Race reports · IFMAR 1/8 IC Off-Road World Championship 2026 Thornhill

World Champions again!!! 🏆🏆

Wow, where do I begin… Long read coming up😅

We did it again 10 years after I crossed the line that night in Vegas. That night was magical, lots of emotions winning the first title and putting my name in the history books. This one feels just as good, but different in so many ways. Now I have a family at home, my amazing wife Johanna and our lovely little boy Colin soon to be 1 year old. Lots of sacrifices are being made for me to be able to do this at the highest level and it’s tough at times of course. I couldn’t do any of this without their support as well as the support we have from both our families. It’s with such big relief and joy I’m coming back home with the title this time and I can’t wait to see them all and celebrate with them. I love you all🫶🏼

I’ve worked so hard and put my full focus on this race since the beginning of the year and I really wanted to win another one. I put myself in a position to fight for it in 2018 as well as in 2022 but it wasn’t to be on those occasions, you could say “what if..” but that’s how racing goes, it can be cruel at times and we saw that again this time.

Never could I have imagined I would stand here again 10 years after my first win. But I believe I have put in the work needed to be here and I certainly always believed in my abilities. I felt so strong and relaxed at the same time all week long and together with the incredible team around me, sponsors and people giving me the right support we made it happen! I was never going to give up, I wanted this win badly to prove for myself, for my family, for my fans and for my sponsors all the hard work, sacrifices and money spent was worth it. It’s a big relief and such an incredible feeling when you achieve something like it, honestly I still think I’m processing what just happened!

I love the World Championships, I live for the big races and it’s amazing to join an exclusive club of drivers being one of only three drivers to win this race multiple times!!

Mason Fuller - what a battle. You were incredible all week and it was a lot fun pushing each other to our best throughout the week. We were the two most consistent drivers all week and in the end we finished 1-2. I will never forget the last 30 minutes of that race, so damn intense… I’ve come up equally close of the win before (2022) and know exactly how you will feel until your next shot at the title. I hope you can find some inspiration in seeing how it’s possible to bounce back from being so close, I’m sure you and your team will get more chances if you continue to work like you do. Great job dude💪🏼

Obviously I have so many people to thank for this title and let’s start off with my dad and Martin Bayer. Without their amazing pit stops all week I would never have been able to make up time in more or less every stop we did compared to my competition, they were cool calm and collected (maybe not during the last 7min of the race after their work was done😅). The fast pit stops helped me to stay in the game during qualifiers even though I was giving away 5sec each run as I didn’t go for 10min. Martin also coached me theough that main after the rough start I had and he got me back on track so I was able to charge back to the front after being down in 8th. Martin’s help was huge in this and together with dad who I trust to 1000% when it comes to fuel milage and making the right calls, I believe I had the best pit crew. I can’t thank you enough!

Thanks to Paul Ciccarello for his incredible passion and dedication, I truly enjoy all the talks and messages back and forth trying to improve in every area we can. You’ve been a huge help in this!

Thanks to Max Götzl for being the tire prep guy and social media guru this week. Thank you to Hampus, Oscar, Billy, Bryan, Oscar, Remy, Jonni, Dakotah, Tyler, Ethan and everyone in the Xray pits this past week. I had a lot of fun all week and you’ve all played a part in this as well. And Chase, what an incredible performance all week. You are the future and you’ll have so many more opportunities to win very big, love you dude, thanks for being an awesome team mate!

None of this would have happened if it wasn’t for XRAY, everyone who works back at the factory and especially the Hudy family with Juraj Hudy, Mario and Martin Hudy. To be able to win a first World Championship title for Xray and FX in 1/8 Nitro Buggy is something I will cheerish forever and I’m incredibly proud of. You believed in me, gave me all the support from day one and I’m so happy to give something back for all your hard work behind the scenes. The upgrades worked wonders!

To Nicola Marrone and everyone at Hotrace Tyres Factory tires, we did it! We came so close together in 2022 but that day wasn’t to be and I’m just over the moon to have won it in Texas 4 years later instead. Your first World title in the Nitro class as well! Just woooow, what a team effort on the new tire - TOKYO that we brought with us. We knew we needed something a bit longer lasting than the Sahara and we knocked this design out of the park, and you Nico - you did your magic with the rubber. Grazie Mille!!

Massive thanks to Hitec RCD USA with Mike Mayberry and his crew who have been incredible to work with since I joined them back in 2023. The DB951WP is the best feeling servo I’ve used and it’s so strong! Happy to win a World title for you guys!

Thanks to Heikki at TRC for the help with pistons and being willing to try some of my ideas earlier in the year at the NeoLand race which I took with me and used at this race.

Huge thanks to Adrien Bertin for being my extra father and mentor for so many years, you have given me so much knowledge and experience in just about everything around RC and I wouldn’t be here without it.

Thanks to JQ - Invisible Speed RC for motivating me a little extra just before the race saying I was going to be the biggest disappointment of the week. And to Pekko for pushing me to get my a** out there and start running, you inspired me and I have felt a lot stronger and better since I started running.

Special thanks to everyone watching the final live online, it has been incredible to see all the messages and people commenting on my post. I’m so grateful for everyone reaching out, it was so cool to see that most of RC Sweden and Europe were still up watching even though it was late night!

Last but not least to all my other sponsors for playing a big part in this victory!

FX Engines - K303L Engine

Team Cayote - Charger

Latera Racing - Xray, FX, Hudy distributor for Sweden

HUDY - Accessories

XTR Racing S.L - Oils, Fuel Tube

三和電子機器株式会社 SANWA - M17S Radio

Pepe Group - Energy Fuel Vortex

Avid Racing - Bearings

DubiDesign - Paint Job

DFcreative - Yellow Flou Stickers

The No Name Rc Podcast - RC Podcast

House of RC - RC Platform

LiveRC.com - Worlds Coverage

Red RC - Pictures

NeoBuggy - Legend

It’s time to enjoy this one for a bit now! 😍

Will be back soon🤙🏼

On the road home from the 2026 1/8 IFMAR World Championship after an incredible, long, and exhausting week of racing. My dad and I have spent weeks testing to be able to be to get more than 10 minute run times. I knew this was going to be crucial for this race and all the hard work paid off in the qualifiers and mains.

I was able to TQ the event which is something I’ve never been close to accomplishing. My points in qualifying were super consistent with 3 TQs, two 3rd place finishes, and a 4th place so I knew for the semi and final I could be at the top fighting for the win and we definitely did that.

I got 2nd in my semi which put me starting 3rd overall in the final. I was able to get a good start to the final staying in the top 3 the whole time. The last 35 minutes David and I battled it out for the win. He finished just over 1 second in front of me. Congratulations to David on the Win.

My Sworkz S35-5 felt super good every time I hit the track along with the Reds Racing 321 allowing me to go 10 minutes every round with no worries and Jconcepts for having the right tire and compound for every condition we had out there. Thank you to my parents, Brad, Jason, Paul, Marco, and Mario for everything throughout the week!

SWORKz RC

Beach RC & Hobbies

JConcepts Inc

Team Exalt

REDS RACING

NitroPro

BI POLAR Designs

#TroutSeventyFour

1ARMY

RC Discharger

The RC Compound

The No Name Rc Podcast

And just like that the 2026 IFMAR World Championships are done and dusted. Such a bittersweet feeling as this was the last big event at Thornhill Racing Circuit. My home away from home. I can’t thank Chris Allison enough for everything he’s sacrificed for us to have this amazing racing facility. I’ll cherish all the memories and friendships made along the way!!

