February 8, 2025

Volker and Zalewski top seeding at MIBO International

Mugen Seiki’s Ronald Volker and Xray’s Bartek Zalewski are the top seeds at MIBO International, both drivers laying down the fastest 3-consecutive laps of their respective tracks in the Czech Republic.  On the onroad track the battle between the races 2 previous champions continued with Volker maintaining his slightest of advantages over the Schumacher of Michal Orlowksi, 4/1o0ths of a second all that separates them.  Behind them the Xray of former MIBO Stock Champion Adam Iszay set the third fastest time ahead of the Yokomo of Christopher Krapp and new 2025 Mugen Seiki signing Patrick Gollner.  On the offroad side of the event, defending 4WD Champion Zalewski pulled off the double topping seeding in both 2WD and 4WD.  In 2WD it was recent EOS winner Marcus Kaerup who was his closest rival, the Team Associated driver over 2/10ths off with a similar gap back to the Schumacher of Daniel Kobbevik in P3.  It was the Sworkz of Micha Widmaier who got closest to Zalewski in 4WD with Kaerup completing the P3.

‘A good day so far’, was Volker’s reaction to taking the top seed honours ahead of the day’s 4 rounds of qualifying.  Winner of the inaugural MIBO International in 2023, the German has been making small changes to his pre-production MTC3 every run to get a better understand of the car adding it seems to work well not matter what changes he makes.  Making a diff set-up change for the final practice run, he said this resulted in the car being less consistent over the 5-minutes so he will go back to his CP1 diff for Q1.  Having a revival in form since the switch to the MTC3, which is expected to go on sale in April, Volker said he is enjoying racing here against Orlowski adding it is nice to be challenging him but knows he needs to keep finding more from the car to maintain that status.

Orlowski said, ‘Me and Ronald are having a nice battle, we are very close on pace and I am looking forward to battling with him for the rest of the weekend.  He is very competitive with the new car.’  On his own car, the 1:12 World Champion said, ‘we are testing a lot of things on the car.  I am really enjoying the track layout and the grip.’  The only concern for the defending Touring Car Champion going into qualifying is traffic.  He cautioned, ‘there is a lot of traffic so I hope myself and Ronald don’t have too much trouble with it.’

Making the step up to Modified this year as well as continuing to complete here in Pro Stock, of which he is the Top Seed ahead of Martin Hudy, Iszay said he needs to find more steering to close the gap on the front guys.  Changing the car each run the 22-year-old from Hungary said it is getting better every time and for Q1 he hopes a further change will have the desired effect in terms of delivering more steering.

‘Everything is working well, I am extremely happy with my speed’, was how Zalewski summed up his morning performance.  While making small set-up changes to each of his buggies, he said the focus this morning has been on his ESC settings.  Joining electronics newcomers Team Cayote for 2025, he said the adjustments to the speedo have brought the biggest improvement in how the buggies feels to drive.  His closest 2WD rival, Kaerup described the morning as having gone ‘alright’ saying they made a lot of changes focused on getting the cars good for 5-minutes.  While happy with his 2WD, he said they need to improve the 4WD.  ‘A bit stuck in the corner’, he said they need to get more rotation dialled in.

Fastest in 2WD after yesterday’s five rounds of free practice, ending seeding 3rd fastest Kobbevik said, ‘it will be interesting to see the true pace of everyone in qualifying.’  The Norwegian said they continue to make small changes to both buggies but admitted, ‘we are still a bit stronger in 2WD and need bigger changes in 4WD.’

Second fastest in 4WD, Widmaier said they had spent the morning working on 5-minute pace and the consistency of the buggy but added he expects a difficult qualifying given the challenges of the track.  In 2WD he said while his buggy is ‘not too bad to drive, its not too fast’ and he is ‘looking for more pace’ admitting ‘there are lots of fast guys here.’  Team-mate Neumann, the defending 2WD Champion said his buggy was edgy in the first seeding round and then had understeer in the second one and finding a good balance for used tyres will be challenging.

