Senesi sets GT practice pace at Asia Nitro Party
1:8 GT specialist Natanaele Senesi has set the pace in free practice ahead of this weekend’s inaugural Asia Nitro Party at the impressive Hongyu GDC track in China. An event that has generated a lot of excitement within the Asian nitro racing scene since the 2026 1:12 & ISTC World Championship venue facility announced the annual event last October, 1:8 GT is the biggest category with over 50 drivers taking part. The 2024 European Champion would top the times from reigning World Champion Alessio Mazzeo, both drivers running Raptor cars after Senesi, who runs under his own Senesi Motorsport banner, made the switch from an Xray based car to Raptor. The move came about as a result of Senesi’s engine sponsor Gimar, which in 2024 took over the Raptor project. Also a factor in the switch was the ability for Senesi to produce his own Senesi Motorsport edition Raptor kit which features a number of his own design elements. Another of the fast European’s making the trip to Foshan, and believing the would escape the cold weather back home, it would be Genius Racing’s Bernard-Alain Arnaldi who completed the Top 3. While all hugely impressed with the new RC facility, drivers have been badly caught off guard by an unseasonable cold spell to hit southern China. With most drivers seeing the podium photo from last weekend’s Sweep Asia Cup race at the track, in which winner Bruno Coelho, Michal Orlowski are both wearing shorts, and basing their clothing choices from that they packed for much warmer conditions than what has greeted them. There does however appear to be a big jump up in temperatures for tomorrow’s qualifying with it then set to hit in the region of 23 degrees for Sunday’s finals. On track the low temperatures have also added to the challenge of getting heat into the Sweep rubber tyres used in 1:8 GT, the compound selected ahead of the race based on racing in temperatures double that of what has been experienced so far.
Summing up practice, having arrived in China in Wednesday, Senesi said, ‘The car is going very good. It’s the first race with the new car and I am super happy because since the first day the car was super stable. The biggest change was the Blitz GT7 body which made the rear end very locked in, so very stable.’ The multiple World Championship finalist continued, ‘Overall I didn’t make any big changes on the car, just playing around with springs and shock position but the base is really good and the track is super fun. For sure the big, I don’t want to say problem, but the big point here is to warm-up the tyres. It is very difficult to manage with 1:8 the traction, so every time you go out on the track the most important thing is to push a lot in the first lap to warm-up the tyres and if you are able to warm them up you can then push.’ A Sweep team driver and recently appointed their Italian distributor, he said, ‘When we decided the compound for the tyres we thought it was going to be hotter so now with 36 (shore) it’s a little bit cold but from tomorrow it should be better.’ His third visit to China, having previously raced at the SIGP in Xiamen, on his first impression of Hongyu GDC the Italian said, ‘Gavin (Kwok) made an awesome job here. Everything is perfect.’ On the track layout and weather any sections were provong more difficult than others he said, ‘I don’t want to say difficult but I think that time is all made in the second chicane. If you do it right you can get 2/10ths of a second.’
Summing up his first days in China, this his first time to the country, Mazzeo said, This race is a Party and we are happy to be here. This my first time to China, so it is a totally new experience, new culture, new state of mind. I really like the state of mind of the China guys because they have fun, and they are super quite in the morning, they arrive at 10 (o’clock), everything is super slow, completely no stress for the race. Congrats to Gavin and all the staff for this incredible location, its crazy.’ Asked how practice had gone in terms of finding a set-up for race weekend, the Italian replied, ‘We are using this race for testing new parts for the European Championship in Vila Real because we will be using the same tyre and from my experience with Large Scale in Vila Real the grip will be similar so it’s a good chance to get in some testing for that. Also with the new car with the flat chassis and other new parts it was a good change to test these too.’ Asked about the unexpected cold conditions, wrapped up & wearing a scarf he said, ‘We are unlucky with the weather because it is super cold, but the weather tomorrow and Sunday should be better.’ Regarding warming up and getting the tyres to work, he said, ‘this was our problem also in Santiago (World Championship) and we are trying to figure this out on the car. Natanaele did a super good job. They improved a lot this part (warming tyres) but it is probably also his more aggressive driving style to keep the tyre in temperature. My driving style is more clean so I need more time to arrive at the right tyre temperature but the car works well. I see a lot of Raptors here, also Salton Dong (from Hobbywing) is racing our car and is also going super good.’
Giving his reaction to practice Arnaldi said, ‘It is very difficult this track, well it is a very beautiful track and beautiful facility, but it is very cold and this tyre is very hard for this condition.’ The French driver continued, ‘You also have a lot of 1:8 with foam (tyres) and oil from the engine so it is very difficult to get a good compromise for speed and consistency – it’s a big problem and means a lot of work so far.’ The 2-time European Champion added, ‘at 10 degrees it changes a lot with this tyre, this tyre choice is good for 25 degrees but not 10. We hope it is warmer tomorrow but we continue to try more set-ups because we have some work to do.’ Running the same car from Genius that the Italian manufacturer debuted at last year’s European Championship, specifically asked about the track layout he replied, ‘this is very good and I hope we can enjoy it more tomorrow in hotter conditions’.
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