Red RC » Racing

January 6, 2026

Infinity confirms Matsukura for inaugural Nitro Party

Infinity has confirmed they are sending multiple World Champion Naoto Matsukura to the inaugural Nitro Party race which takes place later this month at the new Hongyu GDC track in China. The Japanese driver holds one of the most impressive World Championship records in our sport winning 6 World Championship title over three different classes, 1:12, ITSC, and Nitro Touring Car, and has appeared in World final across numerous disciplines including 1:8 Onroad and 1:10 Electric Offroad. Fresh from racing at the FEMCA Asia Championships, TQ’ing the opening qualifier, at the impressive Hongyu GDC facility in December in preparation for the upcoming ISTC World Championships, the Japanese ace will return to the city of Foshan on January 24-25 for some nitro action. With the Nitro Party race creating great excitement within the Asian nitro onroad scene, the race has also attracted international attention with newly crowned 1:8 GT World Champion Alession Mazzeo one of a number of Italians already confirm for the first edition.

Source: Hongyu GDC [Facebook]

January 6, 2026

Sturdy moves to Schumacher for 2026

After 9-years with Team Associated, multiple Australian National Offroad Champion Chris Sturdy has been confirmed as joining Schumacher for 2026. Schumacher described the signing of Sturdy as ‘a great addition to our high level Off Road team.’ Announcing his departure from Team Associated back in November, giving his reaction to joining the British manufacturer & newly crowned 1:10 2WD World Champions Sturdy said, ‘I am beyond thrilled to be joining Schumacher for the 2026 season! Schumacher is where my story began and this feels like a homecoming for me. I look forward to joining the Schumacher Family and representing the Historic name and brand, as well as working with the team, both locally and abroad. A thank you to Harvey, Robin and all those at Schumacher for welcoming me on board for 2026.’

Source: Schumacher [racing-cars.com]

January 6, 2026

Batta joins Hobbywing

Hobbywing has officially announced the addition of IFMAR 1:10 2WD Offroad World Championship podium finisher Davey Batta to their team for 2026 and beyond. The 20-year-old, who previously represented R1 Wurks, returns to Hobbywing and will use their electronics as part of his package as a Team Associated driver. Winning 2WD over the weekend at the Clash of Champions, on the announcement the American said, ‘Really Excited to be back with Hobbywing for the 2026 Season and Beyond! Huge thank you to Charlie, Matty G, and Spencer Rivkin for helping me hit the ground running with the equipment. Hobbywing has proven to set and raise the bar for power. I’m excited to be a part of the amazing team!’

Source: Hobbywing [hobbywing.com]

January 5, 2026

Savox welcome Kaerup as team driver

Savox servos has announced 4WD World Champion Marcus Kærup as an official team driver for 2026. The highly talented Dane, who also won the 1:8 eBuggy World title in 2025, used Savox servos in his 1:10 World title winning Team Associated RC1084D and Top Qualifying 2WD RC10B7D buggies in Australia last October but now becomes an official sponsored team driver of the Taiwanese manufacturer. Welcoming Kaerup as a new team driver, Savox said that he will continue to run Savox servos across his Team Associated 1:10 buggies as well as in 1:8 Nitro and Electric buggies, and his TC8 Touring Car!, adding ‘We’re excited for what’s ahead.’

Source: Savox [teamsavox.com]

January 5, 2026

Champlin joins FlySky in new radio deal

2WD Buggy World Champion Broc Champlin is to use FlySky as part of his 2026 race package, the factory Schumacher driver making the announcement on his new deal with the Chinese radio manufacturer at the 2026 Clash of Champions event over the weekend. With FlySky having made huge market gains and and made quite a name for itself over the last two years, on becoming the latest World Champion to join the brand, Champlin posted, ‘I’m proud to announce my radio sponsor for the year of 2026 and beyond, Flysky RC. I first tried this radio in April of 2025 and was instantly sold. Due to the 2025 World Championships, I chose to stay with what I was most familiar with but after the Florida Carpet Championships, I began the switch. Whether they would end up as my sponsor or not, I chose this radio because it has all of the features I like best. I’m ecstatic to be apart of the fastest growing radio brand in competitive RC racing. I can’t wait to see all of my personal improvements and help the team provide a more quality and refined product for our community of racers. See you all at the races!’ It was a good official race debut for Champlin as he took the 4WD Mod TQ & Win at the Clash of Champions.

Source: Broc Champlin [Facebook]

January 5, 2026

Champlin & Batta win Clash Of Champions but Lemieux takes home the money

The first big US offroad race of 2026 took place over the weekend with Hoosier RC Hobbyplex in Indiana hosting the Clash Of Champions where Schumacher’s Broc Champlin and Team Associated’s Davey Batta took the Mod titles, but winning the event’s closing Mod Clash Race it was Xray’s Chase Lemieux who took home the money. With 8 cars lining up for the 2WD Buggy 8-minute shoot out which offer a top prize of $3,000, Lemieux would come out the winner ahead of Batta and Xray’s Dakotah Phend, their podium efforts rewarded with $300 and $200 respectively. In the main racing qualifying for 2WD would see Phend take the TQ at the end of the three rounds ahead of Batta and his AE team-mate Spencer Rivkin. In 4WD it was Champlin who secured the TQ ahead of Phend and Brennan Schimmel who after his end of season departure from Xray was running Schumacher buggies. In the finals both classes would decided in A2, Batta winning the opening two encounters to wrap up 2WD while Champlin did the same in 4WD. The 2WD would see Phend recover rough A1 and A2 outings to win A3 and salvage 2nd with Champlin grabbing a podium from 5th on the grid. The 4WD podium would be completed by A3 winner Schimmel and Phend.

image: Team Associated [Facebook]

January 5, 2026

Mazzeo confirmed for inaugural ‘Nitro Party’ race

The organisers of the inaugural ‘Nitro Party’ race, which takes place later this month at the new Hongyu GDC track in China, has announced that newly crowned IFMAR 1:8 GT World Champion Alessio Mazzeo will travel to the city of Foshan for the brand new Asian nitro onroad fixture. Taking place at the 2026 IFMAR ISTC World Championship host track on January 24-25, the Gimar team driver is one of a number of new European entries confirmed for the race which Hongyu GDC has plans to grow & establish into one of the regions major nitro onroad events on the annual international racing calendar. With European GT Champion Natanaele Senesi previously confirmed for the Nitro Party, the latest drivers to join the race also includes Xray’s Filippo Domanin and Attilio D’Angelo, Spanish GT Champion & European Finalist Raul Daras Anton, and Hot Race tyres owner & accomplished 1:8 Onroad racer Nicola Marrone. Racing on the world class facility’s 80m X 43m asphalt circuit, the event has attracted huge interest in the region and beyond, with future high profile entries expected to be announced shortly. Having covered the recent FEMCA Asia Electric Touring Car Championships at Hongyu GDC, Red RC is excited to returning to the very impressive venue to cover the inaugural Nitro Party and to hear it echo to the sound of nitro engines.

Source: Hongyu GDC [Facebook]

January 2, 2026

Haatanen switches to RUDDOG Racing Electronics

Top Finnish Offroad racer Joona Haatanen is making the switch to Ruddog Racing electronics for 2026. The career long Team Associated team driver has run the US manufacturer’s package of Reedy Electronics but following his joining of Ruddog Distribution as a full-time employee in early 2025, he will now run the German based Team Associated distributor’s full range of own brand Ruddog Racing electronics in his AE cars. This full performance package includes the RXS speed controller, Ruddog Racing motors, servos and LiPo packs.

Source: Ruddog [ruddog.eu]