Red RC » R On Road

July 12, 2025

Sobue takes opening 2 qualifiers in Singapore

Having topped seeding, Axon’s Akio Sobue has showed no signs of letting up on being the pace setter at this year’s Electric Singapore International Challenge (eSIC) as he took the opening two rounds of qualifying at the annual race. With main challengers Nicolas Lee and Alexander Hagberg both sitting out Q1, Hagberg more forced than opting, the first of the four scheduled qualifiers opened with Sobue leading an Axon 1-2 ahead of team-mate Hayato Ishioka with Chinese National Champion Jerry Dai completing the Top 3. With all the eSIC contenders back on track for Q2, Sobue proved Q1 was in fact a true indication of the Japanese driver’s speed at the controls of his new TC10/4 as he held off Lee to go two from two by a margin of 1.3-seconds. After missing Q1 due to his huge off in seeding, Hagberg proved he had rebuilt a good car being the only one to match Sobue in posting a 13.6-second fastest lap time. A spin however from the Swede in the second minute of the qualifier ended that challenge and he registered a P7. The benefactor would be Ethan Cheng, the Xray driver adding a P3 to go with his P6 from the opening round.

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July 12, 2025

Sobue ‘Top Seed’ at eSIC

Axon’s Akio Sobue has got his debut with the new TC10/4 off to a strong start as the Japanese driver topped seeding at the Electric Singapore International Challenge (eSIC). After drivers woke to rain this morning in Singapore, once the track dried out and the first official laps of the event where completed it was Sobue who laid down the fastest 3-consecutive laps ahead of Xray’s Alexander Hagberg. Separated by 4/10ths of a second over the 3-laps, Sobue’s fastest around the RCMC track a 13.695, unfortunately Hagberg’s run would be cut short as he found the circuit’s dreaded bump on the straight. Sending his car flying off the track, the impact means the Swede will miss the opening qualifier as he rebuilds his car. Completing the Top 3 would be Jan Ratheisky, the German visitor 7/100ths faster than pre-race favourite & team-mate Nicholas Lee, the Singapore driver struggling with a set-up change he made for seeding.

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July 11, 2025

Drivers settle-in in Singapore ahead of biggest eSIC

With the biggest Electric Singapore International Challenge (eSIC) taking place this weekend, drivers have been settling themselves in with open practice at the country’s only permanent track RCMC over the past few days. Just 10-minutes from the country’s famous Jewel Changi Airport, the third edition of eSIC is living up to its international title with drivers from 14-nations making up this year’s entry. This is also the first time the event has a greater number of international entries versus locals with 60% of the entry being drivers from other countries, Malaysia topping the visitor count followed by China. 2025 also marks the first factory entries from Xray and Axon. Singapore’s very own Nicholas Lee, a driving force behind the race, takes on eSIC for the first time in Xray colours and is joined by Alexander Hagberg and Jan Ratheisky. Hagberg returns to the track a decade on from his last visit. Axon are here with their up coming TC10/4 touring car release and while Sobue has raced here before with his previous team Infinity, the Japanese driver says he is going to count this as his first visit as he was very sick on the previous occasion and doesn’t remember too much about that particular trip. Another RCMC rookie this weekend is Atsushi Hara and the legend of the sport has a new Hara purple edition ride in the form of a Mi9 from Schumacher, this being his first run with the car on a ‘proper track’.

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July 10, 2025

AOC Korea 2025 – Date Announcement

Won last year by Axon’s Akio Sobue, Scotty Ernst has announced the return of his Asian Onroad Championship event to the beautiful GRC Raceway in Korea for 2025 with a race date of October 9-12. GRC Raceway which has just finished its full remodelling has positioned itself as one of the nicest RC venues in all of the World. GRC Raceway has everything you would need as a racer to enjoy the hobby at all levels. They offer 2 beautiful race tracks, 1 outside and 1 inside, with fully air-conditioned pit area plus an onsite Hobby shop all which is topped off with an onsite coffee shop and restaurant. The following classes with form the schedule for event AOC Korea – Modified Touring Car, 17.5 Boosted Touring Car, 21.5 Touring with Roar Legal Motor, GRC Super GT 21.5, FWD, and Mini 2WD.

