Euro Touring Series until today. Lukas Ellerbrock drove the second Xray car in the A-Main and finished sixth overall. He is a very reliable driver for Xray with constant A-Main appearances at the ETS.
In the Matrix Modified class, Marco Kaufmann was the “hot shot” for Xray at Arena33. Marco had a great qualifying and started from fourth place on the grid. He finished sixth overall after Völker passed him two times in a world class way, but Marco can be very proud of his performance all weekend long. Jan Ratheisky and Patrick Gollner made it into the big show too, and the Xray team had a solid number of three cars in the Matrix Modified A-Main. But as in ProStock – a win seems to be far away right now with Xray not sending Bruno Coelho and Alex Hagberg to the races this season. Xray, Hagberg, and Coelho are fully focused on the IFMAR world championships in Italy where they want nothing else than winning the biggest title in 1:10 scale electric touring car racing.
Orlowski is fast as soon as he picks up a radio
Schumacher factory driver Michal Orlowski was at Arena33 with his Mi8 touring car and had the assistance of engineer Andy Murray and his father on his side. Michal was very fast all weekend and was seventh after practice, seventh after qualifying, and eight overall in the Matrix Modified class. His pace sometimes was even better that the overall result, but in the end, he can be proud of himself and the Schumacher car. Being all alone at such a big race is always difficult as you must do all the setup work alone on track, but Michal is such a good driver, and he did pretty well out there. He will race at the worlds in Italy too, and it wouldn`t be a surprise to see him in the A-Main there for Schumacher.
Another ProStock A-Main for Serpent and Sparbier
The new Serpent car is not playing a big role right now in the Modified class as Serpent has no top Modified driver competing at the ETS now. But in the Awesomatix ProStock class, it was once again Sören Sparbier who drove into the A-Main with the new Serpent Medius X20`23. Sören made a big step forward in the last year and took a strong seventh place overall after only starting tenth on the grid. Let`s see if he will get some team members in the future to score even better results for Serpent!
Championship leader Olsen with a weekend to forget, while fabulous Freddy Südhoff putting on a show
In the Hobbywing Frontwheel class, we saw Steven Olsen having a “bad” weekend for his standards. The championship leader didn`t get into the groove this time at Arena33. He only qualified 10th on the grid and was able to recover a little bit in the finals finishing 7th in the end. Not the result Olsen had hoped for, but he is still on top of the board in the overall standings and can fight for the title until the end of the season. Stefan Schulz, who was so dominant at RD2 in Austria, struggled also during the weekend and walked away from Arena33 with a fifth place in his bag.
As the two top drivers of the class had some problems, it was the show of Freddy Südhoff, Sören Sparbier, Roman Borschel, and Kevin Sparbier out front. Südhoff returned to RC racing after not touching a radio for two years and he had some amazing nose to tail fights with the other guys around him. Freddy drove a perfect race with his loan Awesomatix A800FX Evo, and his beautiful body shell in the “Castrol Honda” design. Sören Sparbier was on the same pace with his Serpent car and Roman Borschel (Awesomatix) and Kevin Sparbier (Mugen Seiki) had also been able to match the lap times of Südhoff. We saw amazing fights in all A-Mains and the FWD class once again showed why so many people are loving these cars so much. There was no car or manufacturer which seemed to have a clear advantage over another, it all came down to the driver`s performance on track.
Close battles in the Master`s class as Stankowitz takes first big win of his career
The ToniSport 40+ Masters class is the very competitive racing class for drivers with the age of 40+ at the ETS. A perfect class for many very experienced and fast onroad racers. This time, it was the weekend of Manuel Stankowitz. He was very close to winning for a several times in the last 2 years, and last weekend everything came together for him. He was able to start from pole position and sealed the deal with a win in A1 and A3. His Awesomatix A800MMX performed great in combination with the new Protoform P63 body, and Stankowitz was very delighted and exhausted when he recognized that he had just won hie first ETS after the third final.
Behind Stankowitz, the Xray duo of Caspar Morgen (2nd) and Mirco Thalheimer (3rd) joined him on the podium after some good battles on track. Caspar was able to win A2 when Stankowitz crashed and had a serious shot for the win when A3 was on the line, a great result for Morgen. Mirco Thalheimer secured his second podium in a row after finishing second in Austria.