I came into this event super confident that the work I put into my program beforehand was more than any other race I’ve attended, and I felt like it showed on the racetrack!!

I made my first-ever world championship final!!! And came home with a P5!!! So proud of that! I can’t thank Richard Saxton enough for all the mechanic and pit work. The teamwork was amazing and every run we got faster on track!!!

My equipment was flawless I’m so proud to represent such great teams!! My team-associated B4.2 felt great all weekend, every time I hit the track! Jconcepts tires were so consistent throughout the week! Each compound and tread pattern I tried felt comfortable and fast! NitroPro fuels and my Samuri RM2 drakin engine program was fantastic. I was able to go 10 minutes in the quals, semi, and main final event giving me a huge advantage against some of my competitors! Nitropro servos gave me the connection I needed out on track for smooth and consistent throttle/steering inputs. And of course, Integrity RC and Joker Designs kept me looking fresh and clean on and off the track!!

I can’t thank everyone enough for all the support I received so many nice messages wishing me luck and everyone at the track supporting me! It felt amazing having the world championships in my home state! Texas! And it was a flawless event!

Back to reality now and a quick turnaround heading to Virginia for the Invitational Classic at Adrenaline RC!!

#teamassociated #WeAreAE #reedypower #factoryteam #Jconcepts #NitroPro #visionracingproducts #Samurai

#monkeywithakniferacing #integrityrcdesigns #jokerdesigns #Drakein #mikeshobbyshop #makita #kickeraudio

I’m back home and rested after just over a week in Hutto, TX for the 2026 IFMAR World Championships at Thornhill Racing Circuit! First off I’ll like to thank the entire Thornhill crew for giving us a great venue and track to race at for so many years. It sucks to see this place closing but all good things come to an end.

Racing for me was a bit up and down throughout the week. I had good speed the whole time just struggled to put in clean runs. The highlights of the weekend for me were the final round of qualifying where I scored a P3 overall to secure myself into the semi finals. A win in the LCQ race after I narrowly missed the transfer spot in the semi final. And the final highlight was finishing P6 overall in my first World Championship final.

I would like to thank Daniel Lewis, Matt Armeni, Matt Wolter and Ilias Arkoudaris at Tekno RC for all the help and support this week. Thank you to Jason, Paul, Allison and Hannah for all the tire support and awesome photos from the week.

Thank you to my Tekno RC teammates for all the setup help and great times this week. Thank you to my dad and Shawn Kirkman for the pit help this weekend.

As always thank you to all the sponsors below for making this possible.

Tekno RC

Jconcepts

Exalt

Beach RC & Hobbies

Ultimate Racing

Sendit-rc

VP Racing Fuels

S&S

Full Throttle Raceway

Top Tier Roofing

Yeti RC

Mutsch Trucking

King Kong Hobbies

BOOM Graphics

Busy Bodies

After a long week of racing the 2026 World Championships held in Hutto, Texas is complete. It was a great event for us, as we showed up prepared with a great baseline setup for the demanding track. The layout was technical, yet still had good flow. Overall a great track for a World Championship.

My Team Associated #RC8B4_2 felt great all week long on Hotrace Tyres Factory clay compound Tokyo tires. The Reedy Power servos were precise and my #Samuri RM.1 engine stayed lit for the 10 minute stops as well with great fuel milage. Some of the qualifiers we had fuel for 14 minutes of run time! Stoked with this package from AMain Hobbies.

I had consistently built my pace as the event progressed. In Free practice I floated around 25th each time out, then around 20th for the seeding runs and eventually was able to get some top 10 runs in qualifying to make the semifinal directly. The 30 minute semifinal came down to the final few laps and I ended up squeaking into the hour long final to earn the 12th and final direct transfer spot by 0.02 seconds!

The final was great, we made some adjustments after the semi and we had a great car. I had a rough start but pushed until the end to give myself an outside shot at a podium, battling for 5th a good bit of the race only a few seconds out of the top 3. In the end I would finish P7 overall after a big mistake in the closing laps. Still stoked with this nonetheless.

Huge thanks to my brother Austin Horne for coming to this one with me as mechanic. He made my life a lot easier, as I barely had to turn a wrench all week long. Not to mention he kept the car running in #mint condition the entire event with some great fuel stops in the finals. #theman

Congratulations to David on the Win! As always huge thanks to everyone that supports me as well as the team for the good times, I couldn’t ask for a better group of people to surround myself with❤️Next up for me is the INS Finale at Hoosier RC Hobbyplex😎

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#teamassociated

#reedypower

#hotracetyresfactory

#1upracing

#factoryteamrc

#amainhobbies

#factorytracksracing

#rcone

#lensbodies

#bradleyfinelinedesigns

#ninetwozerodesigns

#cxwallets

#liverc

#AHRC

The 2026 IFMAR 1/8 Nitro Buggy World Championships are behind us. It was a week long event filled with up’s and downs, highs and low’s. But overall for my first nitro buggy Worlds I was pretty happy how it went. I felt my driving was on point, and my entire program worked amazing.

As a team we have improved everything tremendously this past year and it’s showing. Myself, Billy, David, Chickey, Martin, Tyler, and the whole Xray team worked super hard all week and it payed off with David Ronafalk taking home the Tittle, huge congratulations David.

For the hour long final I would start 2nd after winning the B semi final which was a super close 30 minutes between Mason Fuller, and Davide Ongaro. Everything was working perfectly heading into the final and I was confident. Early into the final I was able to take over the lead and I knew to keep putting in consistent laps. Slowly Davide was closing in and would eventually take over the lead. Around the 18 minute mark while trying to stay in touch with Davide I would make a crucial error over the very difficult back left step up and get caught onto the pole, causing me to flame out. When this happened I knew my chances of winning were gone. I still drove the best I could the rest of the race. I’d finish 8th overall, definitely a huge disappointment but there will be many more opportunities in the future.

I want to thank everyone for the support, Billy and Tyler for the perfect stops and for the opportunity to pit in the trailer for the week. Martin, Chickey and the whole Xray team for all the hard work to get to where we’re at with the setup. Nicola from Hotrace for all the hard work back at the factory to bring us the best tires possible. And for my family for coming to show support during the week.

XRAY

RCAmerica

Hobbywing

Hotrace Tyres Factory

MOTIV RC

NitroPro

HUDY

FX Engines

Trackside Hobbies & Raceway

Nine2zero Designs RC

Gravity RC

Paintzilla

2026 IFMAR 1:8 OFF-ROAD WORLDS — P9 🌎

The 2026 IFMAR 1:8 Off-Road Worlds is officially complete, and there are a lot of great takeaways from this one.

I came into this event with some personal goals, and I’m proud to say I accomplished them.

Going back to Perth, Australia in 2018, I qualified 7th overall but came up short of making the World Championship final. That one has always stuck with me.

8 years later, I was able to beat my best qualifying effort at a 1:8 Worlds AND accomplish one of my biggest goals — making my first 1:8 World Championship Final.

A lot of things have to go right to have a good result at a Worlds. You have to be mentally strong. You can’t leave points on the table, even when you’re having a bad run. You have to trust your pit crew, trust the people around you, and most importantly, have a short memory and keep moving forward.

This Worlds started off rough for me. Things weren’t going great, but we never stopped working. We kept making small improvements and finding ways to get better every time we hit the track.

My mechanic Brent and I worked our butts off all week. We kept digging, kept improving, and never gave up. Big thanks to Brent Thielke for pushing me!

A huge thank you to JConcepts, with Paul and Jason at the event giving us endless information and helping us make the right tire calls when it mattered.

To Marco and the entire Rossi team from REDS, thank you for making sure we had reliable engine performance all week long.

