February 17, 2024

Widmaier holds overnight 2WD TQ at MIBO International

Sworkz’s Micha Widmaier holds the overnight TQ in 2WD Buggy at MIBO International with today’s four rounds of qualifying producing TQ runs from four drivers all representing different manufacturers.  Having opened the second edition of the Czech event with a TQ run, Widmaier holds a 1 point advantage over the Xray of Martin Bayer who topped the time sheets in Q4.  Equal on points with Bayer, having taken max points for Q3, is Schumacher’s Daniel Kobbevik for whom a last lap error cost him a potential second TQ result as he finished just 2/10ths back from Bayer.  Setting the pace in Q2, Team Associated’s Joona Haatanen is one of four drivers in contention for the overall TQ in Sunday mornings fifth & final qualifier.

Reacting to his overnight TQ status at the Sports V Hotel in Hrotovice, Widmaier said , ‘It’s a great feeling, I’ll try for another in Q5 tomorrow and try to stay at the front’.  Describing Q2 and Q4 as ‘both good’ he said Q3 was challenging being on third run tyres and having many mistakes.  The German’s debut at MIBO International he said irrespective of the final qualifying outcome he feels the ‘finals are going to be very interesting’ adding everyone is ‘super close’.

On his 2WD TQ, adding to the two he had already posted in 4WD, Bayer said he made a’ big push for the last four laps’ adding he ‘surprised myself with the performance.  Responsible for the design of Xray’s Offroad vehicles, the Czech driver added, ‘I have not been changing anything on the car since coming here.  I am trying to better myself driving and just enjoy the day and being with friends’.  Asked about tyres, he said the difference between new and used is significant and tyre strategy could be important tomorrow.

On second run tyres in Q4, Kobbevik said he lost out by not adjusting his Schumacher’s set-up for the tyre wear.  The 19-year-old explained that is car is normally good on second run tyres without any set-up adjustment on this occasion he found himself ‘fighting for (his) life not to drift on the last laps’.  The Norwegian is excited about the final qualifier saying it ‘Q5 should be fun.  Four guys get take the (overall) TQ’.

On his Q2 topping run, Haatanen said, ‘it was the first time the car felt fast and easy to drive.  It was a comfortable run’.  The Finn was not too happy with his follow up performance in Q3 explaining, ‘I was on old tyres but I was giving up because of that so the result could have been better’.   Starting out Q4 on new tyres and noticing a lot of other drivers did the same, the 20-year-old said after an early mistake he pulled up to save the tyres for Q5.  Confident he will have better tyres than his rivals and happy with how his car is working he said Q5 will be ‘me rather than the car now’.

View our event image gallery here.

 

February 7, 2024

Schumacher bolster MIBO entry with Kobbevik & livonen

Schumacher Racing has bolstered its entry for the upcoming MIBO International Race in the Czech Republic with the news Daniel Kobbevik and Pekko Iivonen will join Michal Orlowski at the second edition of the event on February 16-18th. Having the British manufacturer previously confirming Orlowski would be taking on the event’s unique double track build, racing for both the onroad and offroad titles, he will be joined by Kobbevik in offroad and Iivonen in Touring Car.  A multiple Norwegian National Champion and former European Championship Top Qualifier, Kobbevik will be in the mix for Schumacher against strong opposition led by Sworkz’ Joern Neumann.  The 2023 Finnish Modified Touring Car National Champion, Iivonen has had a strong start to the 2024 season making the A-Main at the recent ETS Daun and he will be hoping to build on that as he goes up against the likes of Orlowski, Mugen Seiki’s Ronald Volker and Yokomo’s Christophet Krapp at the Sports V Hotel venue in Hrotovice.

Source: MIBO [mibosport.com]

January 18, 2024

MIBO Champions Volker & Mugen back to defend title

With the electric touring car season about to kick off in France this weekend with GP3F, Mugen Seiki has confirmed their lead driver Ronald Volker is to defend his MIBO International title next month.  Taking place this year on February 16-18, the former World Champion won the inaugural running of the event in 2023 and will return to the popular Sports V Hotel race location in Hrotovice aiming for 2 from 2.  The German faces strong opposition with newly crowned 1:12 World Champion Michal Orlowski confirmed to head Schumacher’s official team debut in the event with Yokomo’s Christopher Krapp returning after a tough 2023 encounter.  Organised by former international touring car racer Michal Bok, the race brings together both electric onroad and offroad racing on two tracks build side by side by the team from Mibosport.  With everything from the track, restaurant, bowling alley and hotel rooms all under one roof, the venue was a hit with racers who travelled from 13 different countries last year.  With a capped entry limit the relaxed schedule also means plenty of time in the evening to wind down and socialise over dinner after each day’s racing.  With the onroad track catering for Modified, Stock & FWD Touring cars plus Formula, the Offroad track will see action for 2WD and 4WD Buggy as well an open class of ‘Offroad Kids’ that gives the future stars of racing an opportunity to be a part of this international event.  Red RC is looking forward to making the return trip to Czech to kick off our 2024 season of race coverage.

