Red RC » Racing

April 24, 2026

First big TQ for Iivonen at ABC Malaysia

Mayako’s Pekko Iivonen is the Top Qualifier at the second round of the Asian Buggy Championship, the Finn taking the final round of qualifying to win the shot out with Kyosho’s Phi-Long Nguyen and Sworkz’s Caleb Noble. The battle for pole between the drivers from three different continents was set as they each posted a TQ run over the opening qualifiers but laying down the fastest time to take the fourth round it was Iivonen who claimed his first major international TQ honours. His third appearance in the Team Cayote/VP-Pro backed Championship, the Finn drove a near perfect final qualifier in a close battle with ABC debutant Nguyen until on the last lap. With Iivonen running just behind him on track, the teenager made a mistake that sealed the deal for Iivonen. The American will line-up P2 for the 45-minute final with ABC race winners Noble and Jayden Edmunds starting 3rd and 4th respectively. Nguyen would get the better of Iivonen in eBuggy taking the final round in the fastest time to become the Top Qualifier on tie-break, both drivers having two TQ runs each. In Nitro Truggy, with Noble having already secured pole position in Q3, Ken NG would take the final round and his Sparko truggy will line-up second on the track which he has been a key figure in developing into an impressive facility.

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April 24, 2026

FEMCA Asia 1:8 GT Championships relocated to Australia

The inaugural FEMCA Asia 1:8 GT Championships, which was originally awarded to Vietnam, will now take place in Australia with England Park Raceway in Brisbane awarded the race. Earlier this month the Asian governing body for RC racing announced that the championships was being relocated from the impressive new X-RC Complex in Lam Dong due to the delayed opening of the area’s new airport. QRCCRA, the club behind England Park Raceway, has secured the race to decide both the GT8 Nitro and GT8E Champions with FEMCA sanctioned championships running concurrently with the SpeedyRC IC QLD State Titles from July 30 to August 2. On the announcement it was also confirmed Sweep Racing will supply their GT2-D40WP as the control tyre for both GT categories.

Source: FEMCA [Facebook]

April 24, 2026

Nguyen & Iivonen add TQ runs at Asian Buggy Championships

With three rounds of qualifying in the books at the Asian Buggy Championships, the LAP Paradise RC Raceway in Malaysia has given us different TQ runs from three different drivers representing 3 different manufacturers, Kyosho’s Phi-Long Nguyen topping Q2 and Mayako’s Pekko Iivonen delivering in Q3. With Sworkz’s Caleb Noble opening nitro buggy qualifying with the fastest time, the stage is now set for an exciting fourth & final qualifier with all three drivers in the hunt for the overall TQ honours. After a mistake in Q1, Top Seed Nguyen made amends with a cleaner run to take a close TQ ahead of Iivonen and Noble, the three covered by just over a second. In Q3 it was Iivonen’s turn to execute a clean 5-minute run and he took the round by a significant 4.2-second margin over his Australian and American rivals who both had mistakes resulting in costly seconds lost. In eBuggy, Iivonen would make it back to back TQ run in Q3, while in Nitro Truggy, ABC New Zealand winner Noble locked in the overall TQ with a third consecutive TQ run allowing him to sit out Q4 and focus solely on buggy.

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April 24, 2026

Noble TQ’s opening qualifier at ABC Malaysia

Sworkz’s Caleb Noble has TQ’d the opening round of qualifying at the second round of the Asian Buggy Championships in Malaysia. The Australian set the pace in the first of the four scheduled Nitro Buggy qualifiers at LAP Paradise RC Raceway by just over a second from Mayako’s Pekko Iivonen. Having topped yesterday’s seeding, Kyosho’s Phi-Long Nguyen would suffer two mistakes on his opening effort, the second of which cost him over 6-seconds. While setting the fastest lap the American wouldn’t recover the loss and finished P3 almost 5-seconds back on Noble. Australian Jared Ment at the wheel of a Team Associated would set the fourth fastest time followed by the Sworkz of Adrian Wicaksono. Having dominated the Team Cayote/VP-Pro backed ABC season opener in New Zealand, Noble would do the double in the nitro classes this morning also TQ’ing Truggy ahead of Jayden Edmunds while a clean run in eBuggy saw Nguyen top the times ahead of Iivonen and Edmunds.