At an event like this, every little detail matters. All weekend, we worked to maximize every category possible — car, tires, engine, pit stops, strategy, and execution. It truly takes a team.

Lastly, I want to thank my dad for doing what he does best — supporting me, taking care of me, keeping things light, and giving us plenty of laughs in the pits. I wouldn’t want to experience these moments without you.

Cheers to my first 1:8 Worlds Final. 🌎🏁

But I’m hungry for more.

P9 IN THE WORLD.

Let’s keep pushing.

LFG! 🔥

🇺🇸 P10 at the World Championship in Austin, Texas! 🏁🔥

What a crazy week! Overall, it was a really difficult one for me. I struggled to find the pace throughout the week and couldn’t quite find the speed needed to fight for the Main.

For the Semi Final, we decided to completely change the car — and suddenly, everything just clicked! 🔥 I had one extra pit stop, got a drive-through penalty, and somehow still managed to fight my way into the Main Final! 🤩💪

In the Final, I knew I had the pace to fight at the front. I worked my way all the way up to P3 and was fighting for a podium… until my tire exploded. 🥲💥

I tried to keep going on the insert and somehow managed to run competitive lap times for another 5–7 minutes while the tire completely fell apart. 😅 But eventually, I had no choice but to come in and change it, which dropped me back to P10.

I’m really happy to have made the Main after such a difficult week, but at the same time, I have mixed feelings. Knowing that I had the pace to fight for a podium in the Final makes P10 a little frustrating. 🥲🏆

A massive THANK YOU to Thomas, my dad and Adam for all the help and support throughout the week! ❤️🙏

And of course, I’m really sad to see Burak have problems in his Semi Final. 💔 A huge thank you to Oliver for helping Burak throughout the whole week! 🙏❤️

#MUGENSEIKIJAPAN

#MUGENSEIKIEUROPE

#Ultimate

#VP-PRO

#LRP

#Nitrolux

#Sanwa

#Racingpassion

#ONGproducts

#MFX

#HepsRacing

#RMVDeutschland

#RKprint

#MZM

Hutto, Texas 🇺🇸

Back home after a full week in Texas for the 2026 IFMAR 1:8 Off-Road World Championship in Hutto.

The Worlds is always an important race. It only comes around every two years, and it’s another opportunity to line up with the guys I’ve been racing against at the highest level throughout my career. With this one being in the USA, I was looking forward to getting after it in Texas.

I felt like I had good speed from the beginning. We put in a lot of work testing leading into the event, and once qualifying started I opened with a 2nd-place run in Q1. I stayed in the fight throughout qualifying and eventually qualified 7th overall, putting me directly into the Semi-Final.

My Tekno RC Nitro Buggy was competitive all week, and we continued working on the package as the track changed.

On the JConcepts Inc side, we came into the event with a lot of options after the testing we had done leading up to Worlds. I started the race testing the new and upcoming F2 body with the Saber wing before eventually settling on the S15 body and Razor wing combination.

For tires, I ran JConcepts Overdose tires in Silver compound during qualifying before switching to Space Bars for the Semi-Final and A-Final. The conditions changed throughout the week, so continuing to work through the options and adapting the package was important.

One of the biggest strengths of my program all week was the ProTek RC Samurai RM.1 engine. The engine had great power, but the fuel mileage was just as important. I was able to make the 10-minute fuel window, which gave us more options with strategy during qualifying and the mains.

My ProTek RC RM 650S servo was also great throughout the event, and my Flysky RC radio was flawless all week. At this level, I expect my equipment to perform every time I hit the track, and the electronics did exactly that.

The Semi-Final started out really well. I worked my way into the lead and had good pace before a mistake at the left-side post cost me some time. I was still able to transfer and put myself into another IFMAR World Championship A-Final.

This was my 18th World Championship, and I’ve now made the 1:8 Nitro Buggy A-Final in 8 of the 9 World Championships since 2008. I’ve been racing these guys and competing at this level for a long time, so making the final is always the expectation. At the same time, I’m proud of the consistency it takes to keep putting myself in that position over this many years.

The one-hour A-Final didn’t go the way I wanted, and I finished 11th overall. There’s no reason to dress that up—I went there wanting to contend for a World Championship, and the final didn’t produce the result I was looking for.

There were still positives in the performance. I opened qualifying with a P2, qualified 7th overall, had the speed to lead the Semi, and the car and equipment were competitive throughout the week. We’ll take what worked, learn from what didn’t and keep moving forward.

Congrats to David Ronnefalk on getting the win and the 2026 World Championship.

These races take a lot of preparation, and I had a good group around me all week.

A huge thanks to Mike Truhe for all the pit work throughout the event. Mike and I have spent a lot of time at the races together over the years, and having someone I trust handling things in the pits allows me to concentrate on racing and getting the car where I want it.

Thanks to the entire Tekno team, especially Daniel Lewis, Matt Wolter and Matt Armeni, for the preparation, support and work throughout the week. We kept working on the car and making adjustments all the way through the event.

On the JConcepts side, a big thanks to Jason and Allison Ruona and Paul Wynn for all the work that went into the tire, body and wing program. There was a lot of testing and preparation behind the scenes leading into this race, and we continued working through the options throughout the week.

Also, thanks to Hannah Hardison and Lia Gandini for the great JConcepts media coverage all weekend and keeping everyone following the event up to date.

Thanks to everyone else behind my program and everyone who reached out during the week.

Obviously, I wanted more out of the final, but that’s racing. Eighteen World Championships later, the goal hasn’t changed. I’m still showing up to compete for wins.

We’ll keep working and keep digging.

2026 Worlds:

P7 Qualifying | A-Final | P11 Overall

18th World Championship | 8 of 9 1:8 Nitro Buggy Worlds A-Finals since 2008

Tekno RC | JConcepts | Cayote | FlySky | ProTek RC | VP Fuels | Flash Point | RM2 | Hobby Action | A-Main Hobbies | Drakein | Factory Tracks | Stick-It One

2026 IFMAR 1/8 OFFROAD WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP…

This event takes place at THORNHILL RACING CIRCUIT Hutto Tx. What an amazing layout it was.

World class event with World class drivers ALL battling for the title ..in the end ..congratulations to David Ronnafaulk.

We came into this event knowing this is 2026 …power n runtime is the way to go.OS AD4 was the choice. With some advice from Adam Drake we made it possible..and even better. Our fuel sponsor SIDEWINDER was also quite happy since fuel consumption was less. The Europeans are always fast especially on this type of track so we had to have an advantage like this.

Thru out the event it was all about DECESIONs. In the end we decided on the 10 min pitstop with enough pace to compete..and we made it possible with room to spare.

We landed in the 1/4 final and bump up to the Semifinals..and then the Main event . Unfortunately a bad electronic power switch caused a run away after the first pits stop. That was not bad luck…it was a bad DECISION to keep it for the final. Our KYOSHO INFERNO MP11/OS AD4/NITROPRO/SIDEWINDER FUEL(special ws blend)was the best it felt all weekend.

Phi ended 12th overall… it was such a bummer as he could of finished top 5 if he kept the pace he was going.

We want to thank you Mr. Yuichi Kanai for a super well designed buggy ..it is the best every track we race on .

Jconcepts for always being there track side…PAUL AND JASON.

Thank you Mr. Ryan Lutz for the assistance..Kyosho teammates ..and all the Tx Kyosho racers whom been helping us making the A final possible.

KYOSHO CORPORATION

JCONCEPT INC

SIDWINDER FUEL

NITROPRO SERVOS

EXALT

PREVAIL PAINTS

BYPOLARDESIGNS

WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP 2026 🇺🇸🏁

This World Championship is over.

