June 11, 2023

Orlowski is 1:8 Electric Offroad European Champion

Michal Orlowski is the new 2023 EFRA 1:8 Electric Offroad European Champion.  The seventh running of the championship, the factory Schumacher/Hobbywing driver became the 6th different winner of the title when he took victory at the Rhein-Main Circuit in Germany, ahead of Top Qualifier Bruno Coelho.  With Coelho and Orlowski having two TQ runs each in qualifying, it was the only other driver to top the times, Mugen’s Burak Kilic, who would take the opening A-Main.  Starting third and passing Orlowski early on, Kilic got to the front for the win following a mistake from Coelho.  In the second of the 10-minute encounters it was Orlowski who took the win, the Polish driver going to the front on lap 3 as Coelho got out of shape and eventually crossed the line in 3rd putting him out of title contention.  With A3 the decider between Orlowski, Kilic and local hero Aaron Rönick, who took a second in A2, it was to be an action packed race.  A mistake from Coelho allowed Kilic and Orlowski to go to the front.  As they battled over the lead, Coelho caught them up but out of contention he showed great sportsmanship and allowed the pair to duel it out.  With 2-minutes to go, as Orlowski closed on Kilic at the end of the main straight, there was contact resulting in both drivers needing to be marshalled.  As the field went through and Coelho headed for the win over the Sworkz of Jörn Neumann, 5th and 11th respectively for Kilic and Orlowski gave the Polish driver the over title over Coelho with Kilic completing the podium.

Image: Hobbywing [Facebook]


June 10, 2023

Coelho is eBuggy European C/Ship Top Qualifier

Bruno Coelho is the Top Qualifier at this year’s EFRA 1:8 eBuggy European Championship.  Taking place at Bischofsheim in Germany, the Xray/Hobbywing driver secured pole position for Sunday’s triple A-Main title decider from Schumacher’s Michal Orlowski.  Each driver posted two TQ runs from the 5 rounds of qualifying but a P2 in Q4 gave it to the Portuguese driver as Orlowski had to count a P3 from the same round.  Fastest for the penultimate round, Mugen’s Burak Kilic will start 3rd ahead of the Team Associated of Germany’s Aaron Rönick.  Defending Champion Carlos Canas could only manage 8th on the grid with the driver he took the title from, Team Asssociated’s David Ongaro, securing the final direct qualifying place in the A-Main with P12.  eBuggy’s only multiple champion David Ronnefalk (2016, 2017) starts 10th for Mayako.

Image: Hobbywing [Facebook]


June 6, 2023

Copa America Race Announcement

RCtarget has announced the Copa America Race on September 14-17, 2023, selecting Perú to host the inaugural running of the Nitro Onroad event.  The idea behind the concept is to provide a world class annual event in the Americas.  The intention is to host a yearly race in a different country in order to enable the racers and their families to experience different places, discover new cultures and create exciting memories.  Perú, located in the west coast of South America, offers history, culture and many natural features. The Historic District of Lima, Machu Picchu and the Nazca Lines are just a few of the many landmarks worth visiting. Perú has also being awarded several times as a world leading culinary destination.  All in all, Perú is able to cater to all type of tourist and we welcome all to visit this beautiful country.  The host track, The Miniautodromo Polo Bracale, is located in the Magdalena del Mar district, next to the beach and very close to the most popular districts of Lima.  The driving line has a total length of 280 meters, with a 50 meters straightaway and an average width of 5 meters with the surface is made of fine grade asphalt.  Copa America will cater for 1:10 Nitro, 235mm TC, 1:8 Onroad, 1:8 GT Nitro and Electric.

Source: RCtarget [rctarget.com]


June 6, 2023

RC Bike World C/ship Warm-Up Race Report

The Warm-Up race for the RC Bike World Championship was held at the MAV Aigen-Schlagl track in Austria last weekend.  The track had hosted the World Championships previously in 2019, and so it was great to have many drivers returning again, and also lots of new faces.  A special thanks to Davide from Australia, and Jonathan and Andrew from Singapore who had very long travels to reach Austria!  In Superbike, it was Fabio Tosti who took the pole position, with Cristian Fabbiano very close through qualifying, and Michele Repetati making it three Italian pilots at the front of the grid. Tosti won the first final, then Repetati won the second final, but Tosti took control in the third final to be the overall winner.  Repetati was second overall, with Fabbiano third.  Christoph Gaudard (Switzerland) and Bernhard Renner (Austria) made up the top five.

