September 17, 2025

Catanzani takes control in Q2 & 3

Serpent’s Andrea Catanzani has taken control of qualifying at the IFMAR 1:8 GT World Championships in Chile, the Italian producing back to back TQ runs as he topped the times in the second & third rounds of qualifying as things warm-up a little in Santiago.  With a cold start to qualifying this morning, the sun finally burned it’s way through the earlier fog with the snow capped mountain in the distance making up the back drop to the track as Q3 completed the first half qualifying.  Complaining of the cold after Q1, Catanzani would outpace Top Seed and Q1 winner Alessio Mazzeo by 1.1-seconds at the second time of asking, this time three drivers managing to put together 20-lap runs, the third of those being Capricorn’s Alex D’Angelo.  With Mazzeo having to pit during Q3 for an engine adjustment, D’Angelo would get a P2 for that round but Catazani’s advantage was now 2.2-seconds as he improved by almost 3-seconds over the 7-minutes despite feeling his car’s performance faded in the later part of the run.  Natanaele Senesi completed the Top 3 ahead of the WIRC of Brazilian nitro onroad racing stalwart Elias Flavio which overall means as it currently stands at the half way stage it is an all Italian line-up in the all important Top 4, direct to final, qualification rankings.

Changing his car after Q1, Catanzani said for Q2, ‘it was a little bit better, maybe more easy to drive, but still not perfect as it felt lose.’  Despite it not to his full liking the talented nitro onroad star still managed a TQ run and with the weather warming up together with a small set-up change he was confident for Q3.  However in the warm-up he said the car was even more lose than before causing him some concern but when the start of the timed 7-minutes came round the car was ‘really good’.  For the last 2-minutes of the run however the rear started to get lose and they are now considering a further change to end out the day.  Even if Catanzani can go three in a row, the overall TQ will remain up for grabs going into Day 2 of qualifying, with two more runs on the cards tomorrow along with lower finals.

Describing Q2 conditions as the same as Q1, Mazzeo explained, ‘Our car was super loose for Q2, but also in the middle of the quali I was unlucky when another car touched my body and it tucked and I drove all of the run like that.  Because of this I lose the change to fight with Andrea.’  On his third qualifying attempt he said, ‘now the track is warmer and my car was super nice, we made a small change to it for the run, but we had a small technical issue during the run when we were leading and we had to stop but the car was super.’  Quizzed about the issue, the Raptor/Gimar driver said his engine was too lean explaining this happened because it was much hotter for that round.  With Q4 wrapping up the first day of qualifying here at CACH, Mazzeo said, they ‘will do nothing to the car’ adding that the warmer it gets the better it suits his car.

Switching to a brand new set of tyres for Q2, his fifth run on the set he used for Q1 proving a little too much for the rubber, D’Angelo said his ‘pace was not bad’.  He continued, ‘my engine was a little too rich in the tuning so I had to manage it more and as a result I had less top speed and on the last lap the engine was shutting down but we managed to finish the round.’  Now with a fully broke in set of tyres for Q3, he would also make some small changes to his car, both for the hotter weather and also as part of the general quest to improve the car.  Leaning out his engine, he said it was better but still too rich, but this time he ‘could push the entire round and get P2.’  Overall the 2023 Worlds Top Qualifier said their biggest issue is still to make the car work in the first 2-minutes adding ‘the first 5-6 laps is were the gap to the top is, in the middle we are similar and at the end they have to manage fuel more and slow down.’   He concluded, ‘the focus is on the Top 4, to do the main final directly, and to work on the car to have a better situation in the main.’

Summing up his Q2 & 3 runs, on his P4 in the second qualifier Senesi said, ‘We changed to 60k oil in the diff for Q2 and while we thought it was better at first, towards the end we lost a little traction and the car out of the corner was not so fast as the first one even though the weather was a little better.’  Also taking into account how much the weather heated up for Q3, he would go back to 80K oil describing that combination with the hotter track as ‘way better’.  He would however suffer a different issue as midway through the run he overheated his tyres a little and with them ‘out of temperature’ he dropped off the pace.  Feeling this cost him 6/10th of a second and a potential P2, he said once they cooled down again he ‘was there again’ in terms of his rivals pace.  Looking to Q4,  the 1:8 GT specialist said the plan is to ‘run same car, same everything, and just try to manage tyres’, Q4 will be his fourth run on same set of the championship’s controlled Sweep tyres which he started out with in Q1.  With Top 4 his goal for qualifying, he said after that the 1-hour final becomes ‘a completely different game and you push in a different way.’

