It was a great second day of qualifying for the NitrOlympX at the Rico Anthes Quartermile of the HockenheimRing, round three of the FIA European Drag Racing Championship. In front of a capacity crowd there were many major improvements and changes in the qualifying order. Only in Pro Stock Friday leader Jimmy Ålund remained in the number one position, but in Top Methanol Tony Bryntesson took over the number one spot, while in Pro Modified Michel Tooren stormed into the lead. In Top Fuel Jndia Erbacher recorded the quickest ET to lead the field into Sunday’s eliminations.

As predicted after Friday qualifying, there were numerous improvements on day two of qualifying for the NitrOlympX and many changes in the qualifying order in almost all four classes. After the rain shortened qualifying on Friday, the weather was much better on Saturday, although there was still a short break due to a shower. But all the work of the HockenheimRing track crew paid off as all two scheduled qualifying sessions of all four classes were completed.

In Top Fuel Jndia Erbacher stormed to a great 4.05 seconds to claim the number one qualifying position. The driver from Switzerland has numerous fans in Hockenheim and the 2024 FIA European champion gave them plenty to cheer for.

Susanne Callin, from Sweden, will start the eliminations from second position as the reigning FIA European champion recorded 4.10 seconds.

Her RF Motorsport teammate Colin Millar finished qualifying in third position, with Øyvor Jacobsen fourth.

In Top Methanol Friday’s number two, Tony Bryntesson, stormed to a great 5.28 seconds to claim the number one qualifying position.

Timo Habermann, who was the leader after Friday, improved to 5.31 seconds, but that was not enough to beat the A-Fuel Team Sweden driver.

Father and son Jonny and Isak Lagg found the right setup for the Hockenheim track as well and with 5.37 and 5.40 seconds the two Swedes finished qualifying in third and fourth position. Last year’s Hockenheim winner Silvio Strauch suffered some problems and will start the eliminations from fifth. The problem were even bigger for reigning FIA European champion Sandro Bellio who finished qualifying in seventh position.

In Pro Modified there were numerous improvements and spectacular runs and in the end the top five was extremely close together. On his last run of the day Michel Tooren stormed to a stunning 5.81 seconds to take over the number one spot from Friday leader Stian Rusånes.

The driver from Norway finished qualifying in second position, but only 0.004 seconds ahead of reigning champion Jere Rantaniemi, who recorded 5.829 seconds on his final run.

David Vegter improved his ET as well and with 5.837 seconds the Dutch driver finished qualifying in fourth position, with championship leader and Friday’s number two, Andres Arnover, fifth with 5.853 seconds.

Bruno Bader (5.970 seconds) and Marck Harteveld (5.977 seconds) were also close together and the last two drivers with a 5-second run. With 13 cars in the eliminations it will be a tough fight for a place in the final.

In Pro Stock there were numerous improvements as well, but in the end it was once again Jimmy Ålund who claimed the number one spot with a great 6.59 seconds.

Reigning champion Robin Norén improved his ET to a great 6.64 seconds, but the driver from Sweden remained in the number two position.

There was also a major improvement for Michael Malmgren. The number five from Friday recorded 6.70 seconds and jumped into the number three spot, with Simon Ekengren fourth, Stefan Ernryd fifth and Henry Riehl sixth.

Eliminations for the NitrOlympX will start Sunday morning.

For all qualifying results:

https://www.tw-sportsoft.de/NitrolympX_2026_488942/TW_ON_Virtueller_Aushang.php

For the photo gallery: https://dragracingeurope.org/hockenheim

Text and photo: Remco Scheelings