February 9, 2025

Volker dominates in Czech to retake MIBO title

Ronald Volker has dominated the third edition of MIBO International, the Mugen Seiki driver sending his rivals a clear signal that the former World Champion and his new MTC3 are going to be a serious force to be reckoned with in 2025.  With Schumacher’s Michal Orlowski calling the German’s performance in Czech ‘a wake up for us’, after topping all five rounds of qualifying it looked like the finals were just going to be a Sunday formality to Volker picking up his second MIBO International winners trophy.  Even contact with a lapped car couldn’t help his rivals get anywhere near challenging him for the lead let alone the win.  A2 however would be the first time we wouldn’t see the MTC3 top the result sheets, a pile up on another section of the track sending Adam Iszay’s Xray into Volker’s path and with a body tuck he feel down the order before pulling off.  Orlowski took the leg win as a result of the chaos ahead of Patrick Gollner, the new Mugen signing further highlighting the potential of the Robert Pietsch designed car.  With outside trouble managing to avoid him in A3, Volker sealed the deal with half a lap advantage over Orlowski – widely recognised as the current benchmark in touring car especially on carpet.  Giving Mugen double reason to celebrate, Gollner secured the final step on the podium ahead of Yokomo’s Christopher Krapp and Xray’s Adam Iszay, the latter, like Volker, retaking the Pro Stock title he won at the inaugural MIBO International in 2023.

Congratulating Volker on his dominant performance and highlighting the only foot put wrong was not his fault, he replied, ‘Thank you very much.  A2 was very unfortunate, I got taken out by someone else’s accident, otherwise it was a perfect weekend.’   He added, ‘we got the car even better each day and I couldn’t imagine to have such a gap so we are super happy with the new car.  I couldn’t ask for more so we are heading in the right direct.’  At the top level of the sport a long time he knows however that the result will motivate his rivals saying, ‘for Orlowski for sure it also motivating, he will come back strong.  I think the last time I beat him was 2022’.  He continued, ‘the way my car felt and my whole package I am confident for the upcoming races and also for Thailand even though everything is different over there.’  Asked when he expects the new car to be released, he replied ‘within a few months I think is the most accurate answer, it could be a month earlier or later’, Volker clearly not wanting to over promise on people getting a hold of the car for themselves.  He concluded by referring to the car as ‘a masterpiece by Robert Pietsch.’

Coming into the weekend as the defending Modified Touring Car Champion, asked to sum up his performance against Volker, Orlowski said, ‘Ronald was really strong this weekend and we have work to do.’  The Pole continued, ‘we had a really good car last year and we keep trying to find new things for the set-up but I can’t seem to be able to improve further on from there so we need to look somewhere else.  I was second in the end but the gap was huge, we’ll work towards the next race and see but it was a wake up for us.’  With that next race being the TITC, this year being the first time he will travel to Thailand for the iconic Bangkok race, he replied, ‘not the best feeling right now going into TITC but it is a different story so we will try to enjoy the almost 2-weeks in Thailand for the first time for me and hope to enjoy the race and see what we can do there.’

Summing up his podium finish, Gollner said, ‘for me it is a perfect start to the new season with the new team.  I am pretty proud and thankfully to Ronald for his help.’   The Austrian continued, ‘I think we made the right steps and found some new things on the new car.  The basic is amazing but I think we are only at 90% of the car’s potential and we can figure out more.  I am proud to be in this team here.’

In Pro Stock Adam Izsay claimed Xray’s third straight MIBO title in the race’s biggest category but he did have it all his own way.  Securing the overall TQ, he won A1 ahead of David Ehrbar and Martin Hudy, the Xray designer looking to be really enjoying being in the mix against his team drivers.   A2 would see Hudy take the win as an altercation ended Izsay’s race early.  Double up with Modified Touring Car duties, in A3 lead home Hudy to take back the title he previous won at the inaugural MIBO International 2-year ago.  A very pleased Hudy joined him on the podium with Ehrbar making it an all Xray affair.  In FWD, German’s Phil Langner becomes the new champion holding outgoing champion Stefan Schulz at bay in both qualifying and the finals. Gergö Valent completed the podium.

