Castres Raceway, France, 18th May 2025: The 26th European Dragster weekend features some close and thrilling races. But before the tension peaked, all competitors had at least one qualification run before going into the eliminations. Also, today, the weather was quite chilling in the morning, with temperatures around twelve degrees Celsius rising slowly to 18 degrees Celsius. The day started with qualification round 7, and the Juniors were first to go off, followed by Street Run. Also, several drivers lined up for the Run What You Brought section today. The winners of the 26th European Dragster are Lucas Potthoff (SPET), Andreas Gianzmann (PET), Gerd Habermann (SC), Aurelien Menard (SG), Nicolas Fombuena (SR), and Yannis Weyland (JrD).

Text: Benjamin Wefer
Pictures: Benjamin Wefer,

Lucas Potthoff takes the win in Super Pro ET. Potthoff returned on a mission after ending up third in last year’s championship. He maintained his lead during the qualifications till the end. There were no changes in the top three qualifiers after the seven qualification rounds. Robert Gassner remained in second place, and Thierry Senges in third place. Potthoff got a bye run in the first elimination round due to the uneven entry and was consistent throughout the ladder. On the other side of the ladder, Beinot Isnel and his “HellCamino” were the ones to beat. Isnel qualified fifth and won from Robert Jongen in the first round. The final race went between Lucas Potthoff and Benoit Isnel. Both drivers were consistent during the weekend (Lucas had a 7.622-second run on 7.62 dial in against Elodie Dubois in the quarter-final), and this would have been a thrilling final race. Still, unfortunately, Isnel left the track too early and gave the race away. Potthoff had a reaction time of 0.124 seconds and crossed the finish line in 7.698 seconds at 230 km/hrs on a 7.62-second dial-in.

Super Pro ET Final Race

Lucas Potthoff

Benoit Isnel

Andreas Glanzmann won Pro ET and took the trophy home. Also, no changes in the top three qualifiers for Pro ET as Rene Jacobs, Claire-Ange Renard, and Luc Thilges kept their position from number one to three. Gianzmann qualified 13th (with 10.661 10.661-second run on a 10.61 dial-in) after seven qualification rounds and won from top qualifier, Rene Jacobs, in the first elimination round. On the other side of the ladder, Thilges was the only one among the top three qualifiers who managed to survive the first elimination round when he defeated Gabriel Widmann. The final race went between Thilges and Glanzmann. Glanzmann had a much better reaction time at the start (0.087 seconds for Gianzmann v.s. 0.427 seconds for Thilges) and crossed the finish line in 11.378 seconds at 169 km/hr on a 11.15 dial in to seal the deal (Thilges ran a 10.713 seconds run at 185 km/hrs on a 10.65 dial in).  

Final Race Pro E.T.

Andreas Glanzmann

Luc Thilges

A great start to the 2025 season for Gerd Habermann as he took the win in SuperComp! Habermann, who missed the French championship last year by 3 points, came this year even more hungry for the title. Eliminations started with Didier Billault leading SuperComp. However, big surprise, as young Dutch driver Cheyenne Visser, took the number two spot with an 8.929-second run at 259 km/hrs in the Q8 and pushed Clarissa to spot number three. The difference between female drivers was only 0.006 seconds. But where Billualt and Visser got eliminated in the first round (which was the quarter-final already due to only eight entries), Clarissa Czekalla kept fighting. She even had a holeshot (0.120 second reaction time and 9.97 ET vs. 0.229 and 9.92 ET for Weyland) win over Sam Weyland in the semi-finals. The final race between Czekalla and Habermann was a side-by-side race. But in the end, Gerd Habermann won the race at the tree. Habermann had a 0.034-second reaction time (0.134 seconds for Czekalla) and crossed the finish line in 8.958 seconds (8.948 for Czekalla).

Final race SuperComp

Clarissa Czekalla

Gerd Habermann

Aurelien Menards won the 26th European Dragster in SuperGas! SuperGas competitors had two qualification rounds today and pushed hard. Still, the top three remained the same and showed no improvement. Aureline, who qualified second, met P. Czieschowitz in the first elimination round. Top qualifier Phillip Daud and third Qualifier Steven Loisel both got eliminated in the first two rounds. Manard, Peter Sourcas, and Cedric Limasset were the three racers still standing in the semi-finals due to an uneven entry. The last race went between Sourcas and Menard. With a stunning reaction time of 0.063 (vs. 0.113 for Sourcas), Manard crosses the finish line in 9.979 seconds at 205 km/hr (Sources ran a 10.083 at 217 km/hr) and won. Second place for sources who decided to try SuperGas this year (Peter usually competes in Pro ET).

Final race Supercomp

Aurelien Menards

Peter Sourcas

Nicolas Fombuena phenomenally takes the win in Street Run. Street Run competitors had one last chance today to change their position on the elimination ladder. But in the end, not much change in the top three with Nicolas Chevassus, Jan Willem van der Helm, and Laurent Arnould in the numbers one, two, and three. Where Chevassus had a bye run in the first elimination round as the top qualifier, van der Helm won Patrice Freyss in the first elimination round, but lost to Chevassus in the second round. The last race went between Fombuena and Chevassus—a spectacular start as both left the tree in precisely 0.079 seconds (reaction time). Fombuena crosses the finish line in 12.009 seconds at 180 km/hrs on a 12.00-second dial in. Chevasus pushed too hard, was faster than his dial-in, and lost the race (12.305 seconds at 181 km/hr on a 12.32-second dial-in).

Final race Street Run

Nicolas Fombuena

Nicolas Chevassus

Yannis Wayland takes the win in Junior Dragster! The juniors also got eight qualifications (two for today) and some improvement from several competitors, resulting in a slight change in the top three. Before going into elimination, they were Sam Timmers, Thore Wolf, and Johannes Rapp. Wayland qualified in fourth position and won from Emily Schaupp in the first elimination round. On the other side of the Ladder, Marie Camilleri took out top qualifier Sam Timmers in the quarter-final. The final round went between Wayland and Camilleri. Both left the tree nearly simultaneously (0.13 seconds voor Wayland vs. 0.18 for Camilleri), but in the end, Wayland took the win.

Junior Dragster final race
Marie Camilleri

Yannis Wayland

The 26th European Dragster kicked off the 2025 French championship. We from The Chronicles of Boost want to congratulate all winners. To the rest of the racers, keep a positive mindset. Every journey is learning, and come back next time stronger to beat the competition!

Note: The gallery will be updated in the coming weeks, so please come back and admire all the pictures.