A European best was reset twice on the second day of the NitrOlympX at Hockenheim. As well as the new record, a huge number of personal bests were set and qualifying fields tightened up under sunny and warm skies with an day free of serious incident and nothing to spoil the fun apart from a short rain delay early in the afternoon.
The new European best was the bump spot – the elapsed time necessary to qualify in the top sixteen – in FIM Europe Super Street Bike. Going in to the NitrOlympX, the quickest European SSB bump spot was 7.400 seconds, itself set at last year’s event at Hockenheim. A hint of the promise came in today’s first SSB qualifying session when the top qualifying spot changed no less than five times in a few minutes. The second qualifier produced the first new bump spot record of 7.347 seconds, and the third and final session of the day ended with an astonishing 7.297 seconds necessary to qualify. The UK’s Jake Mechaell topped final qualifying at 6.777/349.68 with racers from Greece, Malta, Italy and Denmark also in the final sixteen who get to race tomorrow. Keeping it in the family, Jake’s son Hayden Mechaell leads ET Bike a mere +0.001 on dial-in at 9.281/237.85; the top five qualifiers are separated by 0.090 seconds.
Local favourite, Switzerland’s Jndia Erbacher maintained number one spot in FIA Top Fuel Dragster at 4.235/345.18. Sweden’s Susanne Callin took second spot from the UK’s Liam Jones despite riding out an engine fire on her final qualifying pass, only for Liam to take second place back again when the track was cleared. FIA Top Methanol is led by reigning European Champion, Sweden’s Jonny Lagg at 5.301/444.56, set in today’s first (of two) qualifying session.
FIA Pro Modified is led by The Netherlands’ David Vegter at 5.855/390.68; David and day one leader Mats Eriksson of Sweden had a thrilling side-by-side duel in the last pair of the final session, 5.858/390.62 for David to Mats’ 5.870/389.35 which was good for second place. Reigning Champion Jimmy Ålund ended the day in top spot in FIA Pro Stock after a scrap for the lead with Championship leader Robin Norén and Michael Malmgren. Jimmy finally prevailed at 6.614/337.36.
The UK’s Stuart Crane consolidated his number one spot in FIM Europe Top Fuel Bike with an improvement on yesterday’s best time, topping out at 6.389/351.66 and that on a run in which the front wheel did not come back down to the track for about 100 metres. Sweden’s Per Bengtsson consolidated his lead in FIM Supertwin with a new Personal Best of 6.195/361.98. In this morning’s first qualifying session Germany’s Martin Bühler and team were involved in a fine piece of sportsmanship when Marko Lantto’s offboard starter motor failed; Martin’s team quickly sent his starting cart over to Marko and team who were then able to fire up the motor and allow Marko to make his pass.
Germany’s Jörg Lymant took over the lead in FIM Europe Pro Stock Bike with a 7.244/297.21 in this morning’s first session. The UK’s Maggie Smallman leads FIM Europe Junior Drag Bike a mere +0.004 seconds on her eighth-mile dial-in at 7.854/139.80. The domestic DMSB Junior Drag Bike top spot is held by Leona Schuh +0.016 on dial-in at 10.416/99.68 from brother Luis at +0.042. Yannis Weyland ended the day at the top of the Junior Dragster standings with a reaction time of 0.002 seconds; the top thirteen qualifiers are separated by 0.070 seconds.
The Pro Comp Doorslammers continued to thrill with big burnouts, quick runs and a wide variety of cars and at the end of the last session Germany’s Paul Dziubek had topped the list in the six-second zone at 6.928/334.19 from his Nissan GTR. Michael Vogt won a big cheer from the crowd with a massive burnout from his Chevy Nomad. From your reporter’s location the smoke obscured his view of the start line, then the Hockenheimring, and finally the rest of Germany.
The tight twenty four-car Super Pro ET field is topped by Italy’s Marco Grandini +0.002 on dial-in at 8.492/261.03. The top four in Super Pro ET are separated by 0.005 seconds and the top and the top nineteen by 0.095 seconds. The Pro ET field is similarly tight with the UK’s Ronnie Mercer top of thirty racers +0.005 on dial-in at 10.305/211.05, the top four racers separated by 0.009 seconds, and the top seventeen separated by 0.097 seconds.
Germany’s Marc-William Wagner leads Super Comp (8.90) +0.002 on index at 8.902/254.46; the top six qualifiers are separated by 0.088 seconds. The lead in the two-wheeled equivalent, Super Comp Bike (8.50), was taken by Greece’s Panos Charchalakis +0.008 on index at 8.508/261.35 whilst the top six qualifiers are separated by 0.095 seconds. Super Gas (9.90) is led by France’s Philip Daud +0.015 on index at 8.915/227.37.
The Netherlands’ Mike Olie increased his lead in Funny Bike with a 6.481/356.45; Germany’s Stefan Hagenstein improved his Personal Best to 6.901/314.73 and remains second.
With qualifying fields set, eliminations take place tomorrow commencing at 09:15.
