Robin Norén, a hard fought first FIA European Pro Stock title
To claim a title in the FIA European Drag Racing Championship is tough, but to do it in the Pro Stock class where you have to beat a 13-time European champion, is even tougher. But Robin Norén did it this season with the right combination of great ETs and even better reaction times. In a ‘winner takes it all’ final Norén claimed his first FIA European Pro Stock title by defeating Jimmy Ålund with 0.0086 seconds! Norén looks back on his so successful 2025 championship winning campaign.
It was not the question if, but when Robin Norén would win his first FIA European Pro Stock Championship. Immediately after entering the class a few years ago, the Swede proved to be extremely quick on the tree and as the car/engine combination got quicker every year, Norén was able to close the gap to 13-time European Pro Stock champion Jimmy Ålund.
After a second position last year, the 2025 season was the final breakthrough. In a yearlong battle, where Norén and Ålund had to face each other in all three finals, Norén claimed the title. After a rainout Main Event, Norén claimed the win over Ålund at the Summit Racing Equipment Internationals at Tierp Arena and he was the number one in the championship at the halfway point of the season. At Hockenheim the two rivals had to face each other again and because this time Ålund claimed the win, the 13-time Pro Stock champion had a 6-point advantage over Norén with the European Finals to go. While Ålund had two bye runs into the final, Norén had two tough competitors to beat to keep his championship dreams alive. In a ‘winner takes it all’ final, where the winner of the European Finals would also claim the 2025 FIA European Pro Stock Championship, Ålund and Norén were called to the line. With the better ETs during the event, well-known for his race winning reaction times and being a 13-time champion, Ålund was the favourite in the final. But Norén took the reigning champion by surprise with a much better reaction time, enough to have a win margin of 0.0086 seconds when they crossed the finish line. With a title, the fact that he lost only one elimination round (Hockenheim final) in the four FIA European Championship races and with new personal bests in the 6.5-second zone, it was Norén’s best season so far.
This was your first FIA European (Pro Stock) title. How does it feel to be champion?
It feels amazing to get our first championship. We have been really many years for this. To be honest, for me it doesn’t feel any different, more than that next year everybody wants to win against us. But it also feels very good to be champion, all the hard work we will put on the car and engines this winter will be easier.
How do you look back at last season?
I would say that this was our best season since we started with Pro Stock. We worked really hard in the shop over the winter, and that was shown on the track. We have made some “bad” rounds this year, but not so bad that we didn’t get down the track. I think this was the thing that gave us the championship win. We are not the fastest car every round, but we are going down the track every round pretty fast and with pretty good reaction times, which makes the total ETs a winner concept.
The final of the European Finals (but also all eliminations rounds could decide about your title chances) was a ‘winner takes it all’ final. How difficult was that races and going into that final?
When we woke up on Sunday morning, all the team knew that this was our chance, we go out there and do as we always do. They told me to just calm down and relax, “we are doing our thing on the car, and you do your thing in the car. Ok!”. But we also knew that we had to go all the way to the final and beat Jimmy Ålund in the Summit Camaro to get the win. I would say that all elimination rounds for us that day were really tough. In European Pro Stock there are no easy rounds, everybody has so good parts to go really fast. At the end of the day it was only me and Jimmy left and it felt so good. This was all we have been fighting for the season. For me as a driver I would say that I wasn’t nervous at all. For me, this was like any other round. We’re going to win and we’re going to do our thing out on the track and when we cross the finish line, we’ll see who’s first. And we crossed the finish line first.
The Euro Finals was also your best race?
Of course the Euro Finals was the best race for us. But if we look at what we have achieved on the track, the Pro Stock Shootout at Tierp Arena in June was the best race. That weekend we really found the right place and drove solid 6.5-second runs every time.
Most proud of in 2025?
I am so proud of my team that never give up and that we finally got to give a championship to our sponsors.
Toughest moment of the season?
The Hockenheim race was really tough for us. We didn’t find right where we wanted to be or should be. But it ended up good with a runner-up position. Because we went down the track all the rounds.
Toughest competitor in 2025?
Jimmy Ålund of course. We have been in the final all races this season. But everyone is tough, you never know what the competitor in the other lane is going to do.
How where the reactions after winning the title?
Huge, there are so many people cheering on us
People/companies you want to thank?
Our partners: Skandinaviska Teknik & Smöjsystem, DXT Entreprenad, Munthers Specialtransporter, CH Theander Fastigheter, Kjelland Transport, JOMS Entreprenad, Benets Kran & Transport and VP Race Fuels.
And of course we want to say a huge thanks to Markus Svensson, who couldn’t be with us this season. For everything he has done for us and learned us over the past seasons. And this year was the year we were going to take the next step with him, but it didn’t happen, so we had to do it without him. But of course with his inputs that we already got.
Plan for next season?
The team decided directly after the final round at Santa Pod. “We are going to race next year.” So we are already preparing for the next season.
Anything else you want to tell?
I want to thank my family for letting me do this. It takes a lot of time and specially this year and winter 2024-2025 when we decided that this year was going to be our year. My Mum & Dad who supporting me to 1000% in this. Dad is putting all his life into this and I will be honest and say that all this wouldn’t be possible without him.
Text and photos: Remco Scheelings
