Entering the 3rd round of the FIA Championship we have Monty Bugeja from Malta in points lead, 26 points ahead of Chris Polidano, also Malta. In third place Swden´s Jonny Lagg, 53 points behind Bugeja.

Starting with a look back..
At the 2013 NitrOlympX, odd enough, there was no team entered in the Top Methanol Dragster category (or actually there was one team entered, but the class was cancelled in agreement as one team cannot make a competition).. so what  positive vibrations it gives to read this year´s entry list of seven in comparison!

The TMD class has survived potential FIA Championship exclusion, taken a big responsability and worked actively with the class to make use of the skills from resigned drivers in tuning and mentoring and managed to recruite new drivers and teams with long term commitment plans into the class.

Monty Bugeja, Malta arrives to Hockenheim with a fresh event win from Finland in his luggage and the team performed very consistent which is always crucial.  Christopher Polidano was runner-up at round #2 FHRA Nitro Nationals at Alastaro and the team has also found a good pace, just that Bugeja was consistently quicker in Finland. 

Stefan Gunnarsson, Sweden is newest in the class but has rehearsed most recent and attended  non-championship events to get opportunities to test. A new personal best of 5.65 sec. from Tierp Arena, can prove useful entering Hockenheim. 

The German brothers Timo and Dennis Habermann was not in Finland to compete, but Timo was the low qualifier at Santa Pod during round #1 in May with a stunning 5.24 sec while Dennis also impressed at 5.31. As the eliminations rained off at Santa Pod it ended there. I am curious to see what the Habermanns will manage at the NitrOlympX.

Jonny Lagg, Sweden is by now established, and appear comfortable and consistent in the drivers seat.

Like Gunnarsson, Lagg is supported by skilled duo Peter Lantz and Krister Johansson (former owner and driver of the dragster Lagg now operate). Lagg´s PB so far is 5.46 sec, which was set at Tierp Arena i 2013. A best of 5.81 from round #2 in Finland is not representative of what I know this team can manage.

Peter Schöfer, Germany is doing the first appearance on track this season, other commitments outside racing  means the team has decided to run only at Hockenheim. I know team Schöfer has a great track record from a few years back (the personal best of 5.39 is from 2012), but have no clue as to what numbers we can expect at NitrOlympX. Peter Schöfer is a welcome addition to the entry field and known as an excellent driver. Although he will have nothing to do with the top rankings entering only one event, he may well influence the outcome of the race for the top contenders..

Check the results as the NitrOlympX proceeds via Eurodragster.com (link leads to the event coverage index page) also don´t miss the free live web-TV during Saturday and Sunday!