260 competitors from 16 countries took to the track for the first day of qualifying for the 2025 NitrOlympX on the Rico Anthes Quarter Mile at the Hockenheimring. Action took place in warm and sunny weather almost to the end of qualifying when rain forced a halt with a few classes left to run.
FIA Top Fuel Dragster is led by local favourite, Switzerland’s Jndia Erbacher. Jndia led from Sweden’s Susanne Callin at the end of the first qualifying session and then in the second consolidated her top spot with a 4.246/371.13 alongside the UK’s Liam Jones. FIA Top Methanol is led by The Bart Man, Sweden’s Tony Bryntesson, at 5.385/428.77. Notable in the second session was a solid and more importantly straight 5.604/384.66 for Germany’s Silvio Strauch after his new chassis had given Silvio and his team some wretched rides so far this season. Although not running in competition, former European Champions Timo and Dennis Habermann put in test passes ahead of an appearance in tomorrow’s Saturday Night Show. Dennis ran 5.876/378.90 despite getting so far out of shape in the second half that one side of his car was visible from the start line.
Sweden’s Mats Eriksson leads FIA Pro Modified with a gutsy 5.926/386.65 in the second session, the car weaving left and right most of the way down the track. The Netherlands’ David Vegter is a mere 0.003 seconds behind Mats at 5.929/386.37 in the final pair of the session. Fellow Swede Jimmy Ålund, having successfully read the changing track conditions, leads FIA Pro Stock with a daylight lead of 6.699/333.27 ahead of Michael Malmgren’s 6.819/319.31. Germany’s Henry Riehl bounced back from a broken chassis in session one, fixing the damage and having the car inspected again in good time for the second session.
FIM Europe Pro Stock Bike was the only class to complete a second qualifying session and the lead changed hands three times in as many pairings. Germany’s Jörg Lymant led after session one, but in session two the lead was taken on successive runs by Pavlos Sidiropoulous and then Dimitrios Petridis, both of Greece, before Germany’s Karl-Heinz Weikum took over top spot at 7.359/299.38. Championship leader, France’s Bertrand Maurice, is absent this weekend after being attacked by a dog. Our best wishes to Bertrand for a rapid recovery.
FIM Top Fuel Bike’s second qualifier did not take place due to the late rain but the UK Funny Bike racer Stuart Crane – Funny Bikes are allowed in FIM Europe Top Fuel Bike so long as they run six seconds over the quarter – led the field after session one at 6.511/331.34. Championship leader Rikard Gustafsson, whose title is almost tied-on, is not at Hockenheim this weekend. FIM Supertwin Bike had its second qualifier curtailed as the rain came after the first run of the session. This raises the heart-breaking possibility of Christian Jager’s 7.3-second pass, after problems in session one, being annulled but we have yet to receive official word on whether the session is to be continued or cancelled. Finland’s Marko Lantto topped the field after session one with a 6.816/344.53.
After its single qualifying session thus far, FIM Europe Super Street Bike is led by Greece’s Ioannis Martzaklis at 7.203/326.31. No less than six countries are represented in Super Street Bike from the Baltic Sea to the Mediterranean and so Hockenheim is perfectly geographically located to host them all. Germany’s Leif Erik Braune leads FIM Europe Junior Drag Bike, which qualifies against dial-in. Leif Erik is +0.054 on dial-in at 8.154/143.05 over the eighth mile. Germany’s own domestic DMSB Junior Drag Bike, running as a separate class and also qualified against dial-in, is led by Feline Groß +0.226 at 8.576/129.24.
Pro Comp Doorslammer, a new class for cars running as quickly as 6.0 proved a hit with the crowd with big burnouts and a wide range of vehicles. Marcus Welte leads for Germany with his Golf at 7.357/304.78. One of Jens Zimmerman’s crew made a catch worthy of the England cricket team after the blast from Jen’s exhaust in his burnout blew off a colleague’s baseball cap.
After its single qualifying session so far, Germany’s Robert Gassner leads Super Pro ET +0.045 on dial-in at 8.465/259.32. The top four in Super Pro ET are currently separated by 0.095 seconds and the class got one of the biggest ovations of the day for spectacular paired start line-fugging burnouts by Mike Bruckmüller and Tom Burri. The Pro ET lead changed hands more than once in the second session, with Rilana Dodd (+0.006) taking over top spot before the UK’s Ronnie Mercer went one better +0.005 on dial-in at 10.305/211.05. The top four in Pro ET are currently separated by 0.009 seconds. There was a scary incident in Pro ET session one when Emilia Nahler’s ’70 Käfer crossed lanes and was T-boned by Luca Donghi’s ’52 Bel Air who had no choice in the matter as it all happened so quickly. Safety crews were there in moments; both drivers got themselves out of their cars and were uninjured.
Germany’s Til Schöninger heads the Super Comp (8.90) field at 8.927/235.05; the top three are separated by 0.073 seconds. With five cars entered Super Gas (9.90) will be running a four-car field. Only four racers have run thus far and Germany’s Marianne Wisotske leads at 9.925/219.32 but if the fifth car records a time then someone will be spectating on Sunday.
Emely Kuno, daughter of German Pro Modified racer Norbert, jumped from twenty first place to first place in the first run of the second Junior Dragster qualifier. Yannis Weyland pipped her at the end of the session and holds the lead with a reaction time of 0.006. The top twelve qualifiers in Junior Dragster are separated by 0.063 seconds one of whom, the UK’s Richard Willcox, is also contesting FIM Europe Junior Drag Bike at this event.
Funny Bike is led by The Netherlands’ Mike Olie with a clear lead over the rest of the field, the next closest to Mike’s 6.554/351.44 being Stefan Hagenstein at 7.181/327.00. Germany’s Gerhard Caspari, nominally a Supertwin Top Gas racer, is running with the Funny Bikes as he was the only STTG to enter the event. Matthijs Van Wijngaarden walked away from a spill after his bike seemed determined to throw him off and finally succeeded as it rode up the guardrail. Matthijs was on his feet to greet the rushing safety crews and the only injury was to his good humour.
Super Comp Bike (8.50) is led by Sweden’s Peter Ӧstlund at 8.531/228.09. The top three qualifiers are separated by 0.095 seconds. Germany’s Thomas Troupkos tops ET Bike, +0.031 on dial-in at 9.381/231.54.
The second day of qualifying for the NitrOlympx commences on Saturday at 09:00.
