‘I think Dario was racing European Championships before I was born’ – meet Serpent’s 1:8 Onroad young gun Andrea Catanzani
The last time the 1:8 Onroad World Championship was held in Japan it was Serpent who came away with the title thanks to Japanese driver Tadahiko Sahashi. At the same time almost 10,000km away in Italy an 8-year-old was embarking on his journey into RC Racing. Inspired by his father, one of the country’s top Rally Game drivers (the precursor to what we now know as 1:8 GT), this driver started to master his skills driven by view of his father, ‘for me he was the best and I wanted to be like him’. Now a decade later, that up & coming talent is part of a small select factory Serpent team that will compete for the title at the 23rd running of IFMAR’s original World Championship at the Infinity International RC Speedway in Japan. That driver is recently turned 18-year-old Andrea Catanzani, who earlier this month marked his arrival on the international stage with some stunning displays of outright speed and hunger for success at the 1:8 GT World Championship in Sydney.
Onroad racing, whether it is nitro or electric powered, has in recent years had a somewhat stale familiarity to it at podium level. Racers that were winning 10-years ago are still doing so while in Offroad there is a constant emergence of new talents putting the establishment under pressure. As Andrea himself points out, ‘I think Dario was racing European Championship before I was born’. So when a young prospect like Andrea arrives on the scene in onroad it is hard to not get excited. While the timing screens in Sydney verified his raw talent, observing his presence in & around the pits during our coverage of the 1:8 GT Worlds has us excited about this future prospect as we pack our bags to go and cover the story of the 1:8 Onroad Worlds in Japan.
Having established himself as a front runner in the very competitive 1:8 GT Italian Championship, Andrea’s first big venture into 1:8 Onroad only came last year. Making his European Championship debut in Spain, a crash ending his progress in the Quarter Finals, it was this year that things went to another level for him. Giovanni Crea spotted something special in Andrea back in 2017 and has supported his career ever since through his Gimar engine brand, but it was his signing with Serpent in April of this year that Andrea believes has elevated his racing to the top level. Previously racing with small Italian manufacturer BMT, he said the support and development with Serpent is a ‘big thing’. ‘Joaquin (De Soto) is always at the track and able to do mechanic, development of the car is always happening, they are always working to get the best performance.’ This is an environment Andrea appears to relish. Watching him in the Serpent container at the GT Worlds he was locked into deep discussion with Joaquin about changes to the car, something that reflects the final year school goers plans to study CAD.
With Australia his first World Championship experience and one he took in his stride en route to claiming a debut podium finish, Japan will be his first 1:8 Onroad Worlds but he knows it will be no easy task. ‘1:8 Onroad is difficult. It has very fast drivers, all the drivers want to win. I want to win also but I also know I am still learning’. The sport’s longest running World Championship and one stacked with some of racing’s most experienced drivers, asked if he feels the pressure of being a fully supported factory driver, he replied, ‘the most pressure comes from myself. Serpent and Gimar sponsor me to go there and so I want to give them a good result’. Coming into the event off strong results with his last two 1:8 Onroad races netting podium finishes in the Italian National Championship and the ENS season finale, he continued, ‘the goal is to reach the main final. In Portugal (2023 European Championship) I was always in the Top 10 but then I had contact in my Semi Final but I learned from this’.
While his father wasn’t able to travel to Australia, hence Serpent CEO Joaquin stepping in, he will be in back in the role in Japan for what is going to be the biggest race of Andrea’s career so far but this youngster’s hunger for racing seems to suppress any nerves of such an occasion. After the balancing act of fuel and tyres needed at the 1:8 GT Worlds, he agrees the change of category will suit his all out push style of driving better. ‘You have to be smooth in GT, you are thinking in the background about fuel and tyres. Onroad you can focus 100% on push push and the cars also have good steering’. Making yet another trip to a new country, asked his thoughts on the IFS track he answered, ‘from photos I like the track layout, it is similar to Fiorano (Italian track) so I think the track will be good for me’. We are excited to follow Andrea on his WC debut.
2023 IFMAR 1:10 Offroad World Championship coverage presented by Infinity
The third of the four World Championships Red RC will attend this year, starting Monday, 30th October, our coverage of 1:8 Onroad in Japan is being supported by Infinity. Releasing their first car in 2015, the Japanese manufacturer won its first 1:8 Onroad World Championship in 2017 in France with Dario Balestri and last year completed the nitro onroad World Championship set by winning the 1:10 Onroad title in Thailand with Tadahiko Sahashi. As well as producing Nitro Onroad kits, Infinity also offer 1:10 Electric Touring Cars and Formula 1 chassis.