For Patrick Beck (ETS race reporter), it was the first time he raced in the Master`s class. He told us that the switch from Modified to 17.5 was not easy for him without any practice, but he was also happy with his result beside working on the computer for most of the time during the weekend. His teammates cared about his car, and he just drove – not a bad result to finish fourth. Let`s see what he can do with his Mugen Seiki MTC2 in the next races.
For championship leader Toni Mateo, it was a weekend to forget. He had some trouble in qualifying and in the finals and finished only in sixth position. He is still on top in the championship, but Stankowitz is only two points behind and will try to take over the lead until the end of the season. Car wise, we saw 7 Awesomatix A800MMX cars on the grid, mixed up by three Xray X4 (Mirco Thalheimer, Caspar Morgen, Flavio Paladin) and one Mugen Seiki MTC2 (Patrick Beck).
Kölbel still leading the championship with third place finish behind the epic battle of Stiebler and Ratheisky
In the Scorpion Formula class, Jan Ratheisky stamped some authority on the class he dominated for many years. He wasn`t racing at the last three ETS races, and other drivers like Luke Lee, René Kölbel, and Andreas Stiebler all won their first ETS races in the absence of Ratheisky. Everybody was excited about the race and the drivers didn`t disappoint the crowd around the trach and in front of the live streams. Ratheisky, Stiebler, and Kölbel qualified from first to third on the grid and we saw two outstanding Formula A-Mains between Ratheisky and Stiebler. It was the new Xray X1-23 against the Schumacher Icon2, and Andreas was pushing Jan around the track in a very impressive and respectful way. Ratheisky celebrated a well-deserved race win and Andreas Stiebler was happy because of the great show they delivered on track.
The A-Main of the Scorpion Formula class was mostly in the hands of Xray with six cars on the grid. The rest was a mix of Schumacher, Exotek, and Libar Engineering. It seems that all drivers are now dealing better and better with the foam tires which is simply great to see!
Imperfect weekend for Reile and Pöhlmann as Donath, Fernandez, and Winkler produced the show
Dominik Reile and Daniel Pöhlmann (both with Awesomatix A800MMX) are racing very close with each other at the ETS since many years – mostly for positions on the podium. At ETS RD3 in Andernach, they finished right behind each other again, but only in seventh (Reile), and eight (Pöhlmann) position. Both drivers had a weekend to forget, and we can be pretty sure about this race being one their throw out results in the championship. Reile is still leading the championship, but his margin over new second placed Jasmin Donath is at ONE point only. Daniel Pöhlmann is sitting in third place, but he is already some points behind the leading duo. Pöhlmann will need a TQ and win in one of the next races if he likes to get back into the fight for the title again.
With Reile and Pöhlmann struggling during the weekend, the show was all about TQ Alvaro Fernandez from Gran Canaria, and Jasmin Donath and Joshua Winkler from Germany. Alvaro quickly found a good rhythm on the track which has a similar layout to his home track in Telde (Gran Canaria). He was able to secure himself the pole position in qualifying, with Joshua Winkler and Jasmin Donath lining up right behind him. Alvaro Fernandez had some real bad luck in the finals. In the first leg he got a small touch from Winkler and was out of contention, in the second run he made a huge mistake all by himself and this denied him the overall win in Andernach.
The rest is history: Jasmin Donath celebrated her first ever ETS win in front of Joshua Winkler, who also drove a brilliant race. It was awesome to see these young teenagers going for it, especially Jasmin Donath`s defensive driving against Dominik Reile in A1 was worth the money 😊 Congratulations to all A-Main drivers of our Orca 17.5 Stock class – you did awesome! We saw eight (!) Awesomatix A800MMX cars in the A-Main, together with one Tamiya TRF 420X (Dominik Ruf), a Serpent Medius X20-23 (Christian Lütjen), and a Mugen Seiki MTC2 in the hands of Niclas Storm.
