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February 19, 2017

Lee win A2 after Coelho & Hagberg errors

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.

Continue reading this report here or view our complete event coverage here.

February 19, 2017

Easy A1 win for Coelho with frantic finish for 2nd

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.

Continue reading this report here or view our complete event coverage here.

February 18, 2017

TITC TQ to be decided in final qualifier

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.

Continue reading this report here or view our complete event coverage here.

February 18, 2017

Coelho takes Q4 as Groskamp has DNF

Bruno Coelho has TQ’d the fourth round of qualifying at the TITC in Thailand however the Xray driver said it was only possible due to the fact Jilles Groskamp broke off the start line. Having dominated yesterday’s opening day of qualifying, topping all three rounds with ease, the Infinity driver would suffer a layshaft bearing failure as he left the line, his car gliding to a halt before the first corner with Groskamp saying afterwards, ‘it’s better it happen today then tomorrow’. With Groskamp out of the equation, it looked like Naoki Akiyama was on target for the TQ but with a minute to go his Yokomo would pop a front drive shaft sending the 18-year-old spinning off into retirement. This left Coelho to pick up the pieces, last year’s Top Qualifier & Champion posting his first TQ run ahead of Infinity’s Akio Sobue and a much improved Ronald Volker.

Continue reading this report here or view our complete event coverage here.

February 18, 2017

CRC World GT-R body mounts & Formula wings

CRC have introduced adjustable aluminium body mounts for World GT-R cars as well as new formula wings. Starting with the body mounts, the parts feature a stiff delrin inner piece that slides and locks with a set screw. They also use the “flapper” rotating body rest piece for less body damage and a perfect fit. The aluminium base and machined delrin post make for a stiff rigid mount perfect for the scale World GT-R bodies.

Continue reading here

February 17, 2017

Mckune Design T4’17 carbon fibre chassis & top decks

Coming from Mckune Design and made for the Xray T4’17 are a carbon fibre main chassis and two top decks. All parts are cut from high-quality bi-directional carbon fibre with the chassis being 2.25mm thick while the top decks are available in a 2.0mm and a 1.5mm variant. The parts are direct replacements and they are available now.

View the top decks here

February 17, 2017

‘A perfect day’ for Groskamp at TITC

Jilles Groskamp pulled off ‘a perfect day’ on the opening day of qualifying at the TITC in Bangkok, the Infinity driver TQ’ing all three rounds at the Infinity Addict Circuit. A race title that eludes the former World Champion, who has been runner-up on three occasions at the famous Asia event, Groskamp would end the day as he started, again being the only driver to post a 20-lap run. Improving position every run, the closest challenger in the third round would be Nicolas Lee, the Yokomo driver missing out on a 20-lap pace by just over 6/10ths of a second. One of Infinity’s latest signing to their new EP team, former TRF driver Akio Sobue would complete the Top 3, a safe run paying dividends. Unfortunately the tyre struggles that some drivers have been faced with showed no signs of abating with Bruno Coelho, Ronald Volker and Marc Rheinard all clearly struggling on the track with a lack of traction. Summing up the struggles while talking to Coelho, Volker said you know something is very wrong when you look and see ‘Marc (Rheinard), (Yukijiro) Umino and Francesco (Martini) talking together’. For Volker and Rheinard, their tyre issues will mean they drop out of the top heat for the remaining three qualifiers as reseeding is done based on the best two of today’s three rounds. While Coelho remains in the top 3, sitting 3rd overall, the defending champion is not happy with the tyre situation going as far as changing from an aluminium chassis car to a carbon chassis with ARS as he ‘needed prove to himself it was not the car’. He said the carbon car ‘was even worse’.

Continue reading this report here or view our complete event coverage here.

February 17, 2017

Xray sign Nico Catelani

Xray have announced the signing of Italian National Stock Champion, Nico Catelani to their factory team. AMSCI and UISP champ as well as multiple ETS finalist, Nico will be attending at the Italian Nationals, the EFRA European Championships and the ETS and he had the following to say:

I am very happy and honored to be a part of the factory Xray team for the next season. The Xray development, quality and performance of their cars as well the best team support is what I have admired and now I am happy to enjoy. I will do my best to continue to improve my racing skills and results and I am more than proud for this for this opportunity. I’m looking forward to the next season with my new team!

Source: Xray [teamxray.com]