Ronnefalk Crowned 2026 IFMAR 1/8th Off-Road World Champion [VIDEO]

David Ronnefalk is your 2026 IFMAR 1/8th Off-Road World Champion, 10 years after his first, and in the same country. David would win this year by a slim margin ahead of Mason Fuller at Thornhill Racing Circuit in Hutto, Texas.

We have now had a few days to reflect on the epic Saturday we saw with so many things taking place providing story lines and make it one of the most memorable days of racing in some time.

David would take a convincing win in the first Semi-Final ahead of Juan Carlos Canas and Spencer Rivkin. Brandon Rose and Phi-Long Nguyen would finish 4th and 5th in the final direct transfer spots for the main event.

The second semi-final had a much more compelling battle for the lead with mistakes from the two leaders on the first laps allowing Chase Lemieux to get to the front, a position he would only give up for the rest of the semi during pit stops. With Lemieux and Fuller on the same 10 minute pit cycles they would be close together for the entire race. Davide Ongaro would battle back after his lap 2 mistake to finish less than a second behind the front two even with doing an extra pit stop. Fuller would put his best efforts together to get past Lemieux but couldn't. Marcus Kaerup finished 4th with Berkan Kilic in 5th after a penalty call would force Ryan Maifield to give him the position back. Despite that Ryan Maifield and Aydin Horne would have times that would get them into the main event as the fastest 6th ad 7th place finishers by less than a second over Noha-Ben Mohamed forcing the young driver to the LCQ.

Seth Van-Dalen would jump to the early lead in the LCQ and hold on for the entire 15 minute affair making him the 13th driver in the main event.

The main would see David Ronnefalk lead for a few laps before a mistake would force him down the order. Chase Lemieux would then lead for a short portion and would hold on in 2nd until just short of his 2nd pit window where he would hit the top left corner pole and flame out. This would promote Mason Fuller to 2nd and David Ronnefalk back to 3rd. Just before the half way point the unthinkable would happen and Davide would hit the center pole breaking something in the steering portion of this car ending his main event and his quest for a 4th consecutive 1/8th Nitro Buggy World Championship. Mason Fuller would lead until just after the 40 minute mark, when he would pit and David Ronnefalk would take over and not relinquish the lead until the end. The final margin between 1st and 2nd was 1.4 seconds. Juan Carlos Canas would take the final spot on the podium over a lap behind the leaders.

There was an official 45+ Champion and 15U champion crowned and those would be Adam Drake and Phi-Long Nguyen.

There were also exhibition races, Adam would win the 45+ race ahead of Graham Alsop and Jerome Sartel. Phi-Long Nguyen would not take part in the Junior Race as he was preparing for the main final. Hyunkyu Jung would take the Juniors win followed by Daemon Holon and Dylan Toia.

Main Event:
1st David Ronnefalk
2nd Mason Fuller
3rd Juan Carlos Canas

45+ Champion: Adam Drake

45+ Exhibition
1st Adam Drake
2nd Graham Alsop
3rd Jerome Sartel

Junior Champion: Phi-Long Nguyen

Junior Exhibition:
1st Hyunkyu Jung
2nd Daemon Holon
3rd Dylan Toia