Red RC » R On Road

July 28, 2013

Groskamp wins 2013 1/8th European Championships

Jilles Groskamp has become the 2013 1/8th Track European Champion here in Halifax after a thrilling final saw him take the win after a race long battle with Brit Kyle Branson, Dario Balestri completed the podium. The finals day in Halifax began with a dry track, something that hadn’t happened many times during the week. Hot temperatures began the day but by the time the semi finals were out on track, it had cooled slightly. In the first semi final, Dario Balestri took a dominating win ahead of his Capricorn team mate Daniele Ielasi and Simon Kurzbuch’s Shepherd. Balestri finished on 78 laps in 1208.48 seconds with Ielasi on 77 laps in 1205.55 seconds with Kurzbuch just .91 seconds behind. Adrian Bertin took the final definite place with the new KM prototype car but Patrick Schafer would have to wait and see if he had made the final. The second semi final proved to be a much closer affair with Mark Green taking the win just .32 seconds ahead of the Shepherd of Groskamp. 3rd and 4th in the Semi A, to definitely book their place in the final, were Motonica’s Robin D’Hondt and Mugen’s Kyle Branson. A noticeable person missing from the final would be Robert Pietsch with the German taking his Novarossi powered Mugen to 8th position. Green’s run of 78 laps in 1201.95 seconds proved to be a whole 7 seconds faster than Dario’s winning time in the Semi B, putting Mark on pole for the 45 minute main final.

Continue reading the report here

July 26, 2013

Mark Green is 1/8th Euro A top qualifier

Mark Green is the top qualifier at the 2013 1/8th European A Championships in Halifax. The Serpent driver pulled everything he had out of the bag in the last round of qualifying to take the TQ by 0.14 seconds from Capricorn’s Dario Balestri who held the accolade after the first 4 rounds. With Balestri fastest in the first qualifier, Jilles Groskamp topped the 2nd round with a run of 21 laps in 313.00 seconds ahead of Balestri and Green. With the clock approaching 12:00 at the time of the run, the track proved to be too slow. In the 3rd round, Mark Green took his serpent to the fastest time ahead of Capricorn’s Daniele Ielasi and Mugen’s Kyle Branson. Posting a time of 21 laps in 314.18 seconds, Green again proved that the track was too slow. After the lunch break Round 4 commenced and again Groskamp posted the fastest time to improve by around a second ahead of Dario Balestri and Mark Green hinting ever so slightly that the track was picking up pace as the sun started to go down. With almost every heat prior to the top heat going faster in the final round, the stage was set for something special to come. Dario Balestri would lead for the majority of the heat only for Mark Green to close him down and take the round on the last lap to the joy of the crowd. The stage is set for an exciting set of finals tomorrow.

View the final qualifying results here

July 24, 2013

Belgian touring car nationals Rd5 – Report

The fifth round of the FBA championship took place in Rucphen at the club Mac De Baanbrekers. The weather was awesome and the heat could give the drivers some issues at this fast track. In the Efra class it was Olivier Bultynck who took TQ in front of Nick Joosens and Thomas Stockman. Olivier started well in the first final and Nick tried his best to follow and put some pressure on him but Ollie was a little bit faster and could make a gap on Nick. Thomas followed the two but struggled with his car and later on also scored a DNF as the had to retire in lap 18. Meanwhile Rico Claeys who started 8th on the grid was in third place. Ollie took the win and Nick came in second with Rico taking the third spot.

Click here to continue reading

July 24, 2013

South African national championship Rd3 – Report

The 3rd leg of the South African national championship was held at the KMR Track in Gauteng on the same brutal track that hosted the 2002 Worlds. The race was the perfect mid year event to test the local drivers’ skills and patience with the track being very unforgiving and every mistake got punished. Jason Hillcoat who made the change to Xray a few months back was unstoppable in Modified, his flawless precision driving was amazing to watch. In qualifying he took all three rounds to secure the TQ position for the weekend. On Sunday he raced a clean flawless race yet again to win both the first and second A final securing the overall win.

Click here to continue reading

July 24, 2013

Baggen & Sanza win at RCR Nitro Challenge 2013

The third round of the Belgian nitro on-road nationals took place at the fast track of the Racing Club Roeselare under excellent weather conditions and with a good amount of racers attending. In the 1/8th class that attracted 21 drivers Yves Zoma (Mugen) was the fastest closely followed by Daan Haling (Motonica), Arie Manten (Xray) and Frank Baggen (Serpent). All four pulled 28 laps in qualifying making for some close racing in the finals. Arie Manten, qualifying third was unlucky in his semi as he did not proceed into the final due to a spur gear problem.

Click here to continue reading

July 23, 2013

JJ Wang dominates 2013 Timezone Nitro Grandprix

Mugen Seiki Factory Driver JJ Wang wins both 1/10 Sedan Class and 1/8 GP On Road at the 2013 Timezone Nitro Grandprix in Battle Ground, Washington. Driving his Novarossi powered MTX5, JJ qualified 5th into the sedan A-Main. In the finals, JJ moved up quickly into the lead position and kept the lead to take the win. In the 1/8 GP class, driving the new MRX5 WC edition powered by Novarossi, JJ TQ’d the class with near track breaking lap times. In the 45 minute finals, choosing a tire change strategy, JJ built up enough lead for the tire change to seal the win and take a double victory at Timezone. The Timezone raceway is a European style track here in the USA and the annual race has been a popular event during summer racing.

Source: Mugen USA [mugenracing.com]

July 23, 2013

Tim Altmann wins RC Lemans Series Rd5

The fifth round of the RC LeMans Series 2013 took place at the EVMC track in Velp, NL. 28 drivers attended in the Pro10 class and after qualifying Rene Fischer took TQ in front of Nic Boon and Tobias Weist who put his car on the third spot in the grid. Qualifying was very close with the top five cars all being within 2 seconds. The overall win after the three finals went to Tim Altmann coming from fifth position and taking all three legs. Rene Fischer dropped one place and ended up in second position with Tobias Weist completing the podium. The lower finals went to Joachim Behnken who took the B final and Mathijs Hermens was successful in the C final.

Thanks to Frank Buesener for sending the report.

July 22, 2013

2013 BRCA Touring Car Series Rd3 – Report

This past weekend saw round three of the 2013 BRCA Touring Car Series held at the very popular West London circuit which is located only a stone’s throw away from Heathrow Airport. Going into this round both the Super Touring and Pro Stock championship could be decided with Team Durango’s Elliot Harper gunning for the ‘Super Touring’ title and Team Xray’s Zak Finlay going for the ‘Pro Stock’ title. As qualifying got under way Elliot Harper made his intentions very clear by securing TQ in the first three rounds of qualifying. Schumacher’s Chris Grainger driving the company’s Mi5 chassis was also going strong by securing two second place finishes in rounds one and two. Team Associated’s Olly Jefferies and Serpent’s Chris Kerswell were also in the mix but it was looking good for Elliot who seemed to have just that slight edge over the rest of the pack.

Click here to continue reading