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August 2, 2025

Keller wins rain affected 1:5 TC European Championship

Germany’s Carsten Keller is the new EFRA 1:5 TC European Champion, the SCS M2 driver taking the win at Mini Circuit “Ville de Luxembourg” from 7th on the grid after rain arrived with just over 8 minutes left to run in the final. Having secured the TQ, reigning World Champion Markus Feldmann led away the 30-minute final closely followed by the Genius of 3-time Champion Bernard-Alain Arnaldi with defending Champion Emanuele D’amico from P5 on the grid moving up to third as the Top 3 quickly gaped the field. At half way distance the order remained unchanged with Keller running in P6. With drivers struggling for traction as the rain arrived with just over 8-minutes to go on 7-minutes there was a rush to pit lane for wets as the rain increased. With heavens opening up it would be Norway’s Marius Hetland who led until his car soon came to stop on the front straight. This promoted Keller, whose team made a super quickly & important call to pit first for wets, to the lead ahead of D’amico and Feldmann but the two chasers both hit problems allowing Keller to take his GRP shod Mecatech to victory by a winning margin of almost 14-seconds from Feldmann with Arnaldi completing the podium after a late crash with D’amico in the chaos of the rain.

Image: SCS M2 Engineering [Facebook]

August 2, 2025

Ronnefalk crowned European 4WD Buggy Champion

David Ronnefalk is the new EFRA European 1:10 4WD Buggy Champion, the Xray driver taking the title for a third time after an exciting finals at the Hudy Arena in Slovakia. Starting from fourth on the grid, the back to back 2018/2019 Champion claimed his first electric European title since moving to Xray with victory over Schumacher’s Michal Orlowski and Xray’s 18-year-old young charger Bartek Zalewski. Fresh from winning the 2WD European title earlier in the week, it was Xray’s Martin Bayer who would again secured the overall TQ honours ahead of Orlowski, Zalewski, Ronnefalk and Team Associated’s Joona Haatanen. In A1, an early mistake from Bayer handed Orlowski the lead which he held to the end despite pressure from Zalewski who in turn was under pressure from Ronnefalk. A2 would see Bayer lead tone to tone shadowed by Orlowski until the 2023 Champion made a mistake with just 50-seconds on the clock allowing Ronnefalk through for second. All coming down to A3, it was the third encounter that provided the real excitement. After one & a half minutes of the drivers running in order, Orlowski executed a pass on Bayer, the Czech driver trying to come back at him until he rolled his Xray at the end of the straight at mid distance ending his chance of a European title double. This gave Orlowski a commanding lead as Zalewski came under pressure from Haatanen and Ronnefalk. With a minute to go Zalewski however was all over the prototype of Orlowski but a double pass from Haatanen and Ronnefalk suddenly dropped him to fourth. Then on the penultimate lap a mistake from Orlowski turned the race on its head. Haatanen briefly led before Ronnefalk forced a pass with further contact from Zalewski dropping him to third. Out front Ronnefalk lead the final lap to come home the winner from Zalewski with Daniel Kobbevik third from Haatanen, the win giving the Swede the overall title to go along with the 1:8 Nitro Buggy European title he won last month in Portugal. Orlowski with a 1 & 3 took second while a pair of seconds gave Zalewski the final step on the podium ahead of Bayer and Haatanen.

Image: Schumacher [Facebook]

July 31, 2025

2025 SIGP International Offroad GP – Announcement

After a hugely successful return to the international racing calendar last year, Sunpadow has announced November 5-9th as the dates for the 2025 SIGP International Offroad Grand Prix. Last year saw World Champion Davide Ongaro take the win on his SIGP debut ahead of fellow Italian Mattia Polito with Bruno Coelho completing the podium ahead of eBuggy winner David Ronnefalk. Taking place at 3-circle ARC International RC Racing Track in Xiamen, China, the same venue that hosted the 2017 IFMAR 1:10 Electric Offroad World Championships, the SIGP International Offroad Grand Prix also counts American Ryan Lutz and Germany’s Joern Neumann as past champions. With the introduction of visa-free entry to China for many European countries, this boosted the international entry on the events return after Covid. Organised by Sunpadow Batteries, the huge offroad & onroad racing facility located on the same grounds as their battery factory, registration for the SIGP will open September 15th. Red RC will be travelling to Xiamen again this year to cover all the racing action.

Source: Sunpadow [sunpadow.com]

July 30, 2025

Bayer takes first EFRA 2WD European title

An emotional Martin Bayer is the new EFRA 1:10 2WD Buggy European Champion, the Xray driver taking the title at the Hudy Arena indoor dirt track in Slovakia 12-years after he held the 4WD European title. With the race coming down to A3, it was Bayer’s team-mate David Ronnefalk who finished second with Team Associated’s Joona Haatanen completing the podium. In qualifying four different drivers produced TQ runs, the first coming from Bayer with a second TQ run in Q5 declaring him the Top Qualifier. Fastest in Q3, Schumacher’s defending Champion Michal Orlowski would start second ahead of former Champions Ronnefalk, who took Q2, and Sworkz’s Joern Neumann who set the pace in round 4 of qualifying. In A1, the Top 3 ran in close order for the first 3-minutes until a mistake from Orlowski that dropped him into a battle with Team Associated’s Joona Haatanen but contact put them both out of the hunt for the win. Coming under pressure from Ronnefalk, Bayer was driving defensive and with just over half a minute to go the Swede made a pass for the lead and made it stick. In A2 we would see Orlowski’s title defence end just after the 1-minute mark with a mistake coming onto the back straight. With Ronnefalk promoted to second he chased down Bayer but the Czech driver held on for the win while Team Associated’s Joona Haatanen completed the Top 3. With A3 an Xray shootout, Ronnefalk didn’t take long to get passed Orlowski setting things up for a great race but then a series of mistakes dropped him out of contention allowing Bayer to take the win ahead of team-mate Bartek Zalewski, the Polish driver finishing fourth overall.

