Red RC » R On Road

November 1, 2023

Takahata takes Q3 as Balestri holds overnight TQ

In a thrilling first day of qualifying at the 1:8 Onroad World Championship, Mugen Seiki’s Shoki Takahata has TQ’d the third round of qualifying becoming the third different driver/manufacturer combo to top the times in Japan. The reigning World Champion capitalised on the cooling evening conditions to set the fastest time of the day ahead of Infinity’s Dario Balestri with Capricorn’s Toni Gruber completing the Top 3. Opening qualifying with a TQ run, it is Balestri who holds the overnight TQ at Infinity International RC Speedway ahead of Gruber who topped the second round of qualifying. With Takahata holding P7 in the ranking, his day not starting out well with a crash in Q1 and DNF in Q2, it is 17-year-old Kouki Kato who is the top Japanese driver sitting in third following an impressive second fastest time run in Q2.

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November 1, 2023

Gruber takes 2nd qualifier at World Championship

In another dramatic qualifier at the 1:8 Onroad Worlds in Japan, Capricorn’s Toni Gruber took the second round TQ. Having opened qualifying with a TQ run Dario Balestri wouldn’t even make the start of Q2, his engine expiring in the warm-up. Having led Q1 until he ran out of fuel on the final lap, Simon Kurzbuch would flame out very early on and then when it looked like Naoto Matsukura was on for the TQ of the second round he too ran out of fuel. All this allowed Gruber to take the TQ ahead of the Infinity of Kouki Kato and the Sahashi brothers who ran their times in the second fastest heat – Tadahiko faster than Yuya. After a strong first qualifier, finishing P3, Jessie Davis was on for another Top 3 performance but trying to make a pass on Serpent’s Andrea Catanzani, the Italian made contact with the Infinity driver ruining both their qualifiers and earning Catanzani a time penalty.

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November 1, 2023

Balestri TQ’s opening qualifier in Japan

Infinity’s Dario Balestri has TQ’d the opening round of qualifying at the IFMAR 1:8 Onroad World Championship in Japan. Top Qualifier at the last Worlds in 2019, the Italian took the round ahead of Capricorn’s Dominic Greiner as Simon Kurzbuch ran out of fuel on his last lap. The Top Seed after timed practice Kurzbuch looked to be carrying that form into Day 1 of qualifying but having admitted yesterday that the 4-minute run time would be close, this morning it was to cost him the TQ run. Having hinted at his pace in the final practice when he was fourth fastest, Infinity’s Jessie Davis would complete the Top 3 for the first of the 6 rounds of qualifying 0.579 ahead of Toni Gruber. One of the four drivers to top timed practice yesterday, Naoto Matsukura didn’t have a good start to qualifying as he needed to pit after the first 1-minute to have his engine tuned.

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October 31, 2023

Butterfield joins Ielasi Tuned

On what has been a productive day for Ielasi Tuned engines at the 1:8 World Championship, drivers Simon Kurzbuch and Toni Gruber taking a 1-2 in seeding, the Italian company has announced top US racer Bryce Butterfield has joined the team. Commenting on the announcement from Infinity International RC Speedway in Japan, factory Serpent driver Butterfield said, ‘I would like to thank Daniele and Sabrina for the opportunity to run their World Championship winning engines! Looking forward to running these engines into the future! Coming to a track near you.’

Source: Ielasi Tuned [ielasituned.com]

October 31, 2023

Indonesia Year End Race 2023 – Report

The annual Indonesia Year End Race 2023 was held at East RC Speedway last week, attracted a total of 88 racers from Indonesia, Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand joined in. All drivers welcomed by the very hot weather during the race week, made it much tricky for each one to find the best tuned for their car. The event support the primary Expert Modified Class, Expert GT Class, GT Class and Touring Blinky Class. Bowie Ginting took the overnight TQ at Modified Expert Class as he snatched Q2 and Q3 win, while Nicholas Lee won the Q1 and Q4, means the tie breaker rules handed Nicholas the overall TQ by the fastest time. Ethan Cheng rounded up 3rd for the triple A Main Final. It was a close run between these three racer, Bowie would able to capitalise the win in A1 and A2 which awarded him the title. As Nicholas and Ethan battled it out for 2nd overall in A3 after some close racing which seen the pole sitter grab the 2nd ahead of his fellow countryman. Wee Yuan from Malaysia was all over the contention in Blinky Class. Secured the TQ and overall win in the first two legs. Indonesian’ Dede Supriyatna would made the highest move as he started from 10th and ended up 2nd ahead of Wuzi Sevta who takes 3rd.

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October 31, 2023

Matsukura & Balestri top seeding rounds 2 & 3

With three rounds of seeding complete at the 1:8 Onroad World Championship, three different drivers have topped the times with Infinity’s Dario Balestri the latest driver to top the times in Japan. Toni Gruber kicked off the first day that counts for anything when he took the opening timed practice but an hour & a half later Naoto Matsukura took the round with an even faster 3-consecutive laps. With ranking points from the drivers best two of four rounds determining the heat groups for qualifying tomorrow, Balestri threw his hat in the ring for the Top Seed honours when he went fastest in the third round, track conditions slowing due to the hotter midday temperatures. The latest round would also see reigning World Champion Shoki Takahata have his run so far as he posted a P3 run behind Mugen Seiki team-mate Simon Kurzbuch who was very lucky to survive a driver error during the 7-minute practice.

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October 31, 2023

Gruber tops first time practice in Japan

Toni Gruber has topped the opening round of timed practice at the 1:8 Onroad World Championship in Japan. The Capricorn driver’s fastest 3-consecutive laps around the Infinity International RC Speedway gave him a 3/10th of a second advantage over his closest rival, the same margin of time then covering the next 7-drivers. Better known for his electric onroad exploits, it was Hayato Ishioka who was second fastest driving a Mugen with factory Mugen driver Simon Kurzbuch completing the Top 3. The best represented brand at this year’s World Championship with over half the field running the Japanese manufacturer’s car, it was Naoto Matsukura who lead their charge with P4 for the first of today’s scheduled four seeding rounds. Just 1/100th off, Serpent young gun Andrea Catanzani, who was up in the second last year to go on track, kick his day off with a P5 ahead of Dario Balestri and reigning World Champion Shoki Takahata.

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October 30, 2023

4 busy days of practice conclude at 1:8 Onroad Worlds

After four busy days of practice for drivers at the IFMAR 1:8 Onroad World Championship in Japan, things are finally set to get official tomorrow with four planned rounds of seeding practice to determine the heat order for qualifying. Summing up how practice had gone, many of the international drivers getting their first taste of the Infinity International RC Speedway on Friday, it was mixed reports from some of the leading title contenders. The driver they all will be trying to beat over the next 5-days, reigning Champion Shoki Takahata was looking content and relaxed and reported being pleased with how he was working through his program. With no official timing being published, icon of the sport Atsushi Hara highlighted the Mugen driver as a driver looking strong over the four days. A 1:8 Onroad Worlds podium finisher himself, Hara felt Takahata’s new for 2023 team-mate Simon Kurzbuch was also looking strong. From his own team, Infinity, he thought Dario Balestri was leading their charge with the 2017 World Champion in confident mood when we caught up with him at the completion of the final practice.

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