Entry List:
Jimmy Ålund SWE
Thomas Lindström SWE
Michael Malmgren SWE
Simon Gustafsson SWE
Magnus Petersson SWE

Points standings entering European Finals:

Driver	Total
Michael Malmgren	248
Magnus Petersson	235
Jimmy Ålund	230
Thomas Lindström	163
Jan Palmqvist	135
Christian Sagelv	128
Simon Gustafsson	108
Tommy Leindahl	53
Sampsa Palos	45
Jan Ericsson	24
Bengt Ljungdahl	24

The weather for the weekend was excellent with only a little rain on Saturday evening to spoil the otherwise perfect racing.  With the addition of a track that has been in tip top order all year, we knew we would have a Pro-Stock race that would be exciting until the end.  With the addition of two other cars that can act as spoilers this weekend promised the most thrilling end to a season in many years.

With only five cars, there are valuable bye runs in the opening round and into the final.  Who gets these may play a very important role. 

Friday
The teams all arrive throughout Thursday and got themselves set up ready to race.  The class was called to the pairing lanes at about 11am and began the assault on the title.

Q1
Simon Gustafsson ran first in the right hand lane.  Simon hit instant shake and the revs climbed to dangerously high levels.  Simon wisely killed the motor and rolled up the track.  Simon did not quite make it past the quarter mile and had to be recovered.


Thomas Lindström

Thomas Lindström and Jimmy Ålund made up the next pair since qualifying is run on the basis of championship positions in round one.  Both cars hit shake at the hit but Jimmy killed the motor and rolled through to register a 23 second pass.  Thomas rode the car as it moved right under shake, but then got the tyres to bite and drove up the track to register a 7 second lap.

The final pair was Magnus Petersson and Michael Malmgren.  Neither driver seemed to suffer from the shake and spin problems that had been evident in the first pairs and both managed to record 6.6 second passes in an evenly matched side by side race.  Michael prevailed in this race running 6.66 compared to Magnus’ 6.68

Michael took three qualifying points in round one. Magnus took two points while Thomas took one point.  This means Michael extends his lead over Magnus by one more point, but Magnus gains two more points over Jimmy

Q2
Simon again hit huge tyre shake and the engine revs once more went extremely high.  Simon again was forced to shut the motor down and roll through, but this time Simon had enough speed to get down the track and register a time, albeit a 15 second lap.

Jimmy and Thomas then delivered a master class in Pro-Stock qualifying as both drivers ran straight and true down the centres of their respective lanes to record the quickest and fastest laps we have yet seen as Jimmy crosses the line in 6.55 to Thomas’ 6.66.


Magnus Petersson

Magnus and Michael made up the final pair of the session, and treated us to another side by side Pro-Stock drag race.  This time Magnus prevailed, leaving first and carrying his advantage all the way up the track.  Magnus stopped the clocks at an improved time of 6.62 whilst Michael was a shade off his time from this morning at 6.69.

Jimmy took the three points for number one qualifier from this session, with Magnus taking the two points for second place and Thomas taking the one point for third.  This means that after this session, the points differences were near enough what they were at the beginning of the event.  Michael had added three points, Magnus had added four, whilst Jimmy had added three. Meaning the only beneficiary of Friday qualifying was Magnus Petersson who had narrowed his gap to Michael by one point and extended his lead over Jimmy by exactly the same amount.

I said in the preview to this event that the championship would not be decided until the last race, and it still looks to be the case.  Teams will need to read the track and drive to their potential whilst avoiding tyre shake and wheel spin.  The championship could be decided by a shake and pedal.

Saturday Q3


Simon Gustafsson in the background

Simon once again opened the session on a bye run, and once again hit almost instant tyre shake and wheel spin before getting off the power and cruising through the line in 17 seconds.

Thomas and Michael were the second pair, and Michael had real problems.  The Motor cut as Michael rolled into the bleach box, and he re started it a couple of times.  The idle speed was just not there though and the motor died again every time Michael tried to go for the burnout.  Chief Starter Ian Marshall signalled Michael to push back and allow Thomas to run solo.  Thomas recorded a trouble free 6.63 as Michael’s car was pushed away by a frustrated and confused Malmgren team.

Magnus and Jimmy staged next, and I expected to see Jimmy challenge his record on this run, but it was not to be as Jimmy hit instant shake and cut the power.  Magnus however fared much better and drove straight up the centre of his lane to record a very tidy 6.66, again netting the two points for second placed qualifier.

The number one qualifier, netting three points in session three was Thomas Lindstrom, with Magnus gaining two points and Simon gaining one.  Magnus was using qualifying points well to close the gap to Michael and increase the deficit Jimmy needed to overcome.

Saturday Q4
Michael started the session with a bye run and suffered none of the problems that had plagued him in the first session.  The car burned out well, returned to stage cleanly and ran straight up the centre of the lane to stop the clocks at 6.68.  Whatever the problem had been in the morning, Michael and his crew had found it and fixed it.

