Orlowski adds MIBO International to tally

Schumacher’s Michal Orlowski has added the MIBO International race to his 2024 winning tally with victory ahead of 2023 Champion Ronald Volker.  The current benchmark in both onroad and offroad carpet racing but unable to do offroad  at the unique Czech event due to a lack of mechanic, Orlowski dominated proceedings in Modified Touring Car.  Taking TQ honours after 3 round of qualifying, but completing the clean sweep by taking Q4 & 5,  in the opening A-Main he checked out early his prototype Schumacher finishing 2.5-second clear of Volker’s Mugen.  A2 would start with Volker looking a lot more of a challenger and running close enough to give Orlowski the first bit of pressure of the weekend.  A tyre additive driven improvement, unfortunately the advantage faded in the second half of the race and Orlowski again cruised to win and the overall MIBO International from Volker with Xray’s Jan Ratheisky completing the podium in Hrotovice.

Summing up his finals, Orlowski said, ‘I’m very happy to get another win for the new prototype chassis.  It works good everywhere we go so far and it’s a good start to the year given it’s a Touring Car Worlds year’.   The Pole continued, ‘we used Q4 & 5 to try some different things with the set-up as conditions here are different to GP3F and ETS.’  Now working with Italian racer Mattia Collina as his mechanic for electric touring car, describing him as ‘what Francesco (Martini) is to Bruno (Coelho)’, he said while Collina had racing commitments this weekend they did a lot of set-up work together over the phone and the changes for Q5 were ‘really good’ and they just carried that set-up into the finals.  On Volker being closer for A2, he said, ‘Ronald tried a different additive and that gave him a good car at the start but I stuck the safer choice of additive and glad I did stick with what I have’.  With the prototype chassis, which is a completely new design from the British manufacturer,  attracting a lot of attention given Orlowski winning spree, asked about a release date he replied, ‘It is still a few months off release’.

Asked about his finals, Volker said, ‘In A1 I basically lacked grip and I was nowhere near to challenge Michal.’  The former World Champion continued, ‘For A2 I ran a different set of tyres and used a different additive and was right there.  I was able to put a little pressure for the first 2-3 minutes but he made no mistake.  It was a well deserved win for him’.  Happy with his cars performance  in A2 he would run the same again in A3 taking the win to secure the runner-up spot at the Michal Bok organised race.

In the other Touring Car Classes Ratheisky added to his Modified podium finish with the overall in win 17.5 Stock.  Having taken the TQ from Xray team-mate Stefan Schulz, the German would secure the overall victory after wins in A1 & 2 with the A3 win giving Schulz the runner-up spot ahead of Austrian Tobias Sutrich.  Securing the TQ in FWD,  Schulz managed the same feat taking the title in A2 to add to his recent win in the Snowbird Nationals in Orlando.  Making it a hat trick of wins for Xray on the onroad track British driver Luke Lee to the win in Formula.

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Orlowski Top Qualifier at MIBO International

Based on recent form there was never much doubt he’d be a force on his MIBO International debut and in a dominant performance that is exactly what Schumacher’s Michal Orlowski has done securing the overall TQ in Modified Touring Car.  Starting the day in the Czech Republic with a TQ run, the Pole continued to make the top of the times sheets his own locking in pole position with a third TQ run in Q3 but not done he would cap off the day with a fourth in the day’s final onroad action.  Shadowing the 1:12 World Champion every run but never close enough to mount a challenge, defending inaugural MIBO International Champion Ronald Volker will start 2nd on the grid with one final qualifier on Sunday morning to determine how the rest of the grid will line up behind the World Champions.

