March 17, 2018

Double pole for Ryan Lutz in Xiamen

Confirming what everyone suspected following Rd1 of Practice, Ryan Lutz has taken the top qualifying spot in Nitro Buggy in Xiamen, China. Despite not improving on his Q1 time the Tekno driver continued to better his best lap time each round to end with a 33.542. Yusuke Sugiura would take the final round just ahead of Lutz but a number of mistakes meant he also didn’t improve his result. Wataru Takashiro ended in 3rd overall with his Q2 time, having a difficult time with traction rolling in the final round. The biggest improvement for the round came from both Kaja Novotny, who secured himself 4th overall, and Chen Guanxian who took 5th, both drivers have 12 plus second gain.

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March 17, 2018

Ryan Lutz TQs EP Buggy in China

Ryan Lutz is the top qualifier of EP Buggy at the 2018 SIGP in Xiamen, China having taken Q2 which along with taking Q1 locks in pole position for Sunday’s triple A-mains. Putting in a blistering run on the ARC International Raceway, the Tekno driver took 4 seconds off his Q1 time and set the outright track record with a 32.904 second lap, the only driver to drop below 34 seconds in qualifying. It was a familiar order behind with Kyosho driver Yusuke Sugiura taking 2nd place, with Kaja Novotny a further 11 seconds back in 3rd with Chen Guanxian and Shin Dongcheol completing the top 5.

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March 17, 2018

Nitro Buggy Top 3 reversed as Takashiro takes Q3

In round 2 of Nitro Buggy qualifying the top 3 drivers remained the same, however the order was reversed with Kyosho driver Wataru Takashiro taking the round but remains in 3rd overall with a time that is still 14 seconds off TQ Ryan Lutz. Japanese team mate Yusuke Sugiura was second, just 1 second back with Lutz having a difficult start to his qualifier with a number of mistakes dropping him way back. Zhan Wei would take 4th while Kaja Novotny finally starting to come to terms with the low grip surface to round out the top 5.

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March 17, 2018

Q1 in Xiamen goes to Ryan Lutz

Ryan Lutz has continued on in qualifying from where he left off in practice by taking the opening round of Nitro Buggy qualifying by 6 seconds with a consistent run under overcast skies. It was a familiar story in 2nd and 3rd with the Japanese Kyosho pairing of Yusuke Sugiura and Wataru Takashiro, the latter some 25 seconds back after making too many mistakes with was a difficult to drive car. Felix Law, who is back racing 1/8th offroad after a 12 month break would end up 4th just ahead of Kyosho returnee Zhan Wei in 5th.

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March 16, 2018

Lutz is top seed going into Nitro qualifying in Xiamen

Ryan Lutz is the Nitro buggy top seed for Qualifying at the 2018 SIGP as he put in a blistering time to go nearly 2 seconds faster over 3 consecutive laps than 2nd placed Yusuke Sugiura. The US driver putting his time down to tweaks made to the car’s setup to make it harder, having felt that the setup he copied from Jonathan Yeung for Rd2 was too soft. Behind Sugiura in 2nd was fellow Japanese Kyosho driver Wataru Takashiro who finally found his rhythm to demote Hu Weiping who will rely on his CP1 time to seed 4th with Chen Guanxian, Jonathan Yeung and Kaja Novotny all improving in the 3rd round to complete the top 6.

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March 16, 2018

Sugiura heads Controlled Practice at 2018 SIGP

Controlled Practice is in full swing here in Xiamen, China and it is Japanese Kyosho driver Yusuke Sugiura who heads the Nitro times with an impressive 2nd round run that saw him move to the top of the times, leapfrogging Ryan Lutz, the American failing to improve after trying a complete setup change. Chinese National Champion Hu Weiping would remain in 3rd, who along with young Hong Kong driver Jonathan Yeung, failed to improve in the 2nd round as track conditions changed and the surface got more dusty.

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March 14, 2018

Monaco RC sign brand ambassadors Hagberg & Coelho

New online RC boutique Monaco RC have announced that they are teaming up with Xray’s Alexander Hagberg and Bruno Coelho. The two IFMAR World Champions will not only be the 2018 brand ambassadors for the new company founded by Francesco Martini, but will also share their extensive product and set-up knowledge in order to maximise the customer’s on and off track experience.

Source: Monaco RC [monacorc.com]

March 11, 2018

Loic Jasmin joins Awesomatix

Awesomatix have announced the signing of French Modified driver Loic Jasmin to their Factory Team. The former IFMAR World Championship finalist and 7-times French national champion will be a great addition to the always growing Awesomatix brand and team. He will attend at all major races including all ETS rounds, EFRA European Championship in Austria and IFMAR World Championship in South Africa. Loic has following to say about his change:

I’d like to thank Max and Oleg for the great opportunity to join the Awesomatix Factory Team. I felt it was the time for a change and Awesomatix was the only team I wanted to join. The previous and last results proved their car is one of the best on the market and their professionalism and continued R&D show this is a team to watch in the near future. I’m really looking forward to start working with my new teammates and achieve many good results for the team, my first race being the French Nats round 1 by the end of March. I’d also like to thank Team Yokomo for the wonderful last 7 years together and I wish them all the best for the upcoming season.

Source: Awesomatix [awesomatix.com]

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