It’s difficult to put an entire week like this into just a few words.

We came here ready to give everything we had. From the first practice, we knew it wasn’t going to be an easy week. We struggled at times, but we never stopped working, changing details and searching for the right balance between the car, tyres and the constantly changing track conditions.

Step by step, we improved and managed to finish qualifying in P3, putting ourselves in a strong position for Saturday.

Unfortunately, the finals didn’t go the way we wanted.

We finished this World Championship in P13.😩

Of course, this is not the result we came here for, and it’s not easy to accept after all the work we put in during this week. But racing gives you incredible moments and difficult ones too. Both are part of the journey.

This result doesn’t change what we have achieved together, but it gives us even more motivation to work harder, understand where we can improve and come back stronger.

Sometimes a difficult result can give you more hunger than a victory.

And we are hungry.

A huge thank you to the entire Team Associated (Brent Thielke, Richard Saxton) There are so many people behind this project that I don’t want to mention individual names and risk forgetting someone.

Thank you to everyone for the incredible work, support and commitment throughout this World Championship.

A massive thank you also to Team Matrix (Alessandro Stocco, Boni Cristian, Paolo Morganti, Andreia Toledo)

O.S. Speed guys (Tomohiro Okada) and Sanwa for always supporting me and giving everything during this week.

Thank you to all my sponsors, my family, my girlfriend, my friends and everyone who supported me from home❤️

Thanks to Nuno Casal Ribeiro helping us during all week🔥

Thanks to my friends there at the track Linu Jung, Sebastien Mure, Stéphane Kharraji, Clément Boda, Florent Auderset, Noha Ben Mohamed, just everyone!!

We leave Texas with a result that hurts, but also with even more motivation.

Great job to David Ronnefalk for the title, Mason Fuller and Juan Carlos Canas Carrasco for the podium👏🏻

We know what we are capable of.

We know how much work is ahead of us.

And we know where we want to be again.

Time to work.

We’ll be back. ❤️‍🔥🏁

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CAMPIONATO DEL MONDO 2026 🇺🇸🏁

Questo Campionato del Mondo è finito.

È difficile racchiudere un’intera settimana come questa in poche parole.

Siamo arrivati qui pronti a dare tutto quello che avevamo. Fin dalle prime prove sapevamo che non sarebbe stata una settimana facile. In alcuni momenti abbiamo faticato, ma non abbiamo mai smesso di lavorare, modificare dettagli e cercare il giusto equilibrio tra macchina, gomme e le condizioni della pista in continuo cambiamento.

Passo dopo passo siamo migliorati e siamo riusciti a concludere le qualifiche in P3, mettendoci in un’ottima posizione in vista di sabato.

Purtroppo, le finali non sono andate come avremmo voluto.

Chiudiamo questo Campionato del Mondo in P13. 😩

Ovviamente non è questo il risultato per cui siamo venuti qui, e non è facile accettarlo dopo tutto il lavoro che abbiamo fatto durante questa settimana. Ma le corse regalano momenti incredibili e anche momenti difficili. Entrambi fanno parte del percorso.

Questo risultato non cambia ciò che abbiamo raggiunto insieme, ma ci dà ancora più motivazione per lavorare duramente, capire dove possiamo migliorare e tornare più forti.

A volte un risultato difficile può darti ancora più fame di una vittoria.

E noi abbiamo fame.

Un enorme grazie a tutto il Team Associated (Brent Thielke, Richard Saxton). Ci sono così tante persone dietro questo progetto che non voglio fare tutti i nomi rischiando di dimenticare qualcuno.

Grazie a tutti per l’incredibile lavoro, il supporto e l’impegno dimostrati durante tutto questo Campionato del Mondo.

Un enorme grazie anche al Team Matrix (Alessandro Stocco, Boni Cristian, Paolo Morganti, Andreia Toledo).

Ai ragazzi di O.S. Speed (Tomohiro Okada) e a Sanwa, per essere sempre al mio fianco e aver dato tutto durante questa settimana.

Grazie a tutti i miei sponsor, alla mia famiglia, alla mia ragazza, ai miei amici e a tutti quelli che mi hanno sostenuto da casa. ❤️

Grazie a Nuno Casal Ribeiro per averci aiutato durante tutta la settimana. 🔥

Grazie anche ai miei amici presenti in pista: Linu Jung, Sebastien Mure, Stéphane Kharraji, Clément Boda, Florent Auderset, Noha Ben Mohamed… semplicemente, grazie a tutti!!

Lasciamo il Texas con un risultato che fa male, ma anche con ancora più motivazione.

Complimenti a David Ronnefalk per il titolo e a Mason Fuller e Juan Carlos Canas Carrasco per il podio. 👏🏻

Sappiamo di cosa siamo capaci.

Sappiamo quanto lavoro ci aspetta.

E sappiamo dove vogliamo tornare.

È ora di rimettersi al lavoro

Torneremo presto ❤️‍🔥🏁

#DO94 #WeAreAE #TeamAssociated #OSSpeed #Matrixtyres #Hobbywing #TeamEAM #Energyfuel #Sanwa #Arrowmax #ToolkitRC #ONGProducts #TRC #Tworks #Ruddog #Rockdesign #Stickit1racing

Last Saturday is a day I will never forget!!! I had a goal to make the A-Final with my wife and daughter as my pit crew, and I worked hard leading up to the event to reach that goal. Practice was tough, qualifying was even tougher, as I just couldn’t find my darn flow. Qualifying 54th … it was actually kinda heartbreaking inside. My 3 kids saw a lot of different things all week, I was making mistakes on track, on good runs, crashing on the last lap. Accidentally coming into pit lane to get fuel when I wasn’t called in. Having an engine issue and getting a DNF. Anything and everything was happening, I was mad at myself, and I was very sad at times.

God provided an amazing opportunity though … I had a chance to show my kids that you never give up, you don’t give up on your goals, even if it’s going terrible. I grabbed the win the 1/16th final on Friday, and moved into Saturday. I hadn’t raced on a Friday at the Worlds since 2002 🤯 Then I finished 2nd in the 1/8th final to move to the 1/4. My confidence was rising and I finally started to feel my flow. The support we had from the event was MENTAL 🙏 That was so encouraging and so amazing for me and my whole family to experience!!!!

The 1/4th final was my highlight race, and I felt I drove an amazing race. I took a gamble on the start, moving to the outside and making a pass in turn 1, a move I also took into the semi. Megan stepped up and her pit stops were INSANE!!!! I drove aggressive, but also patient, and I didn’t get in my own head, staying focused all the way to the end. Grabbing that win, emotion finally came out, fist pumping, soaking it all in and I was so happy. The crowd went crazy, my kids got to see me drive at the elite level and see the true support our family has 🥹

The 1/2 Semi final didn’t quite go as well, but I gave it everything and I have no regrets at all. Ultimately I missed my goal by 3 positions and 1.5 seconds. I was kinda bummed, but then God provided again. I was able to watch 13 friends from around the world 🌎 fight for a World Championship 🏆 And I got to experience it and watch it with my BEST FRIEND!!!! Saturday was perfect!!!!!

I can’t say THANK YOU enough to the RC community!!!! We have poured ourselves into JTP RC and I never dreamed that it could receive the support it is receiving!!!! We love our RC family ❤️

#blessed #Godisgood #RCFamily #JTPRC #RaceToWin

Exhausting week of racing in Texas!🇺🇸

I think this has to be one of the most exhausting races I have done, one week of racing! When I arrived home I slept almost 15 hours😂.

