Clastres, France 29th July 2023: The 22nd European dragster kicked today with the first qualification rounds for the Super Pro ET, Pro ET, Super Comp, Super Gas, Junior Dragster, and Street run. All teams found their way to the Clastres Raceway for the final races of the French championship. The European weather was not at its best. It rained in the last 24 hours, and the forecast for Saturday wasn’t good either. It was around mid-day that the track was safe enough to race. During the second qualification round, it started to rain again. The track crew managed to get the track ready for a third qualification round before the end of the day. Current number one qualifiers are; Franck Römer, Maurice Heller, D Karelse, Stephan Biauwitz, T Wolf, and Francois Peeters are The Leaders after this rainy qualification day.
Text: Benjamin Wefer
Picture: Benjamin Wefer
Franck Römer claimed the number one spot during Q1 in Super Pro ET. Römer ran an 8.59-second run at 252 km/hrs, which was 0.0432 seconds close to his dial-in (with an 8.550-second dail-in during Q1). Römer closes the gap more in Q3 to maintain the number one qualifier (0.0303 seconds from his dail-in). The second spot is for Renaud Launay, who ran an 8.130-second run (0.0305 seconds from his dail-in). Christian Zulauf claimed the third place. Amandine Arnaud, the current championship leader is currently fourth.
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| Franck Römer | |
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| Renaud Launay | Amandine Arnaud |
Luc Thilges positioned himself in the number one spot during Q1 in Pro ET (0.0195 seconds from his Dail-in) but couldn’t maintain it and is now third after Maurice and Gerd Habermann. Maurice ran a 10.710-second run at 202 km/hrs (with a 10.70 dial-in).
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| Maurice Heller | |
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| Ger Habermann | Luc Thilges |
Dustin Karelse takes the number one spot in Supercomp. Dustin takes the lead during Q2 with an 8.967-second run at 255 km/hrs. Not a traditional category for Dustin to race in, but he has potential. Clement Dubios is just a couple of seconds behind him, with a 9.00-second run at 207 km/hrs. In Third place is the Dutch driver Sam Wayland.
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| Dustin Karelse | |
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| Clement Debois | Sam Wayland |
Stephan Blauwitz takes the number one spot in Supergas after three rounds. Oscar Scappocin is in second place, and Marianne Wisotzke is in third place.
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| Stephan Blauwitz | |
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| Oscar Scappocin | Marianne WIsotzke |
Thore Wolf qualified is the top qualifier in Junior Dragster. Marie Camilleri is currently second, and Felix Schmid is now third. Liam McDonald (Championship leader) qualified fourth after three rounds.
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| Felix Schmid | Marie Camilleri |
Clastres finishes off the race day with Sebastien Lajoux warming the spectators up with his Mach 1 jet funny car performing as a demo pass. Besides the demo show, there were cakes and champagne to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Clastres Raceway.
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Stay tuned for the second day of the 22nd European Dragster weekend (the last Qualifications and elimination rounds!) We from The Chronicles of Boost want to wish all competing drivers good luck, but most of all, have fun!
