Gruber confirms he’ll defend 1:8 GT World title in Chile

Toni Gruber has confirmed that he will make the trip to Chile in September to defend his IFMAR 1:8 GT World Championship title.  The German won the title for his GT chassis sponsor Hong Nor and engine sponsor Ielasi Tuned in 2023 in Sydney, Australia, on what was only the second running of the World Championship for the category.  With the 3rd edition originally awarded to Peru, issues for that track meant it was moved to Chile and to  the very impressive Club de Aeromodelos de Chile (CACH) facility which houses a variety of RC tracks and airfields and which will also host the 1:8 Onroad Worlds 2-months after the GT event.  With the dramas of both 2024 IFMAR World Championships awarded to South American being relocated to Spain and Thailand, there has been talk of top international drivers not intending on travelling to Chile so we reached out to a number of the potential title contenders to clarify their position on supporting the event.  Gruber, whose title winning reaction photo almost broke the internet, had no hesitation in confirming he will be in Chile for the September 14-20th schedule event.

Reigning EFRA European GT Champion Natanaele Senesi confirmed to us at last month’s MIBO International race that would be travelling to compete in the event.  Italian drivers, whose National GT Championship is ultra competitive, where a force at the 2023 Worlds.  One of the stars to emerge from that race was Andrea Catanzani, and Serpent boss Joaquin De Soto has confirmed the young Italian will be there as part of a full Serpent team.  With GT popular in South America, the Worlds won’t lack numbers and it now appears to be gaining the support of the factory drivers and manufacturers.  Giovanni Crea, owner of Gimar engines and now responsible for putting the Raptor chassis into production, told us his drivers will go and that Alessio Mazzeo will be the leading Raptor driver.  Of those who responded to our question on attendance, inaugural GT World Champion Joern Neumann, initially said Sworks didn’t plan to go as they expected not many others to go but explaining the reaction we had back the German asked to be kept posted.  Neumann won the first title in 2020 in Miami, and was the eGT World Cup winner in Sydney, electric now set for full World Championship status alongside nitro in 2025.

With the track recently hosting ‘Sudamericano 2025’, a race that catered for all nitro onroad classes, Capricorn team driver Thilo Diekmann was one international driver who made the trip to the race and chatting to him on his return he summed up his experience with ‘Chile is a great country’.  Although coming from a 1:8 Onroad stance rather than 1:8 GT, the German was very positive about the facility, the track, the host club and at how cheap it was for accommodation and food.  Diekmann said he also met with the Club President on the Monday after the race who wanted input on were they could improve for the World Championships.  For the 1:8 GT Worlds, well respected international nitro onroad racer Paolo Morganti remains part of the race organisation despite the more of host country.  Having covered the 1:8 GT Worlds for the first time in 2023, an event that was a credit to Michael Stone and the New South Wales RC Club, Red RC intends to travel to the Chile to see how the next chapter in GT unfolds.