February 8, 2025

Volker, Kobbevik & Neumann set pace on Day 1 of MIBO International

It is the biggest MIBO International race yet and kicking off the third edition of the combined Czech onroad & offroad indoor event it was Ronald Volker in Modified Touring Car, Daniel Kobbevik in 2WD Buggy and Joern Neumann in 4WD Buggy who set the pace in free practice.  With both tracks opening up to racers late afternoon, to give them the Friday morning to travel to the Sports V Hotel in Hrotovice, Day 1 of the event consisted of 5 rounds of practice.  On the black carpet onroad track it was the Mugen Seiki of inaugural MIBO Champion Volker and the Schumacher of defending Champion Michal Orlowski would were the bench mark, Yokomo’s Christopher Krapp completing the Top 3.  On the grey carpet offroad track, onroad & offroad drivers standing back to back on the central drivers stand, 2WD Buggy saw Kobbevik’s Schumacher have the edge on MIBO debutant Marcus Kaerup’s Team Associated with Xray’s Bartosz Zalewski posting the third fastest time.  In 4WD, it was the Sworkz of the defending 2WD Champion Neumann that produced the fastest three consecutive laps ahead of the teenagers Kaerup and Zalewski, the later taking the win here 12-months ago.

Summing up his evening’s work at the FlySky controls of his soon to be released MTC3, which the German said hasn’t change much since its pre production debut at the ISTC World Championship in November, Volker said ‘It’s going very good so far’.  After his recent return to the podium at ETS, the former World Champion said he started out with the same set-up and has just made very small adjustments over the the 5 runs.  Despite having to stand on his radio’s carry case to get the right height on the drivers stand, asked about the track he described it as ‘very fast and very following’ concluding he is feeling ‘confident’ about the weekend ahead.

Originally set to race both onroad and offroad, a challenge at the best of times, Orlowski said he just didn’t have the energy to take racing three different cars as he enters into his fifth consecutive weekend of racing after which he will have a quick turn around before heading to Thailand to make his debut at the legendary TITC race.  Opting to run just touring car and with his offroad engineer Trish Neal here as his mechanic and support team-mate Kobbevik’s offroad efforts, asked to sum up practice the Pole replied, ‘not bad’ adding ‘we are using the track time to test some ideas to finish off the winter season of touring car’.  He concluded, ‘getting to race just one class, my plan is to enjoy the weekend.’

Runner up in 2WD last year, Kobbevik was very confident about his 2WD performance and how his buggy is dealing with the track layout.  In 4WD however the Norwegian admitted he was struggling a little but said the track is challenging everyone in terms of trying to make a clean 5-minute run.  In the final practice run of the day he would break his 4WD on the first lap on positive of which was allowing him to watch how his rivals are tackling the track.  While ending up P5 behind Sworkz’s Micha Widmaier, he concluded that they would ‘get there’ with getting the 4WD to work as well as the 2WD.

For Neumann the issue was the opposite.  He said, ‘My 4WD is very good.  The 2WD can be fast but it’s difficult to drive.’  Asked his thoughts on this year’s track layout the German responded with ‘challenging’.  He added, ‘it’s fun to drive but you can make mistakes many places and also gain time in many spots’.

Another driver who is in the middle of a busy schedule having done the EOS last week and is off the the UK next week for the Milton Keynes British Off Road Grand Prix, Kaerup said his first impressions of MIBO International were ‘great’ adding ‘I’m having fun.’  ‘Feeling pretty confident’ and ‘looking forward to tomorrow’, with 4 of the 5 rounds of qualifying on the schedule, the Dane said the carpet and how it feels is ‘quite different’ to other carpet tracks but he is enjoying the challenge of getting the car to do what he wants it to do.

Catching a quick word with Zalewski about his first evening on track, the 18-year-old reported the grip levels as being ‘very low’.  Having struggled with the set-up he started out, expecting much higher grip, he said by the end of the evening they were at a ‘good’ point with both buggies.  Asked about defending his 4WD title, the Polish racer laughed and said, ‘It will be difficult.  Marcus is very quick.’

