Red RC » Racing

January 24, 2026

Senesi takes Asia Nitro Party TQ honours

Natanaele Senesi has taken the TQ honours in 1:8 GT at the inaugural Asia Nitro Party race in China. The Italian would go up against newly crowned World Champion Alessio Mazzeo and France’s Bernard-Alain Arnaldi as the fight to secure pole position & the only direct spot into the 45-minute Main went down to the fourth & final qualifier at the Hongyu GDC track. With Mazzeo finding a new level of speed from his Raptor in Q4, he looked like getting the job done in style however with a minute & a half to run in the 6-minute heat his throttle servo would fail. His second DNF, having had an engine issue in Q3, the Italian would end up qualifying 4th overall. Despite running out off fuel three corners before the line, Senesi’s Raptor would take the round ahead of Arnaldi’s Genius who also was on the limit getting to the line and that is how they would complete the final ranking. The biggest surprise of the day ‘s qualifying would be the performance of Hobbywing technical guru Salton Dong, the experienced electric racer steering Mazzeo’s spare World Championship car to P3 on his GT debut.

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January 24, 2026

Wang takes opening 2 qualifiers to lead the way at Asia Nitro Party

After two rounds of qualifying at the inaugural Asia Nitro Party it is JJ Wang who leads the way, Mugen Seiki holding the top two spots as qualifying reaches the half way distance at the Hongyu GDC track in China. A much warmer day than drivers experienced yesterday in Foshan, run time was the big talking point of qualifying with Wang’s strategy to refuel in each of his 4-minute runs paying dividends. The Chinese American admitting himself that he may not be the fastest driver on track as he gets used to his brand new MRX7, his last competitive 1:8 Onroad outing being the 2019 IFMAR 1:8 Onroad World Championship in California. With a second in Q1 and running at the top of the timing screens again in Q2 until he again started running out of fuel, this time dropping him to 5th, it is O.S. Speed’s Sinnosuke Yokoyama who holds second in a ranking that is completely scrambled due to the number of drivers running out of fuel. Having topped practice yesterday, Infinity’s Naoto Matsukura was on for a TQ in Q1 until Nicole Marrone traction rolled in front of him leading to contact that broke the Japanese driver’s car. Having opted to do a fuel stop in Q1, after his opening DNF Matsukura risked going the full 4-minutes in Q2 but came up well sort on his runtime. One of the favourite’s coming into the event, Serpent’s Andrea Catanzani has yet to shine. Making a mistake in Q1 he would eventually run out of fuel leading him to do a stop in Q2 but the Italian said they lacked speed in the car and he ended up P3 behind Wang & Marrone.

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January 23, 2026

Orlowski wins 2WD at EOS Daun

Schumacher’s Michal Orlowski has kicked off his 2026 Offroad season with victory, taking the 2WD win at EOS Daun in Germany on Friday afternoon. Qualifying would see the Schumacher team dominate with Sweden’s Elias Johansson taking the first of the 4 rounds. In Q2 it was Daniel Kobbevik who set the pace before Orlowski found his form to top Q3 & 4. Securing the TQ ahead of Kobbevik, Johansson and practice Top Seed Marcus Kaerup, the Pole would take A1 from Kobbevik and Xray’s Bartosz Zalewski. He would repeat again in A2 to secure the overall victory. A3 would see Kaerup win ahead of Kobbevik but poor opening A-Main results mean’t he couldn’t deny Schumacher a 1-2 as he completed the podium for Associated ahead of Zalewski, AE’s Joona Haatanen and Johansson.

Image: Schumacher [Facebook]

January 23, 2026

Matsukura tops Asia Nitro Party free practice

Infinity’s Naoto Matsukura set the pace in Free Practice today ahead of the first running of the new ‘Asia Nitro Party’ onroad race at Hongyu CDG in China. A driver would just a month ago TQ’d a round of qualifying around the same track at the FEMCA Asia Championship, he would top the times from fellow Japanese compatriot Sinnosuke Yokoyama. Returning to nitro racing to support the hosting of what track boss Gavin Kwok will become a major race fixture on the international nitro racing calendar, Chinese American racer JJ Wang made it two Mugen Seiki’s in the Top 3 behind Yokoyama MRX-7. Expected to be the pace setter in the 1:8 Onroad class, Serpent’s World Championship Top Qualifier Andrea Catanzani would have a difficult day struggling to find a good balance but once we down to times counting tomorrow in qualifying he is sure to be right in the mix.

