A year ago, Troxel and fellow guests of R2B2 Racing boss Roger Burgess ended a holiday week of Irish golf and Italian culture with an afternoon sampling the unique atmosphere of Hockenheim’s Rico Anthes Quartermile. Now she comes to race, not spectate. As a top American professional supported by a top American crew and driving the strongest Pro Mod car ever seen in Europe, she carries no small weight of expectation on her shoulders.



Win or lose, however, her greatest impact may lie in the damage she might inflict on the championship hopefuls. With a lowly 33 points from her first-round loss at May’s Main Event, Troxel lies 19th on the leader-board and isn’t going to be a crowned head of Europe this year. Yet she could become the king-maker – or breaker.

Young sensation Johan Lindberg leads Michael Gullqvist by 44 points (at 20 points per elimination round). Urban Johansson, Mats Eriksson, Roger Johansson and Adam Flamholc lie 70 points, more or less, further back, probably too far to overhaul the flying Lindberg, judging from the season’s performances thus far, but still in with a chance if upsets ensue. That’s where Troxel comes in. No one will relish meeting her in eliminations. If the R2B2 Camaro is on song – as it eventually became on her late-afternoon exhibition pass at Santa Pod and, subsequently, under Michael Gullqvist’s guidance at Alastaro – defeat at Melanie’s hands will scarcely be an upset, though it could well make a mess of any opponent’s championship aspirations.

Adam Flamholc is one racer who benefited from the rain-out at Mantorp Park. Mired at the foot of the qualifying ladder, 14 places adrift of the 16-car field, Flamholc would have expected a dreadful weekend to get even worse as his adversaries pulled away from him in the points during eliminations. The rain, though, brought a reprieve and Flamholc finds himself still in the mix. So too, mathematically at least, does Andy Robinson. When the gremlins weren’t biting, Robinson had looked the strongest challenger to Lindberg and Gullqvist at the first two races before his finish-line fire put him out of the show at Alastaro. If he can finish repairs in time for Hockenheim, Robinson could well be another ‘maker or breaker’ in the Troxel mould.

Look out, too, for Mikael Lindahl. Hockenheim loves Lindahl, winner there for the past two years and, in 2008, first in Europe to break the 240mph (386kph) barrier. Last year, Lindahl beat Robinson in the final.

Among the 26 names on the healthy entry list, put out a special flag to mark the return of Marc Meihuizen. The Dutch star has endured a miserable 12 months on (or mostly off) the track. First, there was the Hockenheim incident a year ago when Meihuizen’s handsome new Firebird was one of the cars damaged after Johnny Jorgensen’s brakes failed on his burnout back-up. Then, that same weekend, severe engine breakage brought Meihuizen’s 2009 season to an early close. Back on track for 2010, Meihuizen clocked 6.09 at over 230mph in a pre-Main Event test only to have brand new parts fail past the finish line and junk the motor again. If justice is to be done and misfortune properly reversed, expect to see Meihuizen battling Robinson in the 2010 Hockenheim final.

[Memo to British readers: Marc’s surname is pronounced ‘My-howzen’. We’ve been calling him ‘May-hweezen’ for all these years and, noble chap, he’s never complained once.]