‘We made the impossible possible’, Orlowski leads Schumacher 1-2 at MIBO International

Schumacher’s Michal Orlowski has added his name to MIBO International’s Roll of Honour for the offroad, the previous Touring Car Champion of the Czech event denying compatriot Bartek Zalewski the double when he took the 4WD Buggy title which went down to A3.  Making the switch from the onroad track across to the parallel offroad track for the fourth edition of the annual race, Orlowski would qualify second to Zalewski in both 2WD and 4WD but coming up short on winning in 2WD, a team effort would see Orlowski lead a 1-2 result in 4WD from team-mate Daniel Kobbevik.  Armed from fresh tyres for A1, Orlowski kicked off 4WD with a win ahead of Kobbevik as mistakes dropped Zalewski to P5.  A2 would see Zalewski benefit from fresh rubber to win with ease over Orlowski despite the pair sharing identical fastest lap times for the race.  In the decider while Zalewski looked to be dealing with the pressure of Orlowski almost on his rear wing, a small mistake at the tabletop with a minute to go gave us a lead change.  While Orlowski led for a lap, Zalewski would then drive around the outside of his rival after they had came off the straight but they touched on the jump and both went tumbling handing Kobbevik the lead.  With Zalewski trying for another pass after they resumed, he would catch the jump and roll out of contention finishing P3, 2-seconds back on Orlowski who took the overall win on tie break from Kobbevik.

‘We made the impossible possible with Daniel’, was how Orlowski described his team’s 1-2 at MIBO International.  The Pole continued, ‘We have been working super hard with Ben, Eugene, and Elias on the car and by the end of qualifying and for the finals we got it the best we could.’  He added, ‘We needed to put Bartek under pressure and pressure him into mistakes.  We worked together with Daniel on tyre strategy and on the track as well trying too help each other.  At the end we were quite lucky with how it all happened on the track but we did everything thing perfectly and with some luck we were able to 1 and 2 with our cars so we are very happy about that.’

Asked to sum 4WD Kobbevik replied with it, ‘It ended good’.  He continued, ‘It has been an up and down day for me.  I struggled to find the confidence and the right way around the track let’s say.  I couldn’t improve in the final qualifier so Michal went ahead of me on the grid in both classes but I still think it was a good end to the weekend with a 2nd (4WD) and a 3rd (2WD) after fighting like crazy all weekend.’  The World Championship finalist added,  ‘I am always trying to find more speed and I worked very well together with Michal, Elias and Ben to try and achieve the best possible set-up for this track.  I feel like we improved a lot but I want to improve even more because it doesn’t feel perfect let say.’  Asked where the final improvement came from he explained, ‘We did a huge change on the 4-wheel for the front and the rear with the geometry and it seemed to be a lot better, making it faster and more drivable as well.  It was difficult to get a good feel out of the car before that and I was struggling with the lap times which is not a good deal.  The A3 win and podium was a good way to finish.’

Clearly disappointed to miss the double, the 19-year-old always having huge fan support at MIBO International, Zalewski said, ‘The car felt good for most of them.  The first one though I had used tyres compared to the Schumacher guys and oil was on the track so I was driving and just get a spin into the pipes and lost it.  I was pushing so hard, but I make a few more mistakes and I end up P5.  In the second main I pulled away.  The car felt very strong and I was confident to many the bigger & bigger gap.’  On A3 the Top Qualifier said, ‘The third one it was close racing I would say.  He passed me, then I passed him and we had contact, I mean I was out front, he touched me before the jump and in the the jump I couldn’t control where I was flying and made a mistake and that was it.’

View the action from an exciting third A-Main of 4WD Buggy which would decide the 2026 MIBO International title.

View full 4WD results here.

Zalewski defends MIBO 2WD title

Xray’s Bartek Zalewski has successfully defended his 2WD Buggy title at MIBO International, the young Polish racer wrapping up the overall win with two straight wins in the opening A-Mains at the Czech Republic event.  Having secured the TQ for the fourth edition of the Michal Bok organised race ahead of Michal Orlowski, A1 would see his compatriot armed with fresh tyres mount a strong challenge but a cool headed drive from Zalewski meant he kept that challenge at bay.  In A2 it was the 19-year-old who had the tyre advantage and he was able to cruise to win by a comfortable margin to lock in a very popular overall victory.  With another second place to Zalewski securing Orlowski the overall runner-up but the upcoming 4WD title still up for grabs, Orlowski would along with the re-crowned Champion sit out A3 to focus on his 4WD quest.  This left team-mate & 3rd place qualifier Daniel Kobbevik to lead away the 8-car field.  Despite coming under the close attentions of Sworkz’s Micha Vidmaier for most of the race, the 2025 Top Qualifier & Runner-up would win A3 to complete the podium line-up in Hrotovice.

