All 3 A-main videos from the 1/12th scale Worlds are now online and can be viewed on our events page. After a free day today, our coverage of the 1/10th scale ISTC World Championships, which is sponsored by LRP and Speed Passion, will begin on Thursday when the racers take to the track for their 4 rounds of practice.
View the videos on our event site here.
Three years ago he was taken under wings of one of rc racing’s greats Masami Hirosaka and today aged just 15-years-old Naoto Matsukura has become the youngest ever IFMAR World Champion after a dominant performance at the 1:12 Onroad Worlds in Bangkok, Thailand. The Japanese driver came here with an already impressive CV with back to back titles in his National Championship but faced with the best in the world, including all four Touring Car World Champions, he rose impressively to the challenge.
Read the full coverage on our event site here.
He is the protege of Masami Hirosaka, he is back to back Japanese Champion and is rated very highly by the likes of Atsushi Hara, 15-year-old Yokomo hot property Naoto Matsukura is the Top Qualifier for the 2008 IFMAR 1:12 World Championship here in Bangkok, Thailand. Driving an Associated RC125R, Matsukura won the final qualifier to secure himself a place in the history books as he becomes the youngest ever World Championship Top Qualifier. Winning four of the six qualifiers the only one to come close to challenging to emerging world star was his Finnish 1:12 scale team-mate Juho Levanen who TQ’d Heat 3 & 4 giving the US manufacturer total domination here at Radio Control Speedway.
Read the full coverage on our event site here.
Day 2 of the IFMAR Electric Onroad World Championships has come to a close and yet again the final 1:12 scale qualifier of the day saw Juho Levanen and Naoto Matsukura crush the opposition. The Associated duo managed 1-2 in Heat 4 despite both of them dumping at the end of the run in which Levanen produced the fastest lap of the event with a blistering 11.675 second tour. Top Qualifier in Round 3, Levanen put his dumping down to the increased traction but the Yokomo team pointed blame for their young star dumping down to the pair battling throughout the heat for the TQ. Running 40 laps in 08:07.965 the Finn was a little under a second ahead of his Japanese team-mate despite nursing their cars to the line but such was their advantage that third place Groskamp was too far behind to capitalise and end the RC12R5’s reign in Thailand.
Read the full coverage on our event site here.
Naoto Matsukura has made his intentions clear here in Thailand by topping the time sheets when it counted most, as qualifying for the 1:12 IFMAR World Championships got underway at the RCS in Bangkok. The 14-year-old Yokomo star driver is running an Associated, due to Yokomo’s Japanese distribution links with AE, and put in a 39 lap run in a time 08:02.244 which was some 8 seconds faster than second placed Juho Levanen who made it a 1-2 for the RC12R5. In the final practice Matsukura had run a 40 lapper but believes increased wind at the track made for a slower run time in the first heat.
Read the full coverage on our event site here.
Teemu Leino has surprised his rivals in Thailand by recording the fastest time in controlled practice as day one of the 1:12 scale World Championships comes to a close. The flying Finn is debuting Xray’s new XII and was the only driver to record 39 laps over 8 minutes with his closest rival being CRC driver Jilles Groskamp who just missed out on 39 laps recording 38 in a time of 8:00.644.
Read the full coverage on our event site here.
EFRA have published the minutes from last weekends AGM that took place in Lyon, France. Contained within is the Calendar for 2009 that sees the introduction of a new indoor 1/12th and 1/10th scale electric European Championship which will take place in Collegno, Italy in January. Other events of note are the 1/8th scale on road World Championships in Lostallo, Switzerland that will be held from the 15th to 23rd of August. Due to the 1/8th scale Worlds taking place in Europe next year, there will be no European A Championships for this class. Next years outdoor Touring car Euros will be run in Luxembourg at the beginning of August, the 1/10th 200mm European A Championships is in Gubbio, Italy at the end of July and the World Championships for EP buggy will be in the beginning of October. It looks as if we will be extremely busy in 2009.
The full EFRA AGM minutes can be viewed here.
View the full 2009 Calendar here (PDF).
So the stage is set for the 2008 IFMAR Electric Onroad World Championship here at the Radio Control Speedway in Bangkok, Thailand where there is great anticipation for what should be two thrilling World title battles. The first title up for grabs is 1:12th which kicks off tomorrow (Sunday) with free practice. One thing for certain is no matter what the outcome there will be a brand new champion of the world as defending Champion David Spashett has not made the trip to Asia to defend his title and although five times World Champion Masami Hirosaka is here, he will not race, opting to fully focus his attention on trying to lift his first ever 1:10 Touring Car title later in the week.
Read the full coverage on our event site here.
