The FunCup Austria was held as part of the Modellbau Vienna fair last week. The race was held on Thursday on the same track as the ETS the following weekend. In the 17.5T Touring A-main it was Rudolf Pletka with the win from Michael Hueber in 2nd. Wolfgang Richter rounded out an all-Xray 1-2-3.
Source: Xray [teamxray.com]
The second round of the MRCP Arena Winter Championship was held at the MRCP Arena track in Dagmersellen, Switzerland. More than 30 drivers attended with the numbers increasing every round. In Touring Prostock it was Daniel Burgener securing himself the TQ. In the finals however it was Michael Kammermann who would hold the upper hand with Tobias Fritzius coming in 2nd place. Daniel wasn’t able to conserve his qualifying performance, ending the day on the 3 spot after some close fights of all three drivers.
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The Chilean IC Track Nationals were hosted by the CACH club last weekend. In the 1/8th Nitro class it was Matias Otaegui with the overall TQ but in the half hour long main final it was Francisco Lara with the win some three laps in front of Alvaro Jara, who suffered problems in the final, on the 2 spot. Top qualifier Matias had to settle for 3rd overall another lap down.
Source: Shepherd [team-shepherd.com]
Xray have announced the signing of up-and-coming Belgian driver, Florian Joos to their Junior team. Florian achieved a podium finish at this year’s IFMAR 1/12th scale World Championships and is a multiple German and Benelux national junior champion. He will campaign Xray’s T4 and X12 platforms at national and international events and he has the following to say:
Ever since I started racing R/C cars, my father has always been very supportive. One of the first advices he gave me, and one I will always remember, is to go for the best possible car. This is why I am so pleased to be joining the Xray team. The quality of the cars is just outstanding and helped me to achieve some good results. Moreover, the help I get from the team drivers regarding setup, driving lines, etc is amazing. Everyone is always ready to give a helping hand. I am truly excited to drive for this great team and will do my best to be a great Xray ambassador. Hope to see you soon at the tracks to share our amazing sport!
Source: Xray [teamXray.com]
The popular South East Regional returned to the West Kent club last weekend. Drivers were treated to an excellent track laid by the dedicated West Kent team the night before. A smaller track area compared to their typical club tracks, but with addition of track side pitting adding to the atmosphere. A healthy entry of 22 GT12, nine LMP with Mini and Touring cars offered as support classes saw a total entry of 49 drivers. As the racing got underway the early pace setters were Niall Cochran in GT12, closely followed by Tim Hancock who was in the heat before. After four rounds of qualifying Niall came out on top by six seconds from Tim, 3rd was Tristan Rozier and James Scott completing the top 4.
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Ronald Volker has finally broken his victory drought that stretched 11 races, all the way back to Mulheim Kaerlich at the beginning of the 16/17 season, having taken the win here in Vienna. Starting from pole position the former World Champion leaves Austria with a solid lead in the points standings, having also taken the bonus point for TQ. Despite some close racing with his long time rival Marc Rheinard, Volker was able to pull a small gap at the end to take the race, with Marc having to settle for 2nd place, just ahead of Alexander Hagberg and Freddy Sudhoff, with reigning Champion Bruno Coelho suffering another difficult race ending up in 5th. Ronald was quick to thank those who made it possible saying ‘I’m super happy to get the overall win for this event, we worked the last few weeks really hard to get the upcoming BD9 in good shape. A special thanks to Hayato and Team Yokomo for this as well as thanks to Jurgen from LRP for the support’. About his race he said ‘A2 was starting well but I struggled with my driving in the middle of the run and I made a few small mistakes on the left part of the track so Marc was very close but I really didn’t want it to go to A3 so I put my head down and got a bit of a gap so I didn’t need to defend’, concluding by saying ‘Very very happy, after a couple of ETS races I finally got the TQ and win again.’
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Multiple Electric Onroad World Champion Naoto Matsukura has added a Nitro Touring Car World title to his tally with a very convincing performance at the 1:10 200mm World Championships in Florida. After a messy start which saw Top Qualifier Dario Balestri, Super Pole winner Robert Pietsch and reigning champion Dominic Greiner receive penalties, the Infinity driver quickly stamped his authority on the 1-hour final. By the first round of fuel stops the 200mm rookie, who stopped early at 4:30, had already pulled out over a 6-second lead and such was his lead at the mid race tyre change his crew was able to switch to 4:00 stops ensuring his massive lead was never at risk. At the end the Japanese driver becomes the 8th different World Champion of the class by almost 2-laps. Battling with Tadahiko Sahashi for second place before the Infinity driver suffered a flame out in the final minutes of the race Capricorn’s Kyle Branson would finish second with Team Shepherd’s very quick Eduardo Escandon coming through from the back of the grid to complete the podium at Homestead RC Raceway. Half a lap back Pietsch would recover from his penalty and a bad tyre stop to finish fourth ahead of Mugen team-mate Jeff Hamon, with Greiner, who got a second penalty completing the Top 6. Ending up 9-laps off the lead after running out of fuel, Balestri ended up 7th but his biggest frustration was the length the cars were held on the starting grid. He said his penalty was a result of him trying to make sure his engine didn’t cut.
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Ronald Volker has taking a straight forward win in the opening modified A-main at the ETS season opener in Vienna. Starting from pole position the Yokomo driver was unchallenged as the chasing pack were held up by their own battles. Alexander Hagberg would manage to get by 2nd place starter Marc Rheinard after a mistake from the Infinity driver allowed the Swede to stick it down the inside. On a track that is very difficult to pass, the rest of the race had little in the way of opportunities and despite a last lap effort by Bruno Coelho on Rheinard, it was a very processional race. Volker, who claimed the bonus championship point for TQ yesterday, said ‘I couldn’t ask for more, basically we are all on the same speed but they were in a battle so I could drive my race, the track was again a bit different’. Asked about his plans for A2 the former champion said ‘it is up to me to put in a clean run and repeat it for A2’.
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