Reds Racing has announced the signing of French superstar Jerome Aigoin to their expanding off-road race team for 2015/2016. Jerome will join fellow Kyosho drivers Cody King and Elliott Boots to race Reds Racing’s latest off-road engines.
Source: Reds Racing [redsracing.it]
While the top of the time sheets at the end of the first timed practice at Round 2 of the Yokomo Euro Touring Series looked familiar with Ronald Volker fastest, it was the performances of Viktor Wilck and Elliot Harper that were the main talking point. Having only made the announcement of his departure from long time team Tamiya on Wednesday and then his signing for Serpent the following day, the Swede got his new deal off to a very encouraging start as he set the 2nd fastest time. Having been left without a drive after Durango shelved its factory team, new Schumacher signing Elliot Harper also made a positive start on what is his first international outing for the British manufacturer as he ended the practice 6th quickest.
Continue reading this report here or view our complete coverage here.
After a very successful stint with LRP as his nitro engine supplier European Champion and World Championship finalist Martin Bayer now teamed up with FX to run the the company’s engines in his Xray rides. Martin will not only race but also assist with R&D and he will also provide technical support and help at races. Martin says:
I have been working with Juraj for several years and he is the most dedicated, passionate and hardest working guy in the RC industry. As I have been always looking for new challenges and want to improve my knowledge and skills I did not hesitate at all when I got offer from FX to be part of the R&D team. As I have seen the in-house production which is second to none I was sure about the manufacturing capability and possibilities. After several extensive tests I was pleasantly surprised by the performance of the engine and was really confident to get into this new adventure. I am really excited and will do all my best both with racing and the further development of the engine. I will be travelling around the world and will be available for technical support to the FX drivers so do not hesitate to see me.
Source: FX [fx-engines.com]
The 16th annual Dirt Nitro Challenge will be run from the 18th to the 22nd of the February at the prestigious Fear Farm RC Raceway in Phoenix, AZ. The event attracts the best offroad drivers in the World and this year will be no exception. This event will offer more classes than ever before with the main classes being 1/8th Nitro Buggy and Nitro Truggy, 1/8th eBuggy and Gas Truck. Alongside the 1/8th classes there are also 1/10th Buggy, Short Course and Truck categories as well as 1/5th scale Buggy/Truck, with the latter running on a separate track. The event starts on Wednesday the 18th of February for practice and runs through to Sunday the 22th for the mains. For more information on the event and details on how to enter check out The Dirt’s new website here.
Serpent has announced the signing of Jörn Neumann to their factory off-road team. Serpent and Neumann agreed in a long term commitment which includes racing, testing and commercial work as sales promoter with Jörn racing Serpent’s full range of 1/8th and 1/10th nitro and electric off-road vehicles and he may even have a go in 1/12th scale racing to battle with racing buddy Hupo Hönigl who joined the Serpent factory team in January. Jörn will continue his racing career alongside longtime mechanic and mentor Gerd Strenge who will act as his mechanic and race engineer. The forthcoming Dirt Nitro Challenge will be Jörn’s first outing for his new sponsor and he has the following to say about the deal:
The full package made me think not long. A sales-support and promotional job and continue being a Pro driver is very good for the future. On top of that Gerd Strenge will be my mechanic and race engineer. This was an amazing opportunity which we had to take. The current Serpent car-line up is one of the most complete ones in the entire RC industry.
Source: Serpent [serpent.com]
This weekend (6-8 Feb) Round 2 of the Yokomo Euro Touring Series travels to Muelheim-Kaerlich in Germany with the big interest of the weekend set to be on the debut performances of a number of the championship’s leading drivers who since Round 1 last December in the Czech Republic have switched teams. The most significant of these new signings is that of multiple ETS race winner Viktor Wilck. Racing with championship’s most winning manufacturer Tamiya Racing Factory as long as the ETS has been in existence, the Swede will strengthen Serpent’s aspirations to be a winner in the premiere class as he joins podium finisher Marc Fischer. With the German round again as it did last year breaking a new record in terms of the size of the event with over 420 entries, the other big debuts to watch will be those of Freddy Sudhoff and multiple World Championship finalist Elliot Harper.
Continue reading the announcement here
Having just earlier today announced that he was to leave long time sponsor Tamiya, Viktor Wilck has been confirmed at Team Serpent. The Swedish ace has signed a long term deal with the Dutch brand to run their complete lineup of cars, both on and offroad, and will be making his touring car debut this weekend at the 2nd round of the ETS in Muelheim Kaerlich, Germany. The deal sees Serpent further strengthen their factory race time with Wilck joining Marc Fischer on the EP TC team, Greiner, Mazzeo, Green and the Sahashi brothers in the Gas TC team and Mike Truhe, Hupo Honigl and a soon to be confirmed German superstar on the offroad team. Viktor had this to say about his new deal:
I’m happy to reach this agreement with Serpent and HP Hobbyprodukter. I felt there was time for a change and after a close relationship with Swedish distributor this opportunity came a long that I could not pass on. I have seen the quality of there products from racing Serpent’s nitro cars and was impressed by their performance so I am really looking forward to this new partnership and to the prospects of achieving good results together over the coming years.
Source: Serpent [serpent.com]
Xray have announced that the ETS F1 champion, German champion and recent Snowbird Nationals champion Jan Ratheisky will continue to be the part of the Xray team in 2015. Jan is a valued member of the R&D team and he has been an integral part during the development of the X1 platform with which he gained his ETS championship title. Jan will continue his work in 2015 both as a driver and member of the R&D team and he will race both the T4 and X1. Jan has the following to say:
I very enjoyed my first year with Xray and I am thankful for the trust in my skills. Last year was extremely exciting for me as we had a great fight in the races with my team mate Marek Cerny and we pushed each other further. The Xray team work is absolutely the best I have ever experienced and the professionalism is second to none. I am very happy for everything so far and I am very motivated for the 2015 season where I will do my best. We will continue our work with the further development of Xray cars and I will give all my best effort to continue with the X1 further development.
Source: Xray [teamxray.com]