Source: Asian Onroad Championship [aocrc.com]

July 9, 2025

Thurston takes win No.3 at Adur

BRCA 1:8 Onroad British Champion Alex Thurston took the third win of his title defend with victory at the fourth round hosted by Cotswold Model Car Club last weekend. The second time for racers to race at Cotswold this year, Mugen Seiki UK/YMC Racing supported Thurston would qualify P2 as the Shepherd of Championship Round 1 winner Tim Wood took the TQ by just over 2-seconds. Shepherd’s Andrew Hastings, a podium finisher at the season opener, completed the Top 3 on the grid for the half hour final. Getting by Wood at the first, Thurston managed to stay out front despite running an extra fuel stop and made it three wins in a row with a margin of 4.6-seconds over Wood. Getting by Hastings, John Carr completed the Top 3 for his first podium of the season. Round 5 of the 7 round championship takes place at Wombwell later this month.

Image: Alex Thurston [Facebook]

July 2, 2025

Repetti wins Euro Large Scale Series Round 2

The second round of the Euro Large Scale Series (ELS) took place in Luxembourg over the weekend where Edoardo Repetti took the win for Mecatech. With the race attracting 74 entries, qualifying at Mini Circuit “Ville de Luxembourg” would see the former European Champion Repetti secure the TQ honours ahead of fellow Mecatech driver Rick Van der Bol, the Italian setting the fastest time on his Q3 run while his Dutch rival’s best run came in the second round. Cedric Prevot from France completed the Top 3 at the end of the four rounds of qualifying. After Super Pole it was Norway’s Sindre Undheim who lined up P2 for the half hour final but setting the fastest lap of the race Repetti kept Undheim at bay to win by 1-lap with Prevot making it an all Mecatech podium.

Image: GRP [grpgandini.it]

June 28, 2025

Balestri retains European Nitro Touring Car title

Infinity’s Dario Balestri has retained his 1:10 European Nitro Touring Car title, the Italian claiming his 10th EFRA European Championship career win today at the iconic Apeldoorn track in Netherlands. The reigning 1:8 Onroad World Championship took the win ahead of team-mate Carmine Raiola with 2023 Champion Toni Gruber completing the podium for Capricorn. In qualifying it was reigning World Champion Jilles Groskamp who secured the TQ ahead of Raiola, Balestri and Polish driver Jakub Rozycki – the Top 4 going directly to the 45-minute Main final. With Gruber and Melvin Diekmann winning their Semi finals they completed the top half of the grid. Topping 3 of the 5 qualifiers, Groskamp continued his form in the final setting a very fast pace out front and the fastest lap but a flameout on lap 69 would end the Dutch ace’s challenge. With tyre strategy proving critical, while Raiola took over the lead he would run out of tyres allowing Balestri to take the lead which he would hold to the finish. Taking over lead for a number of laps as the pit stops played out, Gruber looked like he had a strategy that could pay dividends but he would suffer a flameout. Finishing on the same lap as Riola, the German still completed the podium. A steady race from Rozycki saw him finish fourth ahead of the Mugen of British Champion Alex Thurston.

Image: Infinity [Facebook]

June 27, 2025

New Foshan ISTC | 1:12 World C/ship Track – First Images

With IFMAR announcing in January that Foshan in China has been awarded the 2026 ISTC and 1:12 World Championships, the hosts are using the occasion to build a super impressive brand new RC facility in the city. A project spearheaded by Gavin Kwok, who was instrumental in bringing the GDC track in Foshan to the international stage through the staging of the FIRC/FEMCA Championship race in 2023 & 2024, the new facility is located in the centre of the Foshan business district with building set for completion at the event of July. The facility will comprise of 3 tracks, the main outdoor asphalt track covering any area 80m X 43m. A second but covered asphalt track measures 42m X 23m while offroad racer will also be catered for with a 50m X 26m offroad track. The venue will have space for several shops and a main pro shop to facilitate supplies and parts for racers. With all three tracks to be floodlit, racer will be able to utilise all the tracks both day and night. The second time China will host the ISTC and 1:12 Worlds, Beijing previously hosting the title deciders in 2016, the new Foshan track will host the 1:12 Worlds from March 26th to 29th with Electric Touring Car running from March 31st to April 4th, 2026.

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