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September 5, 2026

Bernadzik takes Q3 at Asian Buggy Champs

Alex Bernadzik has kicked off Day 2 of qualifying at the Asian Buggy Championships finale in Jarkarta with a TQ run, the 3rd of the 5 qualifiers producing a Team Associated 1-2 as Hyunkyu Jung recorded the second fastest time on what was a slower track than yesterday. With Pekko Iivonen making the first day of qualifying at West Side Raceway his own, topping both qualifiers, it was Jung and Bernadzik who battled out Q3 as the Finn used the round to test a harder compound tyre. Unfortunately for Jung traffic in the closing stages of the run cost him the top spot with Bernadzik, once again setting the fastest lap of the round, securing his first TQ by half a second from the young Korean. With the run the slowest of the three so far, the track almost 5-seconds off yesterday afternoon’s Q2, the Top 3 would be completed by Infinity’s Jason Nugroho. A 46-second lap half way through the round saw Iivonen stop the clock with the fourth fastest time ahead of Jayden Edmunds, the Sparko driver struggling for pace after putting on a brand new set of tyre for the run.

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September 5, 2026

2026 MonTech New York Grand Prix – Announcement

The organisers of the MonTech New York Grand Prix have announced details of the eight edition of the annual indoor race hosted by 360v2 RC track in New Rochelle, New York. Taking place from October 15th to 18th, the event has become one of the highlights on the annual US onroad racing calendar and draws an international entry stateside. Last year it was Awesomatix’s Sam Isaacs who did the double winning both 1:12 Mod and Touring Car with NYGP debutant Lucas Urbain heading the international challenge. The French touring car ace would claim the final step on the Mod TC podium behind the race’s big 2024 winner Kemp Anderson. Another of the international visitors, Xray’s Jan Ratheisky took fourth along with a podium in Super Stock Touring. The vision of long time 1:12 racer and multiple World Championship finalist Donny Lia, the NYGP is the nearest thing RC will get to having a race in Time Square, the track just a 20-minute train ride from the centre of the City That Never Sleeps. Counting multiple World Champions Marc Rheinard (2022 NYGP Winner), Ronald Volker (2019 NYGP Winner), Alexander Hagberg, reigning 1:12 Stock World Champion Max Mächler, and Ollie Payne as previous participants, 360V2 is one of the biggest indoor tracks in the US with racing takes place on a track layout covering an area of 105 X 48 feet. For 2026 the race expands to 10 classes, with race entries opening on September 8th, and once again Red RC is excited to travel across the Atlantic to cover this year’s NYGP action.

View official NYGP race poster here

September 4, 2026

2 from 2 for Iivonen as last lap error costs Bernadzik Q2

Mayako’s Pekko Iivonen made it 2 from 2 on the opening day of qualifying at the fourth & final round of the Asian Buggy Championships in Indonesia, the Finn taking Q2 after a late mistake by Top Seed Alex Bernadzik. Having topped the opening qualifier, Iivonen set the early pace of the afternoon run but again setting the fastest lap of the round Bernadzik’s Team Associated went to the top of the timing screens 2-minutes into the 5-minute qualifier. On the final lap however a mistake from the Australian would see him drop 1-second on his previous lap time, allowing Iivonen to top times by 1.061 of a second. Behind it was Korean teenager Hyunkyu Jung who posted the third fastest time ahead of Jason Nugroho and Sparko’s Jayden Edmunds.

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September 4, 2026

Iivonen takes opening ABC qualifier in Jakarta

Mayako’s Pekko Iivonen has TQ’d the opening qualifier at the concluding round of the 2026 Asian Buggy Championships in Jarkata, Indonesia. The Finn took the first of the five scheduled qualifiers at West Side Raceway ahead of Top Seed Alex Bernadzik, the Team Associated driver 2.7-seconds off the TQ pace after a slow start on new tyres. Making it three different manufacturers in the Top 3, Sparko’s new FEMCA Champion Jayden Edmunds was a similar margin off his fellow countryman Bernadzik to open with a P3 effort. While taking the opening TQ in eBuggy ahead of Edmunds with his Team Associated, Hyunkyu Jung encountered traffic on the opening laps of his first nitro qualifier hampering his chances of a double, but it was a costly mistake on the teenager’s penultimate lap that meant the 4th fastest for Q1. Infinity’s Jason Nugroho upheld home honours as he set the fifth fastest time ahead of the Mugen Seiki of Australian teenager Zac Foster.

