Red RC » International

April 7, 2026

Thailand, South Korea, and Australia in running for IFMAR Worlds as racers asked for feedback

Continuing its process to reschedule the 1:12 and ISTC World Championships which should have concluded over the Easter weekend, IFMAR has e-mailed all registered drivers for the cancelled Chinese event a questionnaire to seek their input on 3 new potential host venues. Forced to cancel the originally planned back to back 1:12 and Touring Car Worlds just two weeks before it was due to start after the Hongyu GDC track failed to secure the necessary government approvals, the governing body are now in discussions with tracks in three countries in the FEMCA Bloc who have expressed interest in staging the championships. GRC (Galerno Racing Circuit) in Seoul in South Korea has the option to host the ISTC on its outdoor track and 1:12 on its indoor facility. HUGE RC in Bangkok, Thailand, which has hosted two Nitro Touring Car World Championships, can host both categories indoor, while John Grant International Raceway in Sydney Australia, hosts of both a 1:8 Onroad and 1:8 GT World Championship can run both events outdoor. Racers have been asked to rate each venue as Preferred, Acceptable, or Undesirable. In terms of timing racers have been asked to choose from periods of Early August 2026 – Late August 2026, Mid October 2026 – Early November 2026, Mid November 2026 – Early December 2026, Late January 2027 – Early March 2027, or Mid March 2027 – Late April 2027. Responses to the survey will be shared amongst the IFMAR Board of Directors and representatives from each of the four IFMAR member Blocs with racers having until the 20th April 2026 to contribute their input so IFMAR can progress with planning.

Source: IFMAR [Facebook]

April 6, 2026

Phend wins Psycho Nitro Blast

The 19th edition of the Tennessee based Psycho Nitro Blast took place over the Easter weekend where Xray’s Dakotah Phend took the win, completing a nitro double at the indoor race with the Buggy and Truggy victories. With just two rounds of qualifying it was Team Associated’s Brandon Rose who topped the opening round of Nitro Buggy with Phend topping Q2 which proving faster who secure the latter the overall TQ. Behind Sworkz’s Camden Lime secured P3 on the grid ahead of Tekno’s Spencer Heckert and Sworkz’s Silver State winner Mason Fuller with Xray’s Tater Sontag completing the Top 6. Doing the double last year, a repeat of his 2024 result, Ryan Maifield who qualify P13 for the 18 car A-Main. In the 30-minute final, Rose would take the early lead after a number of drivers executed their ‘Joker’ laps and who stay out front until the final minutes when Phend execute his shorter Joker lap to take the lead with 2-laps remaining. He would take the win by 2.5 seconds from Rose with Dirt Nitro Challenge winner Seth Van Dalen completing the Top 3 ahead of Lime and Team Associated’s Spencer Rivkin who started P11. In Nitro Truggy, having qualified P10 Phend took the win by 9-seconds from Top Qualifier Fuller with Maifield coming home 3rd. In eBuggy, Rivkin took the win by just 0.081 from Rose with the Sparko of Top Qualifier Jonah Wilson 3rd at the end of the 10-minute encounter.

Image: JConcepts [jconcepts.net]

April 6, 2026

’26 IFMAR 1:8 Nitro Offroad World C/ship Stage 1 Report

RC racing’s World governing body IFMAR has published the Stage 1 report for the 2026 1:8 Nitro Offroad World Championship which will be hosted by Thornhill Racing Circuit in the United States from the end of September. The Texas track, which is situated on 13.9 acres complex and has the unique feature of its 120′ x 200′ dirt track being fully covered, will stage the 20th running of the World Championship for the category from September 27th to October 3rd. 2026 marks the 40th anniversary of the crowning of the inaugural champion Frederic Vesseyre in France in 1986 and a decade since David Ronnefalk won the last US staged Worlds with victory in Las Vegas in 2016. As the current World Champion Team Associated’s Davide Ongaro will chase a record extending 4-in-row at Thornhill but the Italian will face strong opposition from US drivers as they look to become the first to win the sport’s biggest prize on home soil. This will be only the 4th time the Worlds has been stage in the United States.

View more Stage 1 Report here

March 24, 2026

Kato doubles at SIGP

Kouki Kato completed the double at this year’s SIGP, the Infinity successfully defending his 2025 Nitro win and adding the eBuggy title this year in the Xiamen, China. Rescheduled from its traditional end of year date, this year’s earlier running of the race mean’t a much reduced international entry for the Sunpadow Batteries staged race. With a 2025 entry that included Xray’s David Ronnefalk, Infinity’s Bruno Coelho, and Mayako’s Pekko Iivonen, Kato won a thrilling Nitro A-Main last year but this year the Asian Buggy Championships Champion would dominate proceedings. A race that only made its post Covid return in 2024, World Champion Davide Ongaro taking that win, qualifying for the 2026 edition would see the Japanese driver top all 5 qualifiers to secure the TQ honours ahead of Team Associated promising Korean teenager Jung Hyunkyu and 2023 FEMCA Champion Jeff Wang from Taiwan. In the 45-minute final, while Hyunkyu got out front early on for a number of laps, once Kato got back in the lead he would hold on to win by a final 6-second margin, Hyunkyu showing strong pace with the fastest lap of the race. Wang would complete the podium, this being the same order as they finished eBuggy.

