Red RC » Events

July 24, 2009

Champion ends 1st day of qualifying on provisional pole

Dario Balestri is the overnight TQ holder here in Gubbio, Italy, thanks to his time from the first of today’s two qualifiers. The reigning champion said that cooler conditions made for higher traction in the second heat and during his warm up laps he had to adjust the front camber on his Team Magic to avoid traction rolling. The change reduced the amount of steering and as a result he was unable to better his earlier time although he did come close with a time less than 4/10ths off. Very happy to be returning to his hotel this evening as the provisional pole sitter, the factory Novarossi driver paid tribute to his mechanic Danilo Pucci who’s very fast refuelling helped him to achieve the time in what is very close competition. With one second separating the current Top 3, Balestri is confident he can better his time tomorrow.

View our full event coverage here.

July 24, 2009

Balestri off to a good start in EC Qualifying

Dario Balestri has got his quest for a hat trick of European titles off to a good start by TQ’ing the opening round of qualifying for the 2009 EFRA 1:10 200mm Euros. The defending Champion recorded a run of 26 laps in 07:12.928 to beat the Serpent 733 of Jilles Groskamp by 7/10th of a second but the Dutch ace, along with Robert Pietsch and Adrien Bertin, was later disqualified for his bodyshell being under the minimum permitted height. Balestri said his Team Magic G4RS 09 felt good but in the later part of his run the clutch loosened causing his car to be very slow out of the corners.

View our full event coverage here.

July 24, 2009

Groskamp tops timed practice in Italy

Drivers have just completed timed practice here in Gubbio and it is Serpent’s Jilles Groskamp (26/07:10.527) who set the pace over 7 minutes finishing 2.5 seconds ahead of impressive Euros debutant Alexander Hagberg (26/07:13.009). Groskamp, who also posted the fastest lap of the one and only timed practice with 16.044, said he was happy with his pace but felt the traction was much lower today most likely as a result of people walking on the track at last night opening ceremony. The Dutch ace ran 37/40 Xceed tyres on his Max powered 733 but plans to run a harder rear in the qualifiers.

View our full event coverage here.

July 24, 2009

Cragg & Martin take Southport BRCA National

oOple are reporting on the 4th round of the 2009 BRCA 1/10th off road National Championship series held last weekend at the popular Southport buggy track. After a domination by XFactory drivers during the 2WD series thus far, it was looking a similar story with XFactory cars taking the first couple of qualifiers in the hands of Phil Sleigh and Mark Stanley respectively. Round three saw Neil Cragg’s Associated B4 on top and to make it four different drivers from four, Danny McGee put his Losi/Atomic Carbon hybrid CR2 in the top spot. Despite some great pressure especially from Mark Stanley, Neil Cragg dominated the finals – winning all three legs to take his first 2WD National of the season. Reigning 4WD champion for the previous two years, Lee Martin, went out meaning business in the wet early morning of the 4WD event – taking the first three rounds of qualifying before Neil Cragg took the final round. Like Neil had done in 2WD – Lee Martin took all three legs to take the victory after some intense and exciting racing.

Check out the full report, with video and lots for photos, here.

Source: oOple [oople.com]

July 23, 2009

Defending Champion goes fastest in Italy

After being somewhat off the pace, defending champion Dario Balestri (15.950) has got it together topping the last controlled practice here in Gubbio. The Italian had struggled in the opening four sessions but reverting back to his set-up from yesterday he was able to take his Novarossi powered Team Magic around the track in a sub lap record time. Running 37 shore tyres all round, Balestri said the car was now very good and he can look forward to tomorrow’s qualifiers.

View our full event coverage here.

July 23, 2009

Spataro tops 3rd practice in Italy

He was tipped as one to watch when we arrived in Gubbio and so far Biagio Spataro is living up to the hype by setting some super fast times topping the third round of controlled practice with a 15.956. The 15-year-old was helped by running very soft 35 shore tyres which he said made his Xray very fast but he admitted tyre wear was high. Very happy with the consistency of the JP powered NT1 he plans to run the same set-up again in the fourth of today’s five controlled practice sessions.

View our full event coverage here.

July 22, 2009

Newcomers impress themselves in Gubbio

Drivers are continuing to clock up the laps here in Gubbio and walking through the pits this evening one can see a lot more happy faces. One guy with a big smile on his face is World Champion Daniele Ielasi who is carrying all the hopes of 1:10 newcomer Shepherd on his shoulders. Running the sole Velox V10, the Italian said coming to the event he had set himself the goal of making the main final which would be like a victory for the car but the performance of the chassis in free practice is giving him the feeling they can aim higher. Running the same pace as the race favourites, Ielasi said the base set-up of the car is very good and this has allowed them to concentrate on trying lots of different things to see how the car reacts including large tyres.

View our full event coverage here.

July 22, 2009

Drivers settle in at Gubbio

Its another extremely hot day here in Italy as free practice for the 2009 EFRA 1:10 200mm European Championships continues at the beautiful Gubbio track. Drivers will get another six 10 minute sessions today but with no official timing we will have to wait till tomorrow’s controlled practice before we can get a clearer picture of who is doing what but many of the leading drivers say its going to be a very close competition.

View our full event coverage here.