My MAYAKO MX8-27 with teamsavox servos was really solid whole week! With some help from Throttlefinger Racing Concept and INVISIBLE SPEED we got the car really good on this tight track!

I was almost able to make it straight to the semi finals but had to bumb up there from quarters. Unfortunately in the semi I made one mistake that cost me the bumb up. In the LCQ I had even better pace but I was not able to do it this time, finished 17th overall which is my best result from 1/8th nitro buggy worlds!

This track defenetly was not my comfort zone so I am happy that I was really battling for a spot in the main final!

Great job to the Americans for figuring out how to set everything to get over 10min runtime, they really showed how much that affects on this packed field of racers!

Huge congrats to David Ronnefalk on winning his second worlds title! Really happy to see that, and it was even more special to be small part of it as he told me that I motivated him to go run and get into better shape!

Special thanks to Jose Valadao for all the help and laughs during the week, can not wait to make the trip to Bermuda! Also JQ for trusting me and making me a better driver every day!

Thanks to my sponsors!

#Mayako

#Invisiblespeed

#TeamCayote

#Ultimate

#Modelix

TRC

Savöx

Schumacher

Hobbyfactory

CoreRC

pstickers

jqthreads

jlairbrushing

Racestars

nonamercpodcast

Mom and Dad

19th overall at this years World championships in Hutto Texas! Proud of the effort we put in, we had the pace for the Main with the 3rd best lap in my semi, but some mistakes from my side ultimately left us short…

Still im happy with another Top 20! Massive congratulations to David on the Win, totally deserved victory!

Thanks to my dad for all that hard work this week and Lucia for the Media duties!

I’ll do a photo dump as my next post as I’ve taken so many cool pictures and videos

Onto the next one!

XRAY

RC Disco

FX Engines

HUDY

MB Models

Hotrace Tyres Factory

SRT RC

Hobbywing Technology

Team Zombie

TRC

Modelix Racing

三和電子機器株式会社 SANWA Electronic Instrument

Smart-Workshop

Vpdesign Company

What a World Championship, and what emotions! 🤩🇺🇸

Qualifying in 17th place, tied on points with the 16th-place finisher, we started in 8th position. I fought until the end to finally finish 6th.

This allows us to finish 20th in the overall standings of the 2026 World Championship in Texas. 🇺🇸

This result would never have been possible without all the people who accompany and support me.

A huge thank you to Sebastien Mure for all his help and support throughout this adventure.

Thanks also to Davide Ongaro and his entire team, as well as Brent, Richard and the entire Team Associated team, for their work and trust.

Thanks to Nicola Marrone for the tire support and all his help, to Edu for the engine support UltimateRacing and the incredible pit stops, and to TRC for their superb pistons.

Thanks also to Nuno for all his help with the pits during the tests.

And of course, the biggest pitsis to my family, my girlfriend, my sponsors and all the people who follow and support me. ❤️

Thanks to everyone for being part of this adventure. We continue to work and come back even stronger. 🔥

What a World Championship, and what a thrill! 🤩🇺🇸

Qualifying in 17th place, tied on points with the 16th-place finisher, we lined up for the first heat of Quarterfinal A with a single goal: to give it our all. After 30 excellent minutes of racing, we secured our spot in the semifinals of this World Championship by winning that quarterfinal.💪

In the semifinals, the pace was simply insane. I was right in the mix from the start and well-positioned, but a collision completely changed the course of the race. I then found myself in the Last Chance race, starting in 8th position. I fought hard until the very end and ultimately finished 6th.

This allowed us to finish 20th in the overall standings of the 2026 World Championship in Texas. 🇺🇸

This result would never have been possible without all the people who stand by me and support me.

A huge thank you to Sébastien Mure for all his help and support throughout this adventure.

Thanks also to Davide Ongaro and his entire team, as well as to Brent, Richard, and the whole Team Associated crew, for their hard work and trust.

Thanks to Nicola Marrone for Hot Race Tire support and all his help, to Edu for the UltimateRacing engine support and the incredible pit stops, and to TRC for their superb pistons.

Thanks also to Nuno for all his help in the pits during practice.

And of course, a huge thank you to my family, my girlfriend, my sponsors, pitseveryone who follows and supports me. ❤️

Thank you all for being part of this adventure. We’ll keep working hard and come back even stronger. 🔥

Team Associated

LRP GmbH

Factory Team

Hotrace Tyres Factory

Ultimate Racing

Modelix Racing

Sanwa France

pits0

pits1

pits2

pits3

pits4

pits5

pits6

#Nitrolux

pits7

pits8

#LRprod

#ONG

pits9

Ifmar World Championship 2026 Texas!!

A race from which to learn, both mechanically and personally.

We couldn't find the balance that would have allowed us to feel confident and steady throughout the race.

After qualifying we started with the number 4 in the quarterfinals. After a hard-fought race and a complicated fight, we managed to get to the last laps in fourth position and win the passage to the semifinals.

In the semifinals we started last and, due to some of my mistakes, we only had the LCQ available. We managed to close it in P3, just three seconds from the last place available to access the final.

It's definitely not the result we wanted, but you have to know how to learn from every race. Now I will stay focussed on the next competitions, aware of where I went wrong and determined to work to improve.

A huge thank you to all my sponsors for the support they give me at every race.

Congratulations to the new world champion David Ronnefalk and my two very fast teammates for the podium💪🏻

Special thanks to my dad and Adrien Bertin, for always being by my side and for all the help they give me on the track.❤️

#SWORKz

#MATRIX

#CORSATEC

#ENERGY

#XTREME AERODYNAMICS

#POWERHD

#T-WORKS

#ULTIMATE

#TRC

#MAUGRAFIX

#SCHEPIS MODEL

#EVOLUTIONMODELLISMO

#ROCKDESIGN

2026 IFMAR Nitro World Championship at Thornhill, Texas it’s over!

Made it back home after a looong week! A bit of a rollercoaster as well when it comes to results.

Qualified 47th, last in the 1/8th’s. Bumped up all the way up to the Semis which im proud of that.

We were definitely some dots down on speed this time but we made the best out of what we could. We never gave up, we tried all the different things we could on both car and tires but we just couldn’t get on pace with the top guys.

Finished the worlds on a bittersweet 22nd place. Happy we made it all the way up to the top 24 but just mad and sad we couldn’t get the spot we wanted!

A big big thank you to my brother André Guerreiro for the hard work, this was a difficult one, I can’t thank him enough for being tireless! Also to Marc Ibars Pola for the trust and help and week long as well as for the advices and teamworkd we did! To David Todd Nieto, Edu Ameijide Abella and Michael for the help during the bump ups! Also to Daniele Ielasi for always being there even when things don’t work out for us!

To the whole Tekno RC family, thanks for the great times and congrats to my “housemates” Ryan Maifield and Seth VanDalen for making the show!

Last but not least, big shoutout to David Ronnefalk for the win! I know he was chasing his 2nd so I’m very happy for you my friend! 👏🏽🙌🏽

As always I couldn’t do anything without the amazing support of my sponsors, family and friends! A bit thank you to all of you!!

See you soon!

Tekno RC

IELASITUNED_official

Modelix Racing

ProTekRC AMain Hobbies

36MOOD Throttlefinger Racing Concept

AGRAFIX duduworks_rc

#sanwa e1rc Baru RC

18 days later we are officially back home. We took a detour after Worlds to head to Florida for a bit for some family time. My Worlds race report isn’t anything too exciting. I struggled from the very beginning and every time I thought I had some momentum going my way it ended up getting abruptly taken back away. I had high expectations this year especially with it being in the USA and having prior success at Thornhill over the years. That’s why we go racing though as you never know. We will keep on trying! Huge congrats to my Xray teammate David on a fantastic win. He was on it all week long and had to really rally during the main. Well deserved for him and Xray!