September 17, 2025

Mazzeo tops opening GT Worlds qualifier in chilly Chile

Raptor’s Alessio Mazzeo has taken the opening qualifier at the IFMAR 1:8 GT World Championships in Santiago, Chile, drivers at the 3rd running of the championships experiencing chilly conditions at the Club de Aeromodelos de Chile track.  Having topped yesterday’s seeding practice, Mazzeo was able to maintain his form as the driver to beat despite temperatures today being 10-degrees cooler than the previous days of practice.  The only driver to manage 20-laps over the first of the six 7-minute runs, the large circuit with its blue infield proving a big hit with drivers, Mazzeo’s closet challenger would be 2023 Sydney Podium finisher Andrea Catanzani – that was once the Serpent driver had a post tech disqualification revoked for failing the rear wing height inspection when it was discovered the measurement was incorrectly taken.  2.5 seconds off Catanzani, Capricorn’s Alex D’angelo completed the Top 3 ahead of Natanaele Senesi who posted the fastest lap of Q1 with Puerto Rico’s Carli Lopez recording a P5 ahead of IGT8’s Diego Morganti.  With IFMAR referee Javier Garcia summing up the CACH facility best when he called it ‘A Disneyland for RC’, unfortunately it looks like GT’s opportunity to shine on its stage could be dampened by the weather which is set to turn bad going into the weekend.  With that in mind, today drivers face a busy schedule of 4-rounds of qualifying with the final two rounds scheduled for tomorrow as IFMAR look to beat the weather in that particular off track race.  Based off that revised schedule, the new 1:8 GT World Champion, as unfortunately Hong Nor’s Toni Gruber made a late decision not to travel to Chile and defend his title, is set to be now crowned on Friday.

Well wrapped up in his Raptor winter jacket, Mazzeo reacted to his TQ run by saying, ‘the car worked good like yesterday even though today the track had less grip because it is super cold, like 10-degrees less compared to yesterday.  So there was a big question how the car would work but it was good.’  Running a new set of tyres for the opening qualifier, the Italian said, ‘I’m not sure it was the right choice’ explaining that the first few laps slick tyre’s mould line means the full tyre surface isn’t working.  As a positive however he thinks he should have the best tyre possible now for Q2 that this set is fully broken in.  Asked about changes for Q2, the former 1:10 Nitro Touring Car World Championship podium finisher, replied, ‘We leave everything the same.  My car is better for the warmer conditions so I hope it will become warmer’.  While that was the case over the previous days, teams pitting with containers needing to switch the heating in the morning to air condition by midday, the foggy conditions that created drivers this morning do not appear to be clearing.  On the CACH track, Mazzeo called it, ‘One of my favourite tracks, also the location and the facilities’.  The 33-year-old also congratulated the organisers of these Worlds on the their choice of controlled tyres, saying the Sweep’s D-SPEC GT 40 tyre are ‘perfect for this class’.  The Gimar engines factory driver also gave a thumbs for choice of controlled fuel, which is supplied by Italy’s Energy Fuel.

Initially disqualified for his rear wing being too high, something the 20-year-old was at loss to explain when he was informed given the same wing passed pre-Tech yesterday, Catanzani was relieved to have his P2 count after much deliberation and to & fro’ing to the tech room.  In the end in it transpired that the blocks the cars are placed on where to far apart and the reading had been taken from the front tapered section of his Serpent’s chassis plate causing the front to sit lower and the rear higher making it not inline with the height of the roof of the body.  On the run itself, the recently crowned Italian GT National Champion said, ‘It was not easy because today is like new condition because it has never been cold like this so the car was not really easy to drive.  Also the driver was not good because my fingers were freezing.’  For the next qualifier, he said, ‘we have to check if we can change something on the car to be easy to drive.’

