January 7, 2017

Kutvonen Top Qualifier at DHI Cup

Viljami Kutvonen is Top Qualifier at the DHI Cup after delivering a second TQ run in the fourth & final round of qualifying at the Danish event.  With the weekend not starting out well for last year’s podium finisher, the Finn just scraping into the top heat of qualifying, the Awesomatix driver turned things around drastically in the second half of Day 2. Heading a 1-2 from team-mate Freddy Sudhoff in Q3, the team was on target to repeat that result in the closing qualifier until Sudhoff, who was on the heels of Kutvonen, had to avoid a marshal attending Yannic Prumper’s VBC on the last lap. With this dropping Sudhoff to fourth, Alexander Hagberg got a personal best of the weekend P2 from the round ahead of defending champion Ronald Volker who, having TQ’d the 2nd qualifier, will line up second on the grid. Although Naoki Akiyama would break during the round, having taken last night’s opening qualifier the Japanese teenager will start 3rd on his second DHI Cup appearance equaling his best international qualifying result achieved at last October’s IIC in Las Vegas. Hagberg will start start 4th with Sudhoff making up the top half of the grid for tomorrow’s triple A-Mains.

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

January 7, 2017

Kutvonen heads Awesomatix 1-2 in Q3

Viljami Kutvonen led an Awesomatix 1-2 in the penultimate round of qualifying at the DHI Cup, the Finnish ace setting a new fastest time ahead of team-mate Freddy Südhoff.  Becoming the third different driver to post a TQ run at the 17th edition of the Danish event, Kutvonen’s result sets the stage for a 5-way shot out in the final qualifier to decide the 2017 Top Qualifier. Behind the much improved Awesomatix duo, Ronald Volker was to complete the Top 3 just ahead of his Yokomo team-mate Naoki Akiyama.  Having crashed on the last lap of the previous qualifier, popping a rear shock off his VBC, Yannic Prumper would bring home ‘a safe’ P6 for the round behind the Xray of Alexander Hagberg who lacked pace due to a ‘too stable’ car.

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

January 7, 2017

Volker takes second qualifier at DHI Cup

Having struggled to a P6 in yesterday’s opening round of qualifying at the DHI Cup presented by LRP, Ronald Volker resumed normal duty this morning as the reigning 7-time champion of the Danish classic TQ’d the second round of qualifying. The Yokomo driver topped the times by 2.2-seconds over Jan Ratheisky, the Xray driver putting in an impressive Modified run to back up his performances in the Superstock class in which he has TQ’d the first two rounds.  Alexander Hagberg would complete the Top 3, 11/100ths off his Xray team-mate, while last night’s Q1 topping Naoki Akiyama set the fourth fastest time with Awesomatix pairing Freddy Sudhoff and Viljami Kutvonen rounding out the Top 6.

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

 

January 6, 2017

Akiyama takes open qualifier at DHI ahead of Hagberg

Team Yokomo protege Naoki Akiyama opened qualifying at the 16th running of the DHI Cup with a TQ run, the Japanese driver setting the pace ahead of Xray’s Alexander Hagberg.  Benefiting from a difficult qualifier for reigning champion and practice Top seed Ronald Volker, Akiyama was over 6/10ths faster than Hagberg with Freddy Sudhoff completing the Top 3 a further half a second off.  For Volker, who twice rolled his Yokomo over the 5-minutes, Q1 would leave him with a P6 behind former team-mate Yannic Prumper and a much improved from practice Viljami Kutvonen.

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January 6, 2017

Volker from team-mate Akiyama in DHI Cup seeding

Ronald Volker has topped seeding practice at the DHI Cup presented by LRP in Denmark. The reigning champion was fastest from his Yokomo team-mate Naoki Akiyama being the only driver to run 3-laps in 38-seconds. Fastest by almost 3/10ths from Akiyama, Volker would set his quickest time in the final practice with Akiyama having topped the times in the first of the two runs. Also improving his time in the second run, Alexander Hagberg would complete the Top 3 followed by his Xray team-mate Jan Ratheisky. While 2016 podium finisher Viljami Kutvonen would struggle to only the 10th fastest time, Awesomatix team-mate Freddy Sudhoff would round out the Top 5 times ahead of the VBC of Yannic Prumper.

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January 6, 2017

Protoform WCICS Rd2 – Report

The Protoform Western Canadian Indoor Championship Series round 2 brought racing excitement to the quiet mountain town of Penticton, B.C. The event was hosted by PRCC and it was only the second race to run the new AAA main finals format. The pace for Touring Modified was pretty clear, with the first two rounds finishing Korgae Scales (Awesomatix) first, Xray’s Blake Bell second, Luke Pittman (Xray) third, and top Privateer Josh Carter 4th. And with Blake taking the final round it would just cement that would also be the final finishing order.

Continue reading the report here

January 5, 2017

Christopher Krapp leaves Tamiya/TRF and Team Orion

The latest Tamiya and TRF driver to officially announce his departure from the disbanded race team is Germany’s Christopher Krapp who will also leave long-term electronics sponsors Team Orion. Christopher joined the TRF team in Spring 2015 while his ties with Team Orion span even longer, back into his early days with Kyosho. The German front-runner will soon announce his future plans and in the meantime he has the following to say:

First I want to wish all a happy and healthy New Year! I want to take the moment to announce my departure from Team Tamiya/TRF and Team Orion. I had a great and successful time together with the whole TRF team and I want to thank all my teammates for keeping up with me at that time. Especially I want to thank Kiyokazu Suzuki and Takayuki Kono for being my mechanics and mentors. I also want to thank Team Orion for the awesome support they gave me. I used Team Orion products since I started RC and we had many great moments together. Personal thanks to Oscar Jansen for all his efforts! Now it is time for something new and I am extremely motivated for the new challenge. Look out for the news soon!

January 4, 2017

Paolo Morganti and Serpent part ways

Multiple ROAR National Champion Paolo Morganti has announced his departure from Desoto Racing and Serpent, effective immediately. Paolo was the corner stone of the US Serpent onroad team since moving to the US and even held the distribution for a time, so his leaving comes as a bit of a surprise, however we do expect him to announce a new drive in the coming days. Paolo released this statement:

As of today I have decided to quit my position at Desoto Racing and as a result also stop my relationship with Serpent Industries. I am very grateful for the past 17 years with Serpent and i would like to thanks Michael Salven, Ronald Baar, the Lau family and everybody at Serpent for everything they have done for me in all this years.

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