June 2, 2026

Sobue wins ‘Bali International Race of Champion’

Across all forms of sport ‘Destination Races’ have become a big thing and in terms of destinations Bali has to be up there for the world of RC racing with Axon’s Akio Sobue making the trip to and winning the Bali International Race of Champions.   Famed as a destination for Digital Nomads, the Indonesian Island is also home to the Keramas Aero Park circuit and over the weekend it attracted an international 93 entries to compete over 4 categories of 1:10 Electric Touring Car.  In Modified it was World Championship podium finisher Sobue who took the win ahead of Singapore’s Zak Lam making for an Axon 1-2.  Porsha Mangilit, the first ever female racer to win the Tamiya Asia Cup, would compete the podium.  In 13.5 Blinky it was Lam who took the TQ and win ahead of young Australian RC Maker driver Logan Rintoul who in turn took the win in FWD.  Looking to combine racing with a holiday next season?, look out for the 2027 Bali International Race of Champion.

View track image here


June 2, 2026

Johansson doubles at Swedish Nationals opener

Schumacher’s Elias Johansson completed the double at the opening round of the Swedish 1:10 Offroad National Championships hosted by MHF Skarpnäck.  Racing on the blue astro surface track and in sunny conditions all weekend, Johansson would TQ the 33 car field of 2WD Buggies on Saturday taking his LD3 to the fastest time in all 4 qualifiers.  In the finals his domination continued as he won the opening two A-Mains to secure maximum championship points,  Winning A3 Team Associated’s Alexander Landén finished second with Edwin Angseryd completing the podium.  In Sunday’s 4WD it was again Johansson who again claimed the TQ ahead of Landén, the latter managing a TQ run in Q1.  Ludwig Albertz lined up P3 and that was the same order as they would step onto podium, Johansson able to sit out A3 afters win in A1 & 2.

Image: Elias Johansson [Facebook]


June 1, 2026

British Buggy Nationals R3 wins for Holdsworth & Smith

It was a double success for Schumacher at Round 3 of the British 1:10 Offroad National Championships with Josh Holdsworth and Ben Smith taking the wins at the Robin Hood Raceway hosted event.  In 2WD on Saturday it was Team Associated’s defending BRCA Champion Tommy Hall who secured the TQ ahead of Smith, winner of the opening two rounds, Holdsworth and the Xray of Lee Martin.  While Hall opened the finals by winning A1, it was Smith who took A2 forcing the overall battle for the win to go to A3.  This was duly won by Holdsworth and with a winning time just 0.024 of a second faster than that of Smith, this gave Holdsworth the overall win on tie break from Smith and Hall, all three drivers recording a win, a 2nd and a 3rd.  In 4WD, Smith took the TQ after topping 3 of the 4 rounds with Scottish Team Associated racer Daniel Pole taking P2 after setting the fastest time in Q4.  In the finals Smith led home 3rd place qualifier Hall as Pole dropped to the back of the field after a mid race mistake.  Pole made up for his error in A2 with a brilliant last lap pass on Smith to take the win.  In A3 Smith would keep Pole at bay to claim his first 4WD win of the 2026 season with Hall completing the podium.  Round 4 of the BRCA Championship takes place at Southport on June 20/21st.

Image: Schumacher [Facebook]


May 31, 2026

Coelho wins ETS season opener

Fresh from getting married last week, Infinity’s Bruno Coelho has won the opening round of the 2026/27 ETS at Apeldoorn in the Netherlands.  The World Champion would secure the overall TQ honours ahead defending series champion Michal Orlowski with two TQ runs compared to the Schumacher driver’s single TQ run in the fourth & final round.  Fastest in Q3, Awesomatix’s Simon Lauter completed the Top 3 on the grid ahead of Serpent’s Dominic Greiner and Mugen Seiki’s Ronald Volker.  Making his high profile debut for Xray at the Dutch race, Marc Rheinard would line up 7th on the grid.  In the opening A-Main on Saturday evening it was Orlowski who came out the winner.  Having got by Coelho on lap 1 when the pole sitter lost the rear of his car coming onto the straight, Orkowski would then run wide on the final lap.  With Coelho going for the pass as Orlowski came back across to try get the line for the next corner the pair made contact.  With Lauter in third, this should have played into his favour but as Coelho’s car landed the German made contact and was out with a broken car – Orlowski getting through for the win ahead of Volker with Coelho in third.  Sunday’s morning’s A2 saw a dominant win by Coelho which he again repeated in A3 to take the overall ahead of Orlowski with Volker, winner of the previous ETS’s season finale, completing the podium ahead of Lauter, Greiner and Rheinard.  In Pro Stock Olivier Bultynck got his title defence off to the perfect start, the Awesomatix driver securing the TQ and win ahead of the Xray of Jan Ratheisky and Dutch Awesomatix driver Timon Coenen.