Joining Capricorn for 2025 from Genius Racing, with whom he was Top Qualifier at the previous World Championship,  D’angelo explain, ‘We were on completely used tyres which we did four rounds on yesterday and while the car was good we suffered with making the tyre work in the first 2-minutes.’  He continued, ‘After that we were level on pace with Catanzani, maybe Mazzeo is a bit faster, but let’s see what we can do with fresher tyre in Q2.’  Referring to the cold, he said, ‘In this condition the grip is not good at all cause yesterday everybody went a lot faster and also the humidity is really high and I think if you have a good used set it is good but my set was too old.  Also yesterday I hit a curb so the rim was also slightly broken.’  On his car set-up, he said the only change they made for today was to adjust the rear toe.  Describing the track layout as ‘really cool’, the Italian said he had concerns before driving it that the straight was too long for GT but since driving it he was happen to be proven wrong saying ‘it fine for the GT class.’

Reacting to his first qualifying effort and how his Xray based Senesi Motorsport S21GT ran, Senesi said, ‘It was a little bit slippery in the beginning because the temperate is lower so I think my rear diff was too high in the oil viscosity so it took a lot of time to get up to temperature.’  He continued, ‘The mid to the end of the run was good and I was able to set the fastest lap of the heat, so the car was there, we just lost a few seconds at the beginning so for the next round for sure we will go lower with the diff and try to be there with the pace from the start.’  On the weather conditions he explained, ‘Usually during the morning it is like 10-degrees hotter but now it is very cold, and during the afternoon it goes to about 25-27 degrees so today is sure much colder and you need to find small changes to make the car perfect.’   Another to opt to start qualifying with a new set of tyres he said, ‘Considering I was on new tyres, which in my opinion are not fastest, as is the case in Touring Car, because you are not able to use the full surface.  Asked how he is enjoying the track, the 2024 European GT Champion said, ‘It’s a huge track but I really like it and I think with the compromise they made with the tyres & track it is very good because these tyres you are able to run more than one round and have the car always consistent which is a big plus and I am super happy for that.’

July 20, 2025

Bernadzik reigns as rain halts Asian Buggy Championships Australia

Team Associated’s Alex Bernadzik converted TQ honours at the Australian round of the Cayote backed Asian Buggy Championships into the win but unfortunately Mother Nature put an early halt to what was building into an epic battle in Brisbane.  Having TQ’d all three hostings of the Asian Buggy Championships at the Pine Hill Dirt Racing track, Bernadzik led away the race’s most stacked international field yet for what was original scheduled to be a 1-hour final.  While the intimidating dark clouds started to gather in the distance, racing got underway in the sunshine and the early pace was hot but all the time the darkening skies were moving in.  Unfortunately for Kouki Kato and Tyler Jones, the latter got into the eBuggy winner Kato on the opening lap sending the Infinity and Sparko drivers dropping to the back of the field.  The American did show great sportsmanship in waiting after the contact with the talented Japanese driver.  Up front it was Bernadzik who led from Pekko Iivonen, but 6-laps in, the home favourite made a mistake allowing the fourth place starting Finn to take over at the front.  From there he looked very strong as he led the field into the first round of pit stops just after the 7-minute mark.  While touching the wall on the tight pit lane entry, once the first & only stops were completed, it was still Iivonen who was in charge.  Coming up on 10-minutes however a mistake would hand the lead back to Bernadzik with Kato, who briefly took over the lead during the fuel stops and was now firmly back in the game, also going through for second.  Locked into their intense battle, Jones having worked his way up to fifth behind 2024 winner Caleb Noble, little did the drivers know they had less than 3-minute left to play things out.  A track that drew huge compliments from drivers for both it surface and size, unfortunately one of the downsides of its oiled dirt surface is that oil & water don’t mix!  As soon as the lightest of drops started falling the effect on the cars was immediate forcing Race Director Scotty Ernst to call the race just shy of 13-minutes – the heavens opening up shortly after.  While the disappointment of having their entertainment cut short clear on everyone’s face, including Bernadzik, a result is a result and Bernadzik goes down as the third different winner of the 2025 Asian Buggy Championships season.  Less than a second back Kouki had to settle for second while Iivonen completed the Round 3 podium.

