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November 16, 2022

Simon Kurzbuch joins Mugen Seiki Europe

Following the announcement last month of his departure from long time chassis sponsor Shepherd, it has been announced that Simon Kurzbuch will drive for Mugen after Mugen Seiki Europe announced the former World Champion had joined the Japanese manufacturer’s International team. Describing the Swiss driver as ‘a strong addition’ to the team, he will race their MRX6X throughout all major and international events. Commenting on the announcement Kurzbuch said, “An existing new journey ahead! I’m delighted and honoured to announce to partner up with the iconic Japanese brand Mugen Seiki for the future! The first insights have convinced me and my team entirely and we are looking forward to a close and fruitful collaboration with the whole Mugen Team, with MSE and Stefan Habbecke and of course with one of my childhood idols and car designer Robert Pietsch.”

Source: MSE [Facebook]

November 12, 2022

Sahashi gains elusive ‘Double Champion’ status with victory in Thailand

Tadahiko Sahashi has gained elusive ‘Double Champion’ status with victory at the 1:10 Nitro Touring Car World Championship in Thailand. Starting 5th on the grid, the Infinity driver becomes only the second ever driver to win both the IFMAR 1:8 and 1:10 Nitro Onroad, Adrien Bertin’s feat finally being matched 18-years after the Frenchman became the first to achieved it in 2004. A final that would see a number of drivers take turns at the front, when it counted most it was 2013 1:8 Champion Sahashi that lead them home. Behind, there was an intense battle for second as Dominic Greiner came under pressure from long time leader Jilles Groskamp but the only non-Infinity driver in the final was able to stave off the challenge. Making his first Nitro World final, Electric Touring Car ace Viktor Wilck had an impressive race to fourth, his trademark colour scheme having been out front during the race. Another finalist chasing ‘Double Champion’ status at RC Addict this week, Dario Balestri had the title in his grasps until he suffered a flame out as he left the pits following his tyres stop. In the end the Italian would finish 5th. Outgoing champion and Top Qualifier here in Bangkok, Naoto Matsukura was pulling clear early on. The tricky conditions however caught him out a number of times. The flip coming onto the main straight that sent his car into the bushes lining the outside of the track ultimately ending his chances of becoming the first driver to defend the title with 8th his final position at the end of the 1-hour encounter.

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November 12, 2022

Greiner and Groskamp take convincing Semi wins

Dominic Greiner and Jilles Groskamp took convincing Semi Final wins at the 1:10 Nitro Touring Car World Championship as the final grid to decide the 9th running of the Championship is set in Thailand. Up first Greiner drove a controlled race with it looking like it was going to be a Capricorn 1-2 as Alex Thurston put in a great drive. Holding second, his dream of a first World Final was suddenly dashed when the British driver ran out of fuel. This promoted Brayden Stanley, who was shadowing Thurston for most of the race, to second with Andy Moore coming through to complete the Top 3 after his car had been on its roof on the opening lap. Unfortunately having looked to be in contention to come from last in qualifying and through to the final, a mistake from Teemu Leino ended his run of bump-ups with the 30-minute encounter also being the end of the road for Meen Vejrak, champion here in 2012, current 1:8 World Champion Shoki Takahata and Takaaki Shimo. The second encounter, the last chance to join Top Qualifier Naoto Matsukura and Super Pole winner Dario Balestri in the 1-hour title decider, Groskamp took the win. A slower race than the previous Semi he starts fourth behind Greiner, who will be the only non-Infinity driver on the grid. Tadahiko Sahashi will again get a go at doing the Nitro Onroad double, the 2013 1:8 World Champion crossing the line second followed by Viktor Wilck, the Electric Touring Car ace securing his first nitro final appearance. With the Top 3 directly progressing, the grid is completed by the next fastest two drivers in the Semi results, Chavit Sligupta and Jesse Davis getting that done in the second Semi with 4th and 5th.

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November 11, 2022

IFMAR publish provisional ’23 World Championships dates

Just as we are about to crown the final World Champion of the comeback year that is 2022 at the 1:10 nitro Touring Car World Championship in Thailand, IFMAR has published provisional dates for the 2023 encounters. A total of four World Championship events will take place starting with 1:10 Electric Offroad which is scheduled for September 9-17th at Hobby Action in Arizona, USA. Added as a new World Championship class and taking place at the beginning of 2020 just before Covid, 1:8 GT will travel to Sydney, Australia from October 8th to 15th. Later the same month the 23rd running of IFMAR’s oldest class, 1:8 Nitro Onroad, returns to Japan for the third time from October 27th to November 4th. The final World Champion will then be crowned in November when 1:12 takes place from the 6-11th. Having covered our first World Championship in 2017 (1:8 Onroad, Argentina) and attended a World Championship every year since then, we are looking forward to continuing to tell the story of how each race unfolds.

