Two races in eight days, the exciting conclusion of the 2025 FIA European Drag Racing Championship
With back-to-back the NitrOlympX at the Rico Anthes Quartermile of the HockenheimRing, and the European Finals at Santa Pod Raceway, the FIA European Drag Racing Championship will be decided in a timeframe of one week. Susanne Callin (Top Fuel), Tina Høst Nedregård (Top Methanol), Robin Norén (Pro Stock) and Jere Rantaniemi (Pro Modified) are the current leaders, but with two races to go and so many points to be awarded, anything can still happen. One thing is for sure, the championship standings are so close, that the final decisions will be made in England at the last race of the season.
With the exciting Summit Racing Equipment Internationals at Tierp Arena fresh in mind, it’s time for round three of the 2025 FIA European Drag Racing Championship, the renowned NitrOlympX at the Rico Anthes Quartermile of the HockenheimRing, August 29th to 31st.
From Germany, the teams will travel directly to England as from September 4th to 7th the title race reaches its climax with the grand finale, the European Finals at Santa Pod Raceway. Two action packed weekends where current leaders can fall and underdogs raise to the top and be crowned to the 2025 champions.
Top Fuel
After her win at Tierp Arena, Susanne Callin is the current leader in the FIA European Top Fuel Championship. The Swede, driving under the RF Motorsport/Slick Tricks Racing banner, has a 2-point advantage over Liam Jones.
The driver from the UK, flying the flag for Bro Joe Brain-Boosting Coffee in a RF Motorsport car, will be looking for revenge after he lost the final at Tierp. In Sweden it was a close fight and that will not change in Germany. Don’t be surprised to see the title fight decided in the last race of the season, the final of the European Finals at Santa Pod.
In Hockenheim the two RF Motorsport drivers will get tough competition from Jndia Erbacher, the reigning FIA European Top Fuel champion from Switzerland. For Erbacher Hockenheim is her home race and she always takes her own fans with her to the German track. Because Erbacher skipped the race in Sweden and is missing from the European Finals entry list, a second consecutive title is out of reach. But a win at Hockenheim might change her mind and a trip to England can be arranged at short notice.
Top Methanol
In Top Methanol there are four drivers who can go for the title. Tina Høst Nedregård claimed the win at Tierp Arena and is the current leader with a 46-point advantage over Tony Bryntesson, the number one qualifier in Sweden. But Høst Nedregård’s run in the final ended in the sand trap, with a destroyed car as a result. It looked like the 2025 season for the ‘Norwegian-Swede’ was over, but with the help of Dave Wilson, Høst Nedregård will now only have to skip Hockenheim and will be back in action at Santa Pod. Thus her title chances are not completely gone.
Bryntesson is the number two in the ranking, but Sandro Bellio and reigning champion Jonny Lagg are only ten and twelve points behind.
With two races to go and so many points to be awarded, the title fight is still open and looking at the form the four drivers and their teams showed during the last couple of races, there is no clear favourite.
Silvio Strauch is the number five in the points standings. The German Engine Ghost team are still looking for the right setup of their new dragster and can surprise, but the number one position in the championship is not their goal at the moment.
Jürgen Nagel will have his second FIA race of the season at Hockenheim. The German funny car racer had a good time at Tierp Arena and will try to shine again in front of his sponsors and home crowd.
Pro Stock
In Pro Stock the title fight might go down to the wire between Robin Norén and Jimmy Ålund. Norén, last year’s number two in the championship, seems to have the right combination in driving skills and setup of the car to make it a tough fight for Ålund to claim his 14th (!) European Pro Stock title.
At Tierp Arena Norén defeated Ålund in the final and he is the leader in the championship after two races. But Ålund is only 19 points behind and was once again the number one qualifier at Tierp. Ålund is still the man to beat when you want to claim a championship and he can strike back hard. It will be interesting to see who is in the lead after Hockenheim.
Stefan Ernryd is the number three in the championship, but the gap to Ålund is already 57 points. Behind Lasse Britsmar, who is fourth, former champion Michael Malmgren is fifth and will be out for revenge after two first round exits at Santa Pod and Tierp. Simon Ekengren is sixth, while the young German Henry Riehl (ninth in the points standings) will have his first HockenheimRing outing as a Pro Stock driver.
Pro Modified
The two finalists from the Summit Racing Equipment Internationals at Tierp Arena are also the numbers one and two in the current championship standings. After claiming the win in Sweden, reigning FIA European championship Jere Rantaniemi took over the number one position, but Marck Harteveld is only one point behind!
Although the numbers three to seven are 49 to 77 points behind, with a 16-car elimination ladder at Hockenheim and Santa Pod there are so many points to gain, anything is still possible.
Andres Arnover is the number three in the championship. The Fast Ford driver from Estonia had some problems in the first half of the season, but also proved to be extremely quick. The two Dutch drivers Michel Tooren and David Vegter, and Mats Eriksson (Sweden), are the numbers four, five and six and are separated by only five points.
Vegter and Eriksson lost valuable points at Tierp with a first round exit, while Tooren is getting better and better to grips with his state-of-the-art Camaro.
At Tierp the Pro Dutch Racing driver reset his personal best to 5.808 seconds. Vegter will be out for revenge after he proved to be one of the quickest, if not the quickest, Pro Mod driver in the last two seasons, but was stuck by bad luck at decisive moments in eliminations several times.
Bruno Bader is the number seven in the title race and never underestimate the Swiss Pro Mod veteran. He proved it again at Tierp by advancing to the semifinals. Andy Robinson is eighth, but the driver from the UK will skip Hockenheim to be back in action on home soil at Santa Pod. Kim Kristiansen is the number nine in the championship and the driver from Denmark will be in Germany and England to improve his position.
At the Rico Anthes Quartermile several drivers from Germany and Switzerland will complete the field, while at Santa Pod several drivers from the Motorsport UK Pro Modified Championship will be back in action in the FIA Championship.
Qualifying for the NitrOlympX will start on Friday August 29th and will continue on Saturday August 30th . Eliminations will start on Sunday morning August 31st .
Text and photos Remco Scheelings
