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November 11, 2026

Day 1 complete, World Champion Coelho sets benchmark

Day 1 of the 2026 IFMAR ISTC World Championships is done and it is defending World Champion Bruno Coelho who set the benchmark all day, the Infinity driver topping all five rounds of free practice today in Thailand. With drivers getting their first taste of the track’s updated Huge RC Circuit layout in FP1, any concerns of traction where quickly quashed as the grip came up quicker than anticipated, Coelho setting his fastest 3-consecutive laps in Round 4. Starting the day with the second fastest time, Marc Rheinard would finish free practice with another strong run, his FP5 time the second fastest time of the day running a 41.075 – no one able to join Coelho in running 3-laps in 40-seconds. Having lost his way a little with set-up in the afternoon, Schumacher’s Michal Orlowski would complete the Top 3 in the final run with the Awesomatix of Simon Lauter fourth fastest. In the previous round the Stock World Champion would post the second fastest time in between Coelho and Rheinard with 2014 World Champion Naoto Matsukura clocking the 4th fastest time ahead of RC Maker’s Antoine Brunet. It was to be a similar story of one driver setting the benchmark in the Stock class also with Oliver Bultynck fastest on every occasion. The Belgian would cap off a strong opening day with his fastest time in the final run ahead of Awesomatix team-mate Max Machler as we head into seeding tomorrow and end Day 2’s action with the first qualifier.

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November 11, 2026

Coelho remains in control in Bangkok with Orlowski closest to pace

Infinity’s Bruno Coelho remains in control in Bangkok, the reigning IFMAR World Champion’s IF14 Speciale fastest in all three free practice rounds so far at Huge RC Circuit. Further back than expected in the first official practice of these IFMAR ISTC World Championships, Schumacher’s Michal Orlowski would get into the groove to be closest on pace in the the 2nd and 3rd rounds, the gap however still a considerable 4/10ths over each drivers’ best 3-consecutive laps. In FP2, it was the Axon prototype of Akio Sobue who set the fourth fastest time from Marc Rheinard’s Xray and Simon Lauter’s Awesomatix. Second fastest in the opening practice, Rheinard would come together with team-mate Alexander Hagberg after the Swede got out of shape, and then making a set-up change for FP3 it would be in the wrong direction. With the track continuing to improve as the new sections after the layout change start to grip up, Coelho stepping into the 40-seconds for his 3-laps, French RC Maker driver Antoine Brunet set the 3rd fastest time ahead of Lauter and Xray’s Jin Sawada who set identical times. Third fastest in FP1, a diff change in FP2 on Ronald Volker’s RC Maker didn’t prove fruitful and trying other changes in the latest round he declared they have a bit of work to do. In Stock, Oliver Bultynck is the benchmark, the Belgian’s Awesomatix topping all three rounds.

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November 11, 2026

World Champion gets things underway at top of time sheets

With some having completed double digit days of testing and others just two days of IPD, with the 13th running of the IFMAR ISTC World Championships official getting underway in Bangkok today on a new layout it was Infinity’s Bruno Coelho who topped the opening times. Chasing after a 4th consecutive World title here this week at the unique Huge RC Circuit, the Portuguese driver set the fastest 3-consecutive laps as well as the only 13-second lap on the new World title deciding layout. With the layout getting a generally positive reaction, it was Marc Rheinard, winning last time Thailand hosted these Worlds 18-years ago, who set the second fastest time for the reigning World Champion manufacturer Xray. Suffering a heavy crash towards the end of the run which ended his first free practice early, 2016 World Champion Ronald Volker set the 3rd fastest time for RC Maker. Making it four different manufacturers at the top of the times it was another World Champion with Awesomatix’s reigning Pro Stock Champion Simon Lauter living up to expectations of the German being one of the pre-event title contenders come Saturday. A driver who has already tasted World title success at Huge RC Circuit when he won Nitro Touring Car here in 2014, Alexander Hagberg backed up Xray’s performance with P5 ahead of Axon’s Akio Sobue. Another of the pre-event title favourites, Schumacher’s Michal Orlowski opened with the 8th fastest time behind Xray’s newly crowned 1:8 Nitro Buggy World Champion David Ronnefalk.

