Nguyen does double on Asian Buggy Championships debut
Young Kyosho star Phi-Long Nguyen has completed the double on his Asian Buggy Championships debut adding the main Nitro Buggy win to his eBuggy victory from earlier in the day in Malaysia. Starting from second on the grid behind Top Qualifier Pekko Iivonen, the American would benefit from the Mayako driver running out of fuel as the second round of fuel stops approached during the 45-minute encounter. Having built up a 12-second advantage over Nguyen and the rest of the 15 car field, a flame out during Nguyen’s first fuel stop adding to the Finn’s advantage, it looked like it was finally going to Iivonen’s big day. A driver who has looked like he has progressed a step up in his driving every time he took the impressive LAP Paradise RC Raceway track here at the second round of the ABC, unfortunately it wasn’t going to be a case of third time lucky. His third appearance in the Team Cayote/VP-Pro backed championship, having raced in the Philippines and Australia last season, he would run out of fuel just before the loop meaning he lost an entire lap on the field. This gave Nguyen, who on taking the win was quick to state his rival was the faster driver in the final despite posting the fastest lap himself, a comfortable lead that he could manage and would never relinquish. 9-seconds back at the finish, Sworkz’s Caleb Noble backed up his win of the season opener in New Zealand with a second place while fellow Aussie Jayden Edmunds completed the podium. Dropping back to fifth after his flame out, a clearly disappointed Iivonen would only be rewarded with a P4 for his otherwise impressive showing with Jared Ment and Ken NG completing the Top 6 on what has been a hugely successful debut visit to a track whose elevation has been a huge hit with racers.
Asked about his race, the winner said, ‘My tyres came in a bit too late and Pekko was already gone. Going from JConcepts’ Double Bar to their Overdose, Nguyen explained, ‘We changed to a different tyre for the final so we would have a better car at the end of the race but they took a little bit longer than expected to come.’ Suffering a series of flame outs during his fuel stops, his father explained that on discovering his fuel gun was leaking, he borrowed a new gun for the final but unlike his own it wasn’t modified for the Kyosho tank and this was what caused the engine cuts. Asked if he felt he could have caught Iivonen had his rival not run out of fuel, the 15-year-old said, ‘I was able to gain a bit when the tyres came in but more because he got held up in traffic. I don’t think I could have caught him. I also wrecked in the back when I was pushing it to try and catch up and my wing broke, not all the way but it looked funny on the track.’ While he had control of the race after Iivonen went a lap down, he said the cuts during the fuel stops meant it was still a stressful race and he was having to hold the throttle high adding ‘then I couldn’t rest which I am trying to learn to do for the 1-hour races.’ The back to back reigning FEMCA Champion, both those wins coming in Vietnam, he said he really enjoyed the track, and a race that experienced a number of rain showers throughout the schedule, he added ,’it was crazy how when it rains you just run again in half an hour to an hour.’
Asked for a run through of his final, multiple ABC race winner Noble said, ‘I’m a little bit frustrated. I ran with them early but also made mistakes early. Overall I drove pretty well but I just made costly mistakes that took me out of it unfortunately.’ In terms of his fuel stops he said, ‘Gauntie (his pitman) did a great job, me not so much. I was a bit happy on the trigger and flamed out but that’s how it is. My tyres were good. I ran silver Dirt Web 2s and they were really good. The car was great and I just made mistakes that cost me a shot at the win.’ As an ABC regular, this the fourth season of the championship, summing up the addition of LAP Paradise RC Raceway to the 2026 calendar, the 19-year-old, said, ‘The track was amazing and everyone involved did a great job.’ Unfortunately retiring with a diff failure while in full control of Saturday’s Nitro Truggy final, the new 2026 Sworkz signing concluded, ‘I am already looking forward to coming back stronger with my new package.’
A driver who described the track as ‘for sure the best track I have ever driven on’, adding that ‘even with the grip it’s still super fun and super rewarding’, Edmunds was pleased with his podium finish. He explained, ‘I had two crashes coming into the pits in the stutters and two flame outs because of that, other than that the race was pretty good.’ A previous Asian Buggy Championships race winner, the 20-year-old, added, ‘I had one big mistake and a couple of incidents with traffic but the car was flawless, the tyres worked really good, and I still have plenty of tread on there.’ Running JConcepts Double Bar Golds, their hardest clay compound, he said, ‘I sort of set out for it to be a sunny for the main and then when the clouds came over it was a bit of a sacrifice but my car was super easy to drive.’ On his podium finish, he added, ‘For what the race was it was a good recovery. It could have gone a lot worse if I started driving bad and pushing too hard and getting frustrated, but I sort of just put my head down and tried to get back into third. Obviously Pekko was very unlucky.’ A sunny Sunday morning at LAP Paradise RC Raceway, with clouds approaching the A-Main driver’s introduction was abandoned so as to get the final underway. A great call from Race Director Scotty Ernst as just as Nguyen crossed the line to win the first rain drops of a short but heavy shower started to fall.
Clearly feeling the low of what could have been, summing up the final Iivonen said, ‘It started out well but I just ran out of fuel at I think the 7-minute (runtime) mark.’ Asked if knew his run time was tight, the 23-year-old said, ‘I didn’t really know it was tight so it caught me quite off guard. I mean tough luck it was barely before the line, if I could have made it over I probably could have got the lap but yeah. The pace was really good, the car was going fast, I was probably the fastest on the track but I couldn’t make it this time.’ A driver who has been under the wing of Invisible Speed’s Joseph Quagraine, who executed a very fast first fuel stop, but was also cautioned about staying in his pit box, giving his thoughts on his driver’s performance today he said, ‘I am happy because it is a step in the right direction. This race Pekko was fast and really consistent throughout qualifying. He was the faster guy in both classes. He didn’t win either class but he was the fastest and I am happy about that.’ He explained, ‘eBuggy he should have won but he started second and was faster than Phi but he was too nice and the problem is if you let the leader know that you are nice they feel safe. That’s why certain drivers, even if they don’t win by being dirty, they show the person in front be afraid because I am fast and I am here. That can make the leader more nervous and they are more likely to make a mistake. So in a sense today has been a good learning experience. He was fast but he didn’t make it happen. You have to make it happen.’ He continued, ‘In Nitro I think he would have won actually, he had a big lead already but he just lost a lot of run time. Tomorrow we will check but I think it’s because of how the engine was tuned. It was tuned in a way that it was fine but too large an idle gap, too rich low end, and lean at the top end. And then when the environment changes the engine tune changes a lot too. So you can say it is bad luck this & that but it’s not. Those small things that you need to prepare even better, so attention to detail. That lap when he ran out he still had another lap so it wasn’t even like it was close. It’s not luck, everyone says it’s back luck, it’s not luck.’ He concluded, ‘This has been a step in the right direction which is good and now Pekko needs to take one more step so I am happy overall.’