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November 10, 2022

Balestri wins thrilling Super Pole shootout

Having taken the final qualifier but missed out on the overall TQ to Infinity team-mate Naoto Matsukura, Dario Balestri pulled off a blistering lap to win a thrilling Super Pole shootout to book his place in the 1:10 Nitro Touring Car World Championship on Bangkok. Following a 5-minute group Warm-up for 2nd through 5th place qualifiers, each driver was given their own 3-minute warm-up that would lead them into 6 attempts to set a single lap time and try to secure their place on the grid with defending Champion Matsukura. Qualifying 5th, Tadahiko Sahashi would be the first to go with the former 1:8 World Champion deliver an impressive 14.9 second lap, a time only seen once in qualifying and also set by the Japanese driver. Next up it was Dominic Greiner but it was clear the 2016 Champion was struggling as he rolled a number of times during his warm-up. Things didn’t improve for the timed laps and flipping again he would abort early. Taking the stage next, onlookers cheering each driver as they took up position, Jilles Groskamp would set a new benchmark beating Sahashi’s already impressive time with just one challenger remaining. Step up Balestri, but his warm-up suggested he wasn’t going to do it. A flip would leave the rear wing hanging off his car forcing him to pit and loose valuable warm-up time. Initially his timed laps posed no threat to Groskamp but then out of nowhere the Italian launched his car at the finish line riding the curbs to produce a 14.8 second lap that sent both him and the crowd crazy. Top Qualifier of the previous running of these Championships, he had booked his place in the final while the others will have to race through from the Semi Finals.

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November 10, 2022

Matsukura to defend World title as Top Qualifier

Naoto Matsukura is to defend his 1:10 Nitro Touring Car World title from pole position, the Infinity driver becoming Top Qualifier after his TQ time from Q3 gave him the tie breaker over team-mate Dario Balestri. Three drivers went into the sixth & final qualifier vying to secure the pole position for the 9th running of the World Championship. With Balestri delivering an impressive performance his IF15 cornering on 2-wheels through out the 7-minutes as Matsukura tried to match his pace. While Matsukura couldn’t do so, unfortunately a slower track mean’t Balestri’s time was 1.2 seconds short of what he needed to repeat his 2018 TQ start. The other contender for the top spot, Jilles Groskamp would get a P4 for the final effort behind Tadahiko Sahashi, a result that would count towards his third overall ranking. Having TQ’d the second round of qualifying yesterday Dominic Greiner would flip in the warm-up, although not in contention for the overall TQ he damaged his car and had a DNF but overall ends up fourth so get so second chance to book a direct spot into Saturday’s 1-hour final with Super Pole. Qualifying 5th in the final ranking ahead of the countryman Shoki Takahata, Sahashi is the final driver who will try to lay down the fastest lap later this evening in that Super Pole shoot out to try join Matsukura in the final.

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November 10, 2022

Balestri TQs penultimate qualifier in Bangkok

Dario Balestri finally hit the top of the time sheets in qualifying at the 1:10 Nitro World Championships, the Infinity driver TQ’ing the penultimate qualifier to become the fourth different driver to do so. Again various drivers took turns at setting the pace. Naoto Matsukura was looking like he might secure the over TQ a round early, but having kept his car on four wheels to take the previous two rounds he could repeat that and needing to be marshalled he got a 5th for the round. It was a similar story for the other two drivers to post TQ runs as both Jilles Groskamp and Dominic Greiner flipped, the latter still managed P2 while Groskamp ended up fourth behind Mugen’s Shoki Takahata.

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November 10, 2022

Day 2 of quali kicks off with another TQ run from Matsukura

Defending Champion Naoto Matsukura has become the first driver to register multiple TQ runs at the 1:10 Nitro Touring Car World Championship. Day 2 of qualifying at RC Addict in Bangkok witnessed one of the more unusual causes for a delay in the timetable as works on trees running on the street forced the action to be halted halfway through the fourth round. While outside the track, there was saw dust from the tree cutting and the large chunks of tree being craned away were very close to the track edge caused about an hour delay to proceedings. With the section of track clean by the club when qualifying resumed each of the remaining heats was given an extra minute of warm-up time. In the end it was Matsukura who picked up from where he left off in Q3 yesterday to top the times from Infinity team-mate Jilles Groskamp and Takaaki Shimo. After posting a TQ run in Q2, Dominic Greiner would be on target for a second TQ at one stage until he flipped. Dario Balestri suffered similar faith in the edgy track conditions.

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