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November 9, 2022

Matsukura hits the top at Worlds to take third qualifier

The first day of qualifying at the 1:10 Nitro Touring Car World Championship has provided plenty of variety with the opening three rounds of qualifying seeing as many different drivers post TQ runs, the latest being the reigning World Champion Naoto Matsukura. Kicking off his title defence with a P4 in Q1 and a second in Q2, the Infinity driver hit the top on his third attempt ahead of team-mate Dario Balestri who was able to shadow in the final stages of the 7-minute qualifier. Behind, Tadahiko Sahashi would complete the Top 3. Having TQ’d the previous round, Dominic Greiner would suffer a DNF after the rear belt came off just after the German ace left the pit lane following his fuel stop. Having started the day with a flawless Q1 run to top the times, Jilles Groskamp again flipped and needed marshalling in Q3 but somehow still managed to get a 6th for the round. Jesse Davis continued his strong form from the second fastest heat as he set the fourth fastest ahead of Serpent’s Bryce Butterfield.

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November 9, 2022

Greiner from Matsukura in Q2

It was a battle of the Champions in the second round of qualifying at the 1:10 Nitro Touring Car World Championship with 2016 winner Dominic Greiner posting the TQ run ahead of reigning Champion Naoto Matsukura. Leading out the cars for Q2, Q1 pace setter Jilles Groskamp was on for another strong run until he rolled and needing to be marshalled quickly putting him out of contention. Having done the same thing himself in Q1 ending up with a P7, Greiner’s run to the fastest time was not without its moments. The Top Seed used up a lot of his luck reserves as he did a 360 at the end of the straight somehow without hitting anything and also being avoided by the two cars following behind his Capricorn. Despite this Greiner would come back to take the TQ for the round by 1.6-seconds from Matsukura with Infinity team-mate Dario Balerstri completing the Top 3.

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November 9, 2022

Groskamp takes Q1 in Bangkok

Jilles Goskamp has taken the opening round of qualifying at 2022 IFMAR 1:10 Nitro Touring Car World Championship in Bangkok, Thailand. As we finally got down to the serious business of qualifying following 5 days of practice, the Infinity driver was fastest in the first of the six scheduled rounds. Behind Mugen’s Shoki Takahata was closest, followed by Jesse Davis, the latter making a big improvement on the form he produced in practice. Reigning Champion Naoto Matsukura would open his title defence with a P4 despite an engine cut during his fuel stop with team-mates Dario Balestri and Takaaki Shimo completing. Having topped seeding and leading the fastest heat out of pit lane for the first qualifier, Dominic Greiner would traction roll early on, damaging his car, resulting in him flipping twice more. In the end the 2016 Champion come out of Q1 with a P7.

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November 8, 2022

Greiner is Top Seed in Thailand

Dominic Greiner is the top seed for qualifying at the 1:10 Nitro World Championship in Thailand. The Capricorn posting the fastest time of the day in the fourth & final round of seeding practice. Ending yesterday’s controlled practice at the top of the time sheets, the German found himself only P9 as the seeding got underway this morning at the challenging RC Addict track. Improving to fourth in the second round, he would make his mark on the second half of the day topping the remaining two rounds with his fastest 3-consecutive laps of the day in Round 2 giving him the tie-breaker over Tadahiko Sahashi. Fastest in the opening two rounds, Sahashi lost his edge as the track traction came up, his best 3-laps on his final attempt being 6/10th off that of Greiner. The most consistent driver of the day, Jilles Groskamp completed the day with the 3rd fastest time and that is where he is seeded for qualifying thanks to his second fastest times in the earlier three runs. Posting P4 runs in the final two rounds, Mugen’s Shoki Takahata will carry the No.4 in the top heat while a strong final round for Dario Balestri lifted him from 11th to 5th in the final ranking. An impressive performance from Milan Holthuis sees the young Dutch driver in the top heat as the 6th seed just ahead of reigning champion Naoto Matsukura.

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November 8, 2022

Greiner fastest in 3rd round of seeding

Dominic Greiner finally hit the top of the times sheets in seeding practice ending Tadahiko Sahashi’s run of fastest times in the first half of the day at the 1:10 Nitro World Championship. Only P9 in the day’s opening round, the Capricorn driver improved to P4 in Round 2 before going fastest in Round 3. Mister consistent in practice Jilles Groskamp was P2 for a third time with Sahashi, whose Round 1 time is still the fastest of the day, completing the Top 3. Another of the leading contenders to struggle in the opening round, Shoki Takahata improved his Mugen to post the fourth fastest time. For reigning World Champion Naoto Matsukura, the penultimate round was his best so far as he set the sixth fastest time behind team-mate Carmine Riola. Top qualifier at the previous 1:10 and 1:8 World Championship, Dario Balestri has had a challenging day with the Italian having a best run of P8 in Round 2 leaving him currently sitting 11th which would see him seeded in the second fastest heat for qualifying.

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November 7, 2022

Greiner on top as free practice concludes at Nitro Worlds

Having waited four years for it to come around, it is go time at the 1:10 Nitro Touring Car World Championship in Thailand with Dominic Greiner at the top of the time sheets as controlled practice concludes at RC Addict. After the 14-rounds of practice over the past 2 days, the Capricorn driver set the fastest 3-consecutive laps followed Infinity’s Jilles Groskamp. Reigning Champion Naoto Matsukura completed the Top 3 just ahead of team-mate Jesse Davis while behind it was a trio of 1:8 World Champions. 2017 winner Dario Balestri posted the fourth fastest time from 2013 Champion Tadahiko Sahashi with reigning 1:8 Champion Shoki Takahata completing the Top 6 before the go into four rounds of seeding practice tomorrow (Tuesday).

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November 6, 2022

“I never give up wanting to win”, Balestri says 1:10 World Title “the missing piece”

The first ever event Red RC covered was the 2007 1:10 Nitro Touring Car European Championship in Madrid, Spain. The class was still the new kid on the block and there was plenty of hype about the category. The race would be Xray’s first venture into nitro with them bringing in star names Teemu Leino and Jilles Groskamp from electric touring car in their quest to win with their new NT1. Dario Balestri was the defending Champion and the real star of nitro onroad. He was Italian, he exclusively raced nitro, and he was one of chosen ones for iconic Italian engine manufacturer Novarossi. This was a time when your engine sponsor was the most important element of your race package – without the right power you weren’t going to win and the makers of these little engines were very selective about who got one of the ‘special’ ones! The market also had a newcomer in the engine department in Team Orion, headed up by a certain Adrien Bertin, who to this day is still the only driver to have achieved the double of being World Champion of both 1:8 and 1:10. This was a golden era of 1:10 nitro onroad.

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November 4, 2022

Greiner “very confident” ahead of World Championship despite no previous RC Addict experience.

It is hard to believe that this will be only the fourth 1:10 Nitro Touring Car World Championship appearance for Dominic Greiner. Think about 1:10 Nitro Touring Car and the German is going to be one of the first drivers to come to mind. If ever a driver was branded a class specialist it is Greiner. Making his World’s debut in 2014 he took the TQ and finished on the podium despite a damaged car following a roll during the race. In 2016 he switched that order qualifying third but achieving what mattered most, finishing first to endorse his outright raw speed and put his name in the history book of World Champions. A driver who wears his emotions on his sleeve, we love the passionate energy Dominic brings to big races. Never afraid to speak his mind, Dominic goes to RC Addict for his very first time as one of just three drivers vying to become a double World Champion of the only IFMAR class that up to now hasn’t had a repeat winner.

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