2018 FIA European Pro Mod and Pro Stock Championship, Jimmy Ålund
Races #4 and #5, Hockenheimring, Germany, and the Summit Racing Equipment Internationals at Tierp Arena, Sweden.
"Mixed performances but getting ahead"
Norrköping, Sweden, August 28, 2018 - After more than a six week break it turned very hectic with race number 4 and 5 in the FIA Pro Mod and Pro Stock championship over two consecutive weekends.
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Pro Mod at the NitrOlympx at Hockenheimring, Germany.
Ålund and the team wanted to continue their success from the win at Alastaro but it was not to be. A broken rear-end in the first round of qualifying set the plans awry and Ålund ended up as the #10 qualifier after day 1.
Problems continued in Q3 but with a huge improvement in Q4, to the top spot with a 5.95-second run at 393.58 km/hour (244.55 mph) which was a new personal best for speed.
Race day. Ålund got two solo runs to take the Old 51 to the semi-finals against Jan Eriksson. Eriksson with an astounding reaction time, 0.006 seconds, which made for a lead that held all the way across the finish line.
"Mixed weekend" says Ålund, "three bad runs in qualifying and then we got it all together. The team hade the car in good shape for the semis on race day but Jan Eriksson outdid me at the tree and that was it for the weekend".
It's a tight points race, Ålund came to Hockenheimring in first place and left in second place, just 8 points behind the leader.
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Race #5, the Summit Racing Equipment Internationals at Tierp Arena, Sweden.
Like last season, Jimmy Ålund is racing in two FIA classes this year, Pro Mod and Pro Stock. This fifth race of the FIA drag racing season was the third and last weekend where Ålund fielded both cars.
Pro Mod - As usual, Pro Mod had a solid turnout with 18 cars for a 16-car field but this time Ålund did not get off to a good start with the Magnus Petersson-owned Old 51 Chevrolet. Tire shake left Ålund on the bump spot as the #16 qualifier after day 1. Things shaped up nicely on day 2, two good runs took Jimmy to second place going into Sundays eliminations.
Ålund pretty much dominated his side of the ladder with solid 5-second runs and a new best ET and speed for The Old 51 in the semifinals, 5.815 seconds at 393.59 km/h (244.56 mph). On the other side of the ladder, Andreas Arthursson went rounds to make for an exciting final. Arthursson 5.80 in the semis, Ålund 5.81 but Arthursson got it all together and ran his quickest run all weekend and took home the event win.
"OK, we want to win of course but we have to be happy with that runner up" says Ålund, "I'd rather forget that first day of qualifying but the rest of the weekend was fine. We ran a good number of solid 5-second runs and are now back in the points lead."
Ålund came to the Summit Racing Equipment Internationals in second place in the FIA Pro Mod Championship and left in first place, 57 points ahead.
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Pro Stock - Ålund only had the Summit Racing Camaro out for the first day of qualifying and Sundays eliminations. Ålund was the number one qualifier after two rounds of qualifying but slipped back to #4 in a strong 10-car field.
The team did their job on the Sunday and stepped it up big time. Ålund was quickest and fastest in all rounds of elimination and finished off the day by winning over old time foe Thomas Lindström with a 6.55 at 342.64 km/h (212.90 mph) which was both the low ET and top speed of the whole weekend.
Quite a performance. "You bet, yes indeed" says Ålund with a big smile, "we did not have all the time needed to run that super strong Summit Racing Camaro on Saturday but not to worry, Sunday was a day to remember for the team who put a perfect car on the track."
It looked easy. "Maybe so" continues Ålund, "but be sure it's not. We had ten very competent Pro Stock teams out there and it's as hard as any drag racing event can get."
Another highlight of the 2018 the Summit Racing Equipment Internationals was the attendance of Jim Greenleaf, Motorsports and Events Manager of Summit Racing Equipment. Greenleaf says, "I'm absolutely thrilled to travel to Sweden again and to be part of an excellent race weekend like this. We're very proud to sponsor the whole event and of course such competitive and high performance teams as The Old 51 and the Jimmy Ålund Pro Stock Racing Team"
The final race of the 2018 FIA Pro Mod Drag Racing Championship series is the FIA European Finals held at the historic drag strip at Santa Pod in the UK. The qualifying starts on Friday morning, September 7.
Summit Racing Equipment, Viking Industrimålning and Exclusive Cars are sponsoring both the Old 51 Pro Mod car and the Ålund Pro Stock Camaro this year. This is in addition to Sverigedemokraterna, KB Racing, Camaroskroten, P.O:s Harley Davidson, All American AB, Vadstena Klosterhotel, Stigs Axle and Parts, Hydraulakuten, VP Racing Fuel. Jimmy Ålund Racing is very grateful for the continuing support from such great companies.
/PiPPi
