September 15, 2025

Tavernon claims Euro B title with last lap pass

Mugen Seiki driver Hugo Tavernon is the new EFRA 1:8 Offroad European B Champion, the French driver pulling off an impressive comeback drive at the Ospyteam R/C Off-Road Circuit in Italy to snatch the win from Top Qualifier Erik Lykke on the final lap.  In qualifying it was the young British racer Lykke who impressed taking his Agama to the top of the times in 3 of the 4 qualifiers.  Fastest in the final qualifier, Italian Dario Gabrielli would finish qualifying in P2 with his TLR ahead of Tavernon and Riccardo Masaggia.  With Lykke winning his Semi final ahead of Samuele Senese and Thomas Musso with the fastest race time that would secure him pole for the Main ahead of Austrian Julius Siklodi who won the other Semi from Mirko Carrettin and Gabrielli.  Racing in the same Semi as Lykke, Tavernon would suffer a DNF meaning he would have to win the Last Chance Final to progress and that is exactly what he would do.  Lining up 13th & last for the title decider, over the 45-minutes Tavernon worked his way to the front and on the very last lap forced a pass on Lykke to become the 20th European B Champion.  With the Top 3 all finishing on the same lap and covered by less than 3-seconds, Gabrielli completed the podium.

Image: Hugo Tavernon [Facebook]

September 14, 2025

Sobue wins Hongyu GDC opening race

Marking the official opening of the brand new Hongyu GDC track in Foshan, China, Axon driver Akio Sobue claimed victory at the 2026 IFMAR ISTC World Championship host venue.  In qualifying the Japanese driver secured the TQ ahead of team-mate Hayato Ishioka, the latter claiming the first of the four qualifiers before Sobue went fastest in Q2 & 3.   Schumacher’s Pekko Iivonen, the eBuggy World Championship finalists a late entry after the cancellation of the Asian Buggy Championships finale in Indonesia, would top the final qualifier to secure third on the grid ahead of top Chinese racer Alfred Lao.  In A1 as the two Axon drivers pulled clear, Sobue’s car would come to a stop 3-minutes in allowing Ishioka to cruise to the win ahead of Iivonen and Lao.  In A2 and 3, Sobue ran trouble free to win both encounters and locked in the overall win at the hugely impressive multi-track facility with Ishioka and Iivonen completing the podium.  In Stock it was RC Maker driver Zaccheus Lam who secured the TQ and win ahead of Awesomatix’s Max Machler with fifth place qualifier Wang Haifeng claiming the final step on the podium.  In the nitro categories, the 1:8 Onroad TQ and victory went to Infinity driver Poon Ray while Xray driver Hudson Hu claimed victory in the 1:8 GT class.

View more podium images here

September 14, 2025

1:8 GT World C/ship coverage presented by Sweep, Energy, and Hong Nor

Having covered our first ever 1:8 GT World Championship in Australia 2 years ago, Red RC is excited to be travelling to Santiago, Chile, for the next chapter in IFMAR GT class history.  Drivers will not only battle it out to become the 3rd Nitro GT World Champion but also the inaugural eGT World Champion as the electric class gains World Championship status in 2025.  Taking place at the very impressive Club de Aeromodelos de Chile (CACH) facility, our coverage of how these championships unfold is being made possible thanks to Sweep Racing, Energy Fuel and reigning GT World Champion chassis manufacturer Hong Nor.  Sweep Racing are the official controlled tyre supplier for the event while Italian fuel manufacturer Energy is the controlled fuel for not only the 1:8 GT Worlds but also the 1:8 Onroad Worlds which also take place at CACH later in the year.  Red RC is looking forward to travelling to South America, our last trip to this part of the world being for the 2012 1:8 Buggy Worlds in Argentina.  Chatting to the winner of that World title, Robert Batlle, at the recent inaugural 1:8 eBuggy Worlds in Portugal about the upcoming GT Worlds, the Spaniard described CACH as the best facility he has ever visited – and he has raced at a lot of tracks around the world!  Our coverage of the 2025 IFMAR 1:8 GT World Championships will, after a full day of travel, begin this Wednesday, September 17th, with the first round of qualifying.  We hope you enjoy following our coverage as we get to tell the story of how the sport’s latest World Champions are crowned.

September 12, 2025

2026 ISTC Worlds track Hongyu GDC opens in China

Not existing earlier this year when IFMAR officially announced Foshan in China as the host venue for the 2026 1:12 and ISTC World Championships, the brand new Hongyu GDC RC facility has officially opened ahead of hosting its first ever race this weekend.  Under the leadership of Gavin Gwok, who created the previous GDC Indoor track located in the same city, the new facility dwarfs its predecessor and comprises of three impressive tracks.  The main outdoor asphalt track, on which the 2026 ISTC World Title will be decided next April, covers an area 80m X 43m while a second but covered track, on which the next 1:12 World Champion will be decided measures 42m X 23m.  Offroad is also catered for with a 50m X 26m dirt track that was built by Spanish track builder Miguelo Izquierdo Rodriguez, who created the recent eBuggy World Championship track in Barcelos Portugal.  The Hongyu GDC International Science, Education & Motorsports Center, to give it its full title  is one of World’s largest dedicated RC facilities.  The state-of-the-art complex features comprehensive amenities including a multi-function hall, a professional RC hobby shop, a public pit area with capacity for 120 competitors, 15 private pit rooms, Race control and media rooms, a crawler course experience zone, and dedicated vehicle cleaning stations.  Later this year many of the World’s top onroad racers will get to see & experience the track for the first time when it hosts the combined Asian Championships and Worlds Warm-up Race.  1:12 runs from December 5-7 with Touring Car taking place from December 12-14.  Red RC is excited to be travelling to FEMCA’s Asian Championships, having attended last year’s championships at the old GDC track, and we are very much looking forward to working from the dedicated press room.