View full onroad results here.

February 8, 2025

Volker Top Qualifier at MIBO International

After a perfect day of driving in the Czech Republic, Mugen Seiki’s Ronald Volker is the Top Qualifier at MIBO International with one round still to go tomorrow morning.  The unique event’s inaugural Champion in 2023, the German and his new MTC3 have been the class of the field with defending champion Michal Orlowski having to throw everything and sometimes more at it to try and get ahead of his rival.  Having topped the seeding this morning, Volker secured the overall TQ in Q3 before going on to make it four from four in the final run of the second day’s action.  With Volker leading home the Schumacher in 3 of the 4 rounds, Orlowski himself admitting after Q2 that he crashed because he was having to push so hard to try and keep up with the on form Volker.  While the race for the title at the third edition of the event put on by Volker’s former Yokomo team-mate Michal Bok is very much a two horse race, this year’s event is proving a happy hunting ground for Mugen’s upcoming touring car release with Volker’s new for 2025 team-mate Patrick Gollner third in the overnight standings.  Behind him the Yokomo of Christopher Krapp is holding P4 while the leading Xray challenge comes from Adam Izsay, who after being best of the rest in the morning dropped to fifth in the second half of the day.

‘Pretty much a perfect day’, that was how Volker summed his impressive performance adding, ‘I couldn’t ask for more’.  Other than feeling a diff change for Q2 wasn’t to his liking, he said, ‘I am still trying things each run to learn more about the car but every time it has just been so good.’  Planning to use Q5 in the morning to make a small change and run an old set of tyres again, he did caution that tomorrow is a new day adding ‘for sure Michal will be there in the finals and I need to be ready for that.’

Asked where he felt he was at going into Sunday’s finals, Orlowski replied, ‘we are trying to find something’.  Working with his offroad engineer Trish Neal he said they are struggling to get a nice balance in the car between steering and traction.  Acknowledging how well Volker is driving, saying ‘he is going very well’, the reigning 1:12 World Champion hinted he hasn’t given up yet stating ‘we have one more thing to try in Q5 and hopefully that will be good for the finals.’

While Izsay end the day P5 in Modified, in Pro Stock the former champion ended Saturday’s action by securing an early overall TQ.  With Martin Hudy taking Q1, the next three rounds belonged to the Hungarian with Hudy keeping him on his toes finishing within a few tenths each time.  In FWD the Top Qualifier was also decided with Philip Langner sealing the deal in Q4 with his third TQ run.  Reigning Champion Stefan Schulz did manage to keep the fight alive by topping Q3 but was 5/100ths of a second sort of pushing the fight for pole position into Q5 in the morning.

February 8, 2025

Kobbevik & Kaerup on top after Q2 at MIBO International

It is the Scandinavian’s who lead the way after two rounds of qualifying at MIBO International with Norway’s Daniel Kobbevik (2WD) and Denmark’s Marcus Kaerup (4WD) topping the points table.  In 2WD, qualifying opened with Kaerup’s Team Associated setting the fastest time from the Schumacher of Kobbevik but in the second of the 5 rounds a mistake from Kaerup handed Kobbevik a TQ that puts him top of the early ranking.  Behind him a consistent Martin Bayer, 3rd fastest on both occasions holds the No.2 spot ahead of Kaerup.  After a DNF in Q1 and P4 in Q2 Sworkz’s defending Champion Joern Neumann will be hoping for a better second half of the day.  In 4WD, Kaerup also claimed the first TQ but a close finish to the second round saw the Sworkz of Czech driver Dominik Vlášek deny him a repeat while a strong finish from the top Sworkz in seeding netted Micha Widmaier a P3.  Having topped seeding in both categories, that pace hasn’t transferred to qualifying for defending 4WD Champion Bartek Zalewski, the 18-year-old Xray driver not happy with his driving saying he is just making too many mistakes.