Reacting to his back to back titles Zalewski said, ‘There was a lot of pressure from Michal in A1 because he was on new tyres and I was on used ones but then for A2 I put on new ones and the car felt amazing.  I didn’t push and I was still a making bigger and bigger gap, the speed in the car was incredible and I am very happy to win that race.’  While this year’s MIBO International was staged slightly later than previous years in order to avoid a clash with the famous TITC which ran early this year, MIBO International unique in that offroad and onroad race side by side, putting it Zalewski that it has been a very strong start to his season, he replied, ‘It’s been one of the best for sure.  The win at MKGP was something amazing because I was making a huge gap especially in 2WD to win the A-Mains with a 6-seconds gap.  So adding today’s MIBO win I am extremely happy how this year has started.’

A driver who felt he was playing catch after his poor opening to 2WD qualifying, Orlowski summed his performance in the class by saying, ‘Bartek was very strong.  Our pace was good only on new tyres so when I had new tyres I was able to put a lot of pressure on him but couldn’t find a way passed.’  Using up his new tyre trump card in A1, on the second main he said, ‘Once then Bartek was on new (tyres) I had no chance but still I am happy to get second after the rough start to qualifying.’  Asked on his decision not to run A3 he explained, with the tie break for MIBO based on your qualifying position, I knew I could not lose my second not matter who won and I wanted to focus on my 4WD.’

Asked to sum up his 2WD finals, Kobbevik replied, ‘The first one was horrible.  I crashed myself while having quite a gap over the field behind Michal & Bartek and after that it was like carnage at the back and I didn’t get a score then.’  The Norwegian continued, ‘so then I had to do two good ones in A2 and A3, the second one I got third behind Michal and Bartek and then I cruised into P1 in the last one.  It was a good fight with Micha which was nice.’

View the action from the second A-Main of 2WD Buggy which would decide the 2026 MIBO International title.

View full 2WD results here.

MIBO International TQ double for Zalewski

Xray talent Bartek Zalewski will go for the buggy double at MIBO International as the Top Qualifier in both 2WD and 4WD.  The Polish racer who is the reigning 2WD Champion of the annual Czech event and the 4WD Champion from the year before, will chase his first double title looking to emulate Bruno Coelho’s achievement at inaugural running of the race in 2023.  Zalewski had the perfect event up to Q3, when Schumacher’s Michal Orlowski knocked him off the top of the timing sheet for the first time by delivery the TQ run in both 2WD and 4WD after a not so great start to qualifying.  While Orlowski would of course liked to have push the TQ battle to Sunday morning’s fifth & final qualifier, Zalewski produced the fastest runs of the day in Q4 to lock in pole position for the triple finals.  Daniel Kobbevik however push him hard in 2WD missing out by just 4/100ths and the Schumacher driver holds P2 overnight in both classes.  In 2WD Sworkz’s Micha Widmaier sits in P2, the Austrian back up his second fastest time in Q2 with another in Round 3.  Orlowski is tied on points with team-mate Kobbevik in 4WD but with the Norwegian having the faster individual qualifying time he is ranked 3rd.

Reacting to his double TQ after a close very 4WD encounter, Zalewski said, ‘In 4-wheel I felt some pressure from Daniel because we finish I think 4/100ths of a seconds between us.  In 2WD I had a confident qualifier and I am very happy to grab overall TQ in both classes.’  With Q5 now only a formality for the 19-year-old, looking to the finals he said, ‘obviously Daniel is a threat but I also expect pressure from Michal and Micha in 2WD also, he is going well and is there.’  Super confident in both his Xray buggies he said any changes for the finals will be really small and his focus for the Mains is to ‘just drive clean finals and I should be fine.’

Still chasing his first MIBO win having twice been a Top Qualifier in Hrotovice, asked about the end to Saturday’s qualifying action, Kobbevik said,’ I had one DNF in each class today so it was nice to get a good run in both for the last one.’  A double runner up to Zalewski  at the MKGP in the UK earlier this month, he continued, ‘In 4WD it was super close in the last one.  I had a clean run starting in the back in traffic but the car was much better now.  We changed the whole and that help a lot.  It was a bit difficult to drive as I told you earlier so we went a different path with the set-up and it seems like that is better.  So I think we are looking strong for tomorrow.’

Widmaier was positive about his day saying, ‘I am super happy with my Q3 run in 2WD.  I just put on new tyres and tyre to make no mistake.  Asked if he achieved that the Austrian replied, ‘I lost a little time on lapping cars but I made no mistakes.’  While he suffered a DNF in Q4, being in the fight for P2 on the grid asked if he felt he could get ahead of Kobbevik he said, ‘I mean it is super tight and it will be difficult but for sure I try my best and push hard in Q5 to see whats possible but I would say if I am in the Top 3, Top 4, in 2WD I would be super happy.’  On 4WD, he said, ‘I did P3 in the last round so now I have a 4th and a 3rd and something like a 10 so same like 2WD I will  push hard in Q5 and see what we can get.’

Asked about his final two efforts of the day, Orlowski said, ‘I just had to lets say run the less preferred tyre strategy to use new tyres earlier because of the poor first rounds of qualifier.  We got some good points but to be on Bartek’s pace we all need to push super hard and go above the limit and then we are going on two wheels or making some small mistakes.’  He continued, ‘I think now we just need to pull some magic out on the track and start behind him and hope for a mistake.  I don’t think we can do anything more with set-up.’