November 6, 2018

Champion Ronnefalk TQs first qualifier

World Champion David Ronnefalk has got the defence of his 1:8 Offroad title off to the best start possible by the TQ’ing the opening round of qualifying in Australia. Running in the second heat, the HB Racing driver topped the 10-minute qualifier by a significant margin, more than 5-seconds from Naoto Matsukura in turn was 6/10ths quicker than Bruno Coelho, the two onroad World Champions also in the same heat as Ronnefalk. The big surprise of the first of the six scheduled qualifiers was that of young American CJ Jelin who took his Xray to the fourth fastest time for the round ahead of team-mate Ty Tessmann, the Canadian being the highest place driver from Heat 1. Seeded in Heat 3, Joern Nuemann would complete the Top 6 just ahead of Ryan Maifield and Dakotah Phend.

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

November 5, 2018

Ongaro Top Seed at 1:8 Offroad Worlds

Davide Ongaro is the top seed at the 1:8 Offroad World Championships in Australia. The young Italian star produced the fastest 3-consecutive laps in the second of the day’s two controlled practice rounds to top the times from Ryan Maifield with Ty Tessmann completing the Top 3. Initially it was Tessmann, who ran early in the round, who set the pace bettering Dakotah Phend’s CP1 topping time by 1/10th of a second.  Third fastest in CP1, Ongaro, who ran 9 heats after Tessmann, set a blistering new pace to go over 1-second quicker than the former World Champion.  Two heats later saw the first serious challenge to that time as Maifield got to within 0.315 of the time to set the second fastest time of the day.  Unable to better his CP1 time, Phend would end up 4th fastest ahead of Bruno Coelho, who also couldn’t better his opening time, with Robert Batlle completing the Top 6 ahead of the reigning World Champion David Ronnefalk.

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

November 5, 2018

Phend tops 1st Controlled Practice in Perth

With things finally getting official at the 1:8 Offroad World Championships after 6 free practice runs over 4 days, it was Dakotah Phend who topped the opening round of controlled practice in Perth, Australia. The TLR driver posted a best time of 1:39.697 for his fastest 3-consecutive laps to set the pace ahead of Xray’s Bruno Coelho. Running in the heat just before Phend, Coelho managed a time of 1:39.957 around the MORBC track with both drivers having an almost identical fastest lap. Running in Heat 13 of 18, Davide Ongaro would complete the Top 3 followed by Jared Tebo, Naoto Matsukura and Australia’s own Aaron Stringer. For reigning champion David Ronnefalk, who topped the final free practice yesterday, the first of the 2 seeding rounds would see him with the 7th fastest time, a full second down on Phend.

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

October 31, 2018

Florian Joos joins Xray

Xray have announced the signing of up-and-coming Belgian driver, Florian Joos to their Junior team. Florian achieved a podium finish at this year’s IFMAR 1/12th scale World Championships and is a multiple German and Benelux national junior champion. He will campaign Xray’s T4 and X12 platforms at national and international events and he has the following to say:

Ever since I started racing R/C cars, my father has always been very supportive. One of the first advices he gave me, and one I will always remember, is to go for the best possible car. This is why I am so pleased to be joining the Xray team. The quality of the cars is just outstanding and helped me to achieve some good results. Moreover, the help I get from the team drivers regarding setup, driving lines, etc is amazing. Everyone is always ready to give a helping hand. I am truly excited to drive for this great team and will do my best to be a great Xray ambassador. Hope to see you soon at the tracks to share our amazing sport!

