It was the three-man team of Howard Maitland, Franklin Thomas and Rory Roberts, collective known as Team Viper that dominated Sunday’s JAMROCK Remote Control Car Club (JRRCCC) 2-Hour Nitro GT Endurance Race at Sovereign Centre on the Boulevard, Washington Boulevard in Kingston.

Team Viper finished 50-laps ahead of the competition.

“It was a very interesting race,” Maitland, team leader, told Auto.

The victory was made even more special as this was his very first endurance event. Despite the three different drivers on the team, all were able to maintain an error-free pace that kept them in the lead from the start to the finish. Maitland also praised their chassis of choice, a Serpent Cobra.

“The car was very durable. Other than a small fuel adjustment to stop it from running rich, it didn’t fail once,” he said.

Team Viper’s performance contrasted that of second-placed finishers Team JDF, who had to fight themselves from the back of the grid. The combined efforts of Jason Givens, Douglas Day and Neil Ferguson couldn’t keep their Mugen MGT7 chassis problem-free, despite it appearing to have the pace beyond that of its rivals.

Defending champions Team .5 would not repeat their 2014 win as problems struck their Kyosho Inferno GT2 chassis for the duration of the race, which placed them third overall. JRRCCC president Denise Clarke, who headed Team .5 last year had handed over the reins to Jason Chen this year. Andre Blaine completed their roster.

“We struggled all day. The start was good, but towards the end things started to fall apart,” Jason Chen, Team .5 captain said.

However, Chen who is making a return to his hobby mirrored Maitland’s words tagging the event a great experience, especially the camaraderie involved.

“The event went very well. All teams were prepared for the long race. The atmosphere was charged with excitement with the earlier build up to the event and everyone made predictions to the outcome of the race,” Denise Clarke added.

Team Untouchable, led by Chad Chang, and Team Last Minute headed by Izett McCalla finished fourth and fifth, respectively.

 — Rory Daley