Source: MIBO [mibosport.com]

January 16, 2024

Yokomo returns for MIBO International

Having raced at the inaugural MIBO International race, Yokomo has confirmed its return for the 2nd edition of the race where it will once again be represented by ISTC World Championship podium finisher Christopher Krapp along with Enrico Jung who will contest the 17.5T Stock Touring Car class.   The Japanese manufacturer’s lead international driver, it was a character building race in the Czech Republic last year for Krapp when he finished fifth behind Eric Dankel and this time round the German will be aiming for a much more competitive showing on Feb 16-18th.  A unique event, MIBO International brings together both electric touring car and electric offroad racers on the same weekend with the building of two indoor carpet tracks side by side at the Sports V Hotel in the town of Hrotovice.   Last week Schumacher’s Michal Orlowski confirmed he would be taking on both tracks as he prepares to race both touring car and buggy at the two & a half day event.

Source: MIBO [mibosport.com]

January 11, 2024

Schumacher confirms Orlowski for MIBO International

Schumacher Racing has confirmed they will be sending their newly crowned 1:12 World Champion Michal Orlowski to the 2nd edition of MIBO International Race in Czech Republic.  Taking place on February 16-18, it will be Orlowski’s first appearance at the event and it is going to be a busy debut for the Polish driver as he is set to contest both offroad and onroad at the event.  One of the unique elements of MIBO International is the two carpet tracks the Mibosport team build side by side at the large indoor sports hall at the Sport V Hotel venue in Hrotovice allowing for offroad and onroad to run simultaneously at the same event.  The vision of former international touring car racer and Mibo founder Michal Bok, the first edition of MIBO International saw Mugen’s Ronald Volker crowned the inaugural Touring Car Champion and Xray’s Bruno Coelho take double buggy honours.

Source: MIBO [mibosport.com]

December 7, 2023

Rheinard top seed at 1:12 Worlds

Current 1:12 World Champion Marc Rheinard is the top seed at the 21st running of IFMAR’s original electric category.  The Awesomatix driver set the fastest 3-consecutive laps in the second of the 3 seeding rounds today at Beachline Raceway in Florida.  Having won the first of his two Worlds titles in Florida nine years ago, the multiple Electric Touring Car Champion will lead away tomorrow’s opening qualifier ahead of Schumacher pairing Ollie Payne and Michal Orlowski.  Payne was just 0.053 off the pace of Rheinard, the British driver’s best time also coming in the second controlled practice.  With Rheinard fastest in the opening two rounds, Orlowski would top the third & final practice breaking into the 32-seconds for the first time, with the Top 3 separated by just 8/100ths of a second.  Leading the home challenge Sam Isaacs made a significant improvement in CP3 to end to up 4th ahead of fellow American and Awesomatix team-mate Kemp Anderson.  Completing the Top 6, Germany’s Jan Ratheisky was the highest placed Xray.

Not reading too much into his top seed status going into qualifying tomorrow, Rheinard was more concerned about his tyres prep saying, ‘I need to figure out the gluing of my front tyres’.  Showing an example of his own tyre gluing and a set done for him by team-mate Anderson the German needs to master his gluing skills so as to just have the glue on the tyres very narrow side wall.  On his final seeding run, he said, ‘It was slower and I didn’t have good steering at the end’.  Asked about tomorrow opening day of qualifying, 3 of the 6 rounds making up the schedule, Rheinard believes, ‘the Schumacher guys are a bit ahead of me’.  He added, ‘8-minutes is long but I think myself and Orlowski are able to keep it clean while the others seem to crash more’.

Despite a rear tyre issue in CP3 when ‘the whole outside peeled off’, Payne was bullish about his car’s performance going into qualifying saying ‘it should be really good’ over the 8-minutes.  Winner of both the recent 1:12 International Grand Prix in Italy and Masters of Foam in Belgium, he said while his car is maybe not the fastest it is really strong for 8-minutes.  ‘I think me, Marc and Michal are all going to be very close and Kemp is fast too if he can stop doing kamikaze at the chicane’.

Pleased to top the final practice, Orlowski said, ‘that was a nice confidence boost to end practice with.  We tried some stuff and the car is perfect now.  The balance is good for the first time’.  Describing CP3 as a nice 8-minute run, he was over 3-seconds quicker than Rheinard, the pair were the only drivers to run 43-laps.  Orlowski did air slight caution about his car saying they might need to chance the chassis after it took a number of big impacts earlier in the day and should a change be required it is not always a given the car will performance the same.

‘That last run was definitely better’ was how Isaacs summed up the final seeding round.  Fresh from retaining his U.S. Indoor Champs title, he said he tried to ‘smooth the car out’ but ending up with a car that was ‘pushing instead’.  Confident the changes he made were still a step in the right direction but hoping for better tomorrow, he admitted ‘the cars are hard to drive and hard to go 8-minutes without crashing’.  He concluded, ‘there is plenty ways to go still’.

After a good start to controlled practice, setting the 3rd fastest time, the rest of the day was to be challenging for Anderson.  Unable to beat his opening time, his second run ended with a big off at the chicane that meant a new bodyshell for CP3.  Having checked over his Awesomatix he said he must have missed something as the car felt tweaked and he would now fit new parts for tomorrow.  Son of new IFMAR president and accomplished racer Eric Anderson, asked how he felt his car was running before the crash, he said, ‘at the beginning of the run it was good and I was happy with the car so we have good set-up to work off tomorrow’.

In addition to the established Modified World title, 1:12 will crown its second ever Spec Class Champion here in Cocoa, Florida.  After controlled practice it is British racer Morgan Williams with his Schumacher Eclipse 5 who is the top seed.  Running a best time of 37.185 in the third round compared to the top Modified pace of 32.916, Williams was fastest from the Xray of America’s Robbie Dodge with Awesomatix’s Max Machler from Germany completing the Top 3.

View our event image gallery here.