Source: Xray [teamXray.com]

October 29, 2018

Ronald Volker ends ETS drought with victory in Vienna

Ronald Volker has finally broken his victory drought that stretched 11 races, all the way back to Mulheim Kaerlich at the beginning of the 16/17 season, having taken the win here in Vienna. Starting from pole position the former World Champion leaves Austria with a solid lead in the points standings, having also taken the bonus point for TQ. Despite some close racing with his long time rival Marc Rheinard, Volker was able to pull a small gap at the end to take the race, with Marc having to settle for 2nd place, just ahead of Alexander Hagberg and Freddy Sudhoff, with reigning Champion Bruno Coelho suffering another difficult race ending up in 5th. Ronald was quick to thank those who made it possible saying ‘I’m super happy to get the overall win for this event, we worked the last few weeks really hard to get the upcoming BD9 in good shape. A special thanks to Hayato and Team Yokomo for this as well as thanks to Jurgen from LRP for the support’. About his race he said ‘A2 was starting well but I struggled with my driving in the middle of the run and I made a few small mistakes on the left part of the track so Marc was very close but I really didn’t want it to go to A3 so I put my head down and got a bit of a gap so I didn’t need to defend’, concluding by saying ‘Very very happy, after a couple of ETS races I finally got the TQ and win again.’

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

October 29, 2018

Matsukura adds first nitro title to World Championship tally

Multiple Electric Onroad World Champion Naoto Matsukura has added a Nitro Touring Car World title to his tally with a very convincing performance at the 1:10 200mm World Championships in Florida.  After a messy start which saw Top Qualifier Dario Balestri, Super Pole winner Robert Pietsch and reigning champion Dominic Greiner receive penalties, the Infinity driver quickly stamped his authority on the 1-hour final.  By the first round of fuel stops the 200mm rookie, who stopped early at 4:30, had already pulled out over a 6-second lead and such was his lead at the mid race tyre change his crew was able to switch to 4:00 stops ensuring his massive lead was never at risk.  At the end the Japanese driver becomes the 8th different World Champion of the class by almost 2-laps.  Battling with Tadahiko Sahashi for second place before the Infinity driver suffered a flame out in the final minutes of the race Capricorn’s Kyle Branson would finish second with Team Shepherd’s very quick Eduardo Escandon coming through from the back of the grid to complete the podium at Homestead RC Raceway.  Half a lap back Pietsch would recover from his penalty and a bad tyre stop to finish fourth ahead of Mugen team-mate Jeff Hamon, with Greiner, who got a second penalty completing the Top 6.  Ending up 9-laps off the lead after running out of fuel, Balestri ended up 7th but his biggest frustration was the length the cars were held on the starting grid.  He said his penalty was a result of him trying to make sure his engine didn’t cut.

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

October 28, 2018

A1 win for Ronald Volker

Ronald Volker has taking a straight forward win in the opening modified A-main at the ETS season opener in Vienna. Starting from pole position the Yokomo driver was unchallenged as the chasing pack were held up by their own battles. Alexander Hagberg would manage to get by 2nd place starter Marc Rheinard after a mistake from the Infinity driver allowed the Swede to stick it down the inside. On a track that is very difficult to pass, the rest of the race had little in the way of opportunities and despite a last lap effort by Bruno Coelho on Rheinard, it was a very processional race. Volker, who claimed the bonus championship point for TQ yesterday, said ‘I couldn’t ask for more, basically we are all on the same speed but they were in a battle so I could drive my race, the track was again a bit different’. Asked about his plans for A2 the former champion said ‘it is up to me to put in a clean run and repeat it for A2’.

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

October 28, 2018

DHI Cup 2019 – Announcement

The 2019 edition of the iconic DHI Cup will be held from the 11th to 13th of January 2019 at Sparekassen Fyn Arena. The race will see the running of Touring Modified and Touring Super Stock as well as 2WD Buggy and 4WD Buggy classes on the usual split-track layout. Sign-up for Touring Modified starts on Tuesday the 30th of October at 20:00GMT1+ with sign-up for the Super Stock class being possible an hour later at 21:00GMT1+. Sign-up for the 4WD Buggy class starts on Wednesday the 31st of October at 20:00GMT1+ and for the 2WD Buggy class at 21:00GMT1+ the same day. To offer a sensible time table entries are capped at 60 Modified, 80 Super Stock and 70 each for the Buggy classes. The 2019 edition marks the end of the cup’s cooperation with the Sparekassen Fyn Arena and thus this year’s race will be the last at the iconic spot. Full information on sign-up, hotels etc. can be found on social media here.

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