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March 18, 2026

FEMCA issues apology over World Championship cancellation

The governing body that represents 15 nations in Asia & Australasia and the IFMAR Bloc that is responsible for the staging of this year’s 1:12 and ISTC World Championships, FEMCA has issued a public apology to drivers over the cancellation of the races at Hongyu GDC in China. FEMCA President Leonard Kee, who only took over as head of the bloc last May from long serving Trevor Reid, made the apology via a Facebook post on the FEMCA page in which he explains that the lack of necessary government approvals to host the races ‘blindsided both the organizer, GDC, and myself’. From Malaysia and well known throughout Asia for his race announcing, Kee also stated that, ‘We understand there is a lot of rumor and speculation within the community, but we will not be engaging with conjecture’ adding ‘China and GDC remain top-tier in our community, with a venue many consider the finest. I, too, felt deeply disappointed—an “Et tu, Brute?” moment—when those entrusted didn’t fulfill their role.’ With alternative venues being talked to by IFMAR in order to host the Worlds later this year, FEMCA is set to continue as the host Bloc with an announcement on the rescheduled date/venue imminent.

Read full FEMCA apology here

March 18, 2026

Hongyu GDC Worlds track layouts

A week from today these are the tracks that would have greeted drivers from around the world as they arrived at the Hongyu GDC track in Foshan, China, for what should have been the official registration day of the 22nd running of the IFMAR 1:12 World Championship. As we all frustratingly know unfortunately last week IFMAR found themselves in the unenviable position of having to announce the cancellation of the event, together with the ISTC Worlds that was to follow. This was ultimately due to necessary government approvals to host the races not being in place. With approval for the venue to host the event revoked abruptly as the RC industry and host track made final preparations for what is our Olympic Games, having waited the 2-year cycle for the world’s most important race to come around, talks to get new approvals from the newly appointed staff at the Chinese National RC body for the original dates proved unsuccessful. The cancellation sent a huge shockwave through the racing community and the IFMAR Board of Directors are currently working on potential dates and venue options so as we can still crown World Champions in 2026. An announcement on this is expected in the coming days. What is even more frustrating is that race organiser Gavin Kwok has the stage set for these World Championships but unfortunately not the piece of paperwork to allow the best racers in the world race on it. The new Touring Car Track layout )main images) has been down for a number of weeks with no running permitted on it as part of the IFMAR rules while the 1:12 got a huge transformation from that that was used at the FEMCA race last December. The totally new layout and design was created by Pawel Kowalski from Polish track builders Racestars, who built the recent MIBO International dual track layout and have created tracks for the ETS and EOS.

View 1:12 track layout here

March 17, 2026

PNWC 2026 – Announcement

PN Racing has announced that the annual PNWC will take place in the Netherlands in 2026 with Mini-zshop.nl in Munnekeburen hosting the World Cup for 1:28 from November 5-8th. With the 2025 PNWC hosted by 5280 Raceway in Colorado, USA, the classes most prestigious race returns to Europe for the 20th edition having previously been staged in France in 2024. At Mini-zshop.nl drivers can expect a world-class track layout designed to test every driver’s precision, speed, and setup at one of the premier facilities in the country. Registration open date will be announced soon via the Mini-zshop.nl and official PN Racing social channels.

Source: PN Racing [pnracing.com]

March 16, 2026

Catanzani opens Italian GT title defence with Naxos win

Serpent’s Andrea Catanzani opened his AMSCI 1:8 GT Italian National Championship title defence with the perfect weekend winning the opening race of 2026 with victory. Racing at Naxos World in Sicily, the home track of 1:8 GT World Champion Alessio Mazzeo, Catazani took the TQ honours with three TQ runs. Returning to the championship again in 2026, Nova Engines backed Turkish offroad ace Burak Kilic qualified P2 on his debut running a Raptor, with Raptor team driver Mazzeo completing the Top 3. Round 1 of the 3 round championship, setting the only 26-lap of the 30-minute final Catanzani took the win by 9-seconds over Mazzeo with Kilic completing the podium ahead of the Genius of reigning European Champion Filippo Beretta.

Image: Andrea Catanzani [Facebook]