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June 5, 2023

Balestri wins EFRA GP at Lostallo

Infinity’s Dario Balestri has made it two from two after winning the latest EFRA GP International race which took place at the iconic Lostallo circuit in Switzerland over the weekend.  Winner of the EFRA GP in Leno, Italy back in April, the former World Champion was fastest in qualifying with a best time of 12/4:00.363 set in the final of his three attempts.  His closest rival would be team-mate Carmine Raiola whom he held over a 1-second advantage.  Lamberto Collari, who claimed the most recent of his record nine 1:8 Onroad World Championship titles at the same circuit back in 2009, would qualify third ahead of Capricorn’s Mirko Salemi.  In the half hour final, Balestri posted the fastest lap of the race on his way to victory with Collari in second just 4-seconds back.  With Riola retiring after 10-minutes, Salemi would complete the podium ahead of the Mugen of Massimo Aliprandi.

Image: Dario Balestri [Facebook]


June 4, 2023

Phend & Maifield lift ’23 ROAR Fuel National titles

Dakotah Phend and Ryan Maifield lifted this year’s ROAR 1:8 Fuel Offroad National titles, Phend successfully defending his Buggy crown but hitting late issues that denied a repeat of the TLR driver’s 2022 double Tekno’s Maifield would take the Truggy win.  Hosted by AMain Hobbies’ Silver Dollar RC Raceway in Chico, California, qualifying saw Phend secure the overall TQ honours for both categories.  In Buggy it was Xray’s Ty Tessmann who was his closest challenger as the only other driver to register a TQ run in the four rounds.  Truggy saw Seth Vandalen secure P2 after coming out top of a three way tie-breaker with Spencer Rivkin (P3) and Jared Tebo (P4).  With the 45-minute Truggy Main up first, Phend was on target to retain his title but clutch issues in the final two laps dropped him to third allowing 5th place qualifier Maifield, who mounted a challenge for the lead earlier in the race, to come through to lift his 7th National Truggy Championship 4.7-seconds ahead of Tebo.  After the disappointment of Truggy, Phend was able to convert his qualifying form into victory winning the 1-hour encounter from Maifield with the Team Associated of Rivkin completing the podium.  In the 1:8 Buggy Junior Final Team Associated’s Jonah Wilson took the win from Top Qualifier Andrew Beauchamp with Phi Long Nguyen third.

Image: JConcepts [Facebook]


June 4, 2023

Orlowski wins ETS Season opener

Schumacher’s Michal Orlowski has won the opening round of the ETS at Apeldoorn in the Netherlands.  Having claimed his first ever win in the series at last season’s finale in Daun back in January, the Polish driver registered his first outdoor win ahead of the Awesomatix of Lucas Urbain and Mugen of Erik Dankel as reigning champion Ronald Volker kicked off his title defence with a fourth place.  Getting qualifying underway with a TQ run, Orlowski would start the finals from P2 behind Top Qualifier Marc Rheinard, the Awesomatix driver topping two of the four rounds, while Q2 pace setter Urbain secured 3rd on the grid.  In the opening A-Main, Rheinard would take the win ahead of Urbain and Dankel with Orlowski retiring from the race.  In A2, Rheinard would suffer a spin allowing Orlowski to go to the front and claim a win that put everything on the line in A3.  Leading away the field, Rheinard would suffer an early issue that would allow Orlowski to the front where he would stay to secure the overall win.  Holding second, few laps later, Rheinard’s car came would come to stop at the end of the straight ending his race and leaving the German with only a P7 for his weekends’s efforts.  In Pro Stock Olivier Bultynck enjoyed the best start possible to the season as he took the TQ and win with Lukas Ellerbrock and Max Machler making it an all Awesomatix podium.


May 31, 2023

Lucas Grainer doubles at Slovakian Nationals Rd2

The second round of the Slovakian 1:10 Offroad National Championships took place over the weekend where the Team Associated of Lucas Grainer took the double win.  Racing at the RCcomorra track which is located in Komarno in the South West of the country, in qualifying Grainer secured the TQ in both classes.  The Xray of Roman Dero Pavlus would be his closest challenger in the finals finishing runner-up in both 2WD and 4WD.  In 2WD the Team Associated of Michal Nagy completed the podium while in 4WD the Top 3 was rounded out by the Xray of Lacko Toth.

Image : Thomas Grainer