Next stop for the ETS is RD4 at LMCC Luxembourg
The ETS circus will meet again from 22. – 25. September 2022 at the amazing track in Luxembourg. The race will take place just one week after the IFMAR worlds in Gubbio/Italy. The Euro Touring Series would like to take the chance to wish all participants from the ETS family the best of luck and a great time at the Gubbio track. Enjoy the worlds and go for it. We will see us in Luxembourg for ETS RD4 Season #15 2022/23.
Uwe, Scotty, and the whole ETS crew!
If you like to sign up for ETS RD4 in Luxembourg, just click here:
At ETS RD3 Season #15 2022/23, Jan Ratheisky was in attendence. Nothing special in the first moment as Jan is a well-known, and super fast racer since many, many years at the Euro Touring Series. But this time, he brought his whole family to the race for the first time – and they ALL raced with us. Jan`s wife Svantje, and the children Emely and Marlon raced together in the Hobbywing Frontwheel class, while Kai Asmer (Jan`s father) was throwing it down in the Scorpion Formula class. It was great to see Jan working hard for his family, coordinating everything with all the cars and the time schedule, and racing THREE classes himself. That was a master class from the Ratheisky Family. By the way: Jan made the A-Main in all the classes ha raced in (Modified, ProStock, and Formula). He finished 9th in Modified, 3rd in Pro Stock, and he won the Formula race to crown a perfect weekend.
During the trophy ceremony, the Ratheisky`s got awarded with the “Spirit of the Event” trophy. A whole family racing RC cars together is something we would like to see more often at our races – the Ratheisky`s showed that it can be a lot of fun! Jan was so kind to send us a detailed report about the weekend of the Ratheisky`s and we like to share it with you today:
Last weekend it finally was time for the first ETS where my whole family could take part as we luckily still had school holidays in Lower Saxony. We arrived on Saturday afternoon before the event, and we could run in and tune our cars a little bit. Since my F1 worked very well at the German nationals, I didn’t test it any further, but only installed the ETS combo. As the track was closed for ETS participants from Monday we used the time to maintain the cars. Washing ball bearings, oiling, adjusting, and replacing defective parts. And yes, a lot of things came together 😊 Since we had a total of three days before the race, we were able to spend a nice day at Phantasialand (huge amusement park), which was a nice change and surprise for my children. About the race: As expected, our training started full of stress as the training runs were quite short and we could therefore race very often. This is of course positive. For me as a driver of 3 classes and mechanic for my family of course an exhausting task. The family did well, but unfortunately some parts broke, so Stefan Schulz was kind enough to help repairing the cars of the kids or my wife. Since the pace of the F1 was still quite good, I just sauceded the tyres and charged the battery. I must mention here that my daughter helped as much as she could and always did the tire saucing 😊 From Friday on, the gap to P2 (Andreas Stiebler) became much thinner and I had to get to work on the setup. As usual, some changes worked well, others were a complete disaster. The foam rubber tyres run great. However, the setup is quite different from the rubber tyres. I think we all must learn that again! There is not much more to report from the F1 point of view. I think that Andreas and I were on the same level from Friday onwards and didn’t give each other a millimetre. It was exciting in every preliminary heat and every final. My hats off to Andreas at this point. Super driving! In the end, I was able to block him successfully in both finals and thus secure the victory. In Modified I made the A-Main and had some really cool fights on track. The same in Pro Stock where I was in the mix for the overall TQ and win, in the end I finihsed third after great racing with Simon Lauter! From the family’s point of view, the race was up and down. They enjoyed it extremely to be able to participate in the ETS and felt very welcome from the beginning. To elaborate a bit on the race… My son struggled with concentration, the course and getting through 5min without dropping out. My wife did well but as soon as the race started the mistakes started. It’s a bit different from a club run in Braunschweig 😊. But somehow you have to gain experience. Things went differently for my daughter Emely. She was very concentrated in the preliminary heat and missed the C final by only 2 places. Unfortunately, the dream of a bump up was shattered after a crash at the start. She did her best but unfortunately it was not enough. In the two other finals she was unfortunately also involved in accidents again and again. She simply doesn’t know such situations and still must learn. When others hit her car, she simply stopped to avoid hitting another car. This is a good attitude, but we will work on it😊 All in all I am very happy to have taken part in an ETS again and that my family enjoyed it as much as I did. I am happy to announce that I will be competing again in Luxembourg. Although this time without my family as the holidays are unfortunately over for my children at the end of this week. Of course, again in 3 classes as it should be 😊 Thanks to all Xray drivers for teh great atmpsphere in the pits and for welcoming my family so warmly! ALL IN OR NOTHING !!
