Red RC » International

June 24, 2024

Balestri European Champion with dominant 200mm win

17-years on from when he last held the title, Dario Balestri is once again the EFRA European 1:10 Nitro Touring Car European Champion after a dominant win in France over the weekend. Having secured the TQ ahead of Infinity team-mate Jilles Groskamp at the Le Model Club Thionvillois track, the Italian would win the 45-minute final from the Dutch driver by over a lap. With Balestri’s main challenge in the final coming from the Capricorn of the defending Champion Toni Gruber, the only glitch in the race for Balestri came with just under 10-minutes left on the clock when he had a moment and his car put all four wheels on the grass. 9-seconds up on Gruber at the time, the German couldn’t capitalise because at the same time he would flip his car and on low fuel with a scheduled fuel stop just 2-laps out he suffered a flame out. Rejoining in fourth behind Carmine Raiola, he would recover and get back passed the Italian Champion to complete the podium behind Groskamp as Balestri took the title for a third time making him the most successful champion of the category.

Image: EFRA [Facebook]

June 21, 2024

Balestri Top Qualifier at 1:10 200mm European C/Ship

Dario Balestri is the Top Qualifier for the 2024 EFRA 1:10 Nitro Touring Car European Championship, the Italian heading an Infinity 1-2 in France from team-mate Jilles Groskamp. Racing at the Le Model’Club Thionvillois in northern France, where rain has effected the action, Balestri topped the opening three qualifiers to secure pole position for Saturday’s title race which is the 18th running of the championship. A former double champion of the category, reigning 1:8 Onroad World Champion Balestri last held the 1:10 European title in 2007 having successful defended his 2006 win. Fastest in Q4 & 5, Groskamp will start second ahead of the Capricorn of defending Champion Toni Gruber. Enjoying a very strong season in his National 1:8 Onroad Championship with wins at the first three rounds, British driver Alex Thurston locked in the final direct qualifying spot in the Main taking his Mugen Seiki to P4. Top French nitro onroad racer Quentin Leroux just missed the cut ending qualifying P5 despite being second fastest in Q5 and he will have to progress from the Semi Finals.

Image: EFRA [Facebook]

June 17, 2024

Tironi & Johansson winners at Oslo Open Nitro Race

Infinity pairing Francesco Tironi and Alexander Johansson claimed the wins at the 2024 Oslo Open Nitro Race held at the impressive Hverven Raceway located south of the Norwegian Capital over the weekend. Organised by the Oslo Modellbilklubb, the race attracted a strong international entry and after 4 rounds of qualifying it was Italian Tironi who secured the overall 1:8 TQ honors from Finland’s Teemu Leino, the team-mates recording two TQ runs each. The Serpent of Italian Jonathan Gandin completed the Top 3 ahead of the ARC of Swiss driver Silvio Hachler and Capricorn of Germany’s Thilo Diekmann. In the rain delayed half hour final, Tironi would lead from start to finish, setting the fastest lap of the race to finish almost a lap up on Hachler . With Leino an early retirement Fabian Vernersson completed the podium. In 1:10, it was Viktor Wilck who secured the TQ from Norway’s Tom Erik Haaversen with Johansson P3. A problem for Wlck at the start allowed Haaversen to lead early but it was Johansson who took the win as Haaversen hit issues. Second would got to øyvind Stusdal with Wilck recovering to complete the podium.

Image: Francesco Tironi [Facebook]

June 10, 2024

Pavidis back for Brisbane round of Asian Buggy C/ships

After a successful debut in the Asian Buggy Championships at the Philippine Masters back in April, Sparko team driver Ryan Pavidis is to return for the third round in Brisbane, Australia, next month. Pavidis claimed a podium at Round 2 in Manila in only his second ever international race with the 22-year-old finishing second in between reigning World Champion Davide Ongaro and former World Champion Atsushi Hara. Commenting on his entry confirmation for the penultimate round of the Scotty Ernst promoted 4 round Championship at Pine Hills Dirt Racing on July 11-14, the American said, “I’m looking forward to touching down in Brisbane and getting up to speed on the masterpiece of a track Zac (Ryan) and the PHDR crew have built for us. Round 2 of the ABC in Manila was arguably the best event I’ve attended and I have no doubt this will be right up there as well.”

Source: Asian Buggy Championships [Facebook]

June 9, 2024

Ongaro regains 1:8 eBuggy European title

Team Associated’s Davide Ongaro has regained the title he last held in 2019 with victory today in France at the EFRA 1:8 Electric Buggy European Championship. The Nitro Buggy World Champion took the TQ at the home to the Montpellier GP and from the front was the class of the field in the triple A-Main title deciders. Leading away the 13-buggy grid ahead of Tekno’s João Figueiredo it would be the Sworks of current 1:8 Nitro Buggy European Champion Juan Carlos Canas would be the Italian’s closest challenger but Ongaro was never under any serious threat. Wrapping up the title in A2 this allowing Ongaro to sit out A3 which was duly won by Canas to secure the runner-up spot. Qualifying P6, Xray’s Bruno Coelho would have a good A3 taking P2 to secure the final step on the podium ahead of team-mate French teenager Noha Ben Mohamed. Fifth would go to Mugen Seiki’s Berkan Kilic with Figueiredo rounding out the Top 6.

