EDRC: penultimate round at Hockenheim is up next

Less than two weeks after Sweden’s Tierp Arena, it is time for the penultimate round of the 2023 FIA European Drag Racing Championship season, the renowned NitrOlympX taking place at the Rico Anthes Quartermile of the Hockenheimring this weekend

Ida Zetterström (Top Fuel), Silvio Strauch (Top Methanol), Jan Ericsson (Pro Modified) and Jimmy Ålund (Pro Stock) are the current leaders in their respective classes.

Top Fuel
With a first-round win at Tierp Arena, Ida Zetterström extended her lead in the championship over Susanne Callin to 61 points. The driver from Sweden claimed victory at Santa Pod, won her round in June at Tierp, but was finally defeated for the first time this year in the semifinals two weeks ago at Tierp by reigning champion Antti Horto.

Zetterström, who reset both sides of the European record at Santa Pod in May with 3.773 seconds at 321.01 mph, will target a win in Germany. That will give her a safe margin over the number two in the championship when the title race heads to Santa Pod for the season finale.

Callin is second in the championship and despite losing in the first round at both Tierp Arena events she still has a fair chance to win the title.

Jndia Erbacher is not in the title race, having skipped the two Swedish rounds, but the Swiss driver proved her speed at Santa Pod in May and, as Hockenheim is her home track, should be in contention for the victory.

Top Methanol
Silvio Strauch is leading the class with 191 points to his name, but Linn Fløysvik, who scored her maiden with Santa Pod, is only six points down.

Sandro Bellio rounds out the top three in the championship. The Belgian driver is 72 points behind leader Strauch and will need a win and an early exit of the two of his closest competitors to be able to go for his third consecutive title in the final round at Santa Pod.

Pro Modified
Jan Ericsson enjoys a comfortable lead in Pro Modified, and the reigning champion extended his winning streak by reaching the semifinals last time out before the rain brought an early end to the eliminations. The driver from Sweden has a gap over the new number two, David Vegter, of 79 points.

Together with Ericsson, Vegter has been the quickest driver this season with 5.7-second runs but hasn’t been so lucky in qualifying. The turning point came at the latest Tierp event when the Dutch driver defeated his closest rival, Bruno Bader, in the first round and also won his quarter-final over multiple champion Michael Gullqvist. Vegter collected the same amount of points as Ericsson and took over the second spot in the championship from Bader, who is now eight points behind the Dutchman.

Pro Stock
The Pro Stock category did not feature on the bill of the opening round of the championship at Santa Pod, and the races at Tierp in June and August had to be cancelled before the finals were run, therefore the class hasn’t had a race winner so far this season.

With two number-one qualifying positions, multiple champion Jimmy Ålund is the leader with a 14-point advantage over Stefan Ernryd. However, Ålund will not take part in the German round.

Ernryd proved his great form two weeks ago at Tierp with two round wins and will definitely be looking for more. Simon Ekengren is third, 45 points behind Ernryd.

Qualifying for the NitrOlympX will start on Friday and will continue on Saturday, with eliminations scheduled for Sunday morning.