FIA Pro Stock Car - Review Round #2 2014
Finland is usually event three on the FIA calendar but with the removal of the first Swedish event at Tierp, we find ourselves at only round 2 as we head to Alastaro.
Only five cars have yet competed in the 2014 season, so really it has to be noted that the Finland Internationals at Alastaro is actually the first event of the year.  There are eleven cars scheduled to compete in Alastaro
Once again I was unable to attend the Alastaro in person, however unlike last year, the internet feed would not play ball, and so I was left in the dark for most of the event’. Before this event, the championship leader was Jimmy Ålund with 32 points leading from Thomas Lindström on 21.

Entry List:
Jimmy Ålund            SWE
Thomas Lindström    SWE
Jan Palmqvist            SWE
Magnus Pettersson    SWE
Michael Malmgren     SWE
Jan Ericsson              SWE
Christian Sagelv         SWE
Simon Gustafsson      SWE
Richard Sundblom     FIN
Sampsa Palos            FIN
Bengt Ljungdahl    `   SWE

Summary Qualifications 

It seems that the new track surface at Alastaro may have a few issues with preparation and is giving the teams a bit of a headache (quite literally for those drivers that are hitting shake).  It is difficult to tell from internet views, but a lot of teams seem to run quite slowly and several stop on track.

The board shifts around a little in Q2, with Jimmy taking the number one spot at 6.85 sec/336 km/H, however these are not European Record threatening times, so I can only assume that teams are still struggling with track and grip.

Christian Sagelv’s car is re-liveried from the classic Gulf Oil racing colours to a deep black, carrying Gorilla branding.

I said in the Alastaro preview that sometimes horsepower isn’t everything, and it looks like this may be one of those cases.  This track seems to be a struggle for all classes, and it is very telling that the number one qualifier is 3/10th down on what we would normally expect.  This however does open an event up to the other teams who maybe cannot compete on just pure horsepower terms.

Very little changes in Q3 except for a decent move for Sagelv getting into the show (ET7.62 is good for the 6th spot). In Q4 Michael Malmgren Manages to move up to second place, now at 6.91 sec./315 km/h



                                ET    KMH
Jimmy Ålund            6.853    336.83
Michael Malmgren   6.916    315.83
Simon Gustavsson    6.958    319.87
Magnus Petersson    7.25    330.15
Thomas Lindström    7.496    329.35
Christian Sagelv        7.625    319.31
Sampsa Palos           8.358    294.81
Jan Palmqvist           8.675    215.57
Jan Ericsson            10.415    147.03
Bengt Ljungdahl       22.484    53.97

So our top eight and qualified cars are set

Thomas Lindström in a very lowly (by his standards) 5th place  Jimmy Ålund in his customary number one spot, but the eagle eyed will have noticed no improvement for Jimma since Q2.  The teams are struggling.


Simon Gustafsson made his first event in FIA competition


Malmgren takes the win at Alastaro. Runner-up Jimmy Ålund

ELIMINATIONS ROUND #1:

Pair for E1 are
Jimmy Ålund – Jan Palmqvist
Michael Malmgren – Sampsa Palos
Simon Gustavsson – Christian Sagelv
Magnus Petersson – Thomas Lindström

Thomas and Magnus race first and Thomas cannot get around this race surface, striking the tyres and getting off the power  By contrast Magnus runs a soft but effective 7 second pass to take the win

The next pair are Michael Malmgren and Sampsa Palos who have a proper drag race.  Looking at the times I guess there must have been some tyre spin early for both cars, but Michael progresses with a 6.93 against Sampsa’s 7.00 pass.  It looked close on the tree as well, so this is our first proper race of the event.

No such luck in the next pair as Simon red lights against Christian

This leaves Jimmy and Jan to round out the session.  Jimmy taking the tree, and then with superior incrementals all the way down the track.  Jimmy taking the win 6.77 to Jans 7.53


Magnus Petersson

E2

Jimmy will line up alongside his old car which was also a possibility for Michael.

Jimmy faces Magnus
Michael will race Christian

Jimmy and Magnus in the first pair put together a close race as Jimmy wins with a 6.80 to Magnus’ 7.09

Michael and Christian race last and demonstrate very similar times to the previous race.  Michael winning this pair 6.85 to Christian’s 7.06

For reference, at this event in 2013 Jimmy Ålund won his semi-final lap against Micke Callin with a 6.66 lap so we are consistently 1.5/10ths slower this year.

Final
Michael Malmgren will face Jimmy Ålund in the final.  This will be a critical race and should be very close.

And we are not to be disappointed.  Michael and Jimmy entered into a Texas Burn Down style staging battle before Michael went in to stage first.  Not sure who was driving that, and I do not see the point really as the engines are heating up whilst the tyres are cooling down.  Anyway, it all adds to the drama.

Jimmy away first but then it was Michael all the way as Jimmy had to come off the throttle several times to avoid the spin and shake that has plagued this track surface all weekend.  In contrast, Michael had a small amount of spin early on but went arrow straight down the racetrack.

So Michael Malmgren wins at Alastaro 6.954 to Jimmy’s 7.57 and also takes over the lead in the championship

LINK TO FULL RESULTS: Qualifications & eliminations


Ålund


New in the class: Bengt Ljungdahl



         
Thomas Lindström Team R/T & Ernryd Cars 

Text: Ian Hart
Photos: Lena Perés, Åsa Kinnemar

This article is part of the Speedgroup Club Europe Online Newsletter July Rreview Alastaro 2014

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