Image: EFRA [Facebook]

June 9, 2024

Orlowski opens ETS title defence with Dutch win

Schumacher Racing’s Michal Orlowski got his ETS title defence off to the perfect start with a victory at the season opener at the Dutch Apeldoorn circuit. Having secured the TQ at the first of this season’s reduced 5-round Championship calendar, the Pole continued his winning ways into the 17th season with victory over the Awesomatix pairing of Lucas Urbain and Marc Rheinard. In A1, which was held Saturday evening, Orlowski would struggle initially with the colder and windier evening conditions on the opening lap with second place qualifier Rheinard attempting a pass that saw the pair touch slightly allowing both Urbain and Akio Sobue to go through. Urbain would then have a spin handing the Axon of Sobue the lead. Pushed hard by Rheinard and Orlowski, Sobue was in defence mode and as Rheinard attempted to execute a pass both cars touched on the straight resulting in them both going flying off the track. Back in front Orlowski then cruised to a 2.5 second win over Urbain. Sunday morning’s A2 was a much more straight forward affair for Orlowski as he lead from start to finish setting the fastest lap as he took his Hobbywing powered Mi9 to the win. The winner of all four of the 6 rounds his busy schedule allowed him attend last year, his second consecutive Apeldoorn victory it marks his sixth ETS race win and sees him leave with maximum championship points for the weekend. Rheinard would win A3 as Urbain & Sobue battled for second, the pair coming together at the final corner, but Urbain’s second places in A1 & 2 gave him second overall with Rheinard completing the podium. In Pro Stock Top Qualifier Lukas Ellebrock took the win for Awesomatix, the Top 3 qualifiers finishing as the started with Tim Benson the runner-up and Champion Oliver Bultynck opening his title defence with the final step on the podium.

Image: ETS [Facebook]

June 8, 2024

Orlowski cruises to TQ at ETS season opener

Defending ETS Champion Michal Orlowski has claimed the TQ at the opening round of the 2024/25 season which is taking place at the Dutch Apeldoorn circuit. Having secured his first ETS title with an indoor victory at the season finale in Austria back in March, the Schumacher driver looks to have picked up where he left off taking his Mi9 to the fastest time in all four rounds of qualifying. One of the great outdoor touring car tracks which is a favourite among many top drivers, Apeldoorn was the location of Orlowski’s first ETS win on asphalt last year. Providing the biggest challenge to the Pole in qualifying was Marc Rheinard will start P2 for Awesomatix thanks to a pair of P2 runs. Team-mate Lucas Urbain, who joined the ranks of ETS Modified race winner last season, will start 3rd ahead of the Mugen Seiki of multiple Champion Ronald Volker and the Axon of Japanese ace Akio Sobue. In Pro Stock, Awesomatix’s Lukas Ellebrock also continued his winning finish to last season by securing the TQ ahead of Tim Benson, TQ run in Q3, and reigning Champion Oliver Bultynck who was fastest in Q3.

Image: Schumacher [Facebook]

June 5, 2024

Ehrbar & Lee win at FFFF1 RC Race

The FFFF1 RC Race took place over the weekend at the Riccione track on Italy’s Adriatic coast where Xray duo David Ehrbar and Luke Lee took the wins, Lee winning a rather innovative ‘Long run’ 20-minute final. Attracting a number of international drivers a field of capacity 72 competitors from 7 nations made for an impressive F1 gathering with all cars running to the same technical regulations of using Hobbywing’s Justock 21.5 combo, minimum ratio of 2.4, and very resistant Fenix A rubber tyres. In the qualify German Ehrbar secured the TQ ahead of local star Gianni Zonzini and Dutch F1 stalwart Jitse Miedema. With 12 different brands of car represented at the event in the finals it was Ehrbar who completed a clean sweep to win ahead of Fenix Racing’s Miedema with Lee coming through from P6 on the grid to complete the traditional format finals. To complete the weekend in Riccione, drivers had the opportunity to try something different with a single 20-minute that include two mandatory pit stops. Drivers had a pit stop window with the first stop needing to take place between 2nd and 9th minute and the second between the 12th and 18th minute. Ehrbar would make a early mistake and unfortunately for Miedema his race was done after 5-laps as drivers faced a few drops of rain. All the while Lee was leading the way chased by a train of drivers but at the end of the 20-minutes the British racer had 2-second advantage over Luca Buono who was closely followed by Gonzalo Garcia for the final podium place and all all Xray Top 3.

View ‘Long Run’ podium here