The third round of the Euro Touring Series in Andernach (Arena33) was another amazing ETS event. At every race, there are some things to talk about afterwards, and here are the 5 things we learned from ETS RD3 at Arena33…
1) Awesomatix and Marc Rheinard finally “clicked” at the ETS
Marc Rheinard is one of the most successful RC racers of all time – no doubt about that. When the five times IFMAR world champion joined Awesomatix at the beginning of 2020 after racing for Infinity before, most people thought that Rheinard would win ETS races immediately with the Awesomatix car. At the first race in Daun he was very close, his win only got denied by Ronald Völker who was wheeling a Yokomo car back in these days. Marc had a lot of good races, was close to some overall TQ`s a several times, but somehow it didn`t happen for the Rheinard/Awesomatix combination at the Euro Touring Series. The first big win happened, when Marc took the overall victory at the famous GP3F in Longwy (France) at the end of the carpet season in March 2022. The German nationals title, just two weeks before the ETS in Andernach (on the same track) was Reinhard’s second win for Awesomatix – and his first official title for the RC brand of Russian design genius Oleg Babich.
At last weekend`s ETS at Arena33, we saw an incredibly strong driving Marc Rheinard and an also strong looking Awesomatix team. Finally, everything “clicked” and came together at one weekend of ETS racing. Marc was very happy, and it was easy to see that the win meant a lot for him afterwards. It took him 10 attempts to do it – but now he finally won an ETS race with his current A800MMX ca.r A car, which his excellent mechanic and Awesomatix tech supporter Tim Wahl prepared perfectly for the track in Andernach. Next up is the IFMAR worlds in Italy and we expect Rheinard to be “motivated like hell” when he will start his journey to Gubbio in September. Good luck Marc!
[the_ad_group id=”141″]
2) Jasmin Donath is the youngest, and first female ETS race winner!
We saw a lot of emotions in the last 30 seconds of the second A-Main in the Orca 17.5 Stock class when young Jasmin Donath was leading the race. Some of her friends and teammates started to clap and cheer, while she was still some corners away from sealing the overall victory. As she crossed the line, all spectators celebrated with her, and all of her contenders came to congratulate her directly – great sportsmanship from everybody!
It was a great day for the young lady from Berlin, and she recognized afterwards that it was a piece of ETS history that had happened on this sunny day in Andernach. Jasmin Donath became the youngest ETS race winner, and the first female ETS race winner in the same moment. The whole ETS crew once again says: Congratulations Jasmin, that was EPIC! Keep up the pace and you will succeed again in the future!
3) Protoform P63 body wins two classes at ETS debut
One of the most iconic body shell manufacturers in RC it the US based company Protoform. Founded by Dale Epp in 1991, the company established itself in the world of RC racing quickly. Especially in the 1:10 and 1:12 electric classes, Protoform was “the brand to use” for many years. They won multiple world championship titles, and body shells like the Mazda Speed 6 and the LTC-R had been the choice of all top drivers for over a decade. But as the market for body shells started to change quickly in the last years, and the Protoform company got taken over by Horizon Hobby, it got a little bit too quiet around Protoform.
But now, Protoform is back with their all new P63 touring car body. A nice-looking shell that follows the actual trend of the market. It was in use at the ETS for the first time during last weekend`s race in Germany from a lot of drivers and the P63 earned TWO wins at his ETS debut – not a bad quote! Manuel Stankowitz won the ToniSport 40´Masters class with the P63, and Jasmin Donath won the Orca 17.5 Stock category with the new Protoform shell. The P63 is one more top option which the drivers can choose from the ETS list of body shells now and Protoform is right back in the game!
