Red RC » Racing

February 14, 2026

Orlowski to defend TITC title as Top Qualifier

Schumacher’s Michal Orlowski will defend his TITC title in Bangkok tomorrow from pole position after taking a somewhat anti-climatic final qualifier at RC Addict this evening to become Top Qualifier once again at the iconic race. His closest challenger, Bruno Coelho had injected a level of excitement into proceedings when he took the penultimate qualifier to set the stage for a showdown but the World Champion didn’t have the pace in the ‘Happy Hour’ evening conditions to prevent Orlowski taking his fourth TQ run of the event. While Orlowski and Coelho have the edge on the rest of the field, Akio Sobue again put in another Top 3 run and that’s where the 2-time Champion will start from, many predicting the Axon driver might in fact have locked in the best grid position should, as we have seen in the past, fireworks go off at the front. A great day from Simon Lauter sees the race’s 2024 Open Brushless class winner line up fourth on the grid ahead of team-mate Marc Rheinard, the chances of the 3-time World Champion winning again in Thailand two decades after his single TITC win looking a tall order. While many full factory drivers had their struggles and failed to make the A-Main, Korean racer Ji-Heon Yoo made Awesomatix the best represented manufacturer on the grid securing P6 ahead of Infinity’s Viktor Wilck, Xray’s Jin Sawada, Axon’s Hayato Ishioka, and Tamiya’s Souta Goto who got the tie break on the Mugen Seiki of 2024 Top Qualifier Ronald Volker to complete the grid. In Open Brushless having qualified & finished P2 last year, Lukas Ellerbrock is the Top Qualifier ahead of Awesomatix team-mate Oliver Bultynck who TQ’d the final qualifier. Winner of Q4, Thailand’s Natthawat Rungcharat starts 3rd for Xray.

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February 14, 2026

Coelho grabs Q4 at TITC, all to play for in final qualifier

Bruno Coelho has grabbed a TQ run in the penultimate round of qualifying at the TITC, the Infinity driver ending the dominance of defending Champion Michal Orlowski at the Bangkok classic. With the heats reseeded for Day 2 of qualifying, it was Orlowski who took all three of yesterday’s qualifiers who led away followed by Coelho and new to the top heat Akio Sobue. With it looking like it was going to be more of the same from Orlowski once things settled down, a super strong finish from Coelho would see the World Champion grab the TQ by 16/100ths of a second from his biggest touring car rival – the large crowd showing their appreciation for the run in anticipation of the showdown his performance has created for the ‘Happy Hour’ final qualifier. Putting together some impressive runs from the second fastest heat yesterday, joining the top heat Sobue would improve his counting runs by setting the third fastest time ahead of Awesomatix pairing Marc Rheinard and Simon Lauter. In Open Brushless we would see the potential for a qualifying clean sweep also disappear. Having made a slow start to the heat, overnight TQ holder Lukas Ellerbrock would get caught up in another drivers incident and end up with an 18.4-second lap, his fastest of the run being a 14.862. Up front it was Thai Xray driver Natthawat Rungcharat who took the round TQ ahead of the Awesomatix’s Olivier Bultynck and Xpress’ Mongkolphan Lomrose.

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February 13, 2026

Schumacher confirm Orlowski & Kobbevik for MIBO International

Schumacher has confirmed its return to the 4th edition of the MIBO International with regular Czech visitors Michal Orlowski and Daniel Kobbevik. Orlowski, who is currently setting the pace at the famous TITC race in Thailand, is a MIBO International winner in touring car but this year the Pole switches to racing on other side of the Sports V Hotel sports hall as he takes on the offroad track. Kobbevik has been a Top Qualifier in Hrotovice and finished on the podium but a win has so far eluded the Norwegian, a record he will be hoping to amend. With confirmed entries for offroad also from Xray, in European Champion Martin Bayer and defending MIBO International 2WD Champion Bartek Zalewski, and Sworkz, in Elliott Boots and Micha Widmaier, the racing is set to be intense over the 2 & a half day event. Full details of the 2026 MIBO International Race, which takes place on February 27-March 1st, can be viewed on the Mibosport website by clicking here.

