Red RC » Axon

September 14, 2025

Sobue wins Hongyu GDC opening race

Marking the official opening of the brand new Hongyu GDC track in Foshan, China, Axon driver Akio Sobue claimed victory at the 2026 IFMAR ISTC World Championship host venue. In qualifying the Japanese driver secured the TQ ahead of team-mate Hayato Ishioka, the latter claiming the first of the four qualifiers before Sobue went fastest in Q2 & 3. Schumacher’s Pekko Iivonen, the eBuggy World Championship finalists a late entry after the cancellation of the Asian Buggy Championships finale in Indonesia, would top the final qualifier to secure third on the grid ahead of top Chinese racer Alfred Lao. In A1 as the two Axon drivers pulled clear, Sobue’s car would come to a stop 3-minutes in allowing Ishioka to cruise to the win ahead of Iivonen and Lao. In A2 and 3, Sobue ran trouble free to win both encounters and locked in the overall win at the hugely impressive multi-track facility with Ishioka and Iivonen completing the podium. In Stock it was RC Maker driver Zaccheus Lam who secured the TQ and win ahead of Awesomatix’s Max Machler with fifth place qualifier Wang Haifeng claiming the final step on the podium. In the nitro categories, the 1:8 Onroad TQ and victory went to Infinity driver Poon Ray while Xray driver Hudson Hu claimed victory in the 1:8 GT class.

View more podium images here

July 27, 2025

Sobue regains Japanese National title

Having opened the month of July with a debut international win for Axon’s new TC10/4 Touring Car at eSIC in Singapore, Akio Sobue has concluded the month by adding the Japanese National Championship title to the car’s credentials. Racing at the Tsukuba RC Park, formerly known as the World famous Yatabe Arena, former champion Sobue would secure the TQ in qualifying ahead of Xpress paring Yoshiyasu Yanagisawa & Yugo Nagashima with Infinity’s Ryosuke Yamamoto securing P4 while team-mate & defending Champion Jin Sawada qualified P8. In the finals Sobue took A1 ahead of Yanagisawa however in A2 under pressure from the Xpress driver they touched side by side on the front straight on lap 4 resulting in Sobue getting stuck the the corner marker. With Yanagisawa taking the win from Nagashima and Sobue 5th it was all to play for in A3. Setting the fastest lap, Sobue would enjoy his biggest winning margin finishing 6/10ths up on Yanagisawa to lift the title for a 5th time with Yanagisawa (2nd) and Nagashima (3rd) joining him on the podium.

Image: Atsushi Hara [Facebook]

July 13, 2025

Sobue reigns in Singapore to win eSIC 2025

Axon’s Akio Sobue reigned over the third edition of the Electric Singapore International Challenge (eSIC), the Top Qualifier backing up Saturday’s performance with a dominant Sunday. Taking the A1 win ahead of Xray’s Alexander Hagberg, the Japanese driver would repeat the result in A2 to secure an early overall win in Singapore. Debuting the first production example of Axon’s upcoming TC10/4 Touring Car release the result was the perfect launch for the Japanese manufacturer’s new car. While Sobue had the perfect weekend his team-mate Hayato Ishioka would be less fortunate. Securing P2 in qualifying after topping Q3, he suffered an electrical issue in A1 and A2, but with Sobue able to sit out A3 and watch he gave Ishioka his electrics for A3 and that led to the most exciting of the three A-Main encounters. With the power setting of Sobue’s ESC a little more aggressive to his own, leading away the field Ishioka would overshoot the back straight and drop down the order as Nicholas Lee took over the lead. Shadowed by Hagberg the Xray duo looked to have the race under control until Lee spun out. Having to change car for A3 after an off destroyed his car in A2, Lee was at a loss to explain why he spun out when he ‘wasn’t under pressure’ from his team-mate. With Hagberg now leading and Ishioka seemingly some way back, the Japanese driver came out of nowhere in the last two laps setting up a perfect show down of a drag race to the finish line – Hagberg just getting it by 0.027 to secure second overall. With Atsushi Hara backing up his P3 finish from A1 with another in A3, A2 not going his way, the former World Champion completed the podium at RCMC.

