February 17, 2024

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.

View our event image gallery here.

February 17, 2024

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.

View our event image gallery here.

February 17, 2024

Orlowski top seed at MIBO International

Michal Orlowski is the top seed in Modified Touring Car at MIBO International, the Schumacher driver topping the times by just 0.002 of a second from reigning Champion Ronald Volker.  With two rounds of seeding practice this morning, it was Volker who was fastest after the first but on the second both improved to set almost identical times over 3-consecutive laps,  a larger 2/1oths of a second improvement from Orlowski meaning he will lead off the first of the 5 rounds of qualifying.  Behind, it was the Xray of Jan Ratheisky who completed the Top 3 ahead of the Schumacher of Pekko Iivonen, Xray of  Patrick Gollner and Yokomo of Christopker Krapp.

Racing a prototype of Schumacher’s up coming new electric touring car platform, Orlowski summed up his morning as ‘OK’ explaining he was still trying to figure out his tyre situation.  Having broke in a set he was very happy with yesterday on inspection he spotted  ‘a little tear’ on one of the tyres and so opted to change to a new set.  Not happy with how that set felt, another set for the second timed practice proved better.  In terms of his car, the Pole said, ‘the car is good as always’.  The same car which he used to win the recent ETS Daun, he added, ‘I am running a similar set-up to what I normally use’.

‘I had a good 5-minute run which is the important thing so I am confident for Q1’, was how Volker summed up seeding adding, ‘to be only .002 behind Michal is not so bad’.  Asked about changes to his Mugen Seiki MTC-2R, the German said, ‘I will make a minor change to make the car slightly more easy and hope I can have a good clean run’.   On today’s track conditions, drivers running 5 rounds of free practice yesterday evening, Volker described them as being ‘more consistent today’.

Ratheisky was pleased with a combination of changes he made to his X4 for the final practice.  Going from 2 to 3.5 degrees toe, 4.0 to 4.6 droop and 2.7 to 2.6 Springs, the German said the car is now safer in the rear meaning if he over pushes his driving he doesn’t lose the rear.  For Q1 he plans one more change making the timing of his additive the same both front and rear having previously gone shorter on the rears.  Asked about the track he replied, ‘I love it.  It’s a really nice track, not too open and not too technical’.

Having made ‘a couple of changes’ this morning, Iivonen is pleased where his Schumacher is now at.  Fitting a new set of the Rush 30 shore handout tyres today, the Finnish National Champion said, ‘straight away they felt quite good’.  He continued, ‘My 5-minute pace looks super good.  The car is super easy to drive’.  Looking to Q1, the Finn said the only issue was that the ‘track is super dirty off the line’ but planning to keep on the clean racing line he is confident of a strong opening to qualifying, drivers count the best 3 of 5 to determine their starting position.

View our event image gallery here.

February 16, 2024

Volker tops MIBO practice while Xray leads Offroad

The second edition of MIBO International got underway at 17:00 this evening in the Czech Republic with Mugen Seiki’s Ronald Volker setting the pace on the onroad track as Xray led the charge on the offroad track.  Packing in 5 rounds of practice before drivers retired to the Sports V Hotel’s bar and restaurant to socialise & discuss a plan of attack for the rest of the event, defending Champion Volker set the fastest 3-consecutive laps ahead of Schumacher pairing Michal Orlowski and Pekko Iivonen.  On the track layout, which is getting a very favourable reaction from drivers, it was the Xray of Patrick Gollner that was fourth fastest ahead of Jan Ratheisky and the factory Yokomo of Christopher Krapp.  Over on the offroad half of the hall, in 2WD Buggy it was the star of last year’s inaugural event Bartosz Zalewski who set the pace from his car’s design Martin Bayer followed by a gaggle of MIBO International race debutants that included Schumacher’s Daniel Kobbevik, Sworkz’ Jörn Neumann, Team Associated’s Joona Haatanen and Sworkz’s Micha Widmaier.  Former European Champion Bayer was fastest in 4WD followed by veteran Hupo Honigl completing the Top 3 ahead of Haatanen and Zalewski.

Summing up his practice, Volker said, ‘It is great to be back at this familiar facility.  Michal Bok and the crew always put together a well organised event’. The former World Champion continued, ‘there is a really nice flow to the layout this year.  The grip today is still low put improving every run so we will see how the conditions come up tomorrow’. Running a slightly harder Rush 30 shore tyre this year, Volker said, ‘In general this is one of my favourite tyres.  With one or two runs they are good to go and then they last’.

Originally entered to race on both tracks, Orlowski explained, ‘The plan was to do touring car and buggy with two mechanics so we would each have a car to work on but they had other commitments and couldn’t come so I opted to go with the touring car as I am really racing that at the moment’.  While his first time attending MIBO International he said, ‘it is nice to be back here.  I have spent a lot of my early years racing here doing the Mibosport Series as well as ETS and EOS race Bok hosted’.  He continued, ‘The layout is very nice, it has a good flow.  The curbs are quite aggressive so you have to stay away from them and while the grip is still coming up there is a very narrow racing line’.  For Schumacher team-mate Iivonen it is his first time here and the 21-year-old likes the track layout a lot.  Described the curbs as being the same as what he used to back home in Finland adding he is having ‘no issues avoiding them’.

Describing the event as having ‘a great atmosphere’, Gollner said his X4 was working pretty good and he was running nothing different to his ETS Daun set-up, instead waiting for the traction here to come up.  Another fan of the layout, the Austrian said, ‘it’s a really good track, it has a nice flow and I think it will make for good finals as it’s got some good spots for overtaking’.

Making four different manufacturers in Top 6, having had a challenging weekend last year Krapp said, ‘I like the track better this year, it’s more flowing’.  Not wanting to build up expectations that this would automatically mean a better result, he explained, ‘we have many new parts again this year so I am more focused on the car than my driving.  This time of the year is part of the Yokomo cycle as we develop towards our new car so this is a great opportunity to test new parts with high competition like Michal and Ronald.’

Summing up his practice runs Zalewski, who last year was the double runner-up behind Bruno Coelho, said, ‘both his cars felt good’ and maybe he needs to focus on being ‘more consistent and smooth’.  The Polish teenager added, ‘Over one lap the cars are really good but I am not consistent over 5-minutes so maybe I need to adjust my driving style to be more consistent’.  Asked about the track layout he said, ‘It is similar layout to before but there is low grip’.

Flying to Warsaw, but six hours later than scheduled after he missed is connection from Norway, and hooking up with Haatanen where Orlowski then picked them up in his father’s car given they need the extra space for the 6-hour round trip to Hrotovice, Kobbevik said his cars were good at the beginning and he has just adjusted them as the grip comes up.  He is confident he will have a good package for tomorrow on the track’s ‘fun layout’.  Asked which of his buggies need more improvement, he replied that both his 2WD or 4WD ‘feel very good’.

Asked how the first half day of the 2 and half day event had gone for him, Haatanen replied, ‘it’s really busy running 2WD and 4WD so I am not sure what I have changed on the cars over the day but hopefully I have a set-up for tomorrow’.  The Finn, who just recently completed his mandatory military service allowing him to make a racing comeback, added, ‘It is a pretty nice track but its less grippy than EOS so its a bit more challenging’.

In the Sworkz pits, both Neumann and Widmaier felt the track was ‘a tighter layout to normal tracks we race on’ calling it ‘fun to drive but difficult’. Neumann said the track required you to get both your driving right and the car which needs a lot of steering.  Widmaier said, ‘It’s not so easy.  Everything is tight so it is very easy to make a mistake so I think the key point is going to be getting as clean a 5-minutes as possible.’

View our event image gallery here.