Red RC » Racing

October 6, 2020

Carmine Raiola is 2020 Italian National Champion

The Club Automodellisitco 5 Colli in Gubbio played host to the single round Italian 1/8th Nitro Nationals this past weekend. With wet weather all weekend affecting running, it was former World Champion Dario Balestri that came out on top after qualifying taking the TQ spot ahead of Michele Romagnoli, Johnathan Gandin and Carmine Raiola. In the tricky wet 45 minute A-final, preserving tires wa key and Carmine Raiola managed it to perfection, going the full race without changing and managed to just edge out his Infinity team mate Dario Balestri by less than 3 tenths of a second at the end to claim the 2020 title. Shepherd driver Luca Romagnoli would round out the podium in 3rd.

Image: Carmine Raiola

October 6, 2020

Lex Tyler takes 17.5 class victory at Cencal Challenge

The 5th Annual Cencal Challenge was held in Fresno, California this past weekend and with 135 entries it was the biggest race for outdoor racing of 2020. The racing format set to Rocket Round and Triple Mains for each class. In the 17.5 TC division, Jaron Bandy took the top qualifying spot ahead of Xray driver Lex Tyler in 2nd with EJ Evans (Awesomatix) ending up qualifying in P3. Lex Tyler was able to clinch the overall win with victory in A1 and A2 meaning he would site out A3. EJ Evans would claim the runner up spot while TQ man Bandy would have to settle for 3rd.

Source: Xray [teamxray.com]

October 5, 2020

Burak Kilick double at Messe(Statt)-Cup Leipzig

This year’s Messse(Statt)-Cup Leipzig, normally held indoors as part of the Modell Hobby Spiel fair, was this year taken outdoors as the Corona virus restrictions meant the original plan couldn’t go ahead. Thankfully the weather was good and the 3-day event hosted by MRC Leipzig went ahead without any problems. Qualifying in 1/8th Nitro saw Burak Kilic (Mugen) take the top spot ahead of Aaron Rönick (Associated) and Johannes Klett, while in EP Buggy, it was again Burak, this time ahead of Sophie Müller (Sworkz) and Steve Krause (Kyosho). The top 3 in EP remained the same after the three 10 minute mains with Burak taking the win ahead of Sophie and Steve. In the 30 minute Nitro final Burak Kilic was again the person to beat and he was joined at the front by his brother Berkan (Mugen), the pairing winning their respective semi finals to line up first and second. Burak would win by under a lap over his brother Berkan with Aaron Rönick completing the podium in 3rd.

Thanks to Abdullah Kilic for the report

October 5, 2020

Mihelic is 2020 Austrian National 1/8th onroad champion

This past weekend the final round of the Austrian 1/8th IC championship took place at the beautiful Morac-Ring. In the low grip conditions it was Xray driver Nejc Mihelic who took the TQ followed by Herfried Pucher and Tobias Sutrich. In the very even superpole battle it was Tobias who joined Mihelic as the direct qualifier in the finals. Having found a reliable and fast setup in the direct finalist training Mihelic set with the fastest lap of the weekend on his way to another win in front of Herfried Pucher and Patrick Schweinzer. The result ensured Nejc Mihelic was crowned Austrian champion, followed by Herfried Pucher and Leonardo Varga.

Source: Xray [teamxray.com]

October 5, 2020

Max Gotzl takes Rd5 & overall Czech Open series

The 5th and final round of the Czech Open series 2020 took place last weekend at the RC Klub Kolin track. The weather forecast was very promising for the race and we had nice sun all day, but the heavy rains in the days leading up to the event made the track wet even for the race, so there were no problems with dust or low traction. In Nitro Max Gotzl managed to take the TQ with the fastest time in qualifying with his Xray XB8, with Jiri Mara (Sworkz) placed 2nd and Jan Horacek 3rd. In the Ebuggy class Jiri Benes took the TQ in front of Jiri Dvorak and Jan Domansky. The start of the 30 minute main final got off to a rough start for pole sitter Gotzl as he made a mistake on the opening lap, but a few laps later he was able to pass Jiri and finish the race in first place with a comfortable gap. Mara took the runner up spot with Jan Hujer finished 3rd overall. In Ebuggy the top 3 after qualifying had the exact same points after the three finals, but Jiri Dvorak with a faster time took the Win in front of Jiri Benes, and Jan finished 3rd.

Continue reading the report here

October 2, 2020

Ronald Völker joins Mugen Seiki

Having dropped the bombshell on Wednesday that he was leaving Team Yokomo, Ronald Völker has just been confirmed as a Mugen Seiki driver. The former World, European, ETS & Reedy Race Champion will now head Mugen’s EP onroad race team, a move that shows very clearly the ambitions of the Japanese company within this category. Having only entered the ultra competitive touring car class for the first time back in 2017, they have always had a competitive platform but up until now were lacking a tier-1 driver, which they now have with Ronald. Völker, who is currently leading the ETS standings after 3 rounds, will have to adapt quickly to the all new MTC2 if he is to maintain that lead with the 4th round of the series taking place in less than 2 weeks. Mugen had this to say about the new deal:

Mugen Seiki is very proud to announce, that former IFMAR World Champion and multiple European-, National- and ETS-Champion Ronald Völker has joined their electric on-road team! Ronald will bring his amazing speed and all his knowledge into the team and he will campaign the all new MTC2 platform at all upcoming races. We are looking forward to a successful long term partnership with him. “Welcome to the Mugen family Ronald!”

Source: Mugen Europe [mugen.eu]

September 30, 2020

Ronald Volker shock departure from Team Yokomo

In big driver market news, Ronald Volker has announced his shock departure from long time sponsor Yokomo. The German was with the Japanese brand for 11 plus years and won everything there was to win including his World title in China in 2016. Yokomo has gone through some major changes in the passed 12 months with the famous marque changing owners and with Volker handling the onroad team activities alongside driver duties, this will leave a big hole in their team. Ronald gave the following statement:

After more than 11 years, from now on I am no longer part of Yokomo anymore! It was my decision to leave and my decision to look for a new challenge. I can not really describe how thankful I am for taking the opportunity back in 2009 to join Yokomo under Mr. Yokobori and to be able to stay for so many years. I grew in that period as a better driver and person in our wonderful RC World. Together we came a long way which personally highlighted in winning a World Championship and multiple European and ETS Championships, Nationals and many other events. Additionally we had developed some amazing cars within a great team and I had the chance to meet tons of people worldwide and collect so much experience which I never even have dreamed of.

September 30, 2020

Kev Lee joins Schumacher Racing

Schumacher Racing have announced that Kev Lee has joined their offroad team. Kev brings vast experience and great speed to the table, being a previous EFRA Euro’s A finalist, multiple BRCA National winner and regular top 10 performer. Kev will be seen at popular UK events including Worksop, Silverstone, BRCA Regionals and Nationals, all subject to COVID restrictions and he had the following to say.

I last raced for Schumacher in the late 90s and early 2000s and have fond memories of the team and cars of the time, so I’m really excited to return. The cars on offer at the moment are strong contenders in all classes, and with the continual development, from the factory and the team, I’m certain they will continue to be so. I’m looking forward to getting stuck in.

Source: Schumacher [racing-cars.com]