Yokomo comeback with ‘Power from the Headquarters’ – ISTC World Championship

There was a time when we would attend either electric onroad or offroad races and Yokomo would be mentioned in the opening paragraph of every race report, they were a real force.  That hasn’t however been the case now for a number of years but 10-years on from winning the IFMAR Electric Touring Car World Championship, that race in China giving us the iconic photo of Ronald Volker’s mechanic Yukijiro Umino reaction to what a world title means to everyone involved, there are positive vibes coming from the Japanese manufacturer’s camp here at Huge RC in Bangkok.  With team leader Christopher Krapp admitting they are realistically not here with a chance of winning the 2026 World title, compared to 2-years ago there is a new energy in the team and a desire from the top management for the historic racing brand to return to being taken serious again as producer of competition level cars.  On arriving in Bangkok, less our luggage, returning to our hotel after buying some necessary supplies, the first RC racer of these Worlds we’d meet was Krapp.  A driver we have respected for always being personable, as always the German had a friendly handshake and positive energy but it was even more positive this time as he proudly introduced Yokomo’s new Managing Director and new Designer.  While many manufacturers are contesting these Worlds with skeleton crews, Yokomo is taking the opposite approach.  With Krapp and his crew hungry after their travels and looking for a food recommendation, pointing them in the direction of some good local street food we joined them for a catch up and that led to an interesting insight that we would follow up on the next day at the track on how Yokomo wants back in the game.

The last time we spoke with Krapp was at the beginning of the year when he raced at the annual MIBO International Race in the Czech Republic and it turns out he’s had a lot going on since then.  In August he became a father to his second daughter, and while a break from racing was planned for this special moment, it would be longer than planned as he suffered a slip disc that would require him to undergo surgery in September.  Less than ideal preparations for leading a manufacturer going into a World Championships.  Interestingly like Red RC, this is Krapp’s 9th ISTC World Championship both of us having made our Worlds debut in 2008 when it was also held in the Thai capital.

Having followed his progress ever since then, he made the D Main but two years later in Germany finished 4th in the World, and enjoyed one of the best race win celebrations when he won his first ETS race in Gran Canaria in 2012, asking him about this new enthusiasm for racing from Yokomo he replied, ‘I have been with Yokomo 10-year joining them in 2017 after the Worlds and I have been through many scenarios in Yokomo with like 3 owners.  I was there with the old owner Tom Yokobori, then we had two owners and luckily the new owner we have right now is having a new push in the top end scene.’  He continued, ‘The last 3-4 years I still competed in races but the development and everything was slow but right now the focus is more to the top end racing and that’s why they have sent Kazuki Yamashita the new designer and Daisuke Yoshioka, who was well known before as a top driver, and is now the Managing Director.  Having them here is cool.’  The 5 time Worlds Finalist added, ‘sure we are a small team, but a unique team, and it is just good to be present here and to have the power from the headquarter.  We are in the right direction right now.  You can see this with the signing of Luke (Holdsworth – Top British 1:10 Offroad racer) in the UK and we are here now testing new parts were as in the past years it was just the kit and that’s it.  The development is going better and is more active and hopefully we are going to be back were we belong because Yokomo is still an original OG brand.  Personally I have also just signed a new two year contract with them so really looking forward to this race and the future.’

On expectations for these the 13th running of the World Championship, Krapp said, ‘My aim is not to win to be realistic, I mean I was a podium finisher before but I know it is not going to work because all the other guys here are here for like weeks but still I am fit now again.  The surgery went well, and I can still drive good.’  Sharing the podium in Gubbio in 2022 with Bruno Coelho and Akio Sobue, he added, ‘I am doing good times and just trying to adapt everything to the unique conditions here because it is very strange let me say compared to the conditions we have in Europe but as a team we are working well.  We are not at the top top but I am doing good times and looking forward to the event.’  Asked if this event is a new motivation for him and the team, he said, ‘Yeah 100%, the last one was in America and we had a bigger team there but at that race already decisions were made so the motivation was not that high because we didn’t have the power from headquarters and obviously now for myself its great, I’m 34-years old and a well known racer who has done many races and to know you have the backing from headquarters and that you have the support is huge motivation.’  He added, ‘I still have it in my fingers and I know with the right support I can still make top result so for myself personally that’s a big boost.’  Asked about the first day of IPD, he replied, ‘It was a bit hectic today but I guess we have the first day already done and I am looking forward to more smooth running at the real event because now we are running two cars in 10-minutes so it is very very hectic.  I am looking forward to having more time when the Worlds actually starts.’