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January 23, 2026

Izsay joins Czech ESC manufacturer Elceram

Czech ESC manufacturer Elceram has announced the addition of reigning European Spec Electric Touring Car Champion Ádám Izsay as a Factory Team Driver. The Hungarian, who last September took up a full time role in R&D with long time chassis sponsor Xray, had been with Hobbywing for 7-years and switches to Elceram where he will join Xray offroad car designer Martin Bayer in representing the brand’s unique speed controller around the World. On the announcement Adam said, “I’m extremely excited to join Elceram for 2026, not only as a driver, but also will be taking part in product development. I have been following their growth and success since the beginning and was always impressed what Jan and his Team could achieve in such a short time. From my first laps with the ESCs I had an amazing feeling, I can’t wait to start working together with Jan, Anna and everyone at Elceram!”

Source: Elceram [Facebook]

January 23, 2026

Senesi sets GT practice pace at Asia Nitro Party

1:8 GT specialist Natanaele Senesi has set the pace in free practice ahead of this weekend’s inaugural Asia Nitro Party at the impressive Hongyu GDC track in China. An event that has generated a lot of excitement within the Asian nitro racing scene since the 2026 1:12 & ISTC World Championship venue facility announced the annual event last October, 1:8 GT is the biggest category with over 50 drivers taking part. The 2024 European Champion would top the times from reigning World Champion Alessio Mazzeo, both drivers running Raptor cars after Senesi, who runs under his own Senesi Motorsport banner, made the switch from an Xray based car to Raptor. The move came about as a result of Senesi’s engine sponsor Gimar, which in 2024 took over the Raptor project. Also a factor in the switch was the ability for Senesi to produce his own Senesi Motorsport edition Raptor kit which features a number of his own design elements. Another of the fast European’s making the trip to Foshan, and believing the would escape the cold weather back home, it would be Genius Racing’s Bernard-Alain Arnaldi who completed the Top 3. While all hugely impressed with the new RC facility, drivers have been badly caught off guard by an unseasonable cold spell to hit southern China. With most drivers seeing the podium photo from last weekend’s Sweep Asia Cup race at the track, in which winner Bruno Coelho, Michal Orlowski are both wearing shorts, and basing their clothing choices from that they packed for much warmer conditions than what has greeted them. There does however appear to be a big jump up in temperatures for tomorrow’s qualifying with it then set to hit in the region of 23 degrees for Sunday’s finals. On track the low temperatures have also added to the challenge of getting heat into the Sweep rubber tyres used in 1:8 GT, the compound selected ahead of the race based on racing in temperatures double that of what has been experienced so far.

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January 21, 2026

Salemi announced at Serpent Factory team

Serpent has announced the addition of experienced Italian nitro racer Mirko Salemi to their factory team. The 1:8 Onroad stalwart moves to Serpent following a stint with Capricorn with who he became an Euro Nitro Series race winner at the end of the 2023 season. Joining compatriot & recent World Championship Top Qualifier Andrea Catanzani in campaigning the Viper 990R in 2026, on the announcement Salemi said, ‘I’m very happy to join this team, so rich in history and so many successes. We have big goals and hope to achieve great results together. I thank the entire team for their trust and look forward to 2026, which is already ready to begin.’

Source: Serpent [serpent.com]

January 20, 2026

Urbain wins 2026 ‘Charity Race’

The biggest winner is always the charities the race continues to raise money for each year, but the 2026 records will show Awesomatix’s Lucas Urbain took victory at the 15th running of the annual Charity Race in Scandiano, Italy. The French driver would secure the TQ honours on tie break with Xray’s Filippo Domanin as they each recorded two TQ runs over the four qualifiers. Multiple 1:8 Onroad World Champion Dario Balestri completed the Top 3 on the grid for Infinity ahead of Luca Romagnoli and Alessio Menicucci. Urbain would go on to take the overall win with victories in A1 & 2 while A3 victory would secure Balestri second on the podium ahead of Domanin. In 17.5 Stock Nico Catelani took the TQ and win for Infinity.

Image: RC Landia [Facebook]