Gemfan LATAM Drone Championship Qualifiers Start in Guatemala; Top 16 Brackets Loom

Qualifiers for the LATAM Drone Championship 2026 - presented by Gemfan - are underway at Tribu Terrace in Alotenango, Antigua Guatemala, with Campeonato Drones Guatemala (CDG) running the show and SchattenFPV listed as race coordinator. The event opened Feb 21 and runs through Feb 22, and the race formula for seeding is clear: "Race formula: Fastest 3 consecutive laps," a format that forces pilots to string together three flawless laps rather than rely on a single hot lap.

Public listings show conflicting operating hours for the two-day event: the MultiGP event entry lists a start time of Feb 21 at 8:00 AM and an end time of Feb 22 at 8:30 PM, while the event bulletin copy and schedule snippets list daily hours of 09:30 to 20:00 and label Day 1 as "Sábado 21 de febrero" and Day 2 as "Domingo 22 de febrero." Another source text even reads "Day 2 - Saturday, February 22." Organizers point to the Event Bulletin for the "Version final en el Bulletin," which will publish the definitive schedule and resolve the day-of-week and time discrepancies.

Early leaderboard snapshots emphasize the chaos of opening heats: Cesar "CrazyKwad" Bonavides-Martinez, Diego "Villadrone" Gutiérrez, Maria "URSULAWYER-FPV" Botero, Odir "OdirFPV" Arias, and Rafael "R4f4" Estrada all appear on the leaderboard at 5.8GHz with the status "Did not complete laps." The event page UI shows "Race in progress" and "Leaderboard »" while qualifier uploads and an official livestream are referenced for those tracking runs; no channel links are published yet.

Day 2 is slated for bracket racing under a Double Elimination format on Feb 22, but bracket size remains unconfirmed in event copy. The main competition class is Open Class 5", with "posibilidad de abrir 7" Spec (pendiente de confirmacion)" listed as tentative. Registration remains open - the listing shows "Public Event," "Join," and a Race Fee of 100.00 USD, and organizers explicitly state "No hay limite de pilotos."

Prizing will come from Gemfan and event sponsors - "Premios Oficiales Habra premios oficiales de Gemfan y patrocinadores del evento. La lista final estara en el Bulletin." Media platforms named in the event materials include Discord, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube, with qualifier DVRs promised but not yet linked. Expect the Event Bulletin to publish final bracket size, prize details, confirmed hours, and livestream/DVR links ahead of the double-elimination rounds scheduled for Feb 22.