Reacting to his win, Bernadzik said, ‘Kouki was super fast and honestly it doesn’t feel the greatest to win like that but at the end of the day it is an official result so you’ve got to take it.’  On his performance in the shorter that expected race, the former Australian National Champion said, ‘Everything was running good.  My car was a little bit hard to drive, I think the track conditions changed today with longer mains on it, but the car was good.  I had a few small bobbles which probably cost me so I could have been well ahead at that stage, but yeh I’ve got to take it.’  On his one & only pit stop, the 23-year-old said, ‘the fuel stop was sweet.  We were going with 7:30 stops just to be safe cause fuel economy gets a bit risky going into a 1-hour final.’

‘I’m unlucky but this is racing so it is what it is’, was a clearly disappointed Kato’s thoughts on the final.  Winning the eBuggy A-Main earlier in the day ahead of Bernadzik, and agreeing the Nitro Final was just starting to shape up to be a great race, on his buggy’s performance he said, ‘the car was really good, the speed was also good, it was also consistent and we were close to Alex.  Everything was good but we didn’t get enough time to show it.’

Summing up his race, Iivonen said, ‘The start was super good, the car felt actually the best it has been the entire event but I think after the first pit stop the car started to feel maybe too soft or something.  It started to feel to slippery in the rear and a bit uncomfortable to drive so it made it quite hard and I made some stupid mistakes on my own and basically then I lost it.  It could have been better for sure.’  Feeling he may have been to soft with his shock set-up, asked if he may have struggled if the final had run the full hour he said, ‘it depends, I don’t know how it could have been but it really felt like it wasn’t good anymore compared to how good it was at the start because it was really really good.’

Asked about his final, Jones said he was, ‘pretty bummed on that.  I put on a newer set of tyres for the final and I think I should have went out on an older set because they just took a while to come in. I unfortunately hit Kato right off the start and I’m a nice guy I’m always going to wait so I waited and I went all the way back to last.  I took off and I was coming and just got up to fifth and the rain hit and unfortunately they called it so ended up there’.  My stuff was good all week, I’m excited where I ended and I’m ready for next year already.’  With the race marking his first time travelling outside of the US, asked how he found the experience, the 25-year-old replied, ‘definitely one for the books.  I had a lot of fun with Ben and Walker.  Hopefully I get to see some stuff before I head home tomorrow but a super cool, once in a life time, experience really and I hope I can come back next year.’  He added, ‘Scotty’s events are always good, good program, tracks are always good, so hopefully I can make a few more next year.’

View Main result here

July 19, 2025

3-in-row as Bernadzik is Top Qualifier again ‘Down Under’

It’s the third season of the Cayote backed Asian Buggy Championships, the third time Pine Hill Dirt Racing track has hosted the Australian round, and completing the hat trick Team Associated’s Alex Bernadzik has just secured the overall TQ for the third year in a row.  With this year’s event attracting its biggest ever international entry, it was the Australian who delivered in the deciding fifth & final round of Nitro Buggy qualifying.  With Japan’s Kouki Kato and American Tyler Jones the other TQ contenders, having taken the first two rounds of qualifying on Thursday, Infinity’s Kato would be the first to bow out as he crashed on his first flying lap and suffered a flameout.  Sparko driver Jones also crashed on his first lap giving Bernadzik, who already had the fastest qualifying run from Q4, the breathing space for a second TQ run.  This time his closest challenger was Mayako’s Pekko Iivonen, the gap 1.531-seconds at the end of the 5-minutes.  Overall, behind Bernadzik it will be Kato who lines up second on the grid followed by Jones, Iivonen and last year’s winner Caleb Noble.