Image: Kouki Kato [Facebook]

March 23, 2026

Kurzbuch wins Pepe Group International Race

Mugen Seiki’s Simon Kurzbuch has won the Pepe Group International Race which was hosted by the Minicar Fiorano track in Italy over the weekend. The group behind the well known Energy fuel brand, the race attracted all of Europe’s top 1:8 Onroad racer and after the three rounds of qualifying it was the Infinity of multiple World Champion Dario Balestri who secured the TQ topping final qualifier ahead Max Power team Jonathan Gandin who was fastest in Q2. Taking Q1, Kurzbuch’s Ielasi Tuned powered Mugen secured P3 ahead of the similarly powered Capricorn of Toni Gruber. In the half hour final, Kurzbuach would pass Gandin early to battle it out with Balestri at the front, the Swiss racer taking the win by 1/2 a second from the Italian with Gandin completing the podium. With Gruber, young Xray star Filippo Domanin, and Infinity’s Francesco Tironi all retirements in the final, ARC’s Silvio Hächler finished P4.

Image: Ielasi Tuned [Facebook]

March 22, 2026

Volker wins 100th ETS race, Orlowski retains title

Marking the 100th race for the series, Mugen Seiki’s Ronald Volker has won the season finale of the 2025/26 Euro Touring Series in Austrian with his closest rival of the weekend Schumacher’s Michal Orlowski retaining his overall title in Vienna with P2. On a winning roll that included victory at the recent MIBO International in Czech, Volker was the benchmark on the carpet in Wiener Neustadt topping seeding before securing the TQ with fastest runs 3 of the four qualifiers. Fastest in Q3, Orlowski would line-up by P2 ahead of his only potential title challenger Marc Rheinard, the Awesomatix driver having only a small mathematical chance of denying Orlowski his third consecutive ETS title. In Saturday evening’s opening A-Main, despite the best efforts of Orlowski who pressured the German through the race, Volker would take the win with Rheinard and team-mate Simon Lauter a distant 3rd & 4th. Sunday morning’s A2 would seal the deal for Volker as he cruised to the win and his second consecutive ETS victory having won in Daun last month. Rheinard completed the season finale podium behind A3 winner Orlowski. In Pro Stock, Top Qualifier Jaroslav Kriz also wrapped up an early win taking the opening two A-Mains ahead of Xray team-mate Adam Iszay. Mugen Seiki’s Sören Sparbier completed the podium. The title was already decided in favour of Olivier Bultynck at the previous round in Germany, the Belgian finishing out his campaign with 4th in Daun.

Image: ETS [Facebook]

March 22, 2026

Philippines ‘True North RC Raceway’ track build

A country that is home to Asia’s biggest & most famous annual 1:8 Offroad event, the Philippine Masters, the race’s new track location is starting to resemble its signature 3D look with track builder Edward Sio posting this image of the rough layout as he continues to build his latest creation. A race that has been responsible for bringing the likes of Davide Ongaro, Atsushi Hara, Dakotah Phend, Adam Drake, Ryan Cavalieri and many more international offroad stars to the Philippines, the original track in Manila hosted its final Philippine Masters in 2025, Infinity’s Kouki Kato taking the win, as that location was designated for development. Having become a part of Scotty Ernst’s successful Asian Buggy Championships since 2023, the Philippine Masters takes a year out in 2026 as it transitions to it new location. The team behind putting the event on the international stage securing a new location which is part of the El Masfino Hotel and Resort in San Rafael which is around 50km north of the capital city. With the track build now well underway, known for its oil treated surface dirt surface, the next stage in the build is the refine the jumps and transitions before moving onto the final stage of oil treatment and piping.

Image: Edward Sio [Facebook]

March 21, 2026

Hongyu GDC EP Onroad Races Announcement

Hongyu GDC has announced the dates for its annual end of season Electric Onroad Races for 1:12 and Electric Touring Car. The 1:12 event on the indoor carpet track will run from December 5-7, while the Electric Touring Car event on the outdoor asphalt track will run from December 8-12th. An event that was first hosted in 2023 at the old GDC Indoor track, in Foshan, China, with Mugen Seiki’s Ronald Volker taking the win, the race has grown in status each year with World Champion Bruno Coelho winning in 2024 for Xray and again in 2025 for Infinity when the event moved to the brand new world class Hongyu GDC track. Introducing 1:12 race in 2025, which runs weekend ahead of the touring car action, this race was won by Schumacher’s reigning 1:12 World Champion Michal Orlowski. With the cancellation of the IFMAR World Championships at Hongyu GDC, track owner Gavin Kwok has made the early date announcement for its signature annual electric onroad races in the hope some drivers may be able to reschedule their flights to the December dates.

Source: Hongy GDC [Facebook]