September 26, 2025

Catanzani departs Gimar Engines

1:8 GT World Championship Top Qualifier Andrea Catanzani has announced his departure from long time engine sponsor Gimar.  The 20-year-old Italian, who first came to prominence two years ago at the IFMAR GT World Championships in Australia, has enjoy much success with the new GT World Champion engine brand, including winning the highly competitive 2025 Italian National GT Championship.  Suffering a number of engine flameouts in Worlds final in Santiago and finishing fourth, the factory Serpent driver, who is expected to return to Chile at the end of November for the 1:8 Onroad World Championship, made the announcement on social media posting, ‘After 7 years an important chapter of my career is closing: I am leaving the Gimar family.  They have been intense years, full of satisfactions, but also difficult moments that have taught me a lot. We have shared victories, defeats, joys and disappointments but above all a human and sporting journey that made me grow, on and off the track.  A special thanks goes to Giovanni, who over the years believed in me, gave me confidence and helped me improve, becoming a more mature and conscious rider.  I’ll carry with me everything we built together, grateful for every moment lived.’

Source: Andrea Catanzani [Facebook]

September 19, 2025

Mazzeo becomes double World Champion in Chile

Raptor/Gimar driver Alessio Mazzeo has gone from being close in the past to becoming a double World Champion in less than 24-hours, the Italian taking the biggest win of his career today when he executed a flawless drive to win the IFMAR 1:8 Nitro GT World Championship final in Chile.  Winning the Electric GT World title yesterday in Santiago, and having hinted at what was to come as he put in a sterling performance in the battle for the Nitro TQ honours in the final qualifier, lining up behind Serpent’s eventually Top Qualifier Andrea Catanzani, he and Catanzani were the class of the field.  From the start of the 1-hour Main they pulled clear of the field around the Club de Aeromodelos de Chile track with it looking like the stage was set for a battle between the two different generations of drivers.  Unfortunately that anticipated fight to become the World No.1 lasted just four & a half minutes.  Catanzani would suffer a flame out and his demise was only the start of more problems to come for Italian drivers, the nation dominating qualifying and locking out all four direct qualifying spots in the main.  11-minutes in and Natanaele Senesi suffered the first of numerous flame-outs.  With Alex D’Angelo holding a comfortable second, just as Mazzeo put a lap on the Capricorn driver 36-minutes into the race, the 2023 Worlds Top Qualifier would come to a stop on track.  The issue proved terminal, his throttle servo having failed.  This promoted Carli Lopez to second making for a Raptor 1-2 on track.  Despite this being his first World Championships, the 21-year-old drove a superb final to maintain his position and take a hugely popular second place.  A driver who is no stranger to the World Championship stage, Brazil’s Flavio Elias would turn around a day that started off in the worst way possible when he was taken out of his Semi by another driver in pit lane while in a bump up position.  Having to go through the Last Chance Final, the WIRC driver won that to line up as the 11th car in the final and through all the drama found himself finally achieving a World Championship podium finish, a recovering Catanzani just 3-seconds back when they crossed the line.

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June 16, 2025

Gimar engines for 1:8 GT Champion Senesi

Italian engine manufacturer Gimar has announced the return of reigning 1:8 GT EFRA European Champion and IFMAR World Championship finalist Natanaele Senesi to its team line-up.  Gimar’s Giovanni Crea and Senesi have previously worked together for many years and reunited the Italian driver will now concentrate on developing Gimar’s engines for 1:8 GT class.  With the 2025 European Championship coming up next weekend he will be one of their leading drivers in Leipzig as well as at the IFMAR World Championship in Chile in September.  On the announcement Senesi said, ‘I know Giovanni since many many years now, and I now that we can do something special together. Our goal? Win!’

Source: Gimar [rcgimar.com]

January 23, 2025

Polito back with Gimar Engines

After a season away from the brand, Gimar Engines has announce that top Italian 1:8 Offroad racer Mattia Polito has returned to the Italian engine tuner to power his program with Sworkz.  Having used O.S. Engines in 2024, securing the TQ and an impressive 2nd place at the SIGP in Xiamen, China, in December after a great battle with World Champion Davide Ongaro.  Opening his 2025 season with the 1:8 Nitro Buggy victory at the annual ‘OneRace OneMan’ race at the IBR Padova indoor facility in Italy, Polito now returns to working with Giovanni Crea for his engine needs with the Gimar owner stating, ‘After a year of stop, here we are together again stronger than before, ready to face new experiences and new races together. Welcome back Mattia.’

Source: Gimar [rcgimar.com]

January 22, 2025

Teghesi joins Gimar Engines

Former Italian 1:8 Buggy National Champion Fabrizio Teghesi’s 2025 racing season will be powered by Italian engine tuner Gimar.  In a deal that came about through featuring one of the engines from the Giovanni Crea owned brand on his YouTube channel, on the announcement of the new partnership the HB Racing driver from Florence said, ‘I am really excited to join the Gimar Factory team! I had the opportunity to test their engine last year on various occasions thanks to the project “a different engine for every race” that I featured on my channel in 2024, and I was really impressed, so much so that I decided to run my international season with these engines!  I do not deny that the choice of the brand was also made with the perspective of the content I will be able to create thanks to this company, which has been nothing short of volcanic lately… They have many exciting new developments in the pipeline that I can’t wait to present in my YouTube videos!’

Source: Gimar [rcgimar.com]

December 17, 2024

Gimar Raptor 1:8 GT Car

Italian engine tuner Gimar has announced the new Raptor 1:8 GT car which is designed and manufactured in collaboration with TES, a renowned company known for excellence in RC components.  Born from the innovative vision of engineer Andrea Contarini and the creativity of Giovanni Crea, founder of GIimar, the Raptor sets a new benchmark in the GT class, offering uncompromising performance and cutting-edge design.  Building on the expertise gained from the development and testing of previous models, the Raptor is the result of years of refinement and real-world experience.  The Raptor will be available from 20th January.

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August 14, 2024

Gimar SRX8 1:8 GT alu front and rear bulkhead

Best known for its engines, Italy’s Gimar has released new optional front and rear bulkheads for Serpent’s SRX8 GT and GTE 1:8 GT Chassis.  The engine sponsor of Serpent factory driver & 1:8 GT World Championship podium finisher Andrea Catanzani, the bulkheads are the latest releases for Serpent cars from Giovanni Crea’s company, Crea a major driving force behind GT racing in Italy and Europe.  The thickness of the aluminium bulkheads bring a number of advantages in particular greater stability with both the front and rear available in black or aluminium colour finishes.

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October 26, 2023

‘I think Dario was racing European Championships before I was born’ – meet Serpent’s 1:8 Onroad young gun Andrea Catanzani

The last time the 1:8 Onroad World Championship was held in Japan it was Serpent who came away with the title thanks to Japanese driver Tadahiko Sahashi.  At the same time almost 10,000km away in Italy an 8-year-old was embarking on his journey into RC Racing.  Inspired by his father, one of the country’s top Rally Game drivers (the precursor to what we now know as 1:8 GT), this driver started to master his skills driven by view of his father, ‘for me he was the best and I wanted to be like him’.  Now a decade later, that up & coming talent is part of a small select factory Serpent team that will compete for the title at the 23rd running of IFMAR’s original World Championship at the Infinity International RC Speedway in Japan.  That driver is recently turned 18-year-old Andrea Catanzani, who earlier this month marked his arrival on the international stage with some stunning displays of outright speed and hunger for success at the 1:8 GT World Championship in Sydney.

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