30th European Dragster Clastres 2026 [Weekend Summary]

Clastres Raceway, Clastres, France, 28th June 2026: The French Drag Racing Championship Continued at Clastres Raceway with the 30th European dragster weekend for the categories: Super Pro ET, Pro ET, Super Comp, Supergas, Street Run, and Junior Dragster. As usual, the plan was to run the qualifications on Saturday and eliminations on Sunday. But a heat wave, which put the race on hold, and a storm Saturday night changed the direction of the race weekend. All who stayed till the end on Sunday could have made six passes on the track and collected enough points to change the standings in his/her favor. Top Qualifier and winners of the 30th European Dragster weekend were Alex Halter (SPET), Peter Soursas (PET), Clement Dubois (SC), Eric Haccoun (SG), M Chevaillaud (SR), and Emily Petzold (JrD).

Text: Benjamin Wefer
Pictures: Benjamin Wefer

The weekend started with an unusual announcement from Association Throphee Dragster, which informed all that the Saturday race was canceled by the local French authorities due to the heat wave. And with temperatures well above 30°C, it was probably the best decision. The decision was to run only qualifications on Sunday to give all participants as many runs as possible, while still collecting points for the championship. But the mood changed overnight as a storm passed over Clastres, and several teams sustained significant damage to their tents and equipment. Fortunately, it caused only small material damage. Therefore, Sunday opened with a rider’s info held