[the_ad_group id=”145″]
4) RC driving skills do not get lost
Fabolous Freddy Südhoff attended Arena33 and wheeled an Awesomatix A800FX Evo. It was the first time he races RC cars since his retirement from our sport two years ago. We all know that Freddy was one of the fastest touring car racers on the planet (4th at the 2018 IFMAR worlds in South Africa) during his career, and everybody expected him to be fast at Arena33.
However, Freddy was a little nervous coming back to the track with zero preparation. He told us that his main goal was “just having some fun with friends”, but as soon as the racing got underway, he was back in competition mode and drove like he had never been away from RC. He adapted quickly to the slower FWD class and showed that “quality never gets lost” while he was leading the first and second A-Main under enormous pressure from Sören Sparbier, Roman Borschel, and Kevin Sparbier. Freddy, it was a pleasure to have you with us again and we hope for another “one race comeback” very soon 😊
5) Joshua Winkler – One to Watch
Jasmin Donath won the race in the Orca 17.5 Stock class, eclipsing everything else at ETS RD3. But there was another driver which was absolutely on fire – Joshua Winkler. He qualified second on the grid behind Alvaro Fernandez from Gran Canaria. Fernandez himself is a well-known racer and always in the mix for podium positions at Spanish national races. Alvaro missed some racing luck in the finals and missed the podium with P4 in the end.
The seventeen year old Joshua Winkler did amazingly well. He TQ’ed the second round of qualifying and lined his Awesomatix A800MMX up in second position on the 11 car A-Main grid. He had great races and fights with Fernandez, Donath, and Borschel and finished second overall at his second ever ETS race. Winkler made his ETS debut at RD2 in Aigen-Schlägl where he was able to draw attention to himself for the first time with a solid P6 in the A-Main. We are sure that we will see more from Joshua in the future and therefore we awarded him with the “One to Watch” trophy at Area33. Joshua, we are looking forward to your next performance at the Euro Touring Series!
Pictures: RC-Cars-Pics (Chris Sandner) ETS (Bildwald) Manuel Stankowitz
The dust has settled, and ETS RD3 is in the books! After everybody left Arena33 in Andernach, our media team was still about to catch some statements from the top drovers of all classes which we saw winning big. Between packing, traveling,, driving, flying, or going to work on monday morning, we got some response from most of the drivers we contacted. Here are their thoughts about ETS RD3 Season #15 2022/23 at Arena33 in Andernach, GER.
Marc Rheinard – winner of the Matrix Modified class in Andernach
The weekend was just what we hoped for after the German nationals where we also won the race. We had a lot of confidence from the beginning on because our cars worked pretty well. Not only my car – all of our cars were fighting for top spots in all of the ETS touring car classes. All pole positions got taken by our team and we won ALL the classes too – I am super proud of everybody as that was just outstanding. The whole event was well organized, and luckily the weather was with us too. My own race went just perfect in the finals where I took the win in A1 and A2. This win gives me a lot of confidence for the next weeks, especially in preparation for the IFMAR worlds in Italy. My whole electronic package with the Orca power and PowerHD steering was on point and I couldn`t ask for more. With three different winners in the Modified class this season, the championship is still wide open and is as thrilling as it wasn’t for some years. Now it is time to relax as I will not drive anymore before the worlds. My team will get my cars ready, and I will fully focus to be there when the first practice will start on the Gubbio track in Italy. See you at the IFMAR worlds!
Marc Rheinard (DE) Awesomatix/Orca
[the_ad_group id=”144″]
Yannic Prümper – second placed driver in the Matrix Modified class at Arena33
Overall, I am satisfied with the final result. But at the same time, I am a bit disappointed because I missed the TQ by only 0.15 seconds due to small driving mistakes. Unfortunately, I have to say that my driving was not at its best in Qualifying! The performance of our BD11 was again very strong here in Andernach. That was very important for us to see, as the two previous ETS circuits in Apeldoorn and Aigen were very different. Looking ahead to the IFMAR worlds in Gubbio (Italy), I am also very optimistic and I hope that we, as Team Yokomo, can be very competitive there as well.
