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September 13, 2026

Title No.7 as Matsukura reclaims Nitro Touring Worlds in Italy

18-years after he took his first IFMAR World title as a 15-year-old in 1:12, Naoto Matsukura has added a 7th World Championship victory by reclaiming the 1:10 Nitro Touring Car crown in Italy. The 11th running of the championships, the Infinity driver, who turns 33 on Monday, would take a convincing win in Gubbio, 8-years on from winning the same title in the United Stated. Starting from 3rd on the grid, Matsukura would go to P2 on the opening lap and closely pursue team-mate & Top Qualifier Dario Balestri as they pulled clear of the field. Unfortunately for Balestri, just like in 2016 when he TQ’d the same championships at the same track, the final wasn’t to go his way. While finishing on this occasion, albeit in P6, the Italian would hit an issue during his tyre stop with the rear right wheel change delaying him by a lap & a half, effectively ending his quest to finally add a 1:10 title to the two he has achieved in 1:8. The only driver to manage a 15-second lap of the Miniautodromo Internazionale Mario Rosati track in the Main, later in the race Balestri would also run out of fuel. With his main rival out of contention, Matsukura could manage the race even adjusting his tyre stop strategy to just a single stop having started out planning two stops. While he was on cruise control, with a 2-lap buffer, to becoming the first driver to win the categories biggest prize twice, the battle for second brought life to the final minutes of the 1-hour encounter as Capricorn’s Toni Gruber, having turned around a disappointing start to the week, tried to hunt down a very impressive Filippo Domanin. This race marking his World Championship debut, the talented Italian teenager kept the highly experienced German at bay taking a crowd pleasing 2nd by one tenth of second. Just off the podium, Kyle Branson claimed P4 on his World Championship return ahead Serpent’s Andrea Catanzani.

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September 12, 2026

New World Champion to be crowned in Italy, Groskamp just misses out in LCF

Nitro Touring Car will get a new IFMAR World Champion in Italy as reigning champion Jilles Groskamp RC failed to make the Main Final, the Infinity driver’s quest coming to an end in the Last Chance Final in Gubbio when he was denied the win by France’s Quentin Leroux by just 0.071. of a second. Winner of the title 2-years ago in Bangkok, Groskamp found himself in the Semi final after qualifying P5, just missing out on the Top 4 directing qualifying spots to British racer Kyle Branson. Starting the second of the Semi Finals on pole, the 30-minute final would produce a thrilling & intense multi car battle for the lead. While Groskamp held the lead early on it was Melvin Diekmann who took a late win ahead of Milan Holthuis as Serpent’s Andrea Catanzani, having led, dropped to third. 1.9-seconds back Groskamp finished fourth, the Top 3 progressing to the final. With 15-minutes to try and put himself into the Main via the Last Chance Final, starting on pole Groskamp led for the opening laps but a very fast Leroux quickly got himself to the front. Following each other for the rest of the race, gapping 3rd place, a moment as the race entered the final 2-minutes looked to be the end of Groskamp’s challenge but an impressive charge over the final laps saw the Dutch veteran right back on the rear bumper of the leader’s Capricorn setting up a dash to the loop. But it wasn’t to be, the experienced Leroux holding his nerve and progressing to the final as the 11th car on the grid. In the first of the Semi final, Capricorn’s Toni Gruber took the win ahead of Jakub Rozycki and pole sitter Alex Thurston to secure their places in the decider for the 11th running of these World Championships.