Pleased to turn around his qualifying, having lost out on earlier TQ run due to late driver errors, on becoming the Top Qualifier, Bernadzik said, ‘That was really clean.  I haven’t checked the times but I was told my times were pretty much 31-seconds every single lap.  The car was the easiest its ever been to drive.  A nice & safe run and got it done’.  Converting his 2023 TQ into a win, but comingup one place short last year, on tomorrow’s 45-minute Main he said, ‘I think it is all just tyres now.  I was running a slightly newer set of tyres there.  I ran them in EP first and then by the end of the EP run they were coming on good so for nitro they hit the ground running straight away.’  Also securing the eBuggy TQ, he will now use those tyres for the electric triple mains and plans to brake in a new set of tyres for the Nitro Buggy Final.  With tyre wear of no concern, the wear minimal on the oil treated dirt surface, in terms of fuel he said, ‘it’s quite a slow entry into pit lane so if we can get away with doing 9-minute stops we can probably save 8 or 9 seconds.  We’ll do a full test run tomorrow in practice, but if we can we’ll do 9-minute stops.’

Despite his crash/flame-out denying him a chance of the overall TQ, Kato said once he got his buggy back on track ‘it was not so bad’ following changes made between rounds.  Changing the rear shock position, the Japanese 1:10 Buggy Champion said it was slightly better and in the practice tomorrow they will go more in that direction with set-up to try further improve the buggy.  On the subject of run time, the two Asian Buggy Championships race winner replied, ‘for me 7 & a half is easy’ before adding ‘9-minutes maybe not.’

‘Disappointing honestly’ was how Jones described the final qualifier.  He explained, ‘I put a new set of tyres on to scrub in for eBuggy, they were pretty good straight off the bat but I hit the tube on the back stretch and had a super long marshal so that pretty much ended the run right there.’  He continued, ‘When I got marshalled I got put right in front of Alex and he was on a good run so I kind of moved over and followed him for the rest of the heat.’  Trying Hotrace’s new Napoli tyre in the final eBuggy qualifier he said, ‘On my car it was too numb.  I probably could have changed my car.  They weren’t bad, they were just slow and didn’t really turn so I’ll stick to Sahara which is what I have been running all week.  I had the Napolis mounted so I just wanted to try them to see and now I got that out of my head,’  On the final, he said, ‘my car is really good and I am super comfortable going into the final tomorrow so I’ll just mount some tyres and hangout with the boys.’  Running 10-minutes in the last qualifier, on run time he said, ‘I think we can go comfortably on 9s (minutes)’.

One of the success stories of the Mayako Youth Mentoring Program, on his final qualifier Iivonen said, ‘It was better, the car felt better again.  It was a bit uncomfortable, and a bit sketchy but still we need to work on the car for this tyre’.  With that tyre being Jetko, the Finn having started out on the event on 6mik, he said, ‘It has much more forward traction and the pace looked better so will stay with the tyres and figure out the car in the practice tomorrow – I think I can find something.’  On the final he said, ‘Starting fourth is not too bad, any thing can happen in the final and people are making mistakes so well see.’  Another who believes his ‘run time should be fine’, the 22-year-old plans to use the Main Final practice session to make a final call on his fuel stop strategy.

‘Besides crashing on the first lap the last one wasn’t too bad’, joked Noble when asked about final qualifier, the Tekno driver setting the third fastest time to go with his P2 from the opening qualifier.  He continued, ‘It was pretty clean after that, we are chipping away at the car and it’s getting closer.’  Asked if can be in the mix from 5th on the grid, he replied, ‘I think if the car is a little better I think I can be in the mix for at least a podium, which I would be pretty happy with.’  On what he is thinking to change on the car to find a little more speed he said, ‘Maybe a little thicker shocks and maybe go up in the diffs a little bit.  I don’t want to do too much cause the car is pretty close, its just I can’t really push it but it is better than it was this morning so that a good sign.’  On run time, the 18-year-old said, ‘my run time is actually better than its ever been.  We reckon I can do towards 9-minutes, we’ll double check that in the warm-up tomorrow.’

