Red RC » International

July 13, 2017

2017 IFMAR Electric Off-road Worlds – Stage 1 report

The organisers of the 2017 IFMAR 1/10th Electric Off-road World Championships have released their Stage 1 report. The event will take place at the ARC International RC racing track in Xiamen, China, located in the south-east part of the country. The venue is part of the huge Xiamen Sunpadow Model S&T Experience Base that offers both an off-road and on-road track with both having already seen high-class races such as the China Nationals, the Guan Kou Sunpadow Offroad GP as well as the recently rain-affected second round of the CETC. Racers will enjoy a large 900 square metre pit area, model shop, live timing system as well as free WiFi. The Worlds will kick off on Saturday the 11th of November with 2WD class registration and they will end on Saturday the 18th with the 4WD finals. More information and the entire Stage 1 report can be found on the official event website here.

July 11, 2017

Jörn Neumann and Serpent part ways

Multi-time European and German national Champion Jörn Neumann has announced his departure from chassis sponsors Serpent. The somewhat unusual mid-season split leaves questions about the future of Jörn and his mentor and mechanic Gerd Strenge as the two usually swap teams together. While it is yet unclear what’s next on the agenda for Jörn he has the following to say:

Today I need to announce that my relationship with Serpent has come to an end. We achieved great success together, with taking the European Championship title in 4WD last year as the highlight. I would like to take the opportunity to thank everyone at Serpent and 2-Speed for the support they gave me during that time. At this point in my life things have recently changed. Let’s see how the future will be for me beside and on the racing track.

July 10, 2017

Kurzbuch claims ENS win despite ‘far from perfect’ final

Simon Kurzbuch has claimed the first win of his Euro Nitro Series title defence with victory at Round 2 of the championship in Germany. Running out of fuel at the season opener in France and finishing seventh, the Shepherd driver would register his 7th ENS career win with victory ahead of Round 1 winner Bruno Coelho with former champion Dario Balestri completing the podium. While Kurzbuch would lead the majority of the 45-minute final, it was another rough race for the World Champion with a not so perfect tyre stop and contact with a backmarker leaving him with a damaged exhaust that left him down on power. Coelho looked like he might once again beat the Swiss driver but bad communications between the Xray driver and his pit crew cost him the win as he ran out of fuel. There was also drama for Balestri as he made a late fuel stop but hit another car in pitlane resulting in him losing steering, the Infinity driver somehow limping the car to the finish line with a lot of trips onto the grass.

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

July 10, 2017

Dankel ends victory drought with ENS Germany win

Eric Dankel has finally ended a three year Euro Nitro Series victory drought by taking the win in an incident filled Round 2 in Germany. Having qualified second behind Top Qualifier Bruno Coelho, the ENS’ inaugural champion would take his third career win ahead of first time podium finishers Eduardo Escandon and Marco Kaufmann. Originally the results of the race would show reigning champion Teemu Leino as having claimed third but he had benefited from his car crossing the loop as it was returned to the pits after suffering a flame out. Losing the lap, the Infinity driver would end up fourth. For ENS France winner Coelho the race would ultimately end with a broken belt but while leading at the 10-minute mark he would have an off that would damage his rear wing with the repairs together with a tyre change costing him 4-laps.

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

July 10, 2017

Micha Midmaier crowned 1/8th Buggy B Euro Champ

Under slightly darker skies than seen for the rest of the weekend, winners of the two semi finals, Micha Widmaier and Thomas Musso led the field away from their respective P1 and P2 grid slots, with the battle for the European B Championship win around the very bumpy ABC Réding circuit quickly distilling into a battle between these two. Musso took an early lead and quickly established a four second gap, but as the leaders started encountering traffic Widmaier was able to reduce the gap and appeared to have the faster car.

Continue reading the report here

July 9, 2017

EFRA 1/8th Nitro Off-road B Euros – Qualifying report

Heat was the order of the day for the 1/8th Rallycross B Euros held at ABC Reding in eastern France. Temperatures reached 32 degrees Celsius as the action hotted up out on the circuit. Seeding practice on Friday had seen the drivers sorted by their fastest three consecutive laps, with Micha Widmaier taking the spoils and getting the number 1 on his car in the top heat. Into qualifying proper and Vincent Meertens took the round from Thomas Musso and Leonardo Valente, this being notable as Meertens set his time from heat 11 and Musso from heat 10.

Continue reading the report here

July 8, 2017

South Africa Worlds build on target

Last August it was announced that the 10th running of the IFMAR World Championships for Electric Touring Car was being awarded to South Africa. A decision that was met with some strong resistance, racers divided over safety following incidents at previous World Championships hosted there, as time has passed teams & drivers appear to be more accepting of the location. Despite this some unsubstantiated talk has been doing the rounds that the event will not go ahead in South Africa. Taking on the responsibility for putting on the 2018 Worlds, Antonio Caroli has been travelling to the Reedy Race of Champions in the US and the ETS in Slovakia to talk to racers interested in making the trip to Welkom.

Continue reading here

July 8, 2017

Coelho denies Dankel to take ENS Germany TQ

Bruno Coelho has denied Eric Dankel a home TQ at ENS Germany, the Xray driver putting in a dominant Day 2 qualifying performance at Minidrom Ettlingen. With Dankel in control of Q1 & 2 yesterday, championship leader Coelho found his form in Q3 and backing that up with TQ runs in the 4th & 5th rounds claimed his second consecutive Euro Nitro Series pole position. Dankel would round out qualifying with a P2 and that is where the former champion will start tomorrow. Runner-up at the season opener having to come from the back of the grid, Alessio Mazzeo will line up third ahead of the previous two winners of the German round, Dirk Wischnewski and Teemu Leino.

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