September 11, 2026

Heartbreak for Esser as World Champs down to final 52

After taking a hugely popular win in his 1/16 Final, which should have put him through to tomorrow’s Main Finals day at the IFMAR 1:10 Nitro Touring Car World Championship in Italy, Alex Esser’s celebrations were to be short lived as his car failed post tech inspection. One of only four racers representing British manufacturer Shepherd here in Gubbio, making the Worlds podium finishing manufacturer the smallest represented of the 6 brands competing at the 11th edition of Worlds, the young American racer’s body shell was declared to be outside the minimum measurements, the rear bumper cut too high. Winning the 20-minute encounter ahead of Stefan Strasser and Jules Kerguiduff, Esser’s disqualification would promote Rolli Josua to third and into tomorrow’s 1/8 Finals. With rain cancelling yesterday’s second day of qualifying, the damp aftermath conditions would also effect today’s program with the start of racing delayed from 11:00 to 14:00 as the damp track proved well off the pace in the specially arranged free practice which was later extended to get cars running on the track and to bring back up traction levels. This delayed start meant racing wouldn’t finish until just before 19:00 before a red sunset quickly brought a close to the Lower Finals day with just 52 drivers of the 114 starters now remaining in the competition. In the second of the 1/16 Finals it was Michaël Derderian who took the win ahead of Kristof Sielaff and Nathan De Marco to get themselves through to Saturday. The Mains day here at Miniautodromo Internazionale Mario Rosati will start at 08:00 with a round of group practice for drivers up to and including the Semi Finals before the first race gets underway at 09:30. The World Championship deciding 1-hour final is set to start at 16:15 (local time) with Top Qualifier Dario Balestri set to lead them away.

September 10, 2026

Day 2 of Qualifying cancelled at Nitro Touring Worlds

With racers waking up to heavy rain in Gubbio, Italy, this morning, following a meeting of the International Jury it has been officially announced that today’s track action at the IFMAR 1:10 Nitro Touring Car has been cancelled. This means qualifying is now officially complete with the results of the four round of qualifying run yesterday the final official ranking with 2 from 4 rounds counting. This confirms Balestri as the Top Qualifier with Filippo Domanin, Naoto Matsukura and Kyle Branson joining him directly in Saturday’s Main final. In an official communication to team managers, IFMAR said they had ‘Unanimously’ decided to cancel race program of today before giving detail of the new schedule for Friday’s Lower Finals that will start with a 30-minute free practice before a round of grouped practice for drivers from the 1/256B finalist to 1/16A finalist. Saturday’s Main final day will start the same practice schedule. Thankfully after today’s rain, the weather for the rest of event looks more promising and most importantly dry.

View full IFMAR communication here

September 9, 2026

Dominant day sees Balestri secure TQ honours in Gubbio, again!

A decade after he claimed his first World Championship pole position, Dario Balestri will once again line-up as the Top Qualifier at the IFMAR 1:10 Nitro Touring Car World Championship after a dominant display of driving on the opening day of qualifying in Gubbio, Italy. Opening the day with a very convincing Q1 performance ahead of defending World Champion Jilles Groskamp, the Infinity driver would go on top all four qualifiers each time ahead of different driver. With expected rain tomorrow seeing the schedule revised from 3 rounds to running a 4th round, a rain shower would delay proceedings just before the half way mark of Q4 with 5pm in the evening looking more like night time as some very threaten rain clouds hovered over the track, but they would get the round completed just as the sunset. While the outcome tomorrow, even if they do get to run the final two rounds, is irrelevant to Balestri’s status as he is locked in as the Top Qualifier, their could be some movement in the magic Top 4, all directly qualifying into the 1-hour title decider. Counting a P2 from Q3 with a P3 from Q4, Xray’s Filippo Domanin holds P2 ahead of Naoto Matsukura and Kyle Branson, the British driver jumping ahead of Groskamp as he took 2nd in the final qualifier after a mistake from Matsukura. Having started out Day 1 of qualifying strongly with a P2, unfortunately that would be the highlight of Groskamp’s day and counting a P5 from Q2, he lies fifth in the overnight rankings.

