Mibosport Cup Rd2 – Report
The second round of the Mibosport Cup was held this past weekend at the Hotel-Sport in Hrotovice. The event again attracted a good amount of entries with 229 sign-ups in the six classes of Touring Modified, Touring Stock, Formula, and 1/12th scale, as well as 2WD and 4WD Buggy. 38 drivers attended in the Touring Modified class in which Elliott Harper had a very good start when he won the opening qualifier. Unfortunately he failed to keep up with the pace and was beaten by Finnish driver Viljami Kutvonen, who took the overall TQ. Elliott finished on the 2 spot behind Viljami and ahead of Marc Rheinard. A bit further down the A-main grid Harley Eldridge was the first girl ever in the history of the Mibosport Cup to end up in the Modified class top 10 after the qualifiers.
Viljami then went on to dominate the A-mains as he scored victories in all three legs to take the overall win with three tone-to-tone finishes. Behind him the battle was on for the runner-up spot between Elliott and Marc. Ultimately Elliott would hold the upper hand, defending his qualifying position and taking the runner-up spot ahead of Marc.
The Stock LRP Touring Car class offered a lot of excitement with Jürgen Horn, Aleš Pelikán and Blazej Orlowski fighting for the TQ in the opening qualifier. In round 2 Jürgen then set the fastest time that no one was able to come near and thus the Austrian driver took the overall TQ for the finals. The 2 spot on the grid then belonged to Aleš Pelikán with Blazej Orlowski in third. Unfortunately, Aleš Pelikán had to retire from the first A-main, allowing Blazej and Jürgen to fight for the win with Blazej ultimately coming out fastest from Jürgen. In the second leg Aleš Pelikán managed to pass Jürgen to grab the first place while Blazej finished in third, followed by Oliver Havránek. The third and decisive A-main again saw a battle between Aleš and Jürgen. This time, Jürgen managed to defend his position and won ahead of Aleš and Oliver Havránek. Overall Jürgen Horn was able to take the win from Aleš Pelikán with Blazej Orlowski rounding out the top 3.
With the return of René Kölbel, Herbert Weber got a worthy rival in the Formula class, when both were fighting for the TQ spot which, in the end, went to the popular Austrian driver, Herbert Weber. The best Czech driver in the Formula class, Vít Parák, occupied the fourth position behind Herbert Weber, René Kölbel and Marc Pfenninger. Although Herbert was racing René in the first A-main, they both managed to open gap on the battling Pfenninger and Parák. The final was won by Herber with René and Vít Parák behind. Herbert then managed to also take the win in the second A-main to grab the overall victory. Vít beat his Swiss rival again and finished in third. The final A-main was affected by an unscrupulous backmarker who pushed the leading Herbert out of the way. Herbert had to retire from the race after the incident allowing René to win the round with Marc Pfenninger and Vít behind. Behind Herbert, Marc and Vít ended tie on points with the better qualifying result handed Marc the last remaining podium spot behind René Kölbel.
Tomáš Lipták dominated the 1/12th scale class again as he set the fastest time in the first round of qualifying. No one was able to come near in the remaining rounds so Tomáš took the overall TQ from Igor Lipták and Aleš Pelikán. Tomáš then went on to dominate the A-mains to take the day’s win. Michael Höller, Igor Lipták and Aleš Pelikán were though fighting for the remaining podium positions and ultimately it was Michael who secured the overall second place ahead of Igor Lipták.
Austrian driver Martin Wollanka arrived well prepared for the 2WD Buggy class as he won the qualifying with an 11 seconds gap on Kája Novotný and Hupo Hönigl. And if that wasn’t enough Martin would also dominate the A-mains to take the overall win while behind him the race was on for the runner-up spot. Hupo Hönigl would come in second on the opening A-main ahead of Marcel Rekettye who managed to overtake Kája Novotný. The battle for the second spot between Hupo and Kája in the second A-main saw Kája coming out fastest and in the third and decisive main it was again Hupo who would grab the runner-up spot to take the overall second place behind Martin. Kája Novotný completed the podium result in third.
In the 4WD Buggy class Michal Orlowski and Martin Wollanka were battling for the TQ and it was Martin who won the first qualifier, but he did not attend the second round and only scored three timed laps in the third round, allowing Michal to take the overall TQ. Michal then went on to win the first A-main with quite a comfortable gap to his nearest rivals Martin Wollanka and Kája Novotný. In A2 Martin Wollanka came out successful with Hupo Hönigl and Michal Orlowski behind. The third A-main saw an entertaining battle between Michal and Martin with the gap between them never being more than 2 seconds. In the end, Michal won just 0.6 seconds ahead of Martin. Third place went to Kája Novotný. Overall Michal Orlowski took the overall win with Martin Wollanka and Kája Novotný behind.
Radim Hruška was awarded with the best Junior driver trophy and the Spirit of the Race prize went to Marek Schiller while Harley Eldridge was awarded with the special “Yokomo Star” prize.
Source: Mibosport [mibosport.com]
