HockenheimRing hosted Drag Racing

12.08.13
The FIA European Drag Racing Championship´s 4th round out of six was hosted by HockenheimRing in Germany, where the NitrOlympX was arranged for the 28th time. The well visited event where the spectators got to enjoy a weekend with great weather and performance at top level.


In the FIA European Drag Racing Championship´s Top Methanol Funny Car class it was Adam Flamholc and Johan Lindberg, both from Sweden who made it all the way to the final. Lindbergs winning time 5.62 seconds at a speed of 410 km/h over the finish line to Flamholcs loosing 5.78 sec. Leif Andreasson who is the 2012 champion and was in points lead before the event lost his lead but the champions title is still up for grabs by at least three drivers, beside Andreasson also Flamholc and Jonnie Lindberg, brother to event winner Johan Lindberg.



 
The Pro Stock field at Hockenheim was all from Sweden and the two drivers at the top of the championship, leader Jimmy Ålund and Thomas Lindström were also the two who qualified at the top. They won runs on each side of the elimination ladder to finally meet in the final. It was to be a tight final, where Lindströms elapsed time 6.70 sec was quicker that Ålunds 6.71 but where Ålund had a quicker reaction time and crossed the finish line first. Ålund keeps the points lead, while Lindström remain second and Michael Malmgren, who lost the semifinal to Lindström stays third in the points table. Worth noting is that Magnus Petersson, who lost the semifinal to Ålund is new in the class for the season 2013 and has established himself well in this class and the team is very competitive already.
 


In the Pro Modified class reigning champion Michael Gullqvist, Sweden performed outstanding elapsed times through the event and was not surprisingly number one qualifier with the elapsed time 5.97 sec at a speed of 391 km/h. Gullqvist won the quarter finals over Norbert Kuno, Germany and in the semifinal he outran David Vegter from the Netherlands. On the other side of the elimination ladder Mattias Wulcan also from Sweden did everything right and his way to a place in the final went by winning over Swede Mats Eriksson in the quarter finals and Robert Joosten the Netherlands in the semifinal. On paper Wulcan should not stand much of a chance against Gullqvist, whose performance was the quickest of all. But in dragracing first over the finish line wins the race and taken into the consideration the reaction time. And Wulcan pulled it off with a brilliant reaction time and his win was by mere thousands of a second in this thrilling final! Wulcans winning time 6.08 seconds to Gullqvist 5.98 sec. By that Wulcan advances in the points table to the second position while Gullqvist still stays in a comfortable points lead with two events remaining (see the calendar further down this page bottom).
 
In the FIA European Drag Racing Championship´s fastest class Top Fuel Dragster Sweden´s Micke Kågered did his best event in a few years and was one of the drivers to make it into the final. Micke qualified 4th quickest and faced Jari Halinen from Finland in the quarter finals (Halinen second in the points table before the event). Kågereds win in the semifinal was against another veteran in the class, Urs Erbacher from Switzerland, who had many guests invited to this event living only a few hours from the Hockenheim track. Kågered was just too fast for Erbacher this time. Thomas Nataas from Norway, was the other finalist. Nataas, who pilots the Danish team Andersen Racings Top Fuel Dragster this season was second in points before the event after Antti Horto Finland. Before the final team Kågered had to switch engine and unfortunately a malfunction soon before the start meant Kågered could not complete the final run. He was backed away from the startline and the final was to be a bye run for Nataas, who ended the event running a fine time of 4.11 seconds at a speed of 434 km/h. Well deserved win for Thomas Nataas and crew, who with this take over the lead in the championship points. Kågered cannot win the championship but advances slightly from the 6th position. Anita Mäkelä, Finland and Stig Neergaard, Denmark are Nataas strongest competitors and threats in the battle of the European Champions title in Top Fuel Dragster the race season 2013. 
 
 
Photo copyright : Lena Perés/Speedgroup