Ielasi & Vejrak win Picco Cup Asia 08

The first Picco Cup Asia was held last weekend at the ACO track in Hong Kong with racing for both 1/10th & 1/8th on road. The event attracted over 170 drivers from all around Asia as well as 1/10th scale World Champion Daniele Ielasi, Alberto Picco and Patrick Schaefer from Europe. After 4 rounds of qualifying it was Meen Vejrak from Thailand that took the TQ in 1/10th scale, while in 1/8th scale it was Shepherd driver Ielasi that came out on top. After 45 minutes of intense final action Daniele took the win in 1/8th scale, finishing only 5 seconds ahead of fellow countryman Alberto Picco, with Team C driver Hung in 3rd. In 1/10th scale Meen Vejrak took his Xray to victory ahead of 2nd placed Serpent driver Ts Kai Leung, while the final podium step went to Hung Cheung Hang.

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Nicola Ometto wins Monte-Carlo Cup

The first Monte-Carlo Cup, of which hopes to become an annual event on the classic calendar was run recently on the La Turbie track in the hills above Monte-Carlo. Qualifying for the event saw an Italian domination with Simone Giordano taking the pole position with his Mantua Intrepid from Motonica driver Emanuele Oberto in 2nd and Nicola Ometto, driving another Mantua in 3rd. The start of the 60 minute final saw a good start at the front, but problems for pole man Giordano dropped him down the order. This allowed Ometto to break away at the front and he was able to pull out a commanding lead to win by 7 laps ahead of Simone Zanon in 2nd and Massimo Poldi in 3rd, all driving the Mantua, which in fact took the first 7 positions in the final.

Source: Automodellismo [automodellismo.net]

Spiniello & Balestri win Novarossi Trophy

The 2008 Novarossi trophy was held this past weekend in Gubbio, Italy and it was Team Magic driver Mario Spiniello and Motonica driver Dario Balestri that took the wins in both 1/10th and 1/8th scale classes respectively. In 1/8th scale there was a great performance from Balestri, who starting from 5th on the grid, made a great start to get up to 2nd after lap one and only taking 2 more laps to pass Serpent racer Andrea Cristiani for the lead. Dario could hold onto the lead despite an extra fuel stop to win by less than 4 seconds from Cristiani in 2nd and Giordano Agostinelli in 3rd. In the 1/10th scale it was Giuseppe Musolino that started on pole but after 2 laps it was Spiniello who took over at the front where he controlled the race to the end, winning by over a lap. The final moments of the race saw a big battle between runner up Musolino and a recovering Raimondo Gilletti with less than a second seperating the pair at the end as they crossed the line.

Team Gazafond win Merlin Enduro race

Merlin Fuels are reporting on the Merlin Enduro Race which tool place at the GTBRCF track in Toulouse, France. This 6 hour endurance race is a tough test for cars, engines as well as drivers. Everything was perfectly organized by the GTB RC Club and the weather was great for racing. The endurance race was divided in two series of 3 hours each with a lunch break in between and heading into lunch it was Team Sapacepa in the lead by 10 laps from Team Fashion in 2nd, with Team Gazafond in 3rd. The break must have helped because at the completion of the 6 hour race Team Gazafond had managed to work its way up from 3rd to 1st, winning by a mere 2 laps from early leaders Team Sapacepa, while Team Fashion dropped to 3rd, ending up 71 laps down on 2nd.

Source: Merlin Fuel [merlinfuel.com]