The MACH Circuit in Heemstede, the Netherlands played host to the seventh biennial IFMAR ISTC World Championships from July 26th-28th. Of course, Tamiya Racing Factory (TRF) was in the thick of the action and when all was said and done, TRF driver Jilles Groskamp and his TRF417X was crowned the champion. Not only was this Tamiya's third consecutive victory at this prestigious event, it was also brought its total IFMAR touring car title count to five (2002, 2004, 2008, 2010, 2012).
TRF fielded a strong team including 2008 and 2010 IFMAR World Champion Marc Rheinard (Germany), Viktor Wilck (Sweden), Jilles Groskamp (the Netherlands), Elliot Harper (UK), Satoshi Maezumi (Japan), and Akio Sobue (Japan), and the drivers were under the watchful eye of team leader Kiyokazu Suzuki.

The event began chaotically, as the qualifying schedule was changed from one round on Thursday and five rounds on Friday to having all six rounds on Friday. Furthermore, adverse weather eventually cancelled the fifth qualifying round and caused the sixth round to be run on a wet track, which did not enable the drivers to improve earlier times. As a result, Jilles, Marc, and Viktor qualified in 3rd, 4th, and 5th positions respectfully, with Hot Bodies' Atsushi Hara taking TQ honors ahead of this year's European Touring Car Series champion Ronald Volker.

Factory Tamiya driver Lee Martin has won the 2WD Buggy class at the second round of the inaugural TLR/Spektrum Euro Offroad Series in Charleroi, Belgium. The British driver repeated his easy win of the opening leg with another tone to tone victory in the third A-Main to claim the top step on the podium at the...  Read More