Bittydesign in collaboration with the Swedish MK-Eskil club have announced the Nordic Contest and EFRA European Championship A warm-up race. The event will be in Eskilstuna, Sweden from May 12th to 14th in the two classes of 1/8th Nitro Buggy and 1/8th E-Buggy. The race is open to all racers and more information is available on the official event website here.
Bruno Coelho has successfully defended his TITC title after a thrilling A3 at the Infinity Addict Circuit in Thailand with the Xray driver afterwards describing the victory as the ‘hardest win of (his) career’. Winning the opening final with ease, he would crash out of A2 while leading meaning the 15th running of Asia’s most famous race would be decided between him and A2 winner Nicolas Lee in the closing encounter. Securing the overall TQ on a tie breaker with Infinity’s Jilles Groskamp, it was the Dutch driver who despite no longer being in title contention would put him under the most pressure as he had done in A2. Running bumper to bumper, Groskamp would hit Coelho allowing Ronald Volker to go to the front but it was now the battle for second that got all the attention. Having the fastest winning time, second would still be enough for Coelho to give Xray its third consecutive TITC win but having waited following the contact, Groskamp wanted to get the pass on the ETS Champion. Applying intense pressure however he couldn’t get it done as Coelho, despite the Bangkok heat, kept his cool to get the all important P2 for a win even his great rival Volker said afterwards he didn’t get easy. While Lee would get 2nd, something he was guaranteed after A2, Volker would somehow pull off an unexpected podium with 3rd thanks to his A3 win leaving Groskamp to miss the podium at what is now his home race.
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The 2017 Reedy International Touring Car Race of Champions will be held from the 25th to 28th of May, again at the Tamiya America Circuit in Aliso Viejo, California. Considered to be one of the most anticipated and prestigious RC races in the world the event will see open Modified, 13.5T and 17.5T Touring Car classes in addition to the event highlight, the Invitational class that features the best drivers in the world racing head-to-head over 12 rounds for the coveted title of Reedy Race Champion. Entries open Monday 20th of February here and will be taken on a first come, first served basis. More information about the event can soon be found on the official event website here.
The 2017 Winternats were held in Fort Myers, Florida over the weekend. As usual the event attracted some of the country’s fastest on-road drivers as well as guests from abroad. In the premier 1/8th Open class the A-main was a thrill from start to finish. Roniel Regalado brought home the victory after driving a great final. Paolo Morganti had a great comeback from last place to finished second with UK’s Mark Green completing the podium in third, with all three finishing within about three seconds. A special mention goes to DJ Apolaro who was leading the race and had to retire due to a battery malfunction two laps before the end finishing fourth.
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Nicholas Lee has won the second A-Main of the TITC, the Yokomo driver benefiting from errors from race leaders Bruno Coelho and Alexander Hagberg, both incidents delaying a very unlucky Jilles Groskamp. From the start Groskamp had Coelho under intense pressure and on the fourth lap the Xray driver would roll trying to keep the door closed on the Infinity driver. Trying to avoid the Top Qualifier, Groskamp would have to take to the infield allowing third place starter Hagberg into the lead but four laps later he would do almost a carbon copy of his team-mates error. With Groskamp all over the 2015 Champion, on the exact same corner Hagberg was also to roll again, Groskamp having to take evasive action only this time it would end his challenge for both the leg win and that ‘dream’ TITC victory that eludes him. With Lee going to the front after the second incident he would pull clear to add a win to his A1 second place with Andy Moore, from 9th on the grid, finishing 2nd ahead of Infinity team-mate Chavit Sirigupta and Hagberg.
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Bruno Coelho took an easy win in the opening A-Main of the TITC, the Top Qualifier able to fend off an early challenge from Jilles Groskamp to cruise home to a winning margin of over 6-seconds from Nicholas Lee. While the leader had a straight forward race the battle for second would end more spectacular fashion as Yokomo team-mates Nicolas Lee and Ronald Volker reeled in a slowing Groskamp. With a lack of race announcements creating confusion as what stage the race was at, Lee, thinking it was the last lap, would attempt a pass on Groskamp into the final corner. Hitting the Infinity driver, causing the Dutchman a body tuck, then Volker, trying to capitalise on the incident, would hit his team-mate but the impact stripped his spur gear. Unfortunately for Volker, the race still had another lap to go. With Lee thinking that the race was finished he initially stopped after his contact with Groskamp who continued but on hearing the crowd reaction continued on the lap but Groskamp would spin out allowing him to go by for second. With the incident causing Groskamp’s last lap not to count the result would initially show Volker, with a 4:59.563, third but bringing the error to the attention of race control he was given back the lap demoting Volker a lap down to fourth.
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Bruno Coelho is the Top Qualifier at the TITC after an exciting final qualifier at Infinity Addict Circuit. After taking both of yesterday’s qualifiers, Coelho was the only driver who could deny Jilles Groskamp his first overall TQ at the famous Asia race and initially it looked like the Infinity driver was about fill that void. With Coelho’s Xray coming good from the mid race, the Portuguese driver would start to close the gap and as the heat entered the final minute it was apparent Groskamp was starting to struggle. With Coelho already ahead on the timing screens, Groskamp’s would attempt to keep his dream alive running a tight line off the straight but clipping the curb flipped off the track. While all the attention was on Groskamp and Coelho, Alexander Hagberg was all the time closing on his team-mate but in the end came up 3/10ths short. With Coelho and Groskamp sharing TQ runs each it was Coelho’s time from last night’s Q5 rocket round which would secure the defending champion his second consecutive TITC TQ. With Groskamp second and Hagberg third, Nicolas Lee starts fourth as the best Yokomo ahead of Akio Sobue, whose attempt to try to take third on the grid from Hagberg didn’t materialise. World Champion Ronald Volker would complete the Top 6 on the grid, the 2014 TITC winner very critical of the track conditions drivers faced in the final qualifier.
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Day 2 of qualifying at the TITC in Bangkok would turn out to be Bruno Coelho’s day with the Xray driver backing up his TQ run in Q4 to take the penultimate round of qualifying over team-mate Alexander Hagberg. A day that consisted of just two qualifiers, the result means it will be the morning before the Top Qualifier of the 15th running of Asia’s biggest race is decided in the sixth and final round, that set to be a shootout behind the defending champion and Day 1 dominator Jilles Groskamp. While Groskamp has three TQ runs compared to Coelho’s two, the Portuguese driver goes into the final round knowing he has the upper hand should it go to a tie break having just posted the fastest qualifying time so far. With Modified first on track in the morning for Q6, the Infinity Addict Circuit is expected to be much slower. After his bearing failure off the start of Q4, Groskamp’s day didn’t get much better with him struggling with a big drop off in pace, the Dutchman deciding not to complete the full 5-minutes. It would be Akio Sobue who would set the early TQ pace but the Infinity driver would also suffer a drop off, falling back behind the two Xrays but holding onto P3 just ahead of Ronald Volker.
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