Image: Bruno Coelho [Facebook]


May 28, 2026

2026 IFMAR ISTC World C/ships Stage 1 Report – Huge RC


Just announced over the weekend as the new venue & host of the 2026 IFMAR ISTC World Championships, Huge RC in Bangkok, Thailand, has published the Stage 1 report for the 13th running of the 1:10 Electric Touring Car World title race.  Taking place from November 8-14th, the report outlines the basics around the replacement event and general details around the 60m X 30m indoor asphalt facility which has previously hosted two IFMAR Nitro Touring Car World Championships, the most recent of which was in 2024.  In terms of officials, as was planned for the original hosting of the event in China, Australia’s Clive Silva from IFMAR with be the Race Director.  As yet no tyres or additive brands has been announced for the race, with more specific details around the event to be confirmed in the Stage 2 report that Surikarn Chaidajsuriya and his team will present.  In terms of entries, IFMAR has stated that priority will be given to existing registrations and requested that racers please make it known to their BLOC should you wish to attend (or to not attend).  For those who did not have a previous entry, IFMAR expect there will be some spots made available with interested racers asked to contact their local federation or BLOC to indicate their interest.

View Stage 1 Report here


May 26, 2026

Ongaro wraps up Italian eBuggy title with 3rd win

Team Associated’s Davide Ongaro has wrapped up the AMSCI Italian eBuggy Championship with Round 3 victory at the Buggylandia track in Montopoli over the weekend.  With the Mayako team of Pekko Iivonen and Joseph Quagraine joining the race, qualifying would see Ongaro top all four rounds to secure the TQ ahead of Iivonen.  Having topped seeding Kyosho’s Marco Baruffolo completed the Top 3 ahead of Sworkz’s Mattia Polito.  While Iivonen would win A1 ahead of Ongaro and Polito, Ongaro would win A2 & 3 to claim his third win of the season and the overall title.  Despite dropping down the order in the next two Mains and ending up equal on points with Barufollo and Polito, it would be Iivonen who took second with Baruffolo completing the podium.

Image: Pekko Iivonen [Facebook]


May 26, 2026

Kobbevik doubles at 1:10 Euros Warm-up in Austria

Schumacher’s Daniel Kobbevik completed the double at the Warm-up Race for this Summer’s upcoming EFRA 1:10 Offroad European Championships in Austria.  Racing at the ERT-Steyregg astro track, qualifying would see Kobbevik secure the TQ in both 2WD and 4WD as the Norwegian topped 3 of the 4 rounds in each.  Behind him in both would be fellow Scandinavian Joona Haatanen, the Finnish Team Associated driver managing a TQ run in the second round of 4WD and the final round of 2WD.  2022 European Champion Tommy Hall completed the 2WD Top 3 with his Team Associated while the Xray of Bartek Zalewski  completed the 4WD Top 3.  In the finals, Kobbevik wrapped up both overall wins in A2 before going on to complete the perfect weekend with clean sweeps in A3.  The 2WD podium would see him joined by Haatanen and Sworkz’s Micha Widmaier while 4WD it was a repeat of the Top 2 with Mugen Seiki’s Burak Kilic claiming the final step.  Reigning 2WD Champion Martin Bayer would finish the Warm-up Race in 18th position while 4WD champion David Ronnefalk was 5th in the category having finished 10th in 2WD.  The EFRA European Championship take place from July 27 to August 1st.

Image: Daniel Kobbevik [Facebook]


May 24, 2026

IFMAR announces Huge RC as replacement ISTC World C/ships host

After 2-months of working behind the scenes to negotiate & secure a new host for the cancelled 1:12 & ISTC Worlds in China, IFMAR has announced Huge RC in Thailand as the replacement track that will stage the 2026 ISTC World Championships.  The 13th running of the 1:10 Electric Touring Car World Championships is now scheduled to run from the 10-14th of November, with two International Practice Days (IPD) running at the indoor asphalt track on November 8 & 9th.  With the multi track facility Hongyu GDC in Foshan originally having been selected to host back to back 1:12 and ISTC World Championships in late March/early April, IFMAR are still working to secure a new venue for the 22nd edition of the 1:12 Worlds.  Overwhelming feedback received from existing entrants following the cancellation of the event on the Hongyu GDC carpet track, expressed a strong preference for the 1:12 racing to be kept on carpet which was something that was not a viable option for Huge RC.  Located in Bangkok, while the track has successfully hosted two previous Nitro Touring Car World Championships (2014 and 2024), staging the Electric Touring Car Worlds will special moment for the track owner, 2002 ISTC World Champion Surikarn Chaidajsuriya.  The new dates means exactly 2-years after winning a record equalling 3rd ISTC World title in Bakersfield, California, Bruno Coelho will official begin his quest for a fourth consecutive title, a feat that would see him become the category most crowned World Champion.  Winning the 2024 title with Xray, now racing with Infinity, Coelho shares same tally total honours with Marc Rheinard, the 2004, 2008, 2010 World Champion set to make his World Championship debut with Xray at Huge RC after joining the Slovakian manufacturer last week.

Read full IFMAR announcement here


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