#Xray #RCAmerica #matrixtires #Cayote #GensAce #UltimateRC #NitroPro #Hudy #flysky #Nitrolux #BeachRC #Amainhobbies #EliteRCProductions #EZCustoms #StickitOne #matrixOffroad #JTBearings #DRC

Back home after the 1/8 Off-Road World Championship in Texas! 🇺🇸

The 1/4 final did not go as I wanted, and a few mistakes cost me the chance to reach the semi-final. That is racing, but I am still very happy with the work we did throughout the week and the support around me.

A huge thank you to IFMAR and everyone at Thornhill Racing Circuit for putting on such a fantastic event. The track was amazing, very challenging and a real pleasure to race on.

Congratulations to David Ronnefalk on becoming World Champion! It was an incredible one-hour final to watch, with several different drivers leading the race. A great show for everyone watching.

A special thank you to INF1NITY RACING TEAM , all my sponsors, Monteiro, Miura-San, Kouki, Artusi, friends and everyone who supported me throughout the week. ❤️

Inf1nityofficial

INFINITYウェブショップ

Hobbywing Technology

Xtreme Aerodynamics

Creation Model Ltd.

Sunpadow RC

MKS Servo Tech

SMJ

Monaco RC

Officina RC

DubiDesign

DFcreative

RC Discharger

RC Discharger Europe

TRC

Brunorc

#rccars #fastcars #racing #rcracing #brunocoelhorc

What a week at IFMAR World Championship 2026 at Thornhill Racing Circuit in Austin, Texas!🇺🇸🌏

Finals day,

Started P3 in 1/8B. Got a great start did some overtakes and were able to control the lead for the 30 minutes! Ended P1 there bumped up to 1/4B. Not the best start with a few mistakes and ended up P6 after 30 min not trough for the semis this time! Had the speed to be there but was not the time this year!

With great speed in the quarter is was able to become P26 overall and my best result at a worlds!

Happy with the overall performance!🏁

Big thanks to Paul Ciccarello for pit help all weekend long, Pierre Ronnefalk and Martin Bayer as well as dad couldn’t come this time!

Last but not least thanks to Team Xray for a great week in Austin and good memories and great performances updates on the XB8! Nicola Marrone at HotRace for the great tires and support all week long!😍👊🏼

Congratulations to my friend and team mate David Ronnefalk with family for his 2nd World Title in 1/8! Happy to have been on place to see it in person! Well deserved!! After all testing all year!👏🏼😍🏁

Now the outdoor season for my part is over for this year! XB2 and XB4 is ready to start doing some testing for upcoming races!

Thanks to my sponsors for continuing support!

XRAY

HUDY

FX Engines

Hotrace Tyres Factory

Team Cayote

SANWA Electronic Instrument

TKO Competition Development

Latera Racing

T-Works

Attack RC

2026 IFMAR World Championship is finished! Always a crazy week of racing and it couldn’t have been at a better track, Thornhill Racing Circuit provided a fantastic layout and proved to be great hosts.

In the end I finished up 27th overall, missing out on a semifinal appearance by one position in the 1/4 final. While not the overall result I was looking for, it was still my best finish at a WC and something to build from.

Thanks to my family and friends for supporting all week at the event, To Danny, Matt, Matt and Ilias at Tekno for being on hand supporting us at the event and to Jason, Paul and Allison at Jconcepts for providing the best tires and support!

Happy to see team success with Seth and Ryan taking places in the Final, as well as Team USA’s best showing!

Tekno RC

JConcepts Inc

Team Tekin Racing

MKS Servo Tech

ProTek RC

VP Racing Fuels

Flysky RC

JTP RC

BOOM Graphics

DW Designs

🇺🇸THORNHILL WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP – TEXAS 🇺🇸P2️⃣9️⃣

We arrived in Texas a few days early to adapt and get everything ready. The first day couldn’t have gone better: the team brought the new parts for the XB8 ’27, and the car performed amazingly from the very first practice.

It took me some time to adapt to the track layout and the grip level, and that showed in seeding and qualifying. I simply wasn’t driving well and couldn’t find my rhythm.

For the finals, we changed our mindset and just do my best and I managed to fight my way from the 1/16 final all the way to the quarter-finals. We had the pace to make it into the semi-finals, but four mistakes at the beginning of the race cost me around 15 seconds and ultimately put me out.

Our FX Engines also played a huge part, giving us an incredible 13-minute runtime. It was simply spectacular.

I want to thank all my sponsors and, especially, the entire XRAY team (Martin, Cicca, David, Max, Chase, Oscar’s, Hampus, Bermudez Family, etc… and all!!) for the huge amount of work they put in to prepare all the parts in such a short time. Also for sure to my Dad to do this possible also and Juanmi for come to set the car perfectly every time that goes on track.

I also want to congratulate David Ronnefalk . After a year where the results just weren’t coming, he never gave up. His result is even more impressive considering all the hard work and perseverance behind it.

And finally, thank you to ROBERT BATLLE , one of my best friends in RC. It has been a real pleasure sharing this last World Championship with you, being under the same roof and staying up late talking about everything — and about what’s still to come.

You have helped this hobby grow to incredible levels. Maybe you could have an even bigger racing résumé, but I’m sure the best is yet to come, sharing everything you know with others.

Thank you for everything, Robert. ❤️

We leave with the experience, the friendships and, most importantly, the motivation to keep pushing.

See you at the next one. 🏁🇺🇸

Team Xray

teamhudy

FX Engines

Contrimar

Contrimar

CRC Caja Rural Central

OGO RACING

SAVOX SERVO

XTR Racing

AGRAFIX

RcDeluxe

Ruben Gonzalez Martinez

Back home from the 1/8 Off-Road World Championship in Texas 🇺🇸

Started in the 1/4 but didn’t go as i wanted. Some mistakes didn’t allow me to make the bump uo for the semi! Still happy about how we worked in these conditions as they are not my favorites.

We will back stronger in the next Worlds! 👊🏼

A special thank you to all my sponsor that make everything possible, to my Dad for his no-stop working and Reno ❤️

Congratulation to David Ronnefalk for the win 👏🏻

#Kyosho

#ModellismoFioroni

#RedsRacing

#Jetko

#EnergyFuel

#BaruRC

#LRP

#Savox

#UltimateRacing

#MPEstickers

#SenesiMotorsport

#EbDesign

The 2026 IFMAR World Championships is done and what a week it was in Hutto, Texas. The Thornhill crew put together a fantastic layout that produced great racing. The grip came up very fast and with several rounds in you could dial in your setup. Seeding went well, I found some nice speed during qualifying working with the Mayako team. I didn’t have the 1/4 I wanted with a nut coming off my rear shock just after the 10 min mark. Sometimes racing is tough and I will take away all the positive things during the week and move on to the next race event.

Congratulations to David Ronnefalk on his well deserved win!

INVISIBLE SPEED

MAYAKO

Alpha Plus

Hotrace Tyres Factory

1up Racing

Hitec RCD USA

Nitro Pro Racing

sunpadowrc

pdxrcraceway

StickitONE

The world championships 2026 in Hutto, Texas is over🇺🇸

12 days I never will forget! Texas did not disappoint that’s for sure🤩

8 straight days at the track always fighting and working for those extra tenths and seconds to move further up. We had some really hard days, where we were unlucky and where we had to dig deeper to find the right setup.