View full results here

July 19, 2025

Chassis Focus – Atsushi Hara (Sworkz)

Chassis – Sworkz S35-4EVO
Engine – O.S. Speed B2105
Fuel – VP Fuel 30%
Tires – VP Pro 801
Radio – Futaba 10PX
Servo – Futaba CB700 (steering & throttle)
Body – VP Pro 8019

Image Gallery

July 19, 2025

Bernadzik delivers on speed to take Q4 in Brisbane

Having been super quick throughout the first two days of action at the Australian round of the Asian Buggy Championships, Team Associated’s Alex Bernadzik finally delivered a TQ run when he took the penultimate round of nitro buggy qualifying at Pine Hills Dirt Racing track.  Opening Day 3 of the event with a third TQ run in eBuggy, last year’s event Top Qualifier finally put together the run we were waiting for, setting a new fastest time as he ended up almost 5-second faster than the Sparko of Q3 winner Tyler Jones.  Taking the opening two rounds on Thursday, Infinity’s Kouki Kato completed the Top 3, and with the just fifth & final quali to go it will be a three way battle for the overall TQ between Kato, Jones and Bernadzik – drivers’ best two to count.  Getting a fourth for the round was Mayako’s Pekko Iivonen, the Top Seed now no longer in contention to be the Top Qualifier in Brisbane.  Leading the Sworkz challenge this weekend, it was another solid nitro effort from Atsushi Hara, the former World Champion & Philippine Masters podium finisher, completing the Top 5 for his best run so far having got his first Top 6 yesterday.

Reacting to his TQ run Bernadzik said, ‘I didn’t really make too many changes, just lengthened my rear link out which made it a bit easier to drive.  I think my shock package was right for the temperature.  It’s pretty cold still but the actual track temp is right there so the car was good and I kept it on all four wheels. I didn’t drive like an idiot and kept it together.’  Looking to Q5, the former Australian National Champion said, ‘I think that TQ has been the fastest time of the weekend so hopefully I get another in around that pace.  I am going to keep an eye on the ambient temperature and I might go up in shocks if it gets any warmer.’  Doing the buggy double for Q4, on his eBuggy he said, ‘both cars are pretty much on the same set-up now, and the track seems to suit the cars when its nice and cold so its all good.’

Jones summed up his run by saying, ‘I made a couple of mistakes, the first lap was a rough one, and then I had a couple of slower 32s (second laps) but I got into a rhythm and starting putting down some laps and came up a little short on Alex but I am getting pretty confident going into tomorrow.’  On his rough start the American said, ‘Yeh I think was just pushing a little too hard, trying just to be ultra perfect when I needed to go out and just turn some laps.’  On today’s track conditions, he said, ‘eBuggy was definitely slick, I thought the grip was going to be higher, so I kind of held on for that one but the track was pretty good for Nitro.’  For the final qualifying round, the 25-year-old will put a new set of front arms & move everything forward 2mm on his eBuggy to try get more steering out of the car and if that works well he’ll do the same on his nitro buggy.

Asked about his run, Q4 being his fastest of his 4 so far, Kato replied with, ‘Alex is very fast, we need to change something and try find more speed’.   The ABC Indonesia and Philippines winner, added, ‘the car feels good to drive but we are missing some speed compared to Alex so we will have to try something different for the last one.’

Having had traffic issues in Q3 yesterday Iivoven summed up his fourth run with, ‘no traffic issues this time but there was some driver issues, I made a couple of mistakes’.  The Finn would switch tyre brand for the round, explaining, ‘I tried different tyres and went on Jetkos and they were way different.  A different feeling with way more forward bit.  I think I will stick with the tyre but now change the car to suit.  The pace is there I just need to get comfortable.’  Proof of that pace came with the 22-year-old posting the fastest lap, his advantage almost 2/10th on Bernadzik and 4/10ths on Kato.

On back to back race weekend duty having podiumed at the eSIC Electric Touring Car race in Singapore last weekend, Hara was happy with his performance now saying, ‘My focus is on good points because the first day I was driving really bad, so many mistakes’.  He continued, ‘the car is good, I don’t change much there, and I have started to drive more calm.  One thing I did change was the rear spring.  I noticed some of the fast guys running a short spring on the rear, so the same front and back, so I was interested to try it and it works really well.’  Asked what difference it made, he replied, ‘It just makes it more stable in the rear, it’s not a huge difference but it makes it a little more easy  to drive so I can push a little harder.  Still I need a little more speed if I want to compete with top guys.’   Asked if that speed was in the car or him he replied, ‘I think both.’  That said he feels he has a good finals car but with his opening laps proving slow he thinks he has something too stiff in his set-up and he believe the diffs might be the issue.

View full results here