Red RC » International

March 3, 2020

2019/20 Mibosport Cup Rd5 – Report

The fifth and final round of the Mibosport Cup was held this past weekend, once again attracting a very healthy field of over 200 drivers for the electric on-road and off-road classes. The event was a special one for the overall championships as to make things more interesting, the organisers decided to serve more points than usual on the final encounter, ensuring all drivers were pushing really hard as nothing was set in stone in the overall rankings going into the final round. Beside the usual suspects the final round attracted some special names, mainly in the off-road classes, such as Jörn Neumann, who found the way to the Czech Republick after a long time as did young and very talented Jessica Palsson from Sweden. However, starting with the on-road classes and in Touring Modified, Oliver Havranek was the man to beat. But it was not smooth sailing for him. Matej Sulc held the TQ spot after the qualifiers but in the end Matej wasn’t able to fend off Oliver who brought home the win from Matej in 2nd. Petr Grof secured P3, Kuba Simurda came in 4th and Martin Kratochvil finished in 5th.

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February 26, 2020

2020 The Dirt Nitro Challenge – Report

There are races and then there’s the Dirt Nitro Challenge. It’s unlike any race in the entire world and year after year, it attracts the best in the world to compete on one of the gnarliest tracks ever created. These two factors alone make this race, in every bit of the word … legendary. The Dirt Crew has built a reputation of creating some of the most technical and challenging tracks and no one does it better than Joey and Aaron. Thanks to their hard work and unique track building style, drivers are blessed with some epic racing that’s not often seen at other events. The DNC only happens once a year and in many ways, this is a very good thing as it keeps this event truly unique making drivers thirst for a full year before they get to experience it again. This year’s track layout was awesome. By transforming a simple straightaway into a tough rhythm jump section made for more jumps, more air, and more fun. This layout featured a lot of turns with intense angles and jump sections that increased the degree of difficulty significantly. However, many found the challenge very rewarding as you could really see the separation of driver talent as well as equipment. Throughout the weekend, the track just kept getting worse, but in some ways made the racing even better as the track became the speed equalizer for everyone. By the mains, it was one of the most blown out tracks ever to hold a Pro Nitro Buggy race, yet featured some of the best racing in history.

Continue reading the report here

February 24, 2020

Sobue claims a second TITC title

Akio Sobue has claimed a second TITC title, this time round the Infinity driver doing so in much more dominant fashion to his spectacular win over Alexander Hagberg in 2018. While concerns of the Coronavirus depleted the international entry for the 18th running of Asia’s most famous annual touring car event, the Infinity driver still faced stiff competition, most of which came from within his own team. With the race marking the international race debut of the Japanese company’s IF14-II, Jilles Groskamp would keep Sobue honest in the finals. A crash in A1 caused by his pinion coming undone, gave Groskamp the win in A1 meaning it would all go down to A3 after Sobue got the job done in A2. Having been the closest to matching Sobue’s pace at the Infinity Addict Circuit throughout qualifying, Groskamp wasn’t going to let the opportunity to go for the overall win pass in A3 and putting in a good fight kept the pressure on the Top Qualifier for the entire 5-minutes, the first time anyone had been able to do so all weekend. Still Sobue resisted the challenge to take back the title that he had lost last year to the absent Hagberg. Having finished runner-up last year, Naoto Matsukura again was on the podium this time in 3rd after winning a battle with Viktor Wilck for that position. Finishing off what was a tough TITC weekend for the Yokomo team, local hero Meen Vejrak would get a P3 in the third A-Main to secure 5th place as the best placed non-Infinity driver.

Continue reading this report here or view our complete event coverage here.

February 24, 2020

Juan Carlos Canas teams up with Maclan Racing

Maclan Racing have announced the signing of European 1/8th off-road frontrunner, Juan Carlos Canas to their factory team. The SWorkz factory driver will be using Maclan Racing electronics for his 2020 E-Buggy racing program that started at last weekend’s Spanish 1/8th E-Buggy nationals. Juan Carlos set a first mark by taking the TQ and wins in A1 and A2 for the overall victory and the best possible way to start with his new sponsor.

Source: Maclan Racing [maclan-racing.com]

February 24, 2020

Berkan Kilic wins at Fear Farm 3.0

The Danish RC Tonder club held the Fear Farm 3.0 race this past weekend, attracting drivers from Scandinavia, Germany, Poland and Denmark to battle it out in 1/8th Nitro and Electric Buggy classes. In Nitro Buggy it was Mugen’s Berkan Kilic with the overall TQ after a clean sweep and he would also come out successful after the 45-minute A-main encounter, leaving behind Xray’s Daniel Bubel in 2nd, a lap down. Kyosho’s Marcel Krüger would complete the top 3 podium result some nine seconds behind Daniel while Nikolai Lamberts lead the best of the rest in 4th, a lap short of Marcel.

Source: Mugen [mugen.eu]

February 23, 2020

Akio resumes control at TITC to take A2

After crashing out in the opening A-Main due to his pinion coming undone, Akio Sobue resumed his control over the TITC to take the A2 win by a comfortable margin. The Infinity driver once again came under some early pressure from team-mate Jilles Groskamp before the Japanese driver was able to pull clear, showing the form that saw the Top Qualifier take all four rounds of qualifying. Behind, Naoto Matsukura completed the Top 3 never really posing any treat to his team-mates up front. With Ryosuke Yamamoto completing the Top 4, the only change to the starting order came when Meen Vrejak got by Viktor Wilck for 5th position in the opening laps of the race.

Continue reading this report here or view our complete event coverage here.

February 23, 2020

Groskamp wins A1 at TITC as Sobue crashes out

Jilles Groskamp has taken the opening A-Main at the TITC, the Infinity driver challenging his team-mate Akio Sobue before the Top Qualifier crashed out at the 3-minute mark. A much more competitive looking Groskamp, who qualified second, was able to put Sobue under pressure for the first 2-minutes of the race before things settled down and the Japanese driving managed to get himself some breathing room. Suddenly it all turned on its head as Sobue came around to complete his 12th lap, his car shooting off into the barrier as a loose pinion meant he couldn’t brake. With Groskamp well clear of the rest of the field, the Dutch driver could cruise to the finish 2.8-seconds ahead of Viktor Wilck while, taking full advantage of the many incidents in the race, Nicholas Lee came through from 8th on the grid to complete the Top 3.

Continue reading this report here or view our complete event coverage here.

February 22, 2020

Akio completes quali clean sweep, Groskamp to start 2nd

Having wrapped up the overall TQ in the penultimate round of qualifying at the 2020 TITC, Akio Sobue has gone on to complete the clean sweep by making it four out of four in the final round. Having topped seeding on Thursday, the Infinity driver has maintained a distinct advantage over his rivals taking the final qualifier ahead of fellow countryman & new for 2020 team-mate Ryosuke Yamamoto, his advantage once again a commanding 3-seconds. With Naoto Matsukura getting up on two wheels during his final attempt, Jilles Groskamp would hold onto his second place starting position, the Dutch driver finishing 3rd ahead of Naoto in the weekend’s fastest heat. Meen Vejrak again managed a Top 5 run and the fastest lap of Q4, Day 2 of qualifying going much better than yesterday, and with that result the Yokomo driver will line-up 6th for tomorrow’s A-Mains when four Yokomos will go up against six Infinitys.

Continue reading this report here or view our complete event coverage here.