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October 10, 2026

Balestri takes opening qualifier as Matsukura loses drive

The opening round of qualifying at the Singapore International Nitro Grand Prix saw Dario Balestri carry his morning seeding form into the first 7-minute affair with the Infinity driver topping the times by a convincing margin after main rival Naoto Matsukura went out just after the 3-minute mark with a stripped first gear. Pushed early on by Matsukura, who seeded second, Balestri in the end was over 5-seconds faster than Teemu Leino, the Finn having a strong morning at the RCMC Marine Parade track. Up against a stacked field of Infinity drivers, Mugen Seiki’s Shoki Takahata opened his Grand Prix debut with the third fastest time despite his engine struggling with the high humidity and 32 degree heat. With many drivers making small mistakes on the high speed circuit, it was Tadahiko Sahashi, who is seeded in the second fastest heat, who was fourth fastest ahead of Takakki Shimo and Thailand’s Chavit Saligupta.

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October 10, 2026

Balestri tops seeding at Singapore Grand Prix

On a very humid morning at RCMC Marine Parade, Infinity’s Dario Balestri has topped seeding for the Singapore International Nitro Grand Prix breaking the lap record on his run to the fastest 3-consecutive laps of the newly resurface track. Knocking a another tenth of a second of the yesterday’s lap record pace, set in open practice by double World Champion Tadahiko Sahashi, Balestri was quickest over the single round of seeding from 3 times GP winner Naoto Matsukura. With the Top 2, who between them have won 4 of the last 5 editions of the annual race, having a distinct early advantage in terms of outright pace, it was Finland’s Teemu Leino who completed the Top 3. Making his first visit to the country’s only permanent track, this the 20th anniversary of the Grand Prix, Mugen Seiki’s reigning World Champion Shoki Takahata set the fourth fastest time ahead of fellow countryman Takakki Shimo. Today’s scheduled will see drivers run three rounds of qualifying with the fourth & final round taking place Sunday morning ahead of the finals.

October 9, 2026

Track record tumbles at Singapore Nitro GP

The track record at the newly resurfaced RCMC Marine Parade track has tumbled today in practice ahead of this weekend’s Singapore International Nitro Grand Prix. The 20th Anniversary of the race, lap times got quicker and quicker over Friday’s running with double World Champion Tadahiko Sahashi setting the latest benchmark with a 15.457-lap in his afternoon running. With the previous record standing at 15.9 and set 10-years ago shortly after the track’s previous resurfacing, today’s times are considerable faster than last year’s best of 16.1-seconds. With an entry list that reads like a World Championship, it was the Mugen Seiki of reigning 1:8 World Champion Shoki Takahata who set a new record in the morning before reigning Electric Touring Car World Champion Bruno Coelho upped that pace. The Portuguese driver’s time was short lived however as Takahata produced a 15.5, his first visit to Singapore’s only permanent track clearly not hampering his form. The day however would end up being Sahashi’s as he found another tenth of a second from his Infinity IF18-3 but with three rounds of qualifying tomorrow and the high level of drivers taking part it is widely expected the record will tumble further.

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October 8, 2026

F1 World C/Ship leader Antonelli warms up for Singapore GP with 1:8 testing at RCMC

Formula 1 World Championship leader Kimi Antonelli got himself warmed up for this weekend Singapore Grand Prix with some 1:8 Onroad testing at the newly resurfaced RCMC Marine Parade track which officially reopens this weekend with the hosting of the 20th Singapore Nitro Grand Prix. A race which sees the entry headed by Mugen Seiki’s 1:8 Onroad World Champion Shoki Takahata and newly crowned 1:10 Nitro Touring Car World Champion Naoto Matsukura, Antonelli joined some of the biggest names in Nitro Onroad on Wednesday spending 3-hours at the track. A regular at Lamberto Collari’s track in Bologna, Italy, where he is from, Antonelli drove an Infinity IF18-3 that had been specially prepared for him by the 9-time World Champion. Impressing all the drivers with his RC driving skills, getting to drive alongside the F1 star, Matsukura was especially impressed by the 20-year-old’s enthusiasm for wanting to drive RC highlighting he spent most of his time at Singapore’s only permanent onroad track up on the drivers stand and working on his driving, taking just one or two 10-minute breaks. On his best lap Antonelli was just 1:10 of a second of Matsukura’s which was under the track record, the new surface increasing the speed quite a bit. While Kimi will race for Mercedes on the streets of Singapore this weekend, his father Marco will race 1:8 at the Singapore Nitro Grand Prix.

Image: Dimas Ardian

October 5, 2026

‘Road to Glory’ – 2026 IFMAR 1:10 World C/ship Video

It was an amazing week of racing that put 1:10 Nitro Touring Car back in the World spot light and it was an honour for Red RC to travel to Club Automodellistico 5 Colli in Italy last month to cover the 2026 IFMAR World Championship. Capturing the atmosphere with his camera, Club Press Officer Marco Paffi has produced this very nice ‘Road to Glory’ video that relives the vibes of what was an epic week of race action. Nice work Marco!

