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.
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.
The JMRCA 1/8th scale Japanese On road Nationals took place last weekend in Keitune. Qualifying saw Mugen racer Keisuke Fukuda take pole position from Yasushi Takashi with Yuya Sahashi 3rd. The 45 minute final however saw problems for the pole man, who retired after 11 minutes giving Kyosho team driver Takaaki Shimo the lead which he extended to 1 lap over Yasushi Takashi by the end to take the title for the new M3.
Source: Kyosho [kyosho.com]
This past weekend Bending Corners Raceway in Orange County, California played host to the Team Orion Invitational race which would use the Reedy Race type heads up format for the Invitational drivers. The race format used the drivers 4 best points out of the 5 rounds of racing allowing 1 round to be thrown out. Team Orion Factory Driver Josh Numan looked very fast in practice on Saturday laying down very impressive lap times especially considering it was the first time he would run LiPo power in his TC. On Sunday morning the races were set to get underway at 10:00am but unfortunately light rain showers in the morning delayed the start until 12:00pm. After all 5 rounds of racing were complete, it was Numan that took home the championship, with 3 wins and 1 second place finish for a total of 5 points, Steve Weiss took 2nd with 6 points and Lex Tyler rounded out the top 3 with 8 points.
Source: Team Orion [teamorion.com]
The first Picco Cup Asia was held last weekend at the ACO track in Hong Kong with racing for both 1/10th & 1/8th on road. The event attracted over 170 drivers from all around Asia as well as 1/10th scale World Champion Daniele Ielasi, Alberto Picco and Patrick Schaefer from Europe. After 4 rounds of qualifying it was Meen Vejrak from Thailand that took the TQ in 1/10th scale, while in 1/8th scale it was Shepherd driver Ielasi that came out on top. After 45 minutes of intense final action Daniele took the win in 1/8th scale, finishing only 5 seconds ahead of fellow countryman Alberto Picco, with Team C driver Hung in 3rd. In 1/10th scale Meen Vejrak took his Xray to victory ahead of 2nd placed Serpent driver Ts Kai Leung, while the final podium step went to Hung Cheung Hang.
Click here for more photos… content
LRP Electronic have announced that former European TQ, and Xray team driver, Steven Weiss has joined the LRP factory team. The former Team Orion driver brings many years of experience in competition racing and will further strengthen the LRP international team of drivers. Racing mostly 1/10th EP Touring he will be one to look out for at the upcoming world championship in Thailand next week.
Source: LRP [lrp.cc]
Novarossi have been in contact to tell us that former World and European Finalist, and leading German racer, Oliver Mack has signed for Novarossi for the 2009 season. Having used GRP engines last year, the Mugen driver has joined the Italian manufacturers team ahead of the Worlds next year in Switzerland.
Source: Novarossi [novarossi.com]
LRP are reporting on the 2008 Australian 1/10 Nitro On-Road Nationals were held at the Brendale track in Brisbane recently, host of the 2006 IFMAR World Championships. The race attracted over 120 drivers split into 1/10th Touring cars, 1/8th On road and Pullstart class and it was LRP team driver Peter Jovanovic who was setting the pace already from the first practice rounds through to the first qualifying rounds. With the last qualifier run in the late evening when the traction on the track increased significantly, he dropped to 2nd on the grid as Jesse Davis came through to take the TQ spot. After problem before the start of the final, that forced Peter to start from the pitlane, he was able to work his way into the lead by lap 20. From there on it was just a matter of getting the car through the finish line and with the softer LRP VTEC tyre going the distance without any changes or problems, Peter won the final by over a lap and a half to claim his 3rd National title in a row.
Source: LRP [lrp.cc]
