Two spectacular qualifying days with top performances are casting their shadows ahead and lead us to expect fantastic motorsport on Sunday. And that’s exactly how it should be:
The very first round of FIA Pro Modified has it all. Andres Arnover, who had a bit of trouble keeping his Twin Turbo Mustang straight on the track in qualifying, beats British veteran Andy Robinson. With exactly the same reaction time and two extremely fast runs, both arrive at the finish line with a photo finish. Arnover’s margin of victory: Less than two centimeters!
Matts Eriksson throws away the best run of the weekend directly afterwards, because after a false start his 5.87 is worthless against Marcus Hilt from Switzerland.
The second round is at least as gripping. Dutchman Michel Tooren throws Swiss crowd favorite Bruno Bader out of the race with a 5.99 against 6.01. Once again, it is less than ten centimeters that decide the outcome.
In the following run Jan Ericsson and the Dutchman Mark Harteveld manage to run the same time down to the thousandth. For both, 5.963 seconds are on the scoreboards. The final speed differs by exactly one kilometer per hour. Harteveld, however, has already given away the race at the traffic lights with his red light. But as a race fan, you’ve only been sitting on the edge of your seat for a long time with this action. If at all. Action like no Hollywood movie can offer better.
Championship leader Jan Ericsson has to retire in the semifinal with a defective Supercharger. “A spare part as expensive as a luxury car,” track spokesman Benni Voss explains to the crowd. Top qualifier David Vegter is also taken out of the race by a defect. The team later discovers a crack in the Fourlink, the rear suspension. Another run here could have ended with dramatic consequences.
The final then crowns the complete spectacle and Michel Tooren emerges victorious over Andres Arnover. Tooren is minimally ahead of Arnover’s 6.024 with a 6.020, although Arnover has the higher speed. World class all the way to the final.
No less drama in the Top Methanol class. After a system error of the starting lights, the semi-final between Sandro Bellio and the German Silvio Strauch has to be repeated. Strauch did not get a start signal after Bellio had started with the pre-programmed 0.22 seconds advantage. The fact that Strauch kept his nerve and didn’t just chase is absolutely amazing and makes the hundred percent professional. In the repeat run, the two then engaged in a staging duel. With the engines at the limit of the rev limiter, neither wants to go into the second starting light barrier first. Thrills, goose bumps and absolute suspense, crowned by two top runs. Bellio moves into the final by a very narrow margin. There he is beaten by the Swede Jonny Lagg in the Nitro Dragster.
The top class also doesn’t miss out on the action on the Rico Anthes Quatermile on Sunday. In a solo run, Jndia Erbacher breaks another three-second time on the track in the first round. Susanne Callin beats somewhat surprisingly the leader in the championship Ida Zetterström. Finn Antti Horto takes the chance to make up points and beats Sweden’s Dennis Nilsson. Despite new personal best time of Nilsson.
Horto wins against Erbacher in the semifinal and meets Callin in the final, who had a solo run in the semifinal. The same luck befalls the Swede in the final, as Horto did irreparable damage to his dragster in the semifinal. Despite Callin’s victory in Hockenheim, the weekend is a complete success for Antti Horto, as he leaves Hockenheim as the clear leader in the championship.
In the Pro Stock Cars, Jimmy Alund, despite having a spare engine, prevails over his two opponents. This makes the finale in Santa Pod extremely exciting, as the championship is now extremely close.
In the Super Street Bikes, Clemens Walleit surprisingly prevails in round one against one of the favored Brits Steve Mead. Walleit improves over the whole weekend and even if in the semi-final it is over for the Berliner, the weekend is altogether a great success for the team.
Daniel Lecses of Hungary gets the crowd cheering in the first round with a new course record of 6.79, but then unfortunately overpowers the course in the semifinal and is out. Sweden’s Mathias Bohlin prevails in the final over Jake Mechaell, who was first out of qualifying.
Pro Stock Bikes: In the race between the Greek Bousinis and the Englishman Newbury, both bikes go out right after the start. Nevertheless, the first to break through the finish light barrier at a distance of 402 meters wins. So both riders sprint off with their bikes in hand and push for all they’re worth. Frenetic cheering breaks out among the spectators, as if there had been the fastest Pro Stock Bike race of all time. Unfortunately, both riders get help pushing on the way to the Zeil. This is not allowed, and so the run goes into the record books without a winner, but with two winners of hearts.
The German Karl-Heinz Weikum has problems with his gearbox during the entire qualification. On race day itself, however, they solved them, the bike became faster from lap to lap and in the end Weikum won the race against the Greek Pavlos Sidiropoulos.
An almost familiar picture in the Super Twin Top Fuel bikes: a well-traveled field competes and in the end Marcus Christiansen wins. In the final against Samu Kemppainen he has more than a second lead at the finish. Marcus and his father developed and built the bike, which is unusual for the class, completely on their own. And this effort absolutely pays off.
In the Top Fuel Bikes, the Nitro-fueled bikes beat the fast Turbo Funny Bikes. In the final the favorite Rikard Gustafsson and Rene van den Berg from the Netherlands meet. Bikes with a good 1000hp at the rear wheel whip side by side with almost 400 km/h over the track. A pleasure for all senses of every fan of motorsport – no matter what kind. The Swede wins and needs exactly 6.08 seconds for it.
A weekend full of highlights in terms of motorsport and show comes to an end. Because there is also plenty to experience and do away from the races. From a US car show to stormtroopers and other Star Wars characters you could meet in the pits, live music on Saturday evening and many other highlights. The 35th Nitrolympx offers the whole family, fun, action and thrills. The weather means it well and also the gods of material wear are frugal. Because in fact there is no big break due to oil on the track and the consumption of binders is as low as never before. And that’s exactly how it should be again in 2023, when the gates of the world’s most spectacular motorsport open at the Motodrom for the 36th edition of the NitrOlympX.
