Orlowski is finally a World Champion
He has been a heavy weight in electric onroad and offroad for the last decade but today was the day he finally took the sport’s biggest prize, Michal Orlowski is the 2023 IFMAR 1:12 World Champion. Having secured the overall TQ at the previous edition of the sports oldest World Championship category but missing out on the win to Marc Rheinard, today the Schumacher switched the 2020 order taking victory at Beachline Raceway ahead of Rheinard and 2018 World Champion Alexander Hagberg. With Top Qualifier Kemp Anderson winning A1, ahead of Rheinard and Orlowski, a win in A2 by the Polish ace set the stage for an A3 title showdown. With a highly anticipating crowd looking on having experienced some mental defying display of racing skills in the first two A-Mains, A3 was to start with a bang literally. On the tone Anderson’s car didn’t leave the line and starting directly behind Rheinard a huge impact in the rear of the stricken car. The race effectively decided on the spot as No.2 starter Orlowski was able to break clear followed by Hagberg who did have the pace to mount a challenge for the lead. While Rheinard tried to continue his car was badly tweaked and he eventually pulled up. Unfortunately for Anderson, despite showing his massive talents in qualifying and A1, the A3 DNF together with his A2 DNF meant he goes into the IFMAR history books as the 6th place finisher.
Reacting to finally achieving the greatest prize on offer in the sport, Orlowski said, ‘I don’t know what to say. I am lost for words. All my life I came back from Worlds and said to my dad ‘It never clicks and comes together for me’. I have been on World podiums 3 times, I have always been close, like the last time in 1:12, but there are always problems. I though it was going to continue today when I was passing Kemp in A1 and my car shoot off into the boards but I kept my head down’. On A3, the 22-year-old said, ‘I was feeling good before the run. We made a small change after A2 and in the warm-up it felt perfect. Then at the start my Christmas came early. It was tough luck for Marc and Kemp on their side but I have had the same luck before. I was so relieved to get to the finish, winning a World title is a huge weight off my shoulders’. After making a call home to his father, who was an instrumental figure in nurturing Michal into a world class racer, Michal wanted to thank Schumacher designer Andy Murray and his team-mate Ollie Payne for their input into the event. ‘I had other commitments in other classes so they came to US 2-weeks early when I couldn’t. Ollie built me a completely new car and prepared 8 bodies of which I destroyed all but one’. With this event marking his 34th racing weekend of the year, he said it’s a nice way to wrap up the season and he’s looking forward to a break for Christmas and the New Year.
‘I didn’t even see him, I just drove straight’, was how Rheinard described the start line chaos. The outgoing Champion continued, ‘the car was completely tweaked but I feel more sorry for Kemp. He was right there all week and he doesn’t even get a podium’. Having watched Orlowski come up the ranks from seeing him for the first time racing a plastics chassis Tamiya in the early days of the ETS when he himself was leading the all conquering Tamiya TRF team, Rheinard said, ‘I’d still have preferred to beat him or at least have made him work for it in A3 but he’s a deserving World Champion. I look forward to beating him next time’.
Pleased to turn around the event and get on the podium Hagberg said, ‘we didn’t quite have the speed to challenge for the win today but I did the best I could with what I had’. Having struggled at the beginning of the week, finding himself seeded in the fastest heat for Day 1 of qualifying before getting promoted to the top heat for Day 2, the Xray driver added, ‘with the humidity today we couldn’t get the speed I had yesterday. Half way through qualifying I thought we had a chance but with the changing conditions it was hard to cope. Like I said before, in 1:12 things can change very quickly so I’m happy I could finish on the podium’.
‘I pulled the trigger and nothing happened. I’m not sure what happened’, was Anderson’s response when asked about the start. The 21-year-old continued, ‘After the race in tech it was still powered on and the ESC was on’. Making his mark on the class with his performance throughout the week, he said, ‘I know I had bad luck and there was bad driving from me in A2 but overall I am still proud of myself. There is always the next time’.
While Modified decided its 21st World title, for 1:12 Spec it was only the second time the title was awarded with the ultra popular character ‘Mad Max’ Machler the new World Champion. The Awesomatix driver went into A3 up against team-mate Mark Stiles and with each having a win it was a winner takes all encounter. Starting from the TQ, both drivers each having topped 3 of the 6 rounds of qualifying, Machler led away gapping Stiles only for the British driver to make a big push and close on the German. Machler responded however and pulled clear once again to take the win by over 2-seconds and with it the World title. The two European’s were joined on the podium by US Xray driver Robbie Dodge.
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