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October 5, 2026

Kurbuch crowned 2026 Euro Nitro Series Champion

Mugen Seiki’s Simon Kurzbuch is the new 2026 Euro Nitro Series Champion, the Swiss racer taking the 1:8 title with victiry at the season finale at the MyCandy track in Lentiai, Italy. In qualifying for Round 4 of the championship it was Infinity’s Dario Balestri who secured the TQ honours ahead of an impressive run from ARC’s Silvio Hachler topped the opening qualifier, Balestri taking the other three. Italian Infinity driver Jonathan Gandin secured 3rd on the grid ahead of Kurzbuch. In the final there would be a great battle for the lead between Balestri and Hachler who were clear of the field. With 3-minutes to go however Balestri ran out of fuel and it looked like Hachler had the win but cruelly with just 20-seconds to go in the 45-minute final the Swiss driver suffered a glow plug failure. Kurzbuch would take the win just 3/10ths of a second ahead of Gandin with a refuelled Balestri completing the podium ahead of Hachler who was classified 4th. In 1:10 Nitro Touring, the title already secured by Jilles Groskamp at Round 3 in Austria, it was the Capricorn of World Championship finalist Jakub Rozycki who took the TQ ahead of team-mate Toni Gruber and Groskamp’s Infinity. As the out going 1:8 ENS Champion, in the final it was Gruber who took the win from Rozycki with Groskamp finishing 3rd ahead of the Capricorn of Christoph Rohrmoser.

Image: Simon Kurzbuch [Facebook]

October 4, 2026

Back on top of the World after a decade, Ronnefalk gets 2nd World title

A decade after winning his first IFMAR 1:8 Nitro Buggy World title, Xray’s David Ronnefalk is back on the top of the world after taking the win at 20th running of the championship today in Hutto, Texas. After making his Semi Final look like just a formality on his way to securing pole position for the 1-hour final ahead of Top Qualifier Mason Fuller, the Swede looked to be carrying that form in the week’s deciding race. Out front and looking in control, with 2-minutes on the clock however a mistake in the whoops section and a subsequent error that caused chaos for a number of drivers, put him down to sixth with team-mate Chase Lemieux taking up the lead. A driver to really impress at these championship, given his limited nitro racing experience, unfortunately a pit lane exit infringement would earn Lemieux a drive through penalty, dropping him down the order but an engine cut at the 20-minute mark put amends to an impressive 1:8 Worlds debut and he eventually finished P8. With defending Champion Ongaro becoming the third different leader of the race it looked like the Italian was going to once again reign the world for another two years but even the best can make mistakes. With 25-minutes to run and a comfortable lead over Fuller, the Italian would hit the post on the back of the track, the impact immediately ending his 8 years reign as Champion. With Fuller now in the lead, holding it for 26 laps, a number of mistakes allowed a recovering Ronnefalk to close and with a faster pit stop go to the front. As Ronnefalk came in for his final stop, a hard charging Fuller had two mistakes and needed to be marshalled meaning Ronnefalk kept is lead. Fuller didn’t give up however and pushed his rival right to the finish, the separation 1.439 seconds after an hour of racing. Having found himself back in 12th early in the race after that chaos caused by Ronnefalk’s mistake 3-minutes into the race, Juan Carlos Canas managed to get himself back up to third to claim the final step on the podium 2-laps down on his Sworkz team-mate. As the reigning eBuggy World Champion, Marcus Kaerup would be the best Team Associated finisher as he claimed fourth ahead of team-mate Brandon Rose. While Kyosho’s Phi-Long Nguyen would suffer a run away during his Worlds Final debut, caused by a power switch failure, the teenager’s first refuelling at 12:30 couldn’t go by without an honourable mention.

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October 3, 2026

Semi just a formality as Ronnefalk secures pole in Texas

The Semi Finals were just a formality for Xray’s David Ronnefalk, the 2016 World Champion securing pole for the IFMAR 1:8 Nitro Buggy World Championship in Texas with his dominant winning time in the first Semi securing him pole for the title decider. Needing to do an extra fuel stop over his rivals, the Swede got a early break when Canas crashed on the opening lap and back up the field. Pulling out an earlier lead, Ronnefalk’s extra fuel stop was quick negated such was the buffer he built up by his first stop. At the end of the 30-minutes it was 2024 pole sitter Juan Carlos Canas who finished second despite making contact with the same post that made him an internet sensation in the final qualifier. Completing the Top 3 was Spencer Rivkin ahead of Team Associated team-mate Brandon Rose. In the second Semi, the opening part of the race very scrappy with defending World Champion Davide Ongaro and Top Qualifier Mason Fuller coming together and handing Ryan Maifield the lead until he found the famous left hand side roof post. In the end it was the very impressive Chase Lemieux who took his Xray to the win holding just fending of the close attentions of both Fuller and Ongaro, the defending champion set to start 4th on the grid behind Fuller.

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