Red RC » International

March 31, 2019

OneTen Rd8 first qualifier goes to Marc Rheinard

Marc Rheinard has continued where he left off yesterday, the winner of Rd7 of the series here at PYC taking the opening qualifier over a much improved Naoki Akiyama. Jin Sawada would come home in 3rd place while Hong Kong Yokomo driver Kendrick Fong was 4th just in front of his Thai team mate Charlee P. It was a tough start for both Akio Sobue and Nicholas Lee, the newly crowned champion starting qualifying with used tires and ending up in 6th while Lee ended 8th having to scramble between practice and qualifying as he destroyed his car in free practice. The Singaporean hit a stationary Kendrick Fong at the start of the straight away and completely destroyed his car, team mate Jackie Shum sacrificing his race to give his team mate his race car to run. Rheinard, who is racing for the first time in Hong Kong, was quick to comment that both ‘Naoki and Jin are also very fast now’. With conditions changing overnight, it being more windy and dusty today, the Infinity driver used the first heat to again test the Zoo Racing Preopard which he feels has more turn in but carries less corner speed.

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March 30, 2019

Victory for Marc Rheinard at OneTen debut

Marc Rheinard has won on his debut at the OneTen series in Hong Kong, aided by an accident between his team mate Akio Sobue and pole sitter Nicholas Lee. Misjudging a passing opportunity Akio made heavy contact with the Yokomo driver, breaking his rear upright and forcing him to retire on the spot. This allowed Marc into the lead where he was able to drive it home and take the win, in doing so preventing Sobue from making it a clean sweep of the series this season. Rheinard commented that he ‘just stayed back’ and following the accident he ‘just took it’. He was again on old tires and with the win sealed up he has an extra set for tomorrow which will aid him in doing the double here at PYC.

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March 30, 2019

OneTen Modified A1 goes to Rheinard

Marc Rheinard has taken the win in the opening round of triple A-mains here at PYC. The Infinity driver could take advantage of his new tires to work his way passed Akio and then Nicholas, with a very nice pass down the inside. Akio’s race would implode early on as battling with very low traction he hit the curb coming onto the straight and went into the wall. This would pop off his shock and he would retire. Behind the top 2, Jin Sawada and Naoki Akiyama completed the top 4 after a very nice battle following an earlier incident that had dropped both down the order. Marc summed up his win as ‘so far so good’ the multiple WC admitting that he was on ‘new tires while the others were all on old’. Once passed Akio, he closed on Nico and made an ‘ok pass’ and now with the others needing to use their 3rd set of tires for the 2nd main, Marc will decide when to use his 3rd and final set of handout Sweep tires.

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March 30, 2019

Nicholas Lee breaks Sobue’s streak to TQ at PYC

Nicholas Lee has taken the TQ spot here at PYC having taken the 3rd and final round of qualifying by over 2 seconds. The result was a repeat of Q2 as the Yokomo driver again headed Sobue and Rheinard, giving the Singaporean his first pole position of the season and the first by anyone other than Akio. Jin Sawada, Meen Vejrak and Gary Huang all finished in the same place as they had in the Q2 and that would be how they start this afternoons 4-minute triple A-mains. ‘Finally Akio didn’t win every round’ was what a happy Nicholas Lee said when asked about his run. Running on new tires, he described the decision as last minute as Akio had also changed last minute and with the two of them in the hunt for the TQ, the Singaporean followed suit. Describing his BD9 as really good, he said ‘in the beginning it was close but by the end it was really good’.

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March 30, 2019

Akio Sobue takes opening qualifier at PYC

Akio Sobue has headed the opening round of qualifying at PYC for the penultimate round of the series in Hong Kong. The infinity driver made his way to the top of the times after his team mate Marc Rheinard had started strongly. The German faded near the end and was eventually passed by Yokomo’s Nicholas Lee who took 2nd for the round. Jin Sawada would make it 3 IF14s in the top 4, with Serpent driver Naoki Akiyama completing the top 5 some 8 seconds back from the pace setter. Newly crowned champion Sobue said ‘Rd1 was OK but too much steering, I almost spin’, explaining further that due to the rule of needing to clean your tires with brake cleaner before applying the handout Sweep additive had meant there was a lot more traction at the beginning. Once his car had run some minutes it improved and his car was ‘easier to drive’

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March 29, 2019

Hobbywing sign Marco Baruffolo

Hobbywing have announced the Italian 1/8th off-road frontrunner, Marco Baruffolo to their factory team. The Italian national champion and multi-time EFRA European Championship A-finalist will power his 1/8th and 1/10th scale Xray rides using Hobbywing speed controllers and motors and he has the following to say:

I am very happy to take part of Hobbywing team and I am really happy about the ESC and motors!

Source: Hobbywing [hobbywing.com]

March 28, 2019

Jörn Neumann doubles at 2019 SIGP Offroad race

The 2019 SIGP Offroad race was held last weekend at the ARC International Race Track in Xiamen, China. The annual event has grown bigger and bigger each year with the 2019 edition having attracted more than 200 drivers to compete at Sunpadow’s world class venue. Newly-signed Agama driver Ryan Lutz, 2018 SIGP double champion, made a very strong comeback, taking the overall TQ in both the Nitro and Electric Buggy classes. But come the finals day, another SIGP double champion, Jörn Neumann, would dominate the proceedings. The SWorkz driver won the first two rounds of the E-Buggy A-main to grabbed his first title of the day in front of Ryan Lutz and Kyosho’s Wataru Takashiro. Then he had another fantastic run in the 45-minutes Nitro Buggy main to claim another double championship as Ryan Lutz came in 2nd and JQRacing’s own Joseph Quagraine completed the top 3.

View the E-Buggy podium here

March 17, 2019

Coelho wins 4WD at EOS Slovakia

Bruno Coelho has won 4WD at the fourth round of the Euro Offroad Series in Slovakia. Having concluded the first half of the season last month in Daun with the first win of his campaign, the Xray driver today opened the second half of the season with victory when he wrapped things up in A2. Similar to A1, Coelho’s only challenger would be Michal Orlowski but this time the Schumacher driver came undone on his own when he got it wrong at the table top on lap 3. Dropping down the order, he would eventually pull off as team-mate Joern Neumann took advantage of other’s mistakes to finish second, 6-seconds down on Coelho. With the prospect of a repeat of the double win he took at the Hudy Arena last year gone, Michal would manage to win A3 which would with his P4 from A1 at least see the reigning champion make the podium in 3rd place. Having to defend greatly finishing A3 in second just ahead of Joona Haatanen and Jörn Neumann, it would be Martin Bayer who would claim the second step on the podium for an Xray 1-2. Neumann ended the event in 4th position ahead of Haatanen and with Lee Martin completing the Top 6.

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