Red RC

September 9, 2026

Dominant day sees Balestri secure TQ honours in Gubbio, again!

A decade after he claimed his first World Championship pole position, Dario Balestri will once again line-up as the Top Qualifier at the IFMAR 1:10 Nitro Touring Car World Championship after a dominant display of driving on the opening day of qualifying in Gubbio, Italy. Opening the day with a very convincing Q1 performance ahead of defending World Champion Jilles Groskamp, the Infinity driver would go on top all four qualifiers each time ahead of different driver. With expected rain tomorrow seeing the schedule revised from 3 rounds to running a 4th round, a rain shower would delay proceedings just before the half way mark of Q4 with 5pm in the evening looking more like night time as some very threaten rain clouds hovered over the track, but they would get the round completed just as the sunset. While the outcome tomorrow, even if they do get to run the final two rounds, is irrelevant to Balestri’s status as he is locked in as the Top Qualifier, their could be some movement in the magic Top 4, all directly qualifying into the 1-hour title decider. Counting a P2 from Q3 with a P3 from Q4, Xray’s Filippo Domanin holds P2 ahead of Naoto Matsukura and Kyle Branson, the British driver jumping ahead of Groskamp as he took 2nd in the final qualifier after a mistake from Matsukura. Having started out Day 1 of qualifying strongly with a P2, unfortunately that would be the highlight of Groskamp’s day and counting a P5 from Q2, he lies fifth in the overnight rankings.

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September 9, 2026

2 from 2 for Balestri as Matsukura closest challenger

Dario Balestri made it 2 from 2 in qualifying at the IFMAR 1:10 Nitro Touring Car World Championship in Italy, the Infinity driver again leading a 1-2 for the reigning World Champion manufacturer, this time however the gap much smaller to second fastest Naoto Matsukura. With an overcast Q1, the sun broke through the clouds for Q2, making for a slower track but learning from his mistakes in the first one Matsukura put in a error free run to get to within a second of Balestri who again was the only driver to manage 27-laps. Taking the same approach as Matsukura after he had two mistakes in the morning, Xray’s Filippo Domanin completed the Top 3, the finish order the same as how they seeded after practice after a missed lap for the Italian was picked up on the backup timing computer. With their star driver Toni Gruber struggling so far this week, an improved Q2 netting him a P6 for the round, it was returning 2018 podium finisher Kyle Branson who lead the Capricorn challenge. He would post the fourth fastest time ahead of defending Champion Jilles Groskamp while Alex Thurston who took his Mugen Seiki to P3 in the opening round set the 7th fastest time.

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September 9, 2026

Infinity IF14 Speciale Option Parts

Infinity has released a number of new option parts for the 1:10 Electric Touring their IF14 Speciale. In the latest releases are a Suspension Upstop Set for limiting suspension arm up travel and allows fine-tuning of car dynamics by adjusting the front and rear suspension arm up travel. Easily adjustable from the top of the chassis using a 1.5mm hex wrench, the set is compatible with the 1.5mm Aluminium Chassis and Steel Chassis, however it is not compatible with the Carbon Chassis or 2.0mm Aluminium Chassis. Also new is a 2.0mm Graphite Rear Chassis Stiffener which helps improve traction. Chassis flex can also be fine-tuned by changing the mounting screw positions and the number of screws used. This is compatible with the 1.5mm Aluminium Chassis and Steel Chassis. Finally they have introduced new O-RINGs measuring 4.0×1.0mm for a tighter fit in the Ball Socket. Made from a specially formulated, slightly harder material to maintain a consistent fit and feel over extended use, they come as a pack of 12.

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September 9, 2026

Balestri takes opening qualifier at Worlds as rain looms in Gubbio

Infinity’s Dario Balestri has taken the opening round of qualifying at IFMAR 1:10 Nitro Touring Car World Championship, the run even more important with the threat of rain looming at the Gubbio track in Italy. The top seed after yesterday’s timed practice which took place in sunny conditions, the first day of qualifying at Miniautodromo Internazionale Mario Rosati saw racers greeted by overcast conditions with very slight drops of rain even falling as the top two heats completed their the first of their six scheduled run. Originally set to be a day consisting of 3 rounds, with tomorrow looking like it will be rained out, the organisers have now revised the schedule to run four rounds today with the best 2 of 4 to count. Behind Balestri, it was reigning World Champion Jilles Groskamp who was second fastest but some bit back on his team-mate who was the only one to run 27-laps over the 7-minutes. Seeding P5, British driver Alex Thurston completed the Top 3, saying like Groskamp, it was a result of consistency rather than outright speed. Second fastest in seeding 2018 World Champion Naoto Matsukura had a mistake on his opening run that left him P20 of the 114 drivers to post a time. Competing the Top 3 on seeding, up & coming Italian talent Filippo Domanin would also have two mistakes on his run one involving another driver leaving the quick Xray driver to register a P8.