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November 9, 2026

Yokomo comeback with ‘Power from the Headquarters’ – ISTC World Championship

There was a time when we would attend either electric onroad or offroad races and Yokomo would be mentioned in the opening paragraph of every race report, they were a real force. That hasn’t however been the case now for a number of years but 10-years on from winning the IFMAR Electric Touring Car World Championship, that race in China giving us the iconic photo of Ronald Volker’s mechanic Yukijiro Umino reaction to what a world title means to everyone involved, there are positive vibes coming from the Japanese manufacturer’s camp here at Huge RC in Bangkok. With team leader Christopher Krapp admitting they are realistically not here with a chance of winning the 2026 World title, compared to 2-years ago there is a new energy in the team and a desire from the top management for the historic racing brand to return to being taken serious again as producer of competition level cars. On arriving in Bangkok, less our luggage, returning to our hotel after buying some necessary supplies, the first RC racer of these Worlds we’d meet was Krapp. A driver we have respected for always being personable, as always the German had a friendly handshake and positive energy but it was even more positive this time as he proudly introduced Yokomo’s new Managing Director and new Designer. While many manufacturers are contesting these Worlds with skeleton crews, Yokomo is taking the opposite approach. With Krapp and his crew hungry after their travels and looking for a food recommendation, pointing them in the direction of some good local street food we joined them for a catch up and that led to an interesting insight that we would follow up on the next day at the track on how Yokomo wants back in the game.

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November 9, 2026

3rd consecutive World title for Pequito at PNWC

Xbility driver & designer Jose Pequito has taken his 3rd consecutive 2WD Open World title at the 1:28 PN Racing World Cup which was staged at the Mini-Zshop track in the Netherlands over the weekend. The Portuguese driver, who won the title in Colorado last year, would qualify second for the finals with the TQ honours going to RTRC driver Thomas Robin who set the fastest time of the 3 rounds in Q3. In the 8-minute triple finals, wins in A1 and A2 ahead of RTRC’s Mathieu Da Rocha would secure Pequito his World title hat trick. Winning A3, French RTRC team driver Guillaume Loie would snatch the runner-up spot from his team-mate and fellow countryman Da Rocha. Xbility would also claim the World title in the Formula 1 class, with Dutch driver Ruben Klomp taking the TQ and win.

Image: MOD Live Media [Facebook]

November 8, 2026

IPD Day 1 in the books – ISTC Worlds Chit Chat in Bangkok

The first of 2 days of IPD (International Practice Day) was completed at Huge RC in Bangkok today ahead of the IFMAR ISTC World Championships which officially gets underway on Wednesday, but taking today as a day to chat & catch up with what is a full house of drivers it seems there is a bit of a mixed view to the introduction of IPD to the category. Around for a number of years now in nitro onroad, it has merit to give drivers not in the position to attend the track for pre-event testing an opportunity to get extra track time as part of a single trip to the host track. In the case of nitro however the tracks are usual permanent. Think Gubbio, the Nitro Touring Car Worlds was held on the same layout this year as was used to decide the World Champion back in 2016 – both great events but neither won by Italians who had raced there many times more than their rivals over the decade in between! With a number of Pro drivers having done up to 10-days of practice leading up to IPD, one driver rumoured to have run 150 batteries in that time (that’s a lot of tyres), sure it is great for the rest of the drivers to get the two days to try catch up with set-up but the main talking point seems to be that all the testing is on a layout that won’t even be used for the event! On Tuesday’s registration day, 2002 ISTC World Champion Surikarn Chaidajsuriya, owner of Huge RC, and his crew will change track layout and the changes are pretty significant with a number of leading drivers saying the new layout will make for a much slower lap time and require a set-up change to get more steering as the track tightens up. Sure these guys are the best in the world and they will probably figure it out by Wednesday lunch time but many, both who came for a week or more of pre-event running or just the IPD, feel that had the race layout been done for IPD it might have encouraged teams to just come for the IPD. One driver pointed out also that had the race been held in Europe or the US, teams might have viewed the costs of an extra week of testing differently so for sure its sometime that maybe needs to be reviewed going forward. While World Championships are extra special events and teams go above & beyond for this once every two years opportunity to take the greatest prize, it is interesting to note that event duration was a point that was raised at a Section Meeting held during the recent IFMAR 1:8 Nitro Buggy Worlds in Texas. The majority feeling that event is too long as the ISTC Worlds just got three days longer. That said racers and manufacturers have for years complained and looked to have the Nitro Onroad Worlds made shorter yet the 2027 calendar lists the event as 10-days!

