Red RC » International

October 2, 2020

Ronald Völker joins Mugen Seiki

Having dropped the bombshell on Wednesday that he was leaving Team Yokomo, Ronald Völker has just been confirmed as a Mugen Seiki driver. The former World, European, ETS & Reedy Race Champion will now head Mugen’s EP onroad race team, a move that shows very clearly the ambitions of the Japanese company within this category. Having only entered the ultra competitive touring car class for the first time back in 2017, they have always had a competitive platform but up until now were lacking a tier-1 driver, which they now have with Ronald. Völker, who is currently leading the ETS standings after 3 rounds, will have to adapt quickly to the all new MTC2 if he is to maintain that lead with the 4th round of the series taking place in less than 2 weeks. Mugen had this to say about the new deal:

Mugen Seiki is very proud to announce, that former IFMAR World Champion and multiple European-, National- and ETS-Champion Ronald Völker has joined their electric on-road team! Ronald will bring his amazing speed and all his knowledge into the team and he will campaign the all new MTC2 platform at all upcoming races. We are looking forward to a successful long term partnership with him. “Welcome to the Mugen family Ronald!”

Source: Mugen Europe [mugen.eu]

September 30, 2020

Ronald Volker shock departure from Team Yokomo

In big driver market news, Ronald Volker has announced his shock departure from long time sponsor Yokomo. The German was with the Japanese brand for 11 plus years and won everything there was to win including his World title in China in 2016. Yokomo has gone through some major changes in the passed 12 months with the famous marque changing owners and with Volker handling the onroad team activities alongside driver duties, this will leave a big hole in their team. Ronald gave the following statement:

After more than 11 years, from now on I am no longer part of Yokomo anymore! It was my decision to leave and my decision to look for a new challenge. I can not really describe how thankful I am for taking the opportunity back in 2009 to join Yokomo under Mr. Yokobori and to be able to stay for so many years. I grew in that period as a better driver and person in our wonderful RC World. Together we came a long way which personally highlighted in winning a World Championship and multiple European and ETS Championships, Nationals and many other events. Additionally we had developed some amazing cars within a great team and I had the chance to meet tons of people worldwide and collect so much experience which I never even have dreamed of.

September 21, 2020

Volker victorious as ETS gets back on track

The Euro Touring Series (ETS) finally got back underway last weekend, after the Coronavirus situation forced the delay to the 2020 season. The newly re-surfaced and re-configured Arena 33 circuit in Andernach, Germany was the host for the return of the famous series and attracted around 200 entries – impressive given the situation and the travel restrictions that continue to affect events in Europe. In the Modified class, Yokomo’s Ronald Volker took the first two rounds of qualifying, putting him in a strong position early on. The German driver led Q1 ahead of Awesomatix’s Lucas Urbain and Xray’s Bruno Coelho, whilst Q2 saw second and third places reversed as Urbain showed his intention to challenge the “big three” at this event. Marc Rheinard took the challenge to Ronald in Q3 to get his event back on track, the Tonisport/Awesomatix driver leading Volker and Coelho in the round. Q4 would then decide pole position between the two German rivals, but it was Urbain who took his first ever ETS round TQ to lead, leaving Rheinard in second and Alexander Hagberg having his best result in third. This left Volker on pole, ahead of Rheinard, Urbain, Coelho and Hagberg.

Continue reading the report here

September 16, 2020

XRS Italy 2020 – Report

The XRS Italy event was held this past weekend at the marvellous facilities of Club Automodellistico 5 Colli in Gubbio, Perugia. The race saw 110 entries in 6 different categories. In the TC Modified class, it was the current World Champion Bruno Coelho who lead the way, in front of Alexander Hagberg, and Alessio Menicucci. The top two would finish in the same order after the triple A-finals, but Alessio Mancini moved up to 3rd, and snatched a podium spot from his team mate, The modified class was a blast to watch, with the cars reaching 125 km/h on the long Gubbio straight.

Continue reading the report here

September 15, 2020

Kurzbuch & Greiner make it 2 from 2 in 2020 ENS

The winners of the 1:8 Scale and 1:10 Scale Class of the opening round of the 2020 Euro Nitro Series last month were once again the drivers to beat in their respective 45 minute long finals at Round 2 of the shortened series, which took place at the famous Apeldoorn circuit in the Netherlands. Due to the seemingly ever-changing travel restrictions in place, it was unfortunate that some drivers had to make a last-minute cancellation to their entry – perhaps the most notable being the Italian Infinity pairing of Dario Balestri and Carmine Raiola. However, their role to lead the 1:8 Scale Class for the team was taken up by the Dutch pairing of Jeffrey Rietveld and Rick Vrielijnck, who performed admirably – Rietveld even topping the Controlled Practice to be the top seed for Qualifying. Teemu Leino was again absent due to the conditions imposed by his native Finland, so once again Milan Holthuis slotted into the front of the Infinty team’s 1:10 Scale assault.

Continue reading the report here

September 7, 2020

Jorn Neumann triples at 2020 EOS Rd2

The 2nd round of the 2020 Euro Offroad Series was held last weekend at the Arena33’s new astro track in Andernach, Germany. With a massive gap between this and the opening round back in February, for a lot of drivers this was their first major event back racing after the Covid-19 lockdowns. In 2wd, Bruno Coelho mastered the tricky conditions to take the TQ spot for Xray, ahead of Jorn Neumann with his Schumacher in 2nd. An impressive run by Czech Xray driver Max Gotzl saw him line up in 3rd ahead of Marcel Schneider, Martin Bayer, Hupo Honigl and round 1 winner Michal Orlowski in 7th, the Polish driver feeling under the weather all weekend. At the end of the mains it would be Jorn Neumann, with wins in A2 and A3, that took the overall victory in front of Max Gotzl as Bruno Coelho who won A1 struggled in the remaining finals and could only manage 3rd overall.

Continue reading the report here

August 27, 2020

Xpress sign Felix Law

Xpress have added all-round nice guy and multi-class talent, Felix Law to their factory team. Felix is known for his vast touring car knowledge and will attend all major races in the U.S. while also helping racers with track-side tech support.

Source: Xpress [rc-xpress.com]

August 27, 2020

Maclan Racing welcome Felix Law

Maclan Racing have announced the signing of Felix Law to their factory team. The US frontrunner and IFMAR Worlds finalist has inked a multi-year and while running Maclan Racing electronics at all major races he will also represent the brand at the track while helping with R&D of forthcoming new brushless speed controllers and motors. Felix has the following to say about the deal:

I’m excited to join the R&D team of Maclan Racing. With the initial testing of the products Willie has to offer, I found their lineup to be focusing on quality & racing needs. With all my knowledge from the past, I will do my best to evolve their product to the next level.

Source: Maclan Racing [maclan-racing.com]