Qualifying was a roller coaster, but with the help from Michael at home we found the perfect setup for Q5 and Q6!

In the end I qualified for the 1:16 final. We had a almost perfect final and manage to bump to the 1:8 final, and go to the finals day. Again i was right in contention for a bump up spot, but with a mistake of my own and a backmarker not letting me trough I was cut short of the bump up by one spot… It was a shame, but I know I had the speed and pace to make it into the quarter finals at the worlds, which I think is pretty good. In the end I Finnished in P41 which I am super proud of🤩

A week with so many emotions is crazy to reflect on. But I am so happy that I shared it with Oliver and my dad ❤️Also to see my old teammate and friend David Ronnefalk win his second worlds title was crazy and to see the emotions from his dad and Martin was second to none!

We fought hard and in the end I payed of. With the amount of practice and prep time I could put into this with just starting a new job for 1 month ago, I think this is acceptable.

In the end my Ruddog powered Team Associated with Hotrace Tyres Factory tyres was amazing to drive! You can also see this with the most car in the main👊🏻 I was privileged enough to be Marcus Kærup RC Driver mechanic for the main final! And with all the unlucky things, I was simply impressed by the P4 he got in the end!🇩🇰

These trips and races I also meet some of my old buddy’s like Cole Ogden 👊🏻 This time also made a lot of new ones🤩

I want to say a massive thank you to my father for this amazing trip. I am not always the easiest to work with, but like the euros, did we figure out everything and did some work! ❤️ Also to Oliver for doing the trip with us. Even though he was there for Burak, he was there everytime for the pit stops and helping with all other things. Thank you buddy ❤️

I want to thank Michael at home for always being there with mental support and the support of the setup. He saw some things from home and we did some good decisions! Without this, I would not have made it this far! 🤩👊🏻

Thanks to Brent and Richard for always making sure I had everything needed in terms of car support, spares and options!

Thanks to Nicola Marrone for always making sure that I had the right tyre on my car for all my runs! Your help means a lot! Grazie and once again congratulations on your world title🇮🇹

To Throttle Finger for making sure the shocks always where on point!

Also want to say’s thanks to The Killics, Tomas and Andrea for the great Company both on and off the track all week😎

Now I can’t wait to come home to all my loved ones ❤️

Onto the next one!

Thanks to all my sponsors and all the supporters at home 🥰

Rc Kongen

Team Associated

Ruddog

RDRP

Hotrace

PHUB

HKB-Invest

Thunder Innovation

TRC

TKR Grapichs

Tworks

Gummergården

#JB21

Back home after a long and good week in USA🇺🇸

Finals day

Started p5 in the 1/8A final and after the first lap i was beyond dead last because of chaos but i worked my way up to a p5. Was close to catching p4 but a misstake with 2 minutes to go was unfortunately the end of my worlds.

Huge congrats to the 2026 ifmar world champion David Ronnefalk🥇 What a crazy final you drove and it shows that all the hard work paid off!

Big thanks to Nicola Marrone for always having the right tire for me.

Big congrats Martin Bayer for the win and also thank you for your amazing support!

And thanks to Pierre Ronnefalk, Max Götzl RC driver for helping me in the pits as dad couldn’t come this time.

Now it’s time to prepare the 1:10 cars for the swedish cup RD3 at Borås in two weeks on foams

XRAY

Latera Racing

FX Engines

Team Cayote

TeamSavox

Hotrace Tyres Factory

Attack RC

The 2026 worlds have come and gone and as always didn’t disappoint. First of all I want to give a huge shoutout to the whole Thornhill Racing Circuit and IFMAR crew for the amazing event they put on. It really was a great time all around. I was able to show some decent speed out there and get in 3 top 25 runs in qualifying putting me 36th overall. I would’ve loved to have qualified a bit better but this was by far my best worlds qualifying effort so I can’t be too upset. 36th put my 2nd in the 1/8 B final on Saturday. In the final I had a pretty costly mistake hitting the back pole that put me mid pack pretty early. I was able to stay in the fight for most of the race but ended up having to settle for 7th. Overall I ended up finishing 45th. One great takeaway from this past week was the fuel mileage we were able to get with my Protek RC RM.1 engine going 10 minute stops every run! Super happy with that! I would like to give a huge shoutout to my girlfriend Dienna for all the help in the pits, Tyler Brown for the awesome tire support at the event, my family, boss man Ryan for the time off work,and lastly all my sponsors for their support! Races like this wouldn’t be possible without these people in my circle!

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ProMotion

ProTek RC

Team Cayote

VP Racing Fuels

AMain Hobbies

J&T Bearing Company

Mugen Seiki Racing

Nine2zero Designs RC

Bradley Fine Line Design

Leadfinger Racing

The Drake Racing

AMR Engines

Factory Tracks

Westek electric

MOTOWHIPS

TRC

World Championship 2026 🇺🇸 is done and dusted

Not the result we were expecting, we didn’t find the right balance the whole week and we struggled, it also didn’t help that when having a bump spot I had some really bad mistakes which left us out of it, but we definitely learned a lot for the future

As always I want to thank my mechanic Edu Ameijide for all his help and dedication, it wasn’t an easy week but he still worked hard to have everything as best as possible. Also thank you to Marc Ibars and Modelix Racing for their help and support

I want to thank my sponsors, Edu Ameijide for all his help as always, and my dad for making this possible

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Campeonato del Mundo 2026 🇺🇸 terminado

No ha sido el resultado que esperábamos, nos costó mucho toda la semana y no ayudó que teniendo opción a remontar tuve unos fallos muy gordos que nos dejó fuera, pero hemos aprendido mucho para el futuro

Como siempre quiero agradecer el trabajo y dedicación de mi mecánico Edu Ameijide, no ha sido la semana más fácil pero no ha dejado de trabajar para sacar lo máximo. También gracias a Marc Ibars y Modelix Racing por todo el apoyo

Quiero agradecer a mis sponsors, Edu Ameijide por toda su ayuda como siempre, y a mi padre por hacer todo esto posible

Mugen Seiki Co., Ltd.　株式会社無限精機

Mugen Seiki Europe

Modelix Racing

Hobbywing Technology

Pro-Tuned

#ModelixFamily

#ModelixJuniorTeam

#MugenSeiki

#Ultimate

#ProCircuit

#Nitrolux

#Stick4u

#AttackRC

#prospeedrc

#TeamKirri

#PaqueTodd

#RocketShip

#Faa

The 2026 1/8 World Championship at Thornhill is done and dusted!

Big thank you to the entire Thornhill Racing crew for all the hard work leading up and during the event!

After a week of practice, qualifying, and racing I was able to finish 48th overall. Not exactly where I want to be but it just means we have to work harder and learn more💪.

I made some setup changes each practice round giving me a much better feel on the track! Going into qualifying and Mains I was very happy with my equipment! My entire package worked perfectly, Jconcepts Tires, MKS Servos, Protek Engine and pipe,

Big big thank you to Javon Mallory and John Burt for all the help all weekend long. The week started out a little rough but Javon and John definitely pushed me into a better mindset after practice and I can’t thank them enough!

Thank you as well to Jonah Wilson, Noha Ben Mohamed, Adrian Pariente, Alex Lim, for all the help and good times. Thank you as well to my Fiancé Hannah for all the support.

Big thank you to all of my sponsors for all the support!

Sparko Racing

Powerhobby

JConcepts Inc

MKS Servo Tech

AMain Hobbies

ProTek RC

Team Cayote USA

SS Hobbies & Raceway

Setser's RC Art

The Drake Racing

StickitONE

Vision Racing Products

VP Racing Fuels

Mallory Performance

What does it really take to win a World Championship?

