January 26, 2026

2026 West Coast Indoor Championships – Report

The Lemo Foundation in Redwood City, California, hosted their annual 3 day trophy race, the West Coast Indoor Championships presented by Awesomatix USA over January 16-18.  The race drew 171 entries in the second year of the event.  1up Racing Modified Touring saw track designer Stuart Mason take the overall TQ and win, with the 2024 IFMAR World Championship Finalist Jacob Cruz in 2nd and Lex Tyler in 3rd.  In Hobbywing 21.5 Touring Car, it was Lex Tyler taking the overall TQ and the win in A1.  Ed Whitecotton took the win in A2, leaving it down to A3 between the two drivers. Whitecotton led early, but a late bobble allowed Tyler to take the overall crown with Kellen Yamamoto taking 3rd overall.  Whitecotton would redeem himself in the 25.5 class dedicated to the late Jaime Manzanilla, taking advantage from the 2nd spot on the grid to win A1 and A2, with TQ James Joiner finishing 2nd and Angel Fernan finishing 3rd overall.

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January 25, 2026

1:12 & ISTC 2026 IFMAR World C/ship Stage 2 Report

With the 1:12 & ISTC World Championships in China just 2-months away, IFMAR has published the Stage 2 Report from race host Hongyu GDC.  The 22nd running of the 1:12 World Championship (March 26-29th) and the 13th running of the World Championship (April 1-4) for 1:10 Electric Touring Car, 2026 will see the return of the two classes running back to back as was previously the case up until 2019 when both titles where decided at the Welkom R/C Arena in South Africa.  The third time China will host an IFMAR World Championship, this will be the the second time the 1:12 and ISTC titles will be decided there.  A decade ago Naoto Matsukura won the title for Roche in Beijing with the Touring Car title going to Ronald Volker and Yokomo a few days later.  The latest World Championship at the very impressive Hongyu GDC track, appears to have attracted a strong entry for both events.  While 1:12 has at times struggled with numbers, over 80 drivers from 18 nations are already confirmed to contest the title with that number expected to exceed 90 once entries are finalised.  Winner of the last Worlds in Florida in 2023, Michal Orlowski heads that entry with Japan set to be the best represented country on the indoor track.  The previous host nation, the United States looks set to have 9-drivers.  Out on the asphalt track, the Touring Car entry, which will be headed by reigning 3-time World Champion Bruno Coelho, is expected to reach 165 made up of drivers from 20 countries.  With the last Touring Car Worlds also hosted in the US but on the opposite side of the country at Finishline RC Raceway in California in 2024, the country looks set to be represented in Foshan by 14-drivers.  View full Stage 2 Report here.

Source: IFMAR [ifmar.org]


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

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 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]


January 20, 2026

Double win for Payne at latest BRCA 1:12 encounter

Excelerate RC’s Ollie Payne kicked off his 2026 season with a double win at the latest rounds of the BRCA 2025/25 Stock 13.5 National Championship.  Rounds 7 & 8 were hosted by the Dorset Model Car Racing Club and it was championship leader Payne who set the pace all weekend.  Securing the TQ with his R1 Wurks powered Prodigy 12 for Saturday’s Round 7 action he would go on to take the win ahead of the Awesomatix of Michael Bolt and Excelerate team-mate Morgan Williams, the podium the same order as they qualified.  In Round 8 it was again Payne with the TQ which he duly converted into the win for the perfect weekend.  He was joined on Sunday’s podium by the Schumacher pairing of Finley Whitelock and Louis Parker.  Payne’s closest title rival going into the weekend, it was to be a difficult one for Mark Stiles with the Awesomatix driver suffering a P10 (DNF) in Saturday’s final and P5 on Sunday.

Image: Schumacher [Facebook]


January 20, 2026

US Masters of Foam 2026 – Report

The inaugural US Masters of Foam took place over the weekend at Skagit River Raceway in Washington State, USA, featuring competitive indoor carpet racing across six classes, and honouring the late Steve Curry.  The event also marked the revival of foam tire touring car racing in the United States.  The Modified Touring class saw Weylin Rose dominate with his Xray, taking both top qualifying and the overall win. Multi-time foam touring national champion Travis Schreven finished second with his Team Associated TC8, while Peter Robinson (Xray/RCAmerica) completed the podium with his X4’26.

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January 19, 2026

Coelho wins Sweep Asia Cup from Orlowski

Hongyu GDC hosted the Sweep Asia Cup over weekend where having ended his 2025 racing season with victory at the Chinese track Infinity’s Bruno Coelho opened his 2026 campaign with another win at the ISTC World’s host track.  Attracting a number of international team drivers for the race as a pre Worlds testing opportunity, in qualifying FEMCA Asia Champion Coelho would secure the TQ topping 3 of the 5 rounds as Schumacher’s Michal Orlowski topped Q1 and Q3.  Chinese Onroad Champion Alfred Lao completed the Top 3 on the grid ahead of the Mugen Seiki of 2025 TITC Open Brushless finalist Fong King.  In Stock qualifying Jan Ratheisky was another of the FEMCA Asia Championship competitors to return to Foshan for more track time, the Xray driver topping all 5-rounds to TQ ahead of the Serpent of Stick King.  In the finals Coelho would win all 3 Modified encounters ahead of Orlowski with King completing the overall podium.  Ratheisky took the Stock win with a clean sweep as young Yuheng Cai who qualified 3rd finished ahead of King to claimed second overall.

Image: Hongyu GDC [Facebook]


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