March 16, 2026

DNC double for Tekno’s Van Dalen

Tekno’s Seth VanDalen completed the classic double at the Dirt Nitro Challenge over the weekend winning both Nitro Buggy and Nitro Truggy as the Joey Christensen signature event. The 27th edition of US race, it was the second year in a row the now California based event has been a happy hunting group for the US manufacturer, Ryan Maifield (Nitro Buggy) and VanDalen (Nitro Truggy) last year’s winners. With a 755 entries over all classes this year, in qualifying it was the Xray of Dakotah Phend who secured the Nitro Buggy TQ after three rounds of qualifying ahead of Sworkz’s Juan Carlos Canas and Team Associated’s Spencer Rivkin with VanDalen securing P4. In Truggy it was Maifield who took the TQ from team-mates VanDalen and Spencer Heckert. In Saturday’s Truggy final, Maifield led the way until he crashed and took a wheel off his Tekno just before the 2/3rd mark of the 45-minute encounter allowing VanDalen to take over the lead and successfully defend his title. The Sworkz of Silver State Indoor Champion Mason Fuller and Kyosho’s Ryan Lutz completed the podium. In the main event, Nitro Buggy final bringing racing at The Dirt at Peris track to a conclusion, it was Phend who led away from pole for more than half the race until a mistake. Winning the B Final to book 15th spot on the A-Main grid, Maifield would work his way into contention running second within 5-seconds of Phend, but at the 28-minute mark he flamed out and his race was done. After Phend’s error it was VanDalen who was out front where he wold stay to complete the DNC double. In eBuggy it was Sworkz’s Camden Lime would took the TQ and win, winning the 10-minute final from Canas and Phend.

Image: Tekno [Facebook]

March 12, 2026

2026 Speed King Tour Rd1 – Report

The first round of high profile Japanese Speed King Tour 2026 took place at Super Rajikon Oomiya indoor tarmac track in Saitama prefecture on March 8th. To allow drivers prepare for the upcoming ISTC Worlds in China, the Modified TC0 class didn’t run at the season opener with the TC1 and TC2 classes making up the schedule. Xray driver Rento Sasaki showed his ability at TC1 class (Stock) A final. Rento did perfect start from pole position and never made mistake to take the win. Yuto Sakai and Taku Wakamatsu tried to catch Rento up but couldn’t pull it off. The 2025 TC1 class ‘Speed King’ Champion this was the perfect start to Rento’s title defence. In the TC2 class (G Force motor and ESC), TQ driver Manabu Ota made a good start and led the race until half of the A-Final. Atsushi Fujimaki had been chasing Ota and did brilliant overtake to take the lead. Fujimaki kept his position to the finish and Ota could not get P1 back. Masayuki Higo finished 3rd from No.4 grid. Round 2 of Speed King Tour will be held at New Next Rush Circuit outdoor tarmac track at 26th of April.

Source: Speed King Tour [speedkingtour.com]

March 10, 2026

Paloschi wins Senesi GT International GP

Hosted by 2024 EFRA European GT Champion Natanaele Senesi, the Senesi GT International Grand Prix took place over the weekend where Capricorn’s Gabriele Paloschi took the win. The third edition of the race which takes place at the Pista Leno track in the north of the country, qualifying in the Pro Nitro class would see Senesi and his Senesi Motorsport Raptor secure the TQ ahead of Paloschi. The WIRC of 2020 IFMAR GT World Champion Joern Neumann completed the Top 3 ahead of 2023 Worlds Top Qualifier Alex D’angelo. In the half hour final, the Pro class running a controlled Sweep GT2-D40 tyre, after the early retirement for Neumann it was Paloschi who took the win by 5-seconds from the Genius of Leonardo Valente. Having led for the opening 12-minutes unfortunately contact from behind saw Senesi end up on the grass. Losing half a lap, he rejoined in 5th place from where would work his way back up 3rd to complete the podium just ahead of D’angelo. In electric GT, Neumann took the TQ and win while in Open Nitro Manuel Baruzzi took the win from pole.

Image: Senesi Motorport [Facebook]

March 9, 2026

Harper wins season finale to lift 7th EWS Title

Elliott Harper won the final round of the 2025/26 Essex Winter Series this weekend – which meant he also secured a record-extending seventh EWS title. Elliott came into the finale tied on points with Kyle Branson, with Alex Thurston just two points back – meaning any one of the three could win the overall series title in the LRP Modified class. Elliott was the class of the field from the start, setting the best time in the opening three qualifying rounds with his Schumacher to secure the TQ position and put the championship outcome firmly in his hands. Despite some mixed results throughout qualifying, the contenders would line up on the grid in championship order – Kyle starting second with his ToniSport-backed Mugen after winning the fourth qualifier when Elliott rolled his car off the track in the final minute, and Alex starting third for Mugen after second-place runs in Q2 and Q4. Harley Eldridge led the Xray charge in fourth, mixing it with Kyle and Alex particularly in the opening few rounds, with Bailey Graves (Schumacher) rounding out the top five on the starting grid. The single-leg A Final saw Elliott determined to win the championship in style – and he quickly opened a gap over the first few laps of the race. The first to effectively drop out of the championship battle was Alex – a mistake on the opening lap saw him drop down the field, promoting Harley up to third in the race. Elliott built a 3-second lead at the front, which allowed him to cruise to the victory and the championship win. Kyle stayed well ahead of the chasing pack – solidifying his position as the championship runner-up, but not able to bring the fight to Elliott this time. Harley rounded out the podium on the day, securing her fourth in the standings. Daniel Robins moved up the grid in the finals to take fourth in the race, with Alex recovering to fifth place and thus completing the championship podium.

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