August 26, 2016

Bruno takes Q4, Volker crashes out

Bruno takes Q4, Volker crashes out

Having conceded Q3 to Ronald Volker with a series of driver errors Bruno Coelho jumped back into control of qualifying at the Touring Car World Championship in China.  Claiming his third TQ run, the Xray driver was to top the fourth round ahead of Marc Fischer as his so far closest rival Volker crashed on the final lap breaking his Yokomo when a P2 was on the cards.   Running in the same heat as Fischer, heat 14 of 15, Akio Sobue would get a third followed by Alexander Hagberg, both drivers not happy with the cars for the round.  Having broken into the Top 6 for the first time in the previous round, Marc Rheinard would again post a P5 run ahead Yokomo’s Nicholas Lee.

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August 26, 2016

Volker capitalises to take Q3 at WC

Volker capitalises to take Q3 at WC

Ronald Volker has TQ’ the third round of qualifying, the Yokomo driver capitalising on a number of mistakes from Q1 & 2 pace setter Bruno Ceolho.  Running in the second fastest heat at the World Championships, Akio Sobue would set the benchmark for the top heat with an impressive time which Volker would just manage to better, his advantage over the 5-minutes only 0.095 of a second.  For Coelho, who ran a slower time than Q2 while everyone else went faster, the round would give the Xray driver a P3 ahead of team-mate Alexander Hagberg.  Having struggled in the opening two qualifiers just scraping Top 10 times, Q3 would be a big step forward for Marc Rheinard as he posted the fifth fastest time the gap to the TQ pace down from over 5 to 1.8-seconds.

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August 26, 2016

Coelho again in Q2

Coelho again in Q2

Having concluded yesterday’s action by taking the opening round of qualifying, Bruno Coelho continues to be the man to beat at the Electric Touring Car World Championships in China. With four rounds of qualifying on today’s schedule, the Xray driver opened the third day of the event with a second TQ run again having the edge over Yokomo Ronald Volker. With Volker setting the early pace, its a blue sky sunny morning in Beijing, Coelho would put in a strong second half to top the times by 1.4 seconds. Behind them Alexander Hagberg would complete the Top 3, the Swede getting ahead of Q1 P3 finisher Viktor Wilck.

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August 26, 2016

2018 ISTC Worlds awarded to South Africa

SouthAfricaWorlds

South Africa will host the next IFMAR ISTC World Championships. The decision to award the 10th running of the Touring Car Worlds along with the 1:12 World Championship was made during the current World Championships taking place in Beijing, China. A former host country, with the city of Krugersdorp venue of the 2002 Worlds won by Surikarn Chaidajsuriya, the 2018 event will take place in the city of Welkom at the Welkom R/C Club facility. With it originally expected no applications would be received from the FAMAR Block, therefore the hosting of the next Worlds falling back to the current FEMCA hosts, South Africa was the only country to submit a presentation. While no dates have been set it is expected the race with most like run in the month of May which is the end of their Summer.

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August 25, 2016

Coelho takes opening qualifier at WC

thu_brugno-1

Bruno Coelho has TQ’d the opening round of qualifying at the Electric Touring Car World Championship in China.  As predicted by his rivals, the Xray driver was fastest as the timing switched to 5-minutes with him topping the first of six scheduled qualifiers.  Setting the fastest lap by over 1/10th of a second, Coelho would take Q1 by almost 2.5 seconds from Ronald Volker, the Yokomo driver having led away the top heat after setting the fastest three laps of the final control practice.  Topping the two rounds of seeding practice, Viktor Wilck completed the Top 3 a second back on Volker, with Alexander Hagberg opening his campaign with a P4.

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August 25, 2016

China to host 2017 IFMAR EP Offroad Worlds

3Circles

With China in the middle of hosting it’s first IFMAR World Championships, and doing a superb job of putting on the 9th 1/12th & ISTC Worlds in Beijing, the country is now set for its second World Championship as the venue for next year’s 1:10 Electric Offroad World Championships has been decided. The 17th running of the championships, the week long FEMCA block event will be held near the city of Xiamen, which in the south east of the country, at the ARC International Raceway.  Having hosted this year’s Chinese National Championships, and with many touring car drivers using its asphalt track for pre Worlds testing, the impressive facility which is part of the 3-Circles battery factory, will build a new dirt track for the WC on the same location as it is current 1/8th scale offroad track. With Red RC having been to the facility to cover the Chinese Nationals and been impressed by the facility, and currently in Beijing for the ISTC Worlds where we have experienced first hand the high standard of event China can put on, we believe this will be an event to remember.

View more images of the facility, here, here & here.


August 25, 2016

Wilck top seed at Beijing Worlds

Wilck top seed at Beijing Worlds

Viktor Wilck is the top seed for qualifying at the Electric Touring Car World Championships in Beijing, the Serpent driver having topped a much faster second round of controlled practice.  With wind causing many drivers problems in the first round, the sun came out for driver’s second attempt at a 3-consecutive lap time and with the wind dying off the track would prove over a second faster.  Having set the pace so far at these unique Worlds, in that no one drove the newly surfaced track prior to the first round of free practice yesterday morning, Bruno Coelho would finish second fastest 0.125 off of Wilck’s pace, their fastest lap times almost identical with only 2/1000ths of a difference between them.  Ronald Volker would complete the Top 3, the Yokomo driver a further 3/10th back.  For World Champion Naoto Matsukura a though first day didn’t get any better with his title defence starting in the 5th fastest qualifying group.  It wasn’t a good controlled practice for his Tamiya team-mate Marc Rheinard either, the 3-time Champion only able for the 13th fastest time.

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August 25, 2016

Coelho masters difficult conditions in 1st control practice

Coelho masters difficult conditions in 1st control practice

Bruno Coelho mastered difficult track conditions on Day 2 of the Electric Touring Car World Championships in Beijing this morning to top the first round of controlled practice.  Having topped yesterday’s six rounds of free practice, the Xray driver again was fastest but with wind effecting track conditions it was not a repeat of the 1-2 the Slovakian manufacturer witnessed on the opening Day.  With Hagberg managing only P10, pulling up with a minute to go as he clearly struggled with his car, there was a marked improvement from reigning manufacturer champions Yokomo.  Only p5 in free practice, Ronald Volker would set the second fastest time, albeit 7/10ths off Coelho over the best 3-consecutive laps, with team-mate Loic Jasmin completing the Top 3.

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