Red Bull Faster 2026 — Mudda’s Masterclass in Amsterdam

Thousands players started. One left Amsterdam with €17,600 and a trophy. This is how it happened.

The format

Red Bull Faster 2026 ran across three stages, each adding new maps to the pool and cutting the field at every turn. Eight tracks built around Red Bull and the Netherlands made up the full map pool. Obstacle, Everest and Skate opened the competition in Stage 1. Railways, Soapbox and Roadtrip were added for Stage 2. Amsterdam and Amaze completed the set for the live final. Each set of maps was released ahead of the stage they were used in, giving players time to practice before competition. The total prize pool was €50,000. The top four took the majority of it.

Stage 1 — thousands to 100

Pure time attack. Players raced across Obstacle, Everest and Skate during a global qualification window running April 3 to 19, with free club access until April 10. The top 100 advanced.

The names that made it through read like a who’s who of competitive TM. Mudda, Pac, CarlJr, Epos, Granady, Bren, Gwen, Scrapie, Spammiej and dozens more. The field for Stage 2 was stacked.

Stage 2 — 100 to 8

Stage 2 ran in multi-life knockout format across six maps. Players started with three lives and could earn up to five through Golden Rounds, losing a life each time they finished outside the safe zone.

Round 1 split the 100 qualifiers into four groups of 25. Worth noting, there were no-shows among the qualifiers, meaning groups ran with fewer than 25 players. Each group winner went straight to Stage 3. Mudda topped Group A, Massa topped Group B, Bren topped Group C and Granady topped Group D. All four through to Stage 3 without needing to go any further.

Round 2 gave the remaining survivors two groups of 14, with one direct Stage 3 spot per group. Gwen won Group A, Pac won Group B. Both through. The rest fought on.

Round 3 was survival. 18 players per group, only the top 4 from each group advanced. The notable exit here was CarlJr, who suffered a technical issue mid-race in Group B. He did finish some splits in the round but was unable to complete his run and was eliminated. The Canadian, widely considered the strongest solo player in the scene, exited without the result his form deserved. A clean run from CarlJr could easily have altered the entire final eight.

Round 4 brought the remaining field together in one group of 14 with a single Stage 3 spot available. Epos won it and confirmed his place in Amsterdam.

Red Bull also ran a Dutch Qualification round, triggered because no Dutch player had qualified through the main bracket. The round was supposed to feature four Dutch players who had progressed furthest through Stage 2, but only Spammiej and Mitra showed up. Spammiej won and took the final spot.

Worth noting on Spammiej — he competes for Falcons but his primary role within the organisation is CarlJr’s coach. The coach making the Amsterdam final while his player was eliminated by a technical issue in Round 3 is one of the more unusual storylines the tournament produced.

The eight finalists for Amsterdam: Mudda, Massa, Pac, Spammiej, Granady, Bren, Gwen, Epos.

Stage 3 — The Live Final, AMAZE Amsterdam

May 16. Eight players, two new maps, one winner.

The broadcast desk at AMAZE was Wirtual and Medic on commentary. Wirtual as co-creator and host of the event, Medic the British caster who has become a fixture on TM’s biggest broadcasts. Anastasija “Heccu” Tolmačeva handled hosting and interviews on the floor.

Stage 3 ran in Cup format with a point threshold of 140. Reaching 140 points earned a player the Finalist, but that alone was not enough to win. From that point, the Finalist needed to win one more race to clinch the match outright. If another player reached 140 before that happened, they became Finalist too and the race to win that final race was on between them. Amsterdam and Amaze were in play for the first time.

Semifinal 1 — Mudda, Massa, Pac, Spammiej

On paper the harder half of the draw.

Mudda earned Finalist first and closed it out. Pac pushed him throughout, finishing just one spot behind at the close. Massa third, Spammiej fourth. The margin between Mudda and Pac was not as tight as it looks, the Australian was on a mission and he delivered.

Semifinal 2 — Granady, Bren, Gwen, Epos

The second semi looked more comfortable on paper. It was not.

Epos earned Finalist first and won. Gwen finished just a place behind, filling the remaining spot in the final. Granady and Bren tied on points had to wave goodbye to the Dutch crowd. Three players within two points of qualification. One of the closest semifinal results you will see in this format.

The Grand Final — Mudda, Pac, Epos, Gwen

Four players, two maps, €17,600 on the line.

Mudda earned Finalist first and won the final race to clinch the title. Pac was still racing when Mudda closed it out, never quite finding the race win that would have levelled things. Epos finished third, Gwen fourth. The gap between first and second was close in points, but the dominance by Mudda has surely been established. The gap between second and third told a different story. Mudda (especially) and Pac were operating in a separate bracket from the rest of the field.

The result is worth placing in context. Mudda finished fifth to eighth at Red Bull Faster 2025. Twelve months later he won the whole thing, earning Finalist first in both the semifinal and the final. That is not a fortunate win. That is a player who arrived in Amsterdam knowing exactly what he was there to do.

What it means

Mudda goes to EWC 2026 in Paris as a Red Bull Faster champion. Already qualified, already with the trophy. The question heading into August is whether the form he showed in Amsterdam carries through to the biggest stage competitive Trackmania has ever seen.

Pac takes €7,600 and a runner-up finish that reinforces what DreamHack Birmingham already showed. He is in the form of his career. Two high-pressure finals in quick succession, both deep runs, one win. The Vitality signing is looking well-timed.

Epos continues a quietly excellent 2026. Third at Red Bull Faster, through to EWC, consistently performing when the fields are at their deepest.

CarlJr’s technical exit in Round 3 is the tournament’s unanswered question. No result to analyse, no run to evaluate. He arrives at EWC with less competitive data than almost any other qualifier heading into Paris.

Paris is eight weeks away.

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Full results and bracket at liquipedia.net/trackmania. ApexTM covered Red Bull Faster 2026 live. Follow @ApexTM_ on X for EWC 2026 coverage.