Reacting to his TQ, his third at an international race already this year having started with the GP3F in France and then the ETS in Germany, Orlowski said, ‘I am happy to seal the TQ early.  The new car is good as always and we have shown it works well.  I haven’t changed much on it because I want to see if the grip changes but it seems to be staying consistent.’  With the first job of the weekend done after 3 rounds, Orlowski had the luxury of the remaining two rounds ‘to test a few things’ and see if he can further improve the car on a few specific points on the track.  Still on the same set of tyres, having matched his two sets for the opening qualifier, he said ‘Pekko (Iivonen) has more experience with these tyres and says they last long and tend to get better and better.  After a strong start to qualifying Iivonen finds himself P7 going into Q5 after suffering a battery issue in round 3.  Copying Orlowski set-up on to his example of Schumacher’s upcoming new chassis release for the final run of the day the Finn said it was better but contact with the boards meant he pulled up early but he used the opportunity to watch Orlowski drive and said his brake set-up is different and that is something he will adjust for Q5.

Having gone too safe with his Mugen for Q1, Volker said a change of tyre additive for Q2 meant he started better than Orlowski but then the performance faded and so he returned to his previous additive.  Putting more steering lock on his MTC2R for Q3, the German said it was better but added ‘Michal is on his A-game so I need to find something extra but I am enjoying him being this competitive.’

Holding P3 overnight ahead of the man responsible for designing his car Martin Hudy and the Yokomo of Christopher Krapp, Jan Ratheisky said changes he made after Q1 was too much of a step so he reverted back for Q3 to claim his first Top 3 run.  Changing to a softer top deck for Q3 to get more steering the German would register his fastest time of qualifying once again posting a P3 run.  Also racing in 17.5 Stock Ratheisky secured the overall TQ when he posted his third TQ in a row in the Q4 with Xray team-mate Stefan Schulz having taken Q1.  Schulz will start the FWD class on pole after getting the job done early as he topped the opening 3 rounds.

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Video – Modified Qualifying Rd1

Orlowski from Volker in Q1 at MIBO International

Schumacher’s Michal Orlowski has kicked off qualifying at MIBO International with a TQ run in Modified Touring Car ahead of Mugen Seiki’s Ronald Volker.  Making his debut at the Czech race, the very much on foam multiple discipline racer survived an up on two wheels moment to top the 5-minute qualifier by 1.8-seconds ahead of the defending Champion.  Following up on his pace in practice, Pekko Iivonen completed the Top 3 while Patrick Gollner lead the charge from Xray with four fastest time ahead of team-mates Jan Ratheirsky and Martin Hudy.

Summing up his TQ run, Orlowski said, ‘It was good but I was a little nervous for the start but I mixed my sets of tyres after the problem with my first set and I wasn’t sure how the balance left to right was going to be.  I made quite a few laps in the warm-up to break them in and from the first lap it was very good’.   He continued, ‘the track is still developing and we know there is a faster option for us with tyre additive but the problem is that additive picks up dirt and offline this track is quite dirty.  One it gets dirty it’s on for the run.  It would for sure be faster but the other additive is safe so we need to see.  I will work with Pekko on making a decision’.

‘I made the car a little too easy but I wanted to learn from my mistakes from the last two races’, was how Volker summed up his opening qualifier.  He explained, having had bad opening qualifiers at GP3F and ETS Daun that put him on the back foot, he wanted to bank a good solid start and that was why he made his MTC-2R safe here after seeding practice.  He added while you are always trying to adapt to the track conditions for Q2 he will not change a lot but the set-up will still be different and from his side he will ‘attack more to close it (the gap to Orlowski) down.’

Asked about his first qualifier, Iivonen said, ‘I tried a different additive and I have too much grip, so to get third is a good finish’.  Planning another additive change for Q2, the Finnish Champion said this should give more corner entry steering which he was missing in Q1.   Describing his Q1 performance as a clean run he added ‘I’m am quite happy with that. Maybe once I touched the curb bit otherwise it was a good run.’

Gollner said while he had a good finish to the first of the five scheduled qualifiers, things were a little difficult for the first 2-minutes.  Changing to a different set of tyre with just one previous run, he said they still were not fully broken in.  In the second half of the run he was able to catch back some of the time lost catching cars ahead of him.  Feeling another factory to his early struggles was that he not working the rear tyre enough and so for his second attempt, 3 of 5 to count, he will make a set-up change to make the car more aggressive in the rear and get heat into the tyres so they work quicker.

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