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2018 VRC PRO WORLDS WRAP UP AND HISTORY

14.01.2019 Category: Site news

by Kevin Bacon

The 2018 VRC PRO World Championships season concluded on December 31, 2018. The 2018 Worlds brought the crowning of several new champions and additional crowns for to some of VRC’s previous champions. VRC ace, Martin Wollanka (AT), added to his World Championship total. Wollanka won three events in December including 1/8 Electric Buggies Mod, 1/10 Short Course Trucks Mod, and 1/12 Sportscar Mod pushing his overall count of VRC PRO World Championship titles to an incredible 15!

Joshua Berman (US) also took home three of the coveted winged World Championship Golden Cups in December. Berman claimed the title in 1/10 Nitro On-Road Mod, 1/10 Nitro NASCAR Trucks Mod, and the brand new 1/8 Nitro GT3 Mod class. The three wins increased Berman’s overall VRC PRO World Championship count to 11!

In addition, five brand new champions were crowned in December of 2018. The list of new VRC PRO World Champions includes:

1. Zdenek Hamak (CZ) – 1/10 Electric Sedan Spec
2. Justin Coral (US) – 1/8 Nitro Buggy Spec
3. Tony Dugan (US) – 1/8 Rally X Spec
4. Kevin Bacon (US) – 1/8 Sportscar Spec
5. Stephan Halliday (AU) – 1/8 Nitro NASCAR Truck

Congratulations to all of the champions and thank you to all the VRC racers for another fun and exciting VRC PRO World Championship season.

The 2018 VRC PRO World Championship events put VRC PRO over 100+ World Championship events held since VRC PRO was released in 2011; 108 to be precise. Let’s take a look back at the first eight years of World Championships with VRC PRO. Below are some statistics and interesting facts regarding the first 108 VRC PRO World Championship events.

Can you answer these questions?

1) Do you know which VRC racer has the most VRC PRO World Championship Titles?
2) Did you know which two VRC PRO World Champions are also IFMAR World Champions?
3) Do you know who won the first ever VRC PRO World Championship and what for which class?
4) Do you know how many different VRC PRO World Champions have been crowned since 2011?
5) Do you know which VRC PRO World Championship Event had the highest racer turnout?

If you don’t know the answers, read on to find out:

2011

In 2011 VRC PRO was released. Beta testing began in May 2011 and the first ever VRC PRO World Championship events were held in December 2011. At the time, VRC PRO was limited to on-road classes and, as a result, only four world championship events were held. The first ever VRC PRO World Championship event began on December 1, 2011 for 1/8 Nitro Sportscar Mod. VRC PRO racing legend Kevin Pignotti (IT) won the event over Alexey Babchenko (UA) and Martin Wollanka. The 1/10 Nitro Sedan Mod class was won by Frank Hattich (DE) who finished a mere 3.25 seconds ahead of Ronald Volker (DE) after 45 minutes of racing. Ronald Volker won the 1/10 Electric Sedan Mod class over Wollanka and Pignotti. Ronald Volker went on to win the IFMAR 1/10 Electric Sedan Mod World Championship in 2016. Alex Apostolides (GR) won the first ever spec class world championship with his victory at in 2011 in 1/10 Electric Sedan Spec event.

2011 VRC PRO WORLD CHAMPIONS

A young Ronald Völker at the virtual LRP track

2012

Frank Hattich at Sao Paulo 1:10 nitro Worlds

https://www.vrcworld.com/static/david%20joor%20at%20mhs%201%20worlds%20600.png

2013

In 2013 VRC PRO added to its off-road vehicles in the form of 1/8 Nitro Buggies. The first ever VRC PRO 1/8 Nitro Buggy World Championship was held in 2013 at Padova IBR. Martin Wollanka claimed victory over a field of 896 racers! The largest VRC PRO World Championship event to date. 2013 was the year for Wollanka and Pignotti as the two racers won six of the seven World Championships events.

https://www.vrcworld.com/static/2013%20VRC%20World%20Champion%201-10%20nitro%20Kevin%20Pignotti.jpg

