17 teams on site to compete for a spot in a 16 car ladder.

Arriving at Santa Pod it was Sweden´s Michael Gullqvist who was in championship points lead very comfortably. So comfortably the only thing the team needed to do was to get the car cleared through tech inspection and make a qualification pass (where any ET would do). With that safe scenario on hand, Gullqvist decided to play a bit unsafe and test some new equipment. Guest mechanic on the team for this event was another FIA Pro Mod driver, Anders Nilsson, Gullqvist´s adept and driver of the ex-Ellis Pro Mod Cuda (Nilsson himself competed at the FIA events at Tierp).


Marc Meihuizen - low qualifier

Qualifications:
Already first pass out on track Marc Meihuizen showed the field that his team could keep up the performance level they had shown at Tierp in August. Marc number #1 qualifier with 5.96 sec at 241 mph. Somewhat unexpected this should prove to last all through the four qualification sessions as the quickest ET.

Other drivers who showed they wanted to go far in the competition was  Bruno Bader (6,05) and Mattias Wulcan (6,06). They were followed by Michael Gullqvist at 6,09 and Robert Joosten 6,10. After that a gap to David Vegter and Mats Eriksson, both at 6,18. The bumpspot (16th and last position) was at 6,98 sec held by Kev Slyfield, leaving Steve Hall outside the ladder this time.


Mats Eriksson

Graham Ellis

Norbert Kuno (operating a one car team at Santa Pod, since the other car driven by Norbert Schneider had a broken engine that could not be repaired in time and Schneider withdrew his entry).

Roger Moore, set a new PB on Santa Pod

Andy Frost with the car that is allegedly the quickest street legal car in the world after having run a 6.40 sec run in eliminations round one

Kev Slyfield was on the bumpspot with 6,98 sec

Wayne Nicholson

Joosten (near lane) and Andy Frost on track

Andy Wright

Personal-best performances set during event:
                       ET        Km/H    MPH
Bruno Bader    6.044    376,02    233.65
Andy Frost      6.403    369,04    229.31
Rick Garrett    6.533    342,90    213.07
Equalled existing PB:
Norbert Kuno 6.222    -    -

Low Elapsed Time of the Event:  5.940sec. – Marc Meihuizen (E2)
Top Speed of the Event: 
390,09km/h / 242.39mph – Marc Meihuizen (E2)

Statistics: Robin Jackson

Bruno Bader (right) winner at Santa Pod, with Robert Joosten runner up.

ELIMINATIONS - Round one:
Only one of the UK drivers managed to pass round one of eliminations and that was Andy Robinson who ran 6.41 and took out Mats Eriksson (7,19). Eriksson had qualified decent but during this run the tires shook severely and almost instantly at the hit from the startline.

Three drivers got too eager and disqualified themselves already at the startline by red lighting. One was Graham Ellis who did it to Gullqvist, while Roger Moore was taken out for the same reason against Bader. I imagine Bader´s winning time 6.05 would have been too tough for Moore anyhow (Moores having a personal best ET of 6.66). Gullqvist´s testing of new equipment and selected set up for the run did not work out well, however with Ellis having red lighted it did not matter for the outcome of the run. Gullqvist was granted a place in the next round independent of clocking 11 seconds. 

I gather Kev Slyfiled´s red light in the attempt to take out Marc Meihuizen, may be excused. It seems like a good call to take a chance to get the advantage of leaving the startline first, but Meihuizen had a reliable and fast enough performing car to decide his own destiny. 5,97 sec at 236 mph during that run was impressive to watch.

Andy Wright and Wayne Nicholson were both shut off after the burnouts and with that they disappeared from further competition, granting Mattias Wulcan and David Vegter two spots in the semi final (to face each other).

Andy Frost got a red light indication in the run against Norbert Kuno. After looking at footage the judges decided on a rerun as it could not be confirmed that Frost´s car had actually moved causing the fault. Frost later lost the rerun, but had during the initial run set a new personal best ET och 6,403 at 229 mph and with that Frost have (allegedly) the world´s quickest street legal car.

Robert Joosten presented a clean run and a fine 6.10 sec against Rick Garrett (6.76). However I imagine Garrett was not too disappointed as he got to set a new PB of 6.53 already during the qualifications.

Quarter Finals
In the quarter finals it was destined that Gullqvist´s competition should end there. Not having found a workable enough setup for the competition standard needed, while Joosten competed well and continued to deliver great numbers decided the winner of this run. 6,08 for Joosten to a loosing 6,39 for Gullqvist. Gullqvist however departed with the champions title secured and hopefully some fresh data from the testing that may prove to be worth something for next season. 


Andy Robinson

Andy Robinson´s car had suffered from tire shake earlier on. That had been cured and did not appear during the quarter finals. However instead Andy pulled a red light and with that was out of the game. It may not have mattered  much though, as the opponent Bruno Bader had been running repeatedly in the 6,0 sec range.. and so also this time. Bader winning 6,05 to a loosing 6,39 (and a red light) for Robinson.


Mattias Wulcan

In the last quarter final it was Mattias Wulcan against David Vegter. On paper that would have been advantage Wulcan, but at this event the Wulcano Racing team had not really sorted the setup and got the car to fly down the track, the same way they have spoilt us with this season. Not aiming for it, but anyhow doing it, Wulcan pulled a red light which granted the win to Vegter. I know for a fact Wulcans team had a hard time swallowing the loss, as Mattias passed the finish line after 6,09 sec to Vegters 9,18.. Tough luck for team Wulcano in the competition, but anyhow the runner up position in the FIA Championship is well deserved and the best results for Mattias and crew since entering the Pro Mod class. Well done guys!

Semi finals
Marc Meihuizen unfortunately was a no show in the semi finals due to broken parts that could not be replaced quickly in between runs. It provided Robert Joosten an involuntary bye run which he used for a decent 6.283/232 mph pass.


Vegter (near lane) vs Bader

In the other semi final Bader had a close call winning over David Vegter. Loosing time for Vegter a stunning 6.061/233 which would have done the job in most competitions, but not this time. Bader´s winning ET 6.044 at a speed of 233 mph. That was also a new personal best for Bruno..

Final
.. and Bader finished what he had started and kept on delivering. 6.056/230 was a clear win over final opponent Robert Joosten’s 6.191/231. The European Finals win go to Switzerland, while the European Champions title stays in Sweden.



Michael Gullqvist - 2013 Pro Mod champion

The FIA Championship
Bader, who has focused on the British Championship this season and not travelled to all events, ends 7th in the FIA Championship, while European Finals runner up Robert Joosten stays in 4th place.

The top three rankings stayed intact through the European Finals event and Michael Gullqvist takes the European Champions title at 558 points, Mattias Wulcan ends 2nd at 433 p and Marc Meihuizen is 3rd with 359 points. Congratulations all!


FULL RESULTS:
LINK TO ELIMINATION LADDER
LINK TO FINAL QUALIFICATION LIST

Courtesy of TSI Timers and Santa Pod Raceway

Don´t miss to read the interview with champion Michael Gullqvist in a separate article in this edition!

class sponsor: BILSPORT Magazine