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September 9, 2026

2 from 2 for Balestri as Matsukura closest challenger

Dario Balestri made it 2 from 2 in qualifying at the IFMAR 1:10 Nitro Touring Car World Championship in Italy, the Infinity driver again leading a 1-2 for the reigning World Champion manufacturer, this time however the gap much smaller to second fastest Naoto Matsukura. With an overcast Q1, the sun broke through the clouds for Q2, making for a slower track but learning from his mistakes in the first one Matsukura put in a error free run to get to within a second of Balestri who again was the only driver to manage 27-laps. Taking the same approach as Matsukura after he had two mistakes in the morning, Xray’s Filippo Domanin completed the Top 3, the finish order the same as how they seeded after practice after a missed lap for the Italian was picked up on the backup timing computer. With their star driver Toni Gruber struggling so far this week, an improved Q2 netting him a P6 for the round, it was returning 2018 podium finisher Kyle Branson who lead the Capricorn challenge. He would post the fourth fastest time ahead of defending Champion Jilles Groskamp while Alex Thurston who took his Mugen Seiki to P3 in the opening round set the 7th fastest time.

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September 9, 2026

Balestri takes opening qualifier at Worlds as rain looms in Gubbio

Infinity’s Dario Balestri has taken the opening round of qualifying at IFMAR 1:10 Nitro Touring Car World Championship, the run even more important with the threat of rain looming at the Gubbio track in Italy. The top seed after yesterday’s timed practice which took place in sunny conditions, the first day of qualifying at Miniautodromo Internazionale Mario Rosati saw racers greeted by overcast conditions with very slight drops of rain even falling as the top two heats completed their the first of their six scheduled run. Originally set to be a day consisting of 3 rounds, with tomorrow looking like it will be rained out, the organisers have now revised the schedule to run four rounds today with the best 2 of 4 to count. Behind Balestri, it was reigning World Champion Jilles Groskamp who was second fastest but some bit back on his team-mate who was the only one to run 27-laps over the 7-minutes. Seeding P5, British driver Alex Thurston completed the Top 3, saying like Groskamp, it was a result of consistency rather than outright speed. Second fastest in seeding 2018 World Champion Naoto Matsukura had a mistake on his opening run that left him P20 of the 114 drivers to post a time. Competing the Top 3 on seeding, up & coming Italian talent Filippo Domanin would also have two mistakes on his run one involving another driver leaving the quick Xray driver to register a P8.

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September 7, 2026

1:10 Nitro TC Worlds coverage presented by LensBodies, Energy, Gimar, and PowerHD

The 2-year wait is over with the week on which IFMAR will crown the latest World Champion of 1:10 Nitro Touring Car having finally arrived, and thanks to LensBodies, Energy fuel, Gimar engines, and PowerHD servos, Red RC are travelling to Gubbio in Italy to tell the story of how these championships unfold. Racing in the ‘world capital of nitro onroad racing’, the 2026 World Championships has attracted a bumper entry and one of the biggest nation counts in the classes history with over 120 entries from 21 countries. A decade since Club Automodellistico 5Colli previously hosted the championship, it is reigning World Champion Jilles Groskamp who heads the entry for Infinity on the return to the beautiful Gubbio track which is located in central Italy. The Dutch driver added the nitro title to his 2012 Electric Touring Car World title when he took the win at Huge RC two years ago, and he has been enjoying great form leading into the event claiming the Euro Nitro Series title with an emotional win in Austria last month. With numerous drivers capable of winning come Saturday, all looking to put heir names into the RC racing history records, we also must remember that particular at a World Championship things need to go right. As Jared Tebo famously said at the 2023 1:10 Offroad Worlds in Chico, USA, where he won the 2WD title, ‘To win you have to have so many things go right, to lose you only have to have one thing go wrong.’ With Nitro Touring Car you have so many inputs, and that’s what makes it so exciting. Red RC’s coverage will begin on Tuesday (Sept 8th) with Controlled Practice before we quickly get down to the serious business of 2 days of qualifying with it all culminating with the crowning of a new World Champion on Saturday (Sept 12th).

Coverage Update – Having been in Jakarta over the weekend to cover the season finale of the Asian Buggy Championships, a volcano eruption has lead to the closure of all airports meaning Red RC is currently grounded in Indonesia. While our original flight has been rescheduled to take off 14-hours later than planned, the situation is on going but it looks like we might be a little later getting to Gubbio than planned.

View past IFMAR World Champions here