With his team-mate Orlowski opting not to race in Offroad having originally planned to race on both tracks here in Hrotovice this weekend, Kobbevik is actually racing both of the Polish ace’s buggies.  Asked if their was a reason for this over running his own, the 20-year said he did the same thing last year and the results were good so he’s hoping for the same outcome this year.  Travelling to the Milton Keynes British Off Road Grand Prix next week at least his own buggies are already ready for action there.  Pleased with his 2WD performance saying ‘2nd and a TQ, you can’t ask for much better than that’, on 4WD he said he messed that one up himself in Q2.  Second fastest in his first attempt having improved the feeling of his 4WD, he would make an early mistake on his second lap and lose 4-seconds eventually getting a P4.  Looking to the next qualifier he said, ‘I will go again with the same car and try to get around without the mistakes this time.’

Pleased with his opening efforts, Kaerup said in Q2 of 2WD his ‘head exploded’ after he ‘rolled it over’ in the middle of the run with a second big mistake leaving him down the order.  In 4WD, the former European Champion said the put in a clean first run to take the TQ and a after a ‘close battle with Vlášek’ in Q2 he just missed on a repeat adding he will be looking for an improvement from himself in Q3.

Having been to all three MIBO International races, Vlášek summed up his performance especially in 4WD as ‘good so far’, onlookers giving him a big cheer on taking the second qualifier ahead of Kaerup.  After a mistake in the first 4WD qualifier he said a little set-up change made for a more consistent buggy over the 5-minutes and the aim is for more clean runs later today.  Opening 2WD with a P4 he said at the second time of asking he just made mistakes every second lap and it was not a good run.  He plans to try a different set-up for Q3.

February 8, 2025

Volker takes charge in early MIBO qualifying

Having topped seeding at the third edition of MIBO International, Ronald Volker’s Mugen Seiki MTC3 continues to be the benchmark in the Czech Republic with the German taking the opening two rounds of qualifying.  In the first of the 5 scheduled qualifiers, Volker was fastest from the Schumacher of defending champion Michal Orlowski by 8/10ths of a second with Xray’s Adam Iszay maintaining status as the third fastest driver.  In a slower Q2, a mistake from Orlowski would give Volker an easier repeat TQ run, Yokomo’s Christopher Krapp his closest challenger over 3-seconds down on the 2016 World Champion.  Again Iszay completed the Top 3 ahead Patrick Gollner and the recovering Orlowski.

Summing up his performance after the completion of two rounds, Volker said, ‘points wise it was very good and I am happy to get the first two qualifiers but I need to change something for more overall grip.’  Asked if the track was starting to change, he replied, ‘It felt like less grip than controlled practice so I will try a different tyre prep for Q3.’

Asked what happened in Q2, Orlowski responded with the straight answer, ‘I was pushing too hard and crashed.’  He continued, ‘Ronald is very fast and I need to drive hard to try keep with him.  This has also led us going in a completely different direction with set-up.’  He concluded, ‘we having to work hard, but that is what we are here for.’

Another MIBO regular having been to all three MIBO International races, Krapp said, ‘P2 in the last one was good and the gap was a little less but still well behind Ronald.  Realistically I am fighting for the third spot this weekend.’  Asked where he felt he was lacking compared to his rivals, the 2022 World Championship podium finish explained, ‘we need to work on the rotation of the car in the corners.  In the fast sections it is good but in the slow corners I have no rotation so that is what we are searching for.’

In the other two touring car classes Xray’s own Martin Hudy TQ’d the opening Pro Stock 17.5T qualifier from defending FWD Champion Stefan Schulz as top seed Izsay suffered two bad laps that cost him over 10-seconds.  The Hungarian bounced back to take Q2 from his team boss.  In FWD Phil Langer went two from two taking Q1 ahead of Gergö Valent and Q2 from Schulz.

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.