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April 23, 2026

Rocket-RC electronics for Yam

Surpass Hobby, under its flagship electronics brand Rocket-RC, has announced an official strategic cooperation agreement with Hong Kong 1:10 Electric Touring Car racer Kimi Yam. The 19-year-old Xray team driver will for 2026 officially wear the Surpass Hobby colours and fully represent the Rocket-RC brand in top-tier racing events both domestically and internationally. In 2025 Yum claimed the overall HKRCSA Modified Championship, was runner-up at the Hudy Asian Grand Prix, and became Champion of the China Elite Group at the Sunpadow International Grand Prix (SIGP).

Source: Surpass [surpass-hobby.com]

April 23, 2026

Nguyen top seed at Malaysian ABC encounter

Making his Asian Buggy Championships debut as the 1:8 Offroad Championship makes its first visit to Malaysia this weekend, Kyosho’s Phi-Long Nguyen has topped seeding at the impressive LAP Paradise RC Raceway in Johor Bahru. With rain briefly interrupting proceedings during the second of the two seeding rounds, the 15-year-old American talent set the fastest two consecutive laps for both rounds both in Nitro and eBuggy. Behind it was Mayako’s Pekko Iivonen who was the closest challenger, the Finn 8/10ths of a second off in the first & faster of the rounds, driver’s fastest laps being in the 38-seconds. Having dominated the opening round of the Team Cayote/VP-Pro backed ABC in New Zealand in March, new 2026 Sworkz signing Caleb Noble completed the Top 3 half a second off Iivonen. In was an another of the championship’s Australian regulars and race winners Jayden Edmunds, also driving an Sworkz in fourth, with Ken NG, a key figure behind Round 2 host track, completing the Top 5 with his Kyosho.

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April 22, 2026

Hobby Expo China – Seeing is believing!

The saying goes that ‘seeing is believing’ and attending the 24th edition of Hobby Expo China in Beijing last weekend definitely endorsed that statement. While the press information highlighted the 70,000 visitors who attended the 3-day expo last year, nothing quite prepared me for the crowds and buzz of this expo. Staged in the Beijing Exhibition Centre, which built in 1954 was alone worth a visit for its architecture, this was Red RC’s first time to visit HEC. Talking to some of our industry friends familiar with the expo prior to making the trip to the Chinese capital, they all flagged that we wouldn’t believe the crowds it attracts. Having been reached out to be Chinese media outlet about doing some videos with them at the show, they too warned me to be prepared for the crowds. While setting expectations high, it was only when I actually arrived on Friday morning that we got the true sense of the scale of the numbers it attracts. With over 300 exhibitors covering two distinct main categories, RC and diecasts, the truth was that it was the latter that had the pulling power but to RC’s benefit. Crowds had started queuing on Thursday night for the Expo’s 09:00 opening time on Friday morning, as collectors sought to get their hands on limited edition static car models, 1:64 the fan favourite. Still while diecast was the big draw, this year’s even bigger visitor count, were also exposed to an impressive display of what the world of RC had to offer and that was another stand out of those exhibiting. Sure many of the exhibitors were unfamiliar brands to us but on taking a look at their offerings I was impressed by both the quality and presentation. There was also plenty of opportunities to try various RC products on numerous demo tracks for onroad cars, drifting, crawling, and construction. Observing the reaction of both young & old as they got their hands on a transmitter was encouraging.

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April 21, 2026

Nguyen to make Asian Buggy Champs debut at first Malaysian encounter

Young Kyosho star Phi-Long Nguyen will make his Asian Buggy Championships debut this weekend as Malaysia hosts the latest round of the Scotty Ernst promoted championship for the very first time. Now in its fourth season, reigning back to back FEMCA Champion Nguyen will join ABC championship regulars at the impressive LAP Paradise RC Raceway for the second of the 4 round Team Cayote/VP Pro backed 1:8 Offroad Championship. The American will be compete against Mayako’s Pekko Iivonen, Sworkz’s Caleb Noble, who dominated the season opener in New Zealand in March, team-mate Jayden Edmunds and Mayako’s Logan Toia. On his Asian Buggy Championships debut the teenager said, ‘The series as I have seen in the past is amazingly organized and well run with Scotty behind the mic the world will be heard. Lap Paradise looks like a perfect track to improve on high traction and we can’t wait to visit Malaysia which is another beautiful Asian country.’

Source: Asian Buggy Championships [Facebook]