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November 5, 2026

Capricorn announce team for Asia Nitro Party

Italian manufacturer Capricorn has just announced a strong team line-up for the 2nd edition of the Asia Nitro Party at the world class Hongyu GDC track in China. Taking place from January 15-17, 2027 marks Capricorn’s official debut at the race as they field Toni Gruber in 1:8 Onroad, Kyle Branson in 1:10 Nitro Touring, and Gabriele Paloschi in 1:8 GT. Gruber becomes the latest World Champion set to visit the track in Foshan for the first time, the German sure to be a contender for the 1:8 win. Making an impressive return to nitro racing at the IFMAR Nitro Touring Car World Championships in Gubbio, Italy, this year, Branson also makes the trip to Hongyu GDC for the first time as does Italian Championship race winner Paloschi. A race that is quickly establishing itself as the international season opener in the same way Electric Touring Car racers have the TITC in Thailand, Capricorn’s factory entry further endorses the Asia Nitro Party international status which saw Infinity, Serpent, Genius Racing, Raptor, and O.S. Speed all send team drivers for the inaugural event. Attracting a high quality entry, with the multi circuit facility making a major impression on those visitors, it was Infinity’s Naoto Matsukura who took the 1:8 Onorad win from Italian Xray driver Filippo Domanin and Serpent’s Andrea Catanzani. In 1:8 GT, Frenchman Bernard-Alain Arnaldi took the win for Genius ahead of the Raptors of World Champion Alessio Mazzeo and Natanaele Senesi. With Southern China experiencing mild weather in January, the timing of the Asian Nitro Party is the perfect opportunity for European nitro racers to break-up the traditional Winter off-season and compete at an event that has already made a mark on establishing itself as a major annual event on the international nitro onroad race calendar. Red RC are looking forward to kicking off a busy season of race coverage by travelling to the city of Foshan and returning to this very impressive venue to cover the Nitro Party which will see the facility echo to the sound of nitro engines.

Source: Capricorn [capricornrc.com]

October 26, 2026

Romagnoli wins Italian 1:8 National Championship finale

Xray’s Luca Romagnoli has won the third & final round of the AMSCI 1:8 Onroad Italian National Championship which was staged at the 2027 IFMAR 1:8 Onroad World Championship circuit Fiorano over the weekend. In qualifying it was Jonathan Gandin who took the TQ ahead of Xray pairing Filippo Domanin and Romagnoli with Round 2 winner Francesco Tironi qualifying P5 ahead of the Leno round Top Qualifier Mirko Salemi. With the race attracting a number of international racers including Capricorn’s Toni Gruber & Thilo Diekmann from Germany, and Mugen Seiki’s Burak Kilic, in the 45-minute final it was Romagnoli who became the third different winning of the season. He took the win from long time race leader Domanin by just over half a lap with Infinity’s Lamberto Collari keeping the veterans in the mix as he claimed the final step on the podium ahead of Gandin from P6 on the grid. Overall Infinity’s Andrea Muscolino was crowned the overall Champion from Ielasi Tuned’s Luca Ielasi who was winner of the season opener at Locorotondo back in May.

Image: Infinity [Facebook]