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July 13, 2025

Sobue cruises to eSIC A1 win ahead of Hagberg

Having feared they might wake to rain, racers at the Electric Singapore International Challenge (eSIC) have instead been greeting by the hottest day of the week in Singapore however the hot humid conditions still weren’t enough to stop the reign of Axon’s Akio Sobue at RCMC as he took a convincing A1 win ahead of Xray’s Alexander Hagberg. Leading away the international field, Top Qualifier Sobue and his team-mate Hayato Ishioka pulled clear with Hagberg getting by team-mate Nicholas Lee early on. While running on used tyres, Lee was holding fourth but then a mistake half way into the race dropped the home hero to last. While the race was ticking off laps, Hagberg would suddenly find himself with Ishioka. Unfortunately the hot conditions causing the Japanese driver to lose power resulting in Hagberg making a little contact as the came onto the straight. Once into P2, Hagberg could do nothing about Sobue who took the win by 2 & a half seconds. Benefiting from Ishioka and Lee’s issues, having lined up P6 Atsushi Hara came through with his Schumacher to complete the Top 3 just ahead of E.C Kim’s Awesomatix.

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July 11, 2025

Axon TC10/4 Electric Touring Car Pre-release Spec

Japanese Electric Touring Car manufacturer and 2022 World Championship podium finishers Axon has pre-released some of the features of its upcoming new offering, the TC10/4. Publishing three images of the car on social media, Axon, who are currently in Singapore for this weekend eSIC race with drivers Akio Sobue and Hayato Ishioka, list features of the new car to include a sophisticated lightweight upper and lower bulkheads. The car still shares the chassis with the current TC10/3, which was official announced in November 2023, but gets a new centred design of the front & rear dampers for improved cornering manoeuvrability. Axon will release further details on the final production kit shortly.

View Kit Features Overview & more images here

April 7, 2025

Axon confirms Ishioka for eSIC 2025

Japanese touring car manufacturer Axon has confirmed 2025 TITC Finalist Hayato Ishioka will represent them when they make their team debut at the 3rd edition of the Electric Singapore International Challenge (eSIC) on July 12-13. Axon become the latest manufacturer to support the race which is the brainchild of top Singapore touring car racer Nicholas Lee and Chhua Jookiah. Aiming to bring top level international competition to the Asian island country, the previous two editions of the race has attracted official team entries from Mugen Seiki, Awesomatix, Yokomo, ARC and Xpress and in addition to Axon that list in 2025 will grow to also include Xray who confirmation that Germany’s Jan Ratheisky with travel to the RCMC Marine Parade race track hosted event.

Source: eSIC [Facebook]

January 21, 2025

Philippine Masters ’25 track revealed

The organisers of the Philippine Masters has revealed the Circulo Verde Race Track which will host Asia’s most high profile 1:8 Offroad event of the year from April 30-May 4. The 13th running of the Philippine Masters, track designer and accomplished offroad racer Edward Sio has overseen the work which includes the track being newly re-surfaced and oiled. Tweaking the layout in some sections and they have also added some additional jumps for more actions on this always popular track. Last year the Manila event was once again won by World Champion Davide Ongaro in a final that saw the legendary Atsushi Hara lead for almost half the final. With the Philippines famed as a holiday destination, the event has a truly unique vibe living up to the nations tourism tagline ‘It’s More Fun in the Philippines’. Holding the same status as the TITC in Thailand does among onroad racers, once again Philippine Masters ’25 will form part of Scotty Ernst’s Asian Buggy Championships as the second stop of four races that make up the championship’s third season.

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January 20, 2025

Sobue wins GRC Indoor track reopening SSOGO race

Having won last year’s single round Asian Onroad Championship at the newly renovated outdoor track at GRC Raceway in Korea, Axon driver Akio Sobue returned over the weekend to win the first race on the track’s newly completed indoor track. Hosting the ‘SSOGO 2025’ race to reopen the very impressive newly redone indoor facility, the event attracted a number of international racers including Xray’s Nicolas Lee, Xpress’ Yugo Nagashima and Sobue along with his Axon team-mate Hayato Ishioka. Racing to 17.5T Boosted spec, qualifying would see Sobue top all three qualifiers to secure the overall TQ ahead of fellow Japanese racer Nagashima, Lee and Ishioka. Sobue continued that form in the finals wrapping up the win after A2. Winning A3 ahead of runner-up Nagashima, Ishioka would complete the podium. Finishing P4 Lee, a race promoter himself who puts on the annual eSIC event in his home country of Singapore, has produced a video tour of the Galenaro Racing Circuit (GRC) which highlights the impression vision of track owner Yun Tak Kim – click here to view video.

View podium here