Susanne Callin raced to victory in the Top Fuel final of the NitrOlympX, round three of the FIA European Drag Racing Championship staged at the Rico Anthes Quartermile of the Hockenheimring
In a close Pro Modified final Michel Tooren claimed the victory over Andres Arnover. Jonny Lagg defeated Sandro Bellio to take the Top Methanol honours and in Pro Stock it was Jimmy Ålund once again, this time with the tiniest of margins over Stefan Ernryd.
TOP FUEL
The first major surprise of the weekend came when championship leader Ida Zetterström was defeated by number five qualifier Susanne Callin. The dragster of the Finnish female racer lost traction and broke the blower belt. As a result, after a bye run in the semifinal, Callin advanced to the final.
On the other side of the elimination ladder, Antti Horto defeated Dennis Nilsson and then had to face top qualifier Jndia Erbacher in the semi-final. As Horto had recorded 3.95s in the first round, and Erbacher 3.94s, it promised to be an exciting and close encounter. Eventually, the run was decided at the start line with Erbacher immediately losing traction and Horto coming out best.
In the final, Horto was unable to make it to the start having suffered severe engine damage in the semi-final run against Erbacher. Following another bye run, Callin claimed the win, her first of the season and her first FIA race win following her comeback to the Top Fuel class.
PRO MODIFIED
As expected, the eliminations in Pro Modified were exciting and full of upsets. In the first round, number three qualifier, Mats Eriksson pulled a red light and was out of competition. David Vegter, the best qualifier, advanced to the semi-final after defeating Jean Dulamon in the first round and following a bye run in the quarter-final. There he had to face his Dutch compatriot Michel Tooren, the number four qualifier who won a close quarter-final over Bruno Bader. As Vegter ran into problems, Tooren took the win with a great 6.01s to advance to the final.
In the final Tooren met another surprise finalist, Andres Arnover. The Estonian who qualified ninth surprised Andy Robinson in the first round, improved to a great 5.96 seconds to defeat Marcus Hilt in the quarter-final and had a bye run in the semi-final as championship leader and second qualifier of the event, Jan Ericsson suffered severe damage to the blower in his run against Marck Harteveld and was not able to compete in the semi-final.
In an extremely close final, Tooren crossed the finish line after 6.023 seconds, while Arnover had an ET of 6.020 seconds, but as a result of a better reaction time, Tooren claimed his first win.
TOP METHANOL
In Top Methanol the numbers one and two qualifiers, Sandro Bellio and Jonny Lagg advanced to the final. Bellio defeated Silvio Strauch in the semi-final as the German driver was the surprise winner over Linn Fløysvik in the first round. Lagg had a bye run in the semi-final. In the final Bellio’s Chevrolet Monte Carlo Funny Car drifted into the wall. The reigning champion had to lift and that made it possible for Lagg to claim the win with a 5.46-second run.
PRO STOCK
In the Pro Stock’s semi-finals, there was a major surprise as second-best qualifier Michael Malmgren pulled a red light, handing the win and a place in the final to Stefan Ernryd, who had to use his spare engine after he suffered severe damage to his number one engine in qualifying.
In the second semi-final, Jimmy Ålund improved to 6.63 seconds in his bye run into the final. In an extremely close run, it was 6.65 seconds for Ålund and 6.69 seconds for Ernryd, with the multiple champion taking the win