2014

https://www.vrcworld.com/static/RICK%20YELLE%202014%20WC%20600.jpg

https://www.vrcworld.com/static/chris%20sturdy%20wc%20at%20naxos%20600.jpg

Chris Sturdy (USA) at Naxos

https://www.vrcworld.com/static/malinski%20with%20car%20at%20naxos%20600.png

2015

If 2014 was a good year of Rick Yelle, then 2015 was the absolutely incredible year of Jeffrey Rietveld (NE). Rietveld absolutely dominated the VRC PRO Worlds in 2015. VRC PRO has never seen such dominance and it is doubtful if it ever will again. The phenom from the Netherlands competed in all nine of the electric and nitro on-road (road course) events. He won seven of eight! Rietveld was 0.22 seconds away from perfection.

https://www.vrcworld.com/static/JEFREY%20ON%20SYDNEY%207X%20WC%20600.png

Dana Bailes (US) was the only driver able to stop Rietveld. Bailes won the 1/12 Sportscar Mod event, besting Rietveld by a mere 0.214 seconds in the final. Oval racing was also featured at the 2015 VRC PRO Worlds with the first ever Nascar Truck World Championship events. Benjamin Lehmann (DE) won both the 1/10 Nitro and 1/10 Electric Nascar Truck events.

https://www.vrcworld.com/static/nicolas%20at%20outback%20600.png

2016

https://www.vrcworld.com/static/David%20Ronnefalk%20600.png

David Ronnefalk at Las Vegas

In 2016, VRC PRO released the Las Vegas track. This was the same track that hosted the 2016 IFMAR 1/8 Nitro Buggy World Championship won by David Ronnefalk (SE). All of the off-road events were raced on this track and Ronnefalk himself competed in the 1/8 Buggy events. In fact, Ronnefalk commented on the realism of the VRC track compared to the actual Las Vegas track. Ronnefalk stated, “I think the layout is very very close, though some sections might be a little bit more difficult in the game compared to the reality. All in all I would say it is very nicely done by everyone at VRC.” Ronnefalk went on to win the 1/8 Electric Buggy Mod event becoming the just the second person to be crowned both IFMAR and VRC PRO World Champion.

https://www.vrcworld.com/static/Ronnefalk%20IFMAR%20and%20VRC%20WC%20600.png

2017

https://www.vrcworld.com/static/gt3%20600.png

2018

https://www.vrcworld.com/static/rallyx%20600.jpg

All-in-all, of VRC PRO’s total 173,130+ members (as of this writing) it has crowned 45 different racers as World Champions in 108 different events. The complete list of all 45 World Champions and their total victory count can be found below:

https://www.vrcworld.com/static/wollanka%20nbr%201.png

We hope to catch up with some of the VRC PRO World Champions in 2019 to find out some tips, tricks and secrets to their success, and find out a little bit about them inside and outside the world of VRC PRO. Look for the “Meet the Driver” series in the coming months. In the meantime, keep practicing and spread the word about VRC PRO, and most importantly, have fun! We look forward to seeing what the 2019 Worlds will bring.

Comments

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(Total posts: 5)

Kevin B. MULTIPLE WORLD CHAMPION	18.01.2019 [03:07] Thank you guys. As you read through you might think that something is wrong for 2012 and 2013 as it appears there are "duplicates" in some of the classes. But if you look back at the "Hall of Fame" (under the Events Tab) you'll see there actually were three different 1/10 Electric Sedan Mod and two different 1/12 Sportscar Mod World Championships in 2012. There also were two separate 1/8 Sportscar World Championships in 2013 (Kevin Pignotti won both events). However, I did make two errors in the narrative section for the 2015 Worlds. 1) It should state that Jeffrey Rietveld competed in eight events (not nine). 2) Dana Bailes won 1/10 Electric Spec over Jeffrey Rietveld, NOT 1/12 Sporstcar Mod. (Table is correct, but my narrative is wrong; I apologize for the mistakes.) Thank you Pieter for posting the story and digging up all of the old images. It looks great.
Carson Y	16.01.2019 [09:49] Nice report!
Stephen H VRC World Champion	15.01.2019 [00:38] Chris sturdy ( Australia ) Nice report & nice to be on there too ( I see a few Australians in there )
michael Zappa	14.01.2019 [20:24] Wow that's some report there its great reading about the history of VRC and seeing all the winners and the racers that have taken part. There are so many people that i've never seen since i've been here hell of a report Kevin...
Pieter B Founder	14.01.2019 [11:10] What an absolute great report by Kevin, much appreciated. It shines a special light on the VRC Worlds history. It's all there but to take the time and patience to sort this all out is fantastic. I have dug up a number of images of VRC Worlds winners positioned at the virtual tracks to spice up the report. Again, many thanks and cudo's to Kevin!