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September 4, 2026

World Champion Takahata confirmed for Singapore International Nitro GP

Mugen Seiki’s reigning 1:8 Onroad World Champion Shoki Takahata has been confirmed for October’s Singapore International Nitro Grand Prix. The Japanese driver joined a very exclusive club in Chile last December when he won the IFMAR World title for a second time having previously won in 2019 in the United States. Takahata joins Infinity’s defending Singapore International Nitro GP Champion Dario Balestri, the duo having held the World No.1 status between them for the last 9-years, for what will be an extra special edition of the race as it celebrates its 20th anniversary. Taking place on October 10-11, the same weekend as the Singapore F1 Grand Prix, over the last two decades the Radio Control Modellers’ Club’s annual international race has welcomed numerous World Champions. 2026 looks like attracting its most World Champion stack field yet.

Source: RCMC Singapore [Facebook]

September 3, 2026

Bernadzik tops first seeding in Indonesia

Alex Bernadzik topped the opening round of seeding at the season finale of the Asian Buggy Championships today in Indonesia, the Australian heading a 1-2 for Team Associated. Over the 41-seconds West Side Raceway lap, he would have a 4/10ths of a second advantage over team-mate Hyunkyu Jung as each drivers best two consecutive laps were recorded. A more technical track layout than the Championships’ previous 2024 visit to the dirt track, traffic seemed to be the biggest challenge for drivers in the randomly created seeding groups. Completing the Top 3 for the first of the two seeding rounds, the second getting Friday’s action underway here in Jakarta, was Mayako’s Pekko Iivonen who was 7/10ths off Bernadzik’s pace. The Sparko of Jayden Edmunds was next up, the Australia fourth fastest ahead of the Infinity of Jason Nugroho, one of the few drivers not to sauce his tyres, and the Sworkz of fellow Indonesian Adrian Wicaksono.

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September 2, 2026

Asia Nitro Party 2027 – Announcement

Having kicked off the 2026 season with the successful staging of the inaugural Asia Nitro Party, the Hongyu GDC track in Foshan, China, has announced that it has now locked in the weekend of January 15-17, 2027, as the date for the 2nd edition of the international nitro onroad race. Expanding to a 3-day event, the organisers have also confirmed the event will see racing for nitro onroad’s three main categories – 1:8 Onroad, 1:8 GT, and 1:10 Onroad, the latter set for one of its biggest World Championship entries next week in Italy. Attracting high quality entry for the first edition, 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. China also offers visa-free entry to most European passport holders, and Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport (CAN) is one of the country’s main international airports making attending the race very accessible.

Source: Hongyu GDC [Facebook]

August 31, 2026

Tellez crowned 1:8 Euro B Buggy Champion in Portugal

Usually a marker of more to come, Spanish racer Iker Tellez is the new EFRA 1:8 Nitro Buggy European B Champion, the Team Associated driver winning the title ahead of Top Qualifier Bradley Baird at the ACDB Os Beirões track in Guarda, Portugal. A champion that counts David Ronnefalk, Juan Carlos Canas, Riccardo Berton, and Mattia Polito as some of its past champions, in qualifying it was the Mugen Seiki of Northern Ireland’s Baird that secured the overall TQ with fastest times in the final 2 of the 4 rounds. Fastest in the opening round, British Agama driver Erik Lykke qualified in P2 followed by Tellez, fastest in Q2, and Portuguese Xray driver Pedro Gomes. Winning his Semi in the fastest time it was Lykke who started on pole ahead of Tellez, Gomes and Baird. At the start of the 45-minute final a strong start by Tellez saw him take a lead he wouldn’t relinquish with the fastest lap of the race helping him to a winning margin of over half a lap on Baird. Lining up 11 on the 13 car grid, Spain’s Erik Becerril Rodríguez came through to complete the podium with his Team Associated ahead of the similar buggy of Italy’s Andrea Cairoli.

Image: EFRA [Facebook]