View MIBO International Roll of Honour here

February 13, 2026

Hongyu GDC announce 2nd edition of Asia Nitro Party

Chinese track Hongyu GDC has announced that following the hugely successful inaugural hosting of the Asia Nitro Party race last month that they will host a second edition of the race in 2027. An event for 1:8 GP, 1:8 GT, and 1:10 Nitro Touring Car, it will also officially become a 3-day race event with January 15-17th already fixed as the 2027 date. The first edition of the Asia Nitro Party attracted a stacked international entry with visitors impressed not only by the Hongyu GDC facility but also their experience of visiting the city of Foshan. In 1:8 GP it would be Infinity’s Naoto Matsukura who took the win ahead of Xray’s Filippo Domanin and Serpent’s Andrea Catanzani. In 1:8 GT, Bernard-Alain Arnaldi took the win for Genius ahead of the Raptors of World Champion Alessio Mazzeo and Natanaele Senesi. With mild weather in Southern China in January, the timing of the race is the perfect opportunity for European nitro racers to break-up the traditional Winter off season and compete at an event that has already made a mark on establishing itself as a major annual event on the international nitro onroad race calendar.

Source: Hongyu GDC [Facebook]

February 13, 2026

Perfect day sees Orlowski hold overnight TQ in Bangkok

Delivering a perfect day of 3 TQ runs from the 3 rounds of qualifying, it is defending TITC Champion Michal Orlowski who holds the overnight TQ in Bangkok. The Schumacher driver, who is running a new platform from the British manufacturer, completed Day 1 of qualifying with another TQ run ahead of main rival Bruno Coelho with Xray’s Jin Sawada delivering an impressive P3 for the round. Axon’s Akio Sobue got a P4 from the second fastest heat which together with his P2 in Round 2 sees the 2-time Champion complete the Top 3 in the overnight qualification rankings. Suffering a DNF in Q3, Simon Lauter is the top Awesomatix contender overnight in fourth ahead of team-mate Marc Rheinard, the German finishing out the day with another disappointing P5 to hold that position going into tomorrow’s final two qualifiers. With the final 2 rounds of qualifying scheduled for the afternoon, today’s action happening in the first half of the day, there will be plenty of team drivers hoping the later conditions will allow them to turn around their TITC and secure a spot in Sunday’s main show. In Open Brushless, it was also a perfect day for Lukas Ellerbrock as he brought home 3 TQ runs for Awesomatix and going into Day 2’s qualifying it is team-mate Olivier Bultynck who holds second with the Xpress of Top Seed Mongkolphan Lomrose sitting P3.

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February 13, 2026

Orlowski again in Q2 from Sobue & Lauter

Michal Orlowski has made it two from two in qualifying at the TITC however with his main rivals in the Top heat having issues it was Axon’s Akio Sobue and Awesomatix’s Simon Lauter from the second fastest heat that completed the Top 3, Sobue being a lot closer than Orlowksi had anticipated. Having opened with a P2 in Q1, Bruno Coelho would crash out as he tried to push the limits trying to go one better the second time of asking. After a great start to qualifying, setting the 3rd fastest time, unfortunately Naoto Matsukura would DNF with an ESC issue. Marc Rheinard would post only the 5th fastest time behind Korean racer Ji-Heon Yoo, who is seeded in the third fastest heat, with the multiple World Champion lost to explain his sudden loss of pace. In Open Brushless it was also a repeat TQ, with Lukas Ellerbrock fastest from Xpress’ Mongkolphan Lomrose, the Top Seed recovering from a poor Q1.

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February 13, 2026

Sunpadow batteries for Hovgaard

Sunpadow has announced that Top European FWD racer Frederik Hovgaard has joined its team. The Chinese battery manufacturer who are a key sponsor of reigning 3-time ISTC World Champion Bruno Coelho, will now power the Danish drivers onroad & offroad race program with Team Yokomo. On the announcement, the 2024 European FWD Champion and Pro Stock World Championship finalist said, ‘I’m very excited to join Sunpadow RC. Looking forward to a good collaboration with the team.’

Source: Sunpadow [sunpadow.com]

February 13, 2026

Despite nervous start Orlowski takes Q1 at TITC

Despite by his own admission getting off to a nervous start, Schumacher’s Michal Orlowski has taken the opening round of qualifying at the TITC, the first of five rounds seeing a number of drivers taking turns at the top of the timing screens. In the end, having topped yesterday’s seeding, it was the defending Champion Orlowski who continues to lead the way at RC Addict securing the TQ run ahead of Bruno Coelho with Infinity team-mate Naoto Matsukura completing the Top 3. On the TQ pace for a time, Awesomatix’s Marc Rheinard opened his account with a 4th ahead of Akio Sobue, the Axon driver having a good run in the second fastest heat along with former TITC Open Brushless Champion Simon Lauter who would complete the Top 6 with his Awesomatix. In the Open Brushless Class it was the Awesomatix of Lukas Ellerbrock who topped the first round ahead of team-mate Olivier Bultynck with the Xpress of Top Seed Mongkolphan Lomrose managed only P6.

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