When you see a photo with a trophy and the words WORLD CHAMPION, it can look like everything was decided in one one-hour final.

In reality, the road to this title started around one year before the World Championship. For some parts, even earlier.

Our job was to find something that could move us forward. Something that would make the car faster, easier to drive and more competitive on a track we still didn’t fully know.

We started working on new parts and prototypes. Some of them were quite complicated and required a lot of time for development, production and testing.

We managed to get the first prototypes ready early enough. But as always in development, every test creates new ideas. Eventually, what started as several new parts grew into an upgrade package affecting roughly 50% of the car.

And that isn’t something you simply bolt onto the car the day before a race and automatically go faster.

Every new part changes the car’s behavior. You need to understand it, find the correct setup and, most importantly, make everything work together.

Unfortunately, production took a little longer than planned, so much of the testing was done with only a very small group of drivers and mainly at the Hudy Arena.

It was a risk.

But once I saw the potential, I believed it was a risk worth taking.

We eventually brought 21 complete upgrade packages to Texas – around 25 kg of parts. Some of the final components were finished only about four days before we left.

None of this would have been possible without the people at XRAY. From development and engineering to production and the management who allowed us to keep pushing until the very last moment.

A World Championship is not won by one person, one driver or one mechanic. This result belongs to a huge number of people at the track and back at the factory.

This time, we approached the Worlds differently

In the past, I was sometimes frustrated that, as Team Manager, I didn’t always have all the information I wanted.

A driver can explain his feeling, of course. But sometimes you need to know exactly what the car is doing yourself.

So this time we did something different.

I decided to race.

Not because I was chasing my own result. My main job was to test for the team.

Every run gave me around 13 minutes on the track. That’s a huge amount of testing time where I could compare setups, tires and different combinations.

I won’t lie – sometimes it wasn’t easy to drive into the pits during a run, change tires or make adjustments while watching other drivers pass me. The racer inside you doesn’t particularly enjoy that. 😄

But I believed this strategy could help the whole team.

And it did.

Our drivers were fast from the very first practice. We could give them information about tires and setup before their runs. The results came, confidence in the car grew and so did the confidence of the entire team.

I think we even surprised ourselves with how competitive we were from the first practice all the way to the final.

But there was no way I could do all of this alone

Racing, testing and managing the entire team at the same time is impossible without people you can completely rely on.

That’s why I knew I needed Max Götzl RC driver with me. He is someone I have taught almost everything I know in RC, I have known him for many years and I knew I could trust him. He did everything necessary to keep things running and allowed me to concentrate on the areas where I was needed most.

Then there was my other role – being David’s mechanic together with his father, Pierre.

David Ronnefalk and I have worked together for a long time, so for this race it was an easy decision. When the three of us work together, there is a chemistry that is difficult to explain. Everyone knows his job, we trust each other and historically we have achieved very good results together.

But this time we knew one mistake could cost us everything.

The Thornhill track was extremely demanding and a DNF could happen at almost any moment.

Our first major goal was simply to survive the semifinals and put the cars into the main final.

The result?

We started the World Championship final from P1 and P2.

That’s a situation you can only dream about before a World Championship. And fortunately, both of our drivers are experienced professionals who understand that a race isn’t won in the first corner and know how to respect each other on track.

Then came the real pressure

Before the final we made the last changes to David’s car.

Our strategy was clear. We wanted the car to become especially strong in the second half of the one-hour final, when everyone would be dealing with worn tires.

Before the start, I was probably more nervous than I have ever been.

A 1/8 Nitro Off-road World Championship title is one of the biggest achievements possible in our sport. It’s something we had been chasing for many years.

And suddenly hundreds of scenarios start going through your head.

Set the engine idle incorrectly. Make a mistake gluing a tire. Lose a few seconds during a pit stop. Miss one tiny technical detail.

One small mistake and a year of work from dozens of people can disappear in seconds.

And when something doesn’t work, as Team Manager I ultimately take responsibility. From the decisions behind the development and management of the team to what happens in the pits and on pit lane.

That naturally adds another level of pressure.

RC is my life. It’s my job, my hobby and something I live practically every day. Maybe that’s why moments like this affect me so much.

And then the final started…

The start was great.

But shortly afterwards David made two mistakes in quick succession – something we had hardly seen from him all week.

Suddenly everything changed.

At that moment, being a mechanic isn’t just about refueling the car. You have to calm your driver down and get him mentally back into the race as quickly as possible. That’s difficult even for the best professional racing drivers in the world.

Fortunately, David is an absolute professional.

He found his rhythm again and we could start working our way back according to our plan.

The first stint changed our fuel strategy slightly, but this was exactly where the strength of the team became important. Pierre Ronnefalk was prepared for every scenario and together we were able to react.

Throughout the week we had extremely fast pit stops. During the final, our work in the pits even helped us in the fight for the lead.

Then we simply had to execute.

Pit stop after pit stop. Lap after lap.

No mistakes. No technical problems. No hesitation from the car, engine or team.

And then David crossed the finish line…

as World Champion. 🏆

At that moment, everything came out.

The emotions in the pits and in the grandstand probably showed better than anything how much this title meant to us.

It wasn’t the result of one final.

It was the result of a year of development, production, testing, decisions, risks and the work of a huge number of people.

XRAY XB8 – WORLD CHAMPION.

FX Engines – WORLD CHAMPION.

David was the one who completed the job on the track and handled the enormous pressure when it mattered most. But behind that trophy stands an entire team – the people everyone saw in Texas and many more who will never appear in the photos because they were back at the factory, working for months to give us the opportunity to fight for this title.

Without them, this result would simply not have been possible.

Thank you to David, Pierre, Max, our entire race team, every XRAY driver and every single person at XRAY and HUDY who contributed to this project.

I think this World Championship added quite a few grey hairs to my head. 😂

But every single one was worth it.

This is a moment I will remember for the rest of my life. ❤️🏆

🏆🌎 YES, YES, YES — WE ARE WORLD CHAMPIONS!!! 🏆🔥

Finally, we did it! The title we have wanted for so long is finally ours!

What an incredible week. So much testing, hard work, long days and amazing teamwork from everyone — and this is the result. XRAY XB8´27 & FX Engines are WORLD CHAMPIONS! 🥇🏆

I’m incredibly proud of the whole team and what we achieved together this week.

David Ronnefalk, THANK YOU for this amazing day! You delivered when it mattered most! 👊🔥

This one means a lot. ❤️

XRAY XB8´27 🏆 FX Engines 🏆 WORLD CHAMPIONS! 🌎

#XRAY #TeamXRAY #XB8 #FXEngines #WorldChampion #IFMARWorlds #HUDY #RCRacing

World Championship 2026 Texas! 🇦🇺

Definitely one of the best experiences I’ve ever had and a race from which we come home with many things to learn…📝

Unfortunately, my race ended early and not as I had hoped, just when I was feeling at my best with my WIRC SBX4.

I want to thank WIRC Professional RC Cars for giving me this amazing opportunity and James Spratley for his help throughout the weekend!

A big thank you also to Daniele Ielasi, Mattia Polito and Aldo Dell'Aquila, who were always there to help me during the race! 🫶🏻

Finally, I want to thank the entire Matrix team for the amazing support directly at the track!

A big thank you to all my sponsors for always supporting me!

WIRC | #pone | IELASI TUNED | Matrix Racing Tires | Xtreme Aerodynamics | Runner Time | Power HD | CORSATEC | TRC | Maugrafix | Kosmo RC | Buggynerds | Monochrome Design