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September 8, 2026

2026 Asian Buggy Championships Rd 4, Indonesia – Chassis Focus Index

Indonesia played host to the season finale of the Cayote/VP Pro backed Asian Buggy Championships over the weekend, with West Side Raceway in Jakarta the battle ground that brought the fourth season of the high profile Asia based 1:8 Offroad championship to a close. It would prove to be a big weekend for Team Associated as their drivers took both the Nitro and eBuggy wins on the impressive Adrian Wicaksono designed dirt track. Securing the TQ honours, Alex Bernadzik went on to win the 1-hour final, the Australian claiming his first international race victory. It was also a major win for Hyunkyu Jung, the talented Korean teenager winning eBuggy ahead of Top Qualifier Pekko Iivonen. We got to photograph both winning buggies for our Chassis Focus as well as the title winning Sparko of new 2026 Asian Buggy Championship double Champion Jayden Edmunds. In total we featured buggies from five different manufacturers including all three nitro buggy podium finishers and fourth place, all representing different car manufacturers. In case you missed any of the Chassis Focus’ during our coverage of the race, we have compiled them all here in our latest Chassis Focus index.

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September 8, 2026

Harper wins final round of British Championship at Adur

Having already secured the overall BRCA British Touring Car Championship title at Round 4 in West London last month, Schumacher’s Elliott Harper wrapped up his campaign with another win at the season finale. Round 5 took place at the Adur track where Harper would secure the TQ ahead of Matthieu Dambrine and Chris Grainger. With the back to back National Champion winning both legs of the A-Main, the podium would be the same order as they qualified. In 17.5 Stock it was Finley Whitelock who took his first National TQ ahead of Ollie Payne and Sam Nicholls, but taking both A-Mains it as Payne who claimed the win ahead of the Top Qualifier with Nicholls third. In FWD, Ethan Southall took the TQ and win.

Image: Schumacher [Facebook]

September 8, 2026

Cyrul launches Cerberus Racing

Well known US onroad racer and RC product designer Josh Cyrul has launched his own new brand Cerberus Racing. Having recently announced he was stepping away from Excelerate RC after three 3-year with the project where he created their Prodigy series of 1:12 and 1:10 electric onroad kits, Cerberus is a new, Cyrul family-owned RC design company built together with his wife, daughters and mother. In announced the new venture the highly experience veteran racer said, ‘After the last few years, I knew that to truly push the boundaries of what’s next in our sport, I needed a space for total creative freedom. I wanted to start a family-run small business where we control our own destiny and invest with our heart and souls directly into pure, uncompromised engineering and design.’ The first Cerberus Racing product will be released this week.

View full Cerberus Racing announcement here

September 7, 2026

Double Buggyland win for Ongaro

Buggyland 12 + 1, the 13th edition of the signature event of Spanish track builder Miguelo Izquierdo Rodriguez, took place over the weekend where it was Team Associated’s Davide Ongaro who took the double win. Missing last year’s event due the 1:10 Offroad Worlds in Australia, having done the Buggyland double in 2024, Ongaro would dominate the weekend securing the TQ before going on to take 1-hour final by 20-seconds from the Sworkz of fellow Italian Mattia Polito. Setting the fastest lap of the final, Polito would have a good battle with team-mate & 2025 winner Juan Carlos Canas in the closing stages of the race. Qualifying 5th, the Spaniard would complete the podium 1.5 seconds back on Polito. Former European B Champion David Todd finished P4 having qualified his Mugen Seiki in 8th, the Top 4 all finishing on the lead lap. Behind the Spaniard, Sparko’s Adrian Pariente and Tekno’s Joao Figueiredo rounded out the Top 6. In eBuggy it was reigning European Champion Figueiredo who topped seeding but come qualifying Ongaro took the TQ ahead of team-mate & eBuggy World Champion Marcus Kaerup and Todd. Qualifying P6, Polito would force the decider to go to A3 as he won A2 ahead of Ongaro but repeating his A1 win in the latter took the overall. They would be joined on the podium Adrian Pariente.

Image: Matrix Tires [Facebook]