Zalewski & Izsay top first day of MIBO International
Xray’s Bartek Zalewski and Adam Izsay have set the early pace at MIBO International, Zalewski proving quickest in 2WD & 4WD Buggy while on the opposite side of the sports hall it was Izsay who mastered the onroad track to top both Modified and Stock Touring Car. A race concept that Michal Bok came up with when racing at the 2022 IFMAR ISTC World Championship in Italy, 2026 marks the fourth edition of MIBO International and has again attracted a capacity entry who this year have been treated to two new tracks prepared by Polish track builders Racestars. Switching from last year’s red infield to blue, drivers on both sides of the central drivers stand have been complimentary of the layouts created by Pawel Kowalski. With fresh new black carpet and completely new jumps, on the offroad track it was the Schumacher pairing of Michal Orlowski and 2WD Top Qualifier of the last two MIBO races Daniel Kobbevik who were closest to Zalewski over the half day of practice. Officially a 2 & a half day event, practice only gets underway at 15:30 local time to allow racers use Friday morning for travelling to Hrotovice in southern Czech. In Modified Touring Car it was defending Champion Ronald Volker and his Mugen Seiki team-mate Sören Sparbier who were closest to Izsay’s fastest 3-laps which he set in the 5th & final round of free practice.
As the defending 2WD Champion, Zalweski was pleased with his start to the weekend. Already off to a strong 2026 season having taken the double win at the MKGP in the UK earlier this month, the 19-year-old Pole said, ‘today went really good, the cars felt good at the end of the day. From the start it wasn’t perfect but we made some changes in our set-up and right now it is perfect.’ On the track layout he said, ‘It’s a lot different to last year. The jumps are also different but I am really enjoying the track. It’s a really cool track and today was a really good start to the weekend.’
Having contested the previous 2 editions of MIBO International racing touring car, winning on his debut in 2024 but joking that Volker was too fast for him last year, Orlowski is this year making his offroad debut at the event. However as a venue that previously hosted EOS races and the MIBO Cup, he has previously raced the category here at the Sport V Hotel, stating, ‘I was here many years ago so it’s nice to drive again on the buggy track. It’s a nice track.’ On his way to dinner, everything under one roof being one of the unique attractions of the race, he, continued, ‘It’s been a busy day with loads of practice’ – drivers getting 5-rounds per class. With leading British racer Ben Smith and Swede Elias Johansson joining him and Kobbevik this weekend, last month’s EOS Daun double winner said, ‘We have been working well as a team and the cars are feeling good’, adding, ‘Bartek is very fast but we will see what we can do about that tomorrow.’
Summing up his afternoon of practice, Izsay said, ‘The track is really cool. I think the layout is nice and has a good flow. The chicane in the middle is a little difficult to get right and you can gain or lose a lot of time there but overall it has a good flow and for the last two runs the grip came up.’ On his cars he said, ‘the last two runs were pretty good. We improved the car step by step over the day and I am currently top in both Stock and Modified so that is a nice way to end Day 1.’ Asked about running two classes, the reigning European Stock Champion said, ‘today it was very busy like always but from tomorrow with 5-minute runs and more breaks in between runs it should be ok.’
Having dominated last year’s event topping all five qualifiers on his way to taking the title from Orlowski, Volker was pleased with how he and the team ran through the five rounds of practice. With last year’s podium finisher Patrick Gollner pitting directly in front of him again this year, Mugen have also brought Sparbier along for his MIBO International debut. Asked how he felt practice had gone, Volker replied, ‘It went well, we worked well as team. At the end we were breaking in tyres for tomorrow but before that I think we made some good progress.’ On the track the former World Champion said, ‘the track is real nice and flowing, a bit fast lap time wise not driving wise. It is really nice looking already with what the Racestars guys have done and despite the chicane in the centre it is very flowing.’ He added, ‘Unfortunately the lap time is almost below 10-seconds but you can’t do much because with the size of the track and the speed we now have but its definitely a nice flowing track and very good looking, they have improved it nicely this year as they have with the offroad track which looks really nice.’ On how his car is running he explained, ‘I tested small things but I was already happy with my starting set-up. It was really good in the middle part of practice but then we used the end of the day to break in tyres and I think Adam did the opposite.’
With 2026 marking the first time MIBO International has brought in an outside track builder, Pawel from Racestars explained, ‘This time because it was our first time here we came on Monday morning to have enough time to build the track and fixed any issues we might encounter because you know when its your first time in a new place you might need extra support.’ He continued, ‘It took three days to make the offroad track perfect, the onroad was basically a standard build so there was not so much issues and the track crew from MIBO helped us a lot but the offroad track we spent lots of time making it look great and we are test our new Raivo Racing barriers.’ On the new barrier system that is produced specifically for building RC tracks by a major plastics producer in Poland, Pawel said it is an alternative to the common US made system that they will be able offer to clubs across Europe for almost half the cost. One of the elements of the offroad track he is most proud of is the corner table top, explaining, ‘It doesn’t have the shark in the middle like a normal corner jump which of course drivers hate so we said lets try to make it in a way the drivers like so I removed the shark and replaced it with a triangle. Martin Bayer, I think he always speak to the truth to me, said to me he has never driven on a better layout, he said it is super flowing and a nice layout so I hope the drivers enjoy the weekend.’ With the black carpet brand new for the event, the grey carpet covering the new modular jumps is from last year’s MIBO track. Revealing that he has designed the layout for the upcoming 1:12 World Championships track at Hongyu GDC in China, on the MIBO onroad track layout he said, ‘It’s bit too fast because the drivers in the top heat of Modified go under 10-seconds so it might be an issue for quali with 10-cars. It’s our first time but next year we do a little more technical layout to add 2-seconds more.’