Ålund

Simon and Thomas lined up for their final attempts; Simon delivered the lap that his team had been trying for all weekend with a clean and straight 6.7 second pass.  Thomas however did not manage to improve on his times and was forced to come off the power after hitting a huge bout of tyre shake. This left Jimmy and Magnus to close the session, and close the qualifying rounds for the 2014 season.  Both drivers delivered good laps, but with no glorious European record times as they stopped the clocks at 6.63 and 6.67 respectively.

In session four the qualifying points were awarded three to Jimmy, two to Magnus and one to Michael.  This meant that the point’s gaps at the top of the table had not been overly affected by qualification points.  Magnus had managed to secure second place qualifier points in all rounds meaning he had added a further eight points to his total.  Michael had added four points and Jimmy had added six.  It remained all open for the championship as a three way battle.

Jimmy pulled another eight points for qualifying number one, whilst Magnus collected seven points and Michael gained a further four.
This produced an elimination ladder which provided Jimmy Ålund with a number one qualifier bye run.  Magnus would face Simon and Thomas would face Michael.  The only contender guaranteed to progress was Jimmy.


Final Qualifying    time    speed KMH
1 Jimmy Ålund    6.551    342.78
2 Magnus Petersson 6.627    333.22
3 Thomas Lindström 6.634    333.56
4 Michael Malmgren 6.66    331.70
5 Simon Gustafsson 6.784    327.48

Sunday Eliminations 1
In the first pair of eliminations on Sunday, Michael was drawn against Thomas.  This was a must win race for Michael, and he drove it appropriately, covering the quarter mile in 6.69 seconds and dealing with a little tyre shake along the way.  I would have liked to report more on Michael’s run, but my attention was drawn at the time to Thomas Lindström, who pulled off one of the most sensational driving jobs of recent times.  Thomas hit tyre shake just past the tree, and the car began what started as a lazy turn to the right, but quickly developed into a fishtail which Thomas was fighting hard to correct.  The frequency and amplitude of the fishtailing increased very quickly and Thomas was on two wheels as he crossed the centre line before he managed to wrestle the car straight again and bought it to a halt around 1200 feet out.  The centre line infringement caused an automatic disqualification, but luckily it didn’t matter as Michael was long gone by then.


Thomas Lindström

The second pair featured Magnus Petersson against Simon Gustafsson.  Magnus got away first and was never troubled by Simon throughout the lap as he delivered better splits all the way down the track.  Magnus driving through in 6.67 to Simon’s 6.9

Jimmy rounded off the session with a number one qualifier bye run.  The run was clean and straight, and showed that Jimmy had a point to prove as he runs down into the bottom order 6.5’s with a 6.54.

All the championship contenders made it out of elimination round one, and so the points differentials are exactly the same as they were when we began eliminations.

Sunday Semi Finals
The three contenders all started in the semi-finals, but with only two progressing, one of the title hopefuls was going to end their season in this round, and it could only have been Jimmy or Michael.  Magnus had a bye run into the final due to an odd number of competitors.


Michael Malmgren

Jimmy faced Michael in the first pairing, these two have raced each other many times and know what to expect from the man in the other lane.  This time it was Jimmy that progressed to the final, as he left first and then pulled away from Michael.  Jimmy stopped the clocks with a time of 6.56 compared to Michael’s 6.70.

Michael started this season with a new car; he has learned the car and led the championship.  I doubt they expected to do this well at the beginning of the season, and the team and driver should be proud of what they have achieved, but at the point they lost this race, I doubt it felt like much of a cause for celebration.  I am sure that the team will realise their achievements and build on 2014 for the next season.

Magnus dealt with his bye run easily with a fairly stress free 6.66 and now will face Jimmy in the final. Magnus bought Jimmy’s car in 2012 and competed in his first full championship year in 2013.  Magnus started this season with a number four on the car.  The worst that can happen now is for there to be a number two on it next season, but that could easily be a number one.  Pro-Stock races are won by the slimmest margins.  Magnus’ car can run into the 6.5 bracket and it will only take a small tyre shake or wheel spin from Jimmy for this title to go to Magnus.

Sunday – Finals
This race was not only the final race of the 2014 championship, it was the race that would decide the number one and two spots.  Michael was now securely in the third position.  

Both drivers and both teams dealt well with the pressure of this race.  Jimmy’s team have been here before, several times, but this is the first time Magnus and team have raced for the title.  The teams made it to the pairing lanes with no dramas, and we prepared to settle the championship. Jimmy left first by quite some margin, and Magnus looked to be chasing him down hard in the first half of the track, but then Jimmy started to pull away and took the stripe, the race, the event and the championship with a solid 6.57 pass against Magnus’ 6.63.

The 2014 FIA European Pro Stock champion is Jimmy Ålund

Once again I have had an excellent season with the Pro-Stock teams, and having been asked to cover the class again in 2015, I accepted without question.  I look forward to working with you all again next season, when I hope we will enjoy two rounds at Tierp and an improved track surface at Alastaro. 

Link to results from the timing system:

- ELIMINATION LADDER
- QUALIFICATION RANKINGS

Courtesy of TSI Timers (Europe) and Santa Pod Raceway