Very few drivers were missing on site at Tierp, and although 22 (!) out of the 32 was Swedish the mix of nationalities and variety of stunning and fast performing cars makes this class great fun to watch for the spectators. The tough competition most often mean the teams have to perform at their highest level to win a round, because the one in the other lane most definately will. The chance of winning by luck is close to zero. And the eliminations at Tierp was no exception.

Championship leader Micke Gullqvist´s event started bad due to some technical problems and he found himself in the unpleasant situation of not being among the top 16 when it was time to run the last qualification run on saturday afternoon. With a so far best 6.65 sec he was "only" 22nd at that point. Low qualifier Marc Meihuizen 5.90 sec (new personal best) and Mattias Wulcan second at 5.94. But having cured the previous problems Gullqvist took this last chance to get into the field and in the most impressive way. His 5.872 was the first half of a new European ET record and also the quickest run Micke had run in Europe. The bumpspot at 6.37 held by Anders Nilsson, who was not thrilled to be facing his mentor already in the first round. 

The full qualification ranking for all 32 (!) drivers is listed below.

Other top drivers beside Gullqvist who ran well during the qualifications included Marc Meihuizen (NED), Mattias Wulcan (SWE), Robert Joosten (NED), Roger Johansson (SWE), Tami Brander (FIN) and Niclas Andersson (SWE). All of them also set new personals bests during the event, as did a few other drivers, 13 drivers on total improved either their PB ET:s, speed or both! See the full list of statistics at the bottom of the article, thanks to editor and Pro Mod specialist Robin Jackson.


Tami Brander

Niclas Andersson

Anders Nilsson

Roger Johansson

Tero Laukkanen

Håkan Persson

Mats Eriksson

Patrik Wickström

Marc Meihuizen

Johan Westberg

Winner Michael Gullqvist (right) and runner-up Mattias Wulcan

Highlights Eliminations:

- LINK TO ELIMINATION LADDER

First round:

Three alternates got a chance to take a position in the 16 car field as David Vegter, Stefan Carlsson and Norbert Kuno was unable to compete due to technical problems and/or broken parts.
Replacing them was Tero Laukkanen, Urban Johansson and Johan Westberg.

Michael Gullqvist vs Anders Nilsson:
Nilsson first out and in the lead for part of the run, but caught up by Gullqvist. winning ET 5.89 to a loosing 6.28.  

Patrick Wikström vs Tero Laukkanen:
Winning time for Laukkanen 6.21 Wickström 6.59 with visible problems.

Robert Joosten vs Johan Westberg:
Joostens fine 6.01 beat Westbergs 6.39. Too much difference and Joosten did what could be expected

Roger Johansson vs Benny Strand
Modest winning ET for Johansson 6.28 with an early shut off while Strand hit shake and possibly some other problems, crossed the finish line after 10 sec

Marc Meihuizen vs Urban Johansson
Very close race where Johansson left first and crossed the line after 6.190. Loosing ET for Meihuizen 6.195. I could not help feeling that was a too early depart for team Meihuizen.

Niclas Andersson vs Håkan Persson
First run in the 5´s for Niclas and this one we had been waiting for. Andersson wins at 5.99 while a fine 6.13 is the loosing time for Håkan Persson, who does his first season in FIA Pro Modified. 

Mattias Wulcan vs Mats Eriksson
Bad shakes for Eriksson who just had to call it a day and shut off. Wulcan 5.95 sec at 395 km in the other lane continues to impress!

Tami Brander vs Fredrik Fagerström
Brander 6.07 winning over Fagerström 6.48. Nice runs by both, just too much of a difference for Fagerström to catch up.


Gullqvist vs Tero Laukkanen
Laukkanen´s drive shaft broke in the burnout and Gullqvist got a bye run and automatic win.

Roger Johansson vs Robert Joosten
Win for Joosten 6.06 sec over Johansson´s 6.96 by the looks something was not right  and Roger got off the throttle. Roger Johansson and crew (at this event including Pro Stock veteran tuner Bo Hultén) nevertheless have impressed and found the pace at Tierp. Well done guys!   

Urban Johansson vs Niclas Andesson
Niclas wins with 5.97 in a close race where Urban left first but was caught and the ET 6.07 was a very decent end to the race for Johansson and crew, who put in lots of effort and hours of repair work during qualications. 

Mattias Wulcan vs Tami Brander
Both Brander and Wulcan had performed steady and fast but someone had to cross the finish line first. And this time it was Wulcan in this nice clean side by side race. Winning ET 5.97 to a loosing 6.03 for Brander (whose team now have  established themselves among the top teams no doubt)


Michael Gullqvist vs Robert Joosten
Joosten performed another five sec run (5.99) but that did not do the trick towards Gullqvist´s 5.88. Nice side by side run, just that Gullqvist was faster.

Mattias Wulcan vs Niclas Andersson (noshow)
Wulcan got a bye run when it was clear that Niclas Andersson and the Old Fiftyone team had to leave walkover. Pity, as that would have been one interesting race. Wulcan used the opportunity wisely, ran 5.93 sec at a speed of 395 km. At this event performing in the 5´s suddenly seemed expected and normal and team Wulcan was one of the teams that lived up to expectations without doubt.


Mattias Wulcan

Michael Gullqvist vs Mattias Wulcan.
Clean race where Gullqvist just continued doing "his thing", left the startline ahead and lead all the way crossing the finish line after 5.874 sec at a speed of 401.2 km. Wulcan shut off somewhat early and finished the event with a 6.23.


Michael Gullqvist

The FIA Championship rankings
Leaving Tierp Gullqvist is as close as can be to securin the title

The top five championship ranking before European Finals:
1 Michael Gullqvist (SWE) 502 p.
2. Mattias Wulcan (SWE) 373 p.
3. Marc Meihuizen (NED) 278 p.
4. Robert Joosten (NED) 258 p.
5. David Vegter (NED) 255 p.

Don´t miss the separate article about the three Dutch drivers Vegter, Meihuizen and Joosten in this edition!

See the full championship listings (and for all FIA classes) at a separate page in this newsletter.