Along the way we're made note that World Championships have a history of throwing up first-time, and even surprise winners - so today we'll take a look at what I think are the top-10 candidates for a first time World Championship win.

We'll be back next time to look at another group too - a very long list of those who'll be eyeing off a spot in the A final, and just maybe joining the honour roll of World Championship podium placegetters. That's for next time, for now, we're out on a limb namimg our top-10 contenders for a first World Championship. Let's start at the top:

Dakotah Phend - XRAY/USA
He's a fair candidate to be named the best driver yet to win a World Championship in all the history of RC. The US megastar has won just about everything else, and he's come agonisingly close on occasion (2019 4wd, for example) to an IFMAR win. Spending his whole career with Team Losi, 2025 marked the big move across to European powerhouse XRAY, and with it a reinvigoration. There's been a load of wins in the 2025 season, notably including the 4wd ROAR nationals a couple of months back. With a trip to Sydney in July to sample local conditions, Dakotah will arrive well prepared, with strong team backing, and determined to hoist the biggest trophy. When he's "on", he's all-but unstoppable.

Broc Champlin RC - Schumacher R/C Racing/USA
Sweeping the ROAR Carpet Nationals a couple of weeks back comes as no surprise for a man well known as one of the very best US racers on the highest grip surfaces. Champlin has a long list of wins indoors on carpet. But he's also built a strong reputation on dirt, and is a factor at every event in his home country. At Hobby Action for the 2023 Worlds he was on the podium in 2wd, and missed it by one in 4wd, to be the overall best-performed Schumacher driver. With another couple of years on dirt, Champlin has to be considered among the serious threats - though he is one of a few yet to have sampled the Hills Offroad RC conditions. That's a big challenge to overcome, and one of the reasons we think he might be more of a threat in the 4wd class. One to watch.

Lachlan Donnelly RC - Team Associated/Australia
The local boy grew up on the sweeps of Hills, and knows the place better than just about anybody. When it comes to following evolving track conditions, and being ready to go fast any time of day, Lachlan is all-but peerless. He's also genuinely quick, having grown enormously since a C final appearance at Hobby Action two years ago. With a relentless testing program, and dominant performances at Hills over the last 12 months where he shared Australian Championship wins with Spencer Rivkin, then swept the warmup, Donnelly has put his name firmly on the "must watch" list. The challenge of course will be stepping it up, under pressure, in a stacked field that contains just about every one of the top 30 drivers on the planet.

Daniel Kobbevik sport - Schumacher/Norway 
Uber fast at the warmup back in April, particularly in 4wd, Daniel Kobbevik has the feel about him of someone who at any moment could put together a break-through performance and take it to the best in the world. We can't help but wonder whether 2025 might just be the year that happens. With the engineering talents of Tris Neale in his corner, and Michal Orlowski to work with on car setup, Kobbevik's speed won't be in doubt. If he puts it all together, watch out.

Brennan Schimmel - XRAY/USA
At the 2025 ROAR Nationals, Brennan Schimmel was outstanding. The win in 2wd, and going within a whisker in 4wd announced him to the World, and put him firmly on our list of ones to watch. As with Champlin, he'll arrive without track knowledge, so once again we have to wonder if it might be 4wd that offers the best opportunity, as the talented XRAY pilot gets to grips with conditions.

Joona Haatanen RC - AE/Finland
One half of Team Associated's talented nordic pairing, Haatenan will be keen to match team-mate Marcus Kaerup's recent ascent to the IFMAR Hall of Fame. Loaded with experience despite a relatively young age, Haatenan is another who is on our list of "ready to break through". He arrives hot on the heels of a German National Championship win last week, but has to overcome the lack of track knowledge having not previously visited. Are you getting the idea yet that we think 4wd is going to be intense? Put Haatenan in the mix for that class for sure.

Bartek Zalewski Rc - Poland/XRAY
The Polish boy wonder, Bartek Zalewski has emerged rapidly over the last couple of years to be regularly mixing it with the best in the world. He made the trip to Australia for the warmup back in April, and looked a little overwhelmed by the challenge in such unfamiliar conditions - but since then he's stepped it up big time, including 3rd (4wd) and 4th (2wd) place finishes on low-ish grip dirt indoors at the Euro Champs at Hudy Arena. That's the result (and the speed) that we're looking at when we nominate Zalewski in our top-ten potential first-time winners. If XRAY have the car/s on the money, and things fall his way, this could be the first (of many) Worlds win for him.

That leaves us three spots in our top ten threats for a first time win. And a long list of potential options. Davey Batta? Burak Kilic? Ben Smith? Clemente Boda? Tommy Hall? Tom Rinderknect? Kouki Kato? Chris Sturdy? Jarod Ment? They just can't all fit in a self-imposed 10-driver limit. Who would you pick? We're going to go with three stand-out candidates to round out our ten, and then throw in one completely left-field bonus suggestion that just about no-body else will think of. And the rest, we'll cover next time. Let's go:

Aydin Horne RC - AE/USA
One of the genuine characters of the RC world, Horne is proving in 2024 and 2025 that he has the talent to match the character. He just missed the 2wd podium at Hobby Action two years back, and has spent those two years going wheel-to-wheel with Rivkin, Phend, Champlin etc. And he's been learning along the way. Horne, if he can stay focussed and things fall for him, might very well take the biggest prize - and it would honestly surprise nobody. Made the trip to the warmup in April, and stayed on for the week after turning hundreds of laps. He's ready.

Martin Bayer - XRAY/Czech Rep.
As the chief designer and engineer on XRAY's off-road program, it might come as a slight surprise we're naming him as a contender. But then he won the Euros this year, fending off a wildly talented field with a display of pure pace. That, plus previous track experience down under makes Martin Bayer at least worthy of watching. The big question is not about pace, or experience, or talent, or setup knowledge - but about workload. Just how much of the XRAY 'team' responsibility falls to Bayer's shoulders, and is he free to focus? If so, watch out.

Chase Lemieux - XRAY/USA
When it comes to preparation, Chase Lemieux has left no stone unturned for this World Championship tilt. He's made two trips down under, finding the podium at the 2024 Australian Championships, and then third behind Donnelly and Rivkin in 4wd at the warmup. That 4wd result probably indicates Lemieux is most likely to shine in that wheeler class, but he's another who's only one perfect weekend away from a break-out international win. XRAY have a long, long line of threats and, to my mind, Lemieux is on that list.

BONUS: Caleb Noble Rc Racing - AE/Australia
Stick with me here. This one is a genuine left-field suggestion. I'm guessing many around the world have barely heard this name, at least in connection with 10th offroad. A 1/8th specialist, Australia's Caleb Noble has raw pace that is rarely seen, and hard to match. He's made one competitive 10th offroad outing in Australia (yes, ever) when he swept both classes in a strong field at the Victorian Championships on a slippery track late in 2024. He did that with borrowed cars. He has no factory ride, no experience at Hills, and no reason to suggest him as a potential winner. And yet....  This event could go any way for Noble - that lack of 10th experience, setup knowledge, and track trime might keep him down in the lower reaches of the top 50. Or he just might pull out a shock result. Either way, he definitely won't be boring to watch.

We've left out a load of talented drivers, and we'll be back to complete the list - everybody we can think of who's a genuine A final chance, and better. In the meantime, what do you make of this top-10 list of potential first-time Champs? Who would you have put in your top ten?