Yannic Prümper (DE) Yokomo/Dash
Max Mächler – winner of the Awesomatix ProStock class at the German ETS
All in all a perfect weekend for Awesomatix and myself! Once again a great organised event with great action on the track. Very emotional weekend for me as Team Manager of Awesomatix, as its the first time we ever saw our car on top in ALL touring car classes! This means a lot to me and also to Oleg and whole Awesomatix company. In this way we also wanna thank the ETS Orga to give racers and brands a great platform to compete with each other at the highest level. See you all soon again in Luxemburg!
Max Mächler (DE) Awesomatix/Sunpadow
Freddy Südhoff – winner of the Hobbywing Frontwheel class in Andernach
What a weekend it was! After not having a radio for more than 2 years in hands it felt nice to be back on track, meeting all racing friends again. Max contacted me some weeks ago and asked if I want to join a race. I have chosen the FWD class as I really like the spirit and look of the cars. Timm Ohlef was so nice to do a phenomenal paint job and I was rocking the Castrol Toyota Corolla, including side mirrors 🙂 I was not sure about my pace as I knew how competitive and tricky this class is but the car was running great from the beginning and with the help of some FWD experts I could improve run by run. I really enjoyed the close racing with both Sparbier brothers, Roman and Stefan! Crazy how close and fair racing can be done with these cars, winning both first A Mains with less then a tenth advantage! Thanks for this beautiful weekend. Until then, Freddy!
Freddy Südhoff (DE) Awesomatix/Sunpadow
[the_ad_group id=”145″]
Manuel Stankowitz – winner of the ToniSport 40+ Masters class at ETS RD3
My car was running well from the start and I drove with the new Protoform P63 body which felt great in practice. As I didn’t have a good feeling about the weather forecast for Saturday, I already used both new sets of tyres in Q1 and Q2 on Friday evening to get good results. With a bit of luck, I was on pole position at the end of the heats. A good starting position, but only half the battle. I haven’t shaken as much as I did in the first final heat for a long time….but I managed to win it. In the second A-Main I was even more nervous and unfortunately made a “stupid” mistake. Caspar was able to win this run. In the third final, I focused absolutely, and it actually worked – I won the heat and the overall race, unbelievable!!! No kidding, winning the first A final already felt good, but to walk off the driver’s stand as the overall winner in the end is something unbelievably awesome. Thanks to everyone who supported me – especially Tim Benson, who I’ve learned so much from over the years!
Manuel Stankowitz (DE) Awesomatix/Orca
[the_ad_group id=”143″]
Jasmin Donath – winner of the Orca 17.5 Stock class at Arena33
On Sunday after the victory, I was very happy and also upset. Everyone was happy with me. I was very happy, especially when Scotty said, that I was the youngest winner and also the first girl / woman winner at the ETS. Through all the photos at the end of the ETS and congratulations and conversations you slowly realised what had happened a few hours ago. At home, I had to explain everything in more detail and show photos to my parents, who unfortunately couldn’t come along. But even on Monday morning, which was also the new start of the school year, I noticed that I was still so excited inside. Even on the second day afterwards, I think about it a lot and enjoy all the pictures and videos that are now on the web. I found the whole weekend very successful. The course was great. The catering was great. The event was great. I would like to thank my fellow competitors who all rode fairly and had fun together with great racing action and I hope that we will meet like this on the track a few more times. I hope that we can share many more of these moments of joy with our amazing hobby.
Jasmin Donath (DE) Awesomatix/GensAce
We sat on the couch in front of the livestream all weekend and watched every run with great anticipation. It was so exciting to sit at home and wonder what the atmosphere must have been like on site. We were very excited at each of Jasmin’s races. There were tears of joy at the finals, and even more so when she crossed the finish line in A2. It was just mega great and we were as happy as little children. The first really important big race won under these conditions! Simply great! She told us at home who all helped her, I was touched, there are so many people who helped her beforehand. Many THANKS !
Parents of Jasmin Donath
Jan Ratheisky – winer of the Scorpion Formula class in Andernach
I think that from Friday at the latest, Andreas and I were completely on a par and didn’t give each other a millimetre. Everyqualifying heat and every final was extremely exciting. My hats off to Andreas at this point. He drove superb! In the end, I was able to block him in the first two finals to secure the overall victory.The foam rubber tyres run great. However, the setup is quite different from the rubber tyres. I think there is still a lot to learn in the future.