Image: EFRA [Facebook]

July 29, 2025

Wood wins BRCA Nationals Round 5 at Wombwell

Shepherd’s Tim Wood has won the fifth round of the BRCA 1:8 Onroad British National Championship at Wombwell, ending defending Champion Alex Thurston’s recent run of wins. Winner of the season opener at the Brooklands track back in April, Wood would take his second win of the season by almost a lap over Top Qualifier Thurston after the Mugen Seiki driver had problems in the pits that led to a crash while he was leading. At the start of the half hour encounter, it was third place qualifier Andy Hasting who set about chasing down Thurston after he got the jump on a slow starting Wood but the former Champion would find his way back into second. Unfortunately for Hasting he wouldn’t see the finish as he hit problems that forced hm to retire allowing Shepherd team-mate Karl Dransfield to complete the podium. In 1:8 Electric, Serpent’s Mark Green took the TQ and win ahead of Michael Walton and Mark Boothman. Next up for the British Championship contenders is the EFRA European Championship with the UK’s famous Halifax track hosting the Euros from August 11-16th.

Image: BRCA 1:8 Section

July 28, 2025

Fuller takes big win at Wicked Weekend

Having hit the big time as he completed a clean sweep at the 2025 Silver State Indoor Championships, Sworkz’s Mason Fuller backed that up with the big win in Nitro Buggy at the ‘The Wicked Weekend’ in Gainesville, Georgia. The RaceTime Entertainment event attracted over 800 entries and in qualifying it was Kyosho’s young American star Phi-Long Nguyen who took the overall TQ armed with the new MP11. It was team-mate Ryan Lutz who opened the three rounds of qualifying at the top as he took Q1 but overall it would be Fuller, topping Q3, who secured P2 on the grid ahead of Team Associated’s Brandon Rose, last year’s winner Dakotah Phend, with Lutz ending up P5. In the 30-minute final it was Nguyen who led them away and was pulling clear until he hit problems as the race approached mid distance, dropping him out of contention. Taking over the lead, Fuller would get the win with a 6-second advantage over the Sparko of 6th place qualifier Johan Wilson with Xray’s Chase Lemieux completing the Top 3. While Phend and Ryan Maifield both had a rough Nitro Buggy main, in eBuggy Maifield took his Tekno to the win ahead of Phend and Top Qualifier Rose. In Truggy, Phend took his Xray to the win ahead of Rose and Jared Tebo after Top Qualifier Maifield hit trouble while out front.

Image: JConcepts [jconcepts.net]

July 27, 2025

Sobue regains Japanese National title

Having opened the month of July with a debut international win for Axon’s new TC10/4 Touring Car at eSIC in Singapore, Akio Sobue has concluded the month by adding the Japanese National Championship title to the car’s credentials. Racing at the Tsukuba RC Park, formerly known as the World famous Yatabe Arena, former champion Sobue would secure the TQ in qualifying ahead of Xpress paring Yoshiyasu Yanagisawa & Yugo Nagashima with Infinity’s Ryosuke Yamamoto securing P4 while team-mate & defending Champion Jin Sawada qualified P8. In the finals Sobue took A1 ahead of Yanagisawa however in A2 under pressure from the Xpress driver they touched side by side on the front straight on lap 4 resulting in Sobue getting stuck the the corner marker. With Yanagisawa taking the win from Nagashima and Sobue 5th it was all to play for in A3. Setting the fastest lap, Sobue would enjoy his biggest winning margin finishing 6/10ths up on Yanagisawa to lift the title for a 5th time with Yanagisawa (2nd) and Nagashima (3rd) joining him on the podium.

Image: Atsushi Hara [Facebook]

July 27, 2025

Orlowski goes 12-in-a-row at ETS Aigen

Michal Orlwoski has extended his winning streak in the ETS to 12, the Schumacher ace winning a shortened rain effected Round 2 at Aigen in Austria. Battling rain interruptions throughout the event, it would be Orlowski who secured the overall TQ after topping 2 of the three 4-minute qualifiers that they managed to complete. Taking the second round of qualifying Marc Rheinard’s Awesomatix would secure P2 ahead of Mugen Seiki’s Ronald Volker and Infinity’s Bruno Coelho, the World Champion having a tough seeding and finding himself running in the third fastest heat. With Sunday’s weather showing little possibility of any racing, it was decided to end Saturday’s action with the Modified finals. In A1 reigning ETS Champion Orlowski controlled the race from the front followed home by Rheinard and team-mate Simon Lauter, who benefited from contact between Coelho and Volker. In A2 it was another perfect drive from Orlowski, an early spin by Rheinard making his drive to 12-wins a row that bit easier. Coelho would take second ahead of Volker after the German succumbed to the intense pressure from his Portuguese rival. Winning A3 Rheinard locked in second overall while Volker held off Coelho in second to claim the final step on the podium. Lauter would finish 5th overall behind Coelho with the second of the three new Infinity IF14 Speciales in the final securing P6 with Viktor Wilck. With the rest of the classes decided on qualifying order, it was Awesomatix’s Olivier Bultynck who made it two from 2 having also won the season opener at Apeldoorn. Behind the Belgian, Louis Kretschmer made it an Awesomatix 1-2 with the ARC of Enrico Jung in third.

Image: Schumacher [Facebook]