View facility images here

September 11, 2025

MIBO International 2026 – Date Announcement

With newly crowned 1:8 eBuggy World Champion Marcus Kaerup adding his name to its roll of honour earlier this year, the date for the fourth edition of MIBO International has been announced for 2026.  Created by former international touring car racer Michal Bok back in 2023, the unique annual international event, that combines side by side indoor onroad and offroad racing, will take place from Feb 27-Mar 1st.  Held at the Sport V Hotel in the town of Hrotovice in the Czech Republic, the race also counts Ronald Volker, Michal Orlowski, Bruno Coelho, Joern Nuemann and Bartek Zaleswki among its previous winners.  With everything from the track, a restaurant, a bowling alley and hotel rooms all under one roof, the Sport V Hotel venue is always popular with visiting racers.  With a capped entry limit, the relaxed schedule means plenty of time in the evening to wind down and socialise over dinner after each day’s racing.  Officially a two and a half day event, the Mibosport promoted race gets underway on the Friday evening with practice allowing for travel Friday morning.  For the fourth edition, the onroad track will host racing for Modified, 17.5 Stock, and FWD Touring Car plus Onroad Kids, while over on the offroad carpet track, 2WD and 4WD Buggy make up the schedule with Offroad Kids giving the next generation of young racers a chance to race on the international stage.  The opening of registration for MIBO International 2026 will be announced shortly.

Source: MIBO [mibosport.com]

September 10, 2025

Phuket RC Sport Arena Opening Race

With new tracks always a positive for the growth of racing and the hobby, over in Thailand RC accessory brand TWT and its owner Widhya Plianarrom has opened a new indoor carpet track in the city of Phuket.  Racing action officially got underway at the new ‘Phuket RC Sport Arena’ with the opening round of a newly launched 1:10 2WD Buggy race series.  The first date on the four round ‘Int.Offroad Race Series 2025’ would see the TQ go the way of Yospat Eain but in the finals it was Tan Nattapong who took the win ahead of Eain with Tastanasak J. completing the Top 3.  The second round of the series will take place on October 4th with more drivers expected to join the series and enjoy the new track.

View track images here

September 9, 2025

2025 Speed King Tour Rd4 – Report

After three months break, the fourth round of the Speed King Tour 2025 was held at RC Stadium Sodegaura in Chiba prefecture Japan on 7th of September.  Even in September, central area of Japan is still very hot and competitors had to found good setups for hot track condition. TC0 class (Modified) is the fastest class of Speed King Tour.  Infinity driver Jin Sawada showed his speed at his home track and finished 1st by 0.373 seconds from his teammate Ryosuke Yamamoto in the A-Main final.  Yugo Nagashima maintained steady pace then took P3 with his new Xpress car.

Continue reading here

September 7, 2025

Coelho ends Orlowski’s ETS winning streak

Infinity’s Bruno Coelho has ended reigning ETS Champion Michal Orlowski’s 12 race winning streak by taking victory at Round 3 in Luxembourg.  In qualifying it was Awesomatix driver Lucas Urbain, a previous winner at his home track, who secured the overall TQ with two fastest runs over the 4 qualifiers.  Topping Q4, Orlowski would line up second ahead of Coelho with Q3 pace setter Marc Rheinard securing P4 ahead of the Mugen Seiki of practice Top Seed Ronald Volker.  With the first A-Main run on Saturday evening, two great passes would see Coelho go to the front and take the win ahead of Urbain with a late spin dropping Orlowski to 5th.  A2 would see Urbain lead from Orlowski, Coelho and Rheinard as the Top 4 held station but approaching the final 2-minutes Urbain ran wide giving Orlwski the lead. Then at the track’s famous cork screw corner a mistake from Urbain dropped the Fremchman to fourth.  With Orlowski in control, as the race came up on the final minute the newly crowned European Champion came to a halt handing Coelho the lead as the Polish ace DNF’d. Winning by 2/10ths of a second from Rheinard’s Awesomatix, it secured the World Champion his first win since joining Infinity at the start of the 2025 season.  In A3 Urbain would get the win ahead of Orlowski and Mugen Seiki’s Sören Sparbier to secure the runner-up spot with the podium completed by Rheinard with Orlowski ending up in 5th behind Sparbier.  In Stock, Awesomatix’s Olivier Bultynck continued his perfect season taking the TQ and win number 3.  He was joined on the podium by Tim Benson and Lukas Ellerbrock.

Image: Awesomatix [Facebook]

Mibosport
VP Racing
T-Works