January 29, 2025

Xray confirms Champions return for MIBO International

Xray has confirmed that two of its MIBO International Champions will return to the third annual running of the Czech indoor onroad/offroad race early next month.  Inaugural Pro-Stock Champion Adam Izsay returns and the recent GP3F winner will not only look to retake the Pro-Stock title Xray has won at the previous two editions but he will also step up to compete in the Modified class against the likes of Schumacher’s reigning Champion Michal Orlowski and the Mugen Seiki of inaugural Champion Ronald Volker.  In Offroad, defending 4WD Champion Bartek Zalewski, who really made a name for himself at last year’s MIBO International, heads the Slovakian manufacturer’s quest for a third consecutive 4WD title on the offroad track.  Bruno Coelho was the winner at the first running of the event that is organised by former top international Czech touring car racer Michal Bok and his well known RC company Mibosport.  A sell-out event, the 2025 MIBO International will be very much a family affair for Xray with company founder Juraj Hudy one of 5 of the Hudy family’s three generations who will be racing at the Sport V Hotel based event on February 7-9th.

January 15, 2025

Associated confirm Kaerup for MIBO International

Team Associated has confirmed they will be represented at the upcoming MIBO International Race in the Czech Republic with the news that their teenage offroad star Marcus Kaerup will make his debut at the third edition of the event on February 7-9th.  The multiple European Champion and World Championship finalist is set to take the challenge to Sworkz’s defending 2WD Champion Joern Neumann and Schumacher pairing of Michal Orlowski and Daniel Kobbevik.  Having been denied back to back European 2WD Buggy titles by Orlowski last September in Swedend when EFRA hosted the European Championship indoor on carpet, the 17-year-old Dane will be looking to prevent the reigning MIBO International Touring Car Champion from doing the double as the Polish ace races on both the onroad and offroad track this year.  In 4WD he will take on the Xray of fellow teenager and reigning champion Bartek Zalewski.  Red RC is looking forward to kicking off its 2025 World tour of race coverage by making the trip to Hrotovice once again to report on the action.

January 13, 2025

Yokomo confirm Krapp for 3rd MIBO International outing

Having attended the previous two years of MIBO International, Yokomo has confirmed its return for the 3rd edition of the annual Czech race where it will once again be represented by ISTC World Championship podium finisher Christopher Krapp.  The Japanese manufacturer’s lead international driver and team manager travels to Hrotovice aiming to mix it with defending Champion Michal Orlowski over the weekend of February 07-09.  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.  With everything from the track, restaurant, bowling alley and hotel rooms all under one roof, the venue has always been popular with racers and counts Bruno Coelho, Ronald Volker, Joern Neumann, Adam Izsay and Bartek Zalewski as some of its champions.  With a capped entry limit the relaxed schedule means plenty of time in the evening to wind down and socialise over dinner after each day’s racing.

January 8, 2025

Schumacher’s Kobbevik returns for MIBO International

A double podium finisher on his MIBO International debut last year, Daniel Kobbevik will return to the annual Czech race doubling the factory effort of defending Touring Car Champions Schumacher.  Taking place from on February 07-09, the race sees both onroad and offroad race run side by side on two indoor carpet tracks built by Mibosport in Sports V Hotel in Hrotovice.  Last year, Kobbevik finished runner up to Sworkz’s Joern Neumann in 2WD Buggy, the defending champion already confirmed for the 3rd edition, and in 4WD the Norwegian completed the podium behind the Xrays of winner Bartek Zalewski and second place Martin Bayer.  Having confirmed in November they would be sending Michal Orlowski to MIBO International not only to try to defend his Touring Car title but also to complete in offroad, with the addition of Kobbevik the British manufacturer has a formidable line-up capable of securing a first offoad win.  A two and a half day event, it gets underway on the Friday evening with practice to allow for travel Friday morning.