IPD Day 1 in the books – ISTC Worlds Chit Chat in Bangkok

The first of 2 days of IPD (International Practice Day) was completed at Huge RC in Bangkok today ahead of the IFMAR ISTC World Championships which officially gets underway on Wednesday, but taking today as a day to chat & catch up with what is a full house of drivers it seems there is a bit of a mixed view to the introduction of IPD to the category.  Around for a number of years now in nitro onroad, it has merit to give drivers not in the position to attend the track for pre-event testing an opportunity to get extra track time as part of a single trip to the host track.  In the case of nitro however the tracks are usual permanent.  Think Gubbio, the Nitro Touring Car Worlds was held on the same layout this year as was used to decide the World Champion back in 2016 – both great events but neither won by Italians who had raced there many times more than their rivals over the decade in between!  With a number of Pro drivers having done up to 10-days of practice leading up to IPD, one driver rumoured to have run 150 batteries in that time (that’s a lot of tyres), sure it is great for the rest of the drivers to get the two days to try catch up with set-up but the main talking point seems to be that all the testing is on a layout that won’t even be used for the event!  On Tuesday’s registration day, 2002 ISTC World Champion Surikarn Chaidajsuriya, owner of Huge RC, and his crew will change track layout and the changes are pretty significant with a number of leading drivers saying the new layout will make for a much slower lap time and require a set-up change to get more steering as the track tightens up.  Sure these guys are the best in the world and they will probably figure it out by Wednesday lunch time but many, both who came for a week or more of pre-event running or just the IPD, feel that had the race layout been done for IPD it might have encouraged teams to just come for the IPD.  One driver pointed out also that had the race been held in Europe or the US, teams might have viewed the costs of an extra week of testing differently so for sure its sometime that maybe needs to be reviewed going forward.  While World Championships are extra special events and teams go above & beyond for this once every two years opportunity to take the greatest prize, it is interesting to note that event duration was a point that was raised at a Section Meeting held during the recent IFMAR 1:8 Nitro Buggy Worlds in Texas.  The majority feeling that event is too long as the ISTC Worlds just got three days longer.  That said racers and manufacturers have for years complained and looked to have the Nitro Onroad Worlds made shorter yet the 2027 calendar lists the event as 10-days!

Apart from the discussion on IPD, it was good as always to catch up with the categories first World Champion Atsushi Hara.  Running both an Awesomatix and a Tamiya over the last week of open testing, he says he is likely to race the Tamiya as one of his sponsors Zero Tribe has been developing a range of option parts for the 421X so this choice of car makes more sense to run.  Hara is also pitting next to the Tamiya Racing Factory team so any help is at arms reach.  While chatting to Hara, TFR designer Kiyo Suzuki confirmed to us they have brought a number of new parts here which we hope we might get permission to include in a chassis focus.  In terms of cars, being a World Championships new & prototype parts and even all new car are of course expected but as reigning World Champion Bruno Coelho called it, this Unicorn track is so different to anything else they race on it is actually hard to gauge the performance of new parts.  He highlighted how car brands that have been the best at all other races this year are struggling here and then cars that have not been good come here and are straight away on the pace.  One of the drivers who has been here almost 2 weeks already, on his own program he told us Infinity have a number of new parts some of which have helped improve his car for the unique conditions of the indoor asphalt track.

Having unveiled the car with which they would return to Touring Car competition at the last Worlds in Bakersfield 2-years ago, Team Associated have come to Thailand with a completely new car with all American line-up Ryan Cavalieri and Bryce Butterfield charged with driving them.  They are supported by 1Up Racing’s Randy Caster who is officially here as mechanic for Cavalieri.  Sharing the same air conditioned pit room with Team Associated is Jacob Cruz.  With his Mugen Seiki team making a strong showing with their then pre-production MTC3 at the 2024 WC, this year its just the rising star of those Worlds who flies the flag for the Japanese manufacturer.  With the departure this year of Ronald Volker as a driver to RC Maker and Robert Pietsch as designer to Infinity, the talented US teenager is working with their standard car, with just his mechanic dad for technical support.

Serpent, who enjoyed a very strong 2024 Worlds with Dominic Greiner making the final, are here but also a much downsized team with just the German as their solo entry and running also running standard version of their latest car.  Without a mechanic or any engineering support trackside, Greiner has had to revert to running just one car in IPD – most drivers using two cars over each round of practice.  It’s good to see Yokomo here with key support from Japan (we’ll have separate article on this), and led by 2022 podium finisher Christopher Krapp they have new parts they are evaluating in IPD.  A manufacturer who has become a genuine contender with the release of its SP2 and signing of Volker over the Summer, RC Maker owner Ryan Maker told us their team cars are pretty much standard for the race given how new to market it is.  The Australian’s level of excitement around these World Championships came across so positively when chatting with him today as he senses a good result is real possibility.

in the Xray camp, Martin Hudy confirmed they are running what will be the 2027 model release of their X4.  Chatting to their long time factory driver Alexander Hagberg today, Huge RC a very special place for the Swede who won his first World title here in 2014 in Nitro Touring Car, it seems he might have a future in the fashion industry!  He said the recent release of AH t-shirts proved much more popular than he expected with RC fans from around the world ordering them.  Not surprising to us really as he has put some good work into building himself into a brand with his tech insight videos and race track insights.  His name even came up in conversation at the Buggy Worlds in Texas as a driver who brings great value to his sponsors.  With the indoor season kicking off we might expect to see a hoodie added as part of the AH Winter collection!!

Reminiscing with Hara about Red RC’s first electric World Championships attendance being Thailand in 2008 when 1:12 and Touring Car ran as a back to back event, and then also sharing the same asphalt track, we got confirmation from IFMAR that they will announce the host venue for rescheduled 1:12 Worlds this coming week.  Expected we understand to be scheduled for the back end of 2027, IFMAR said they have a meeting planned here in Bangkok to finalise the details after which the host will be revealed.  With 2026 due to see the two categories brought back together, the cancellation of China left them without a host as Huge RC stepped in to run the ISTC Worlds but unable to provide a carpet track.  Having issued a provisional 2027 World Champion calendar recently, details for 1:12 will complete the 5 race schedule.

Red RC’s coverage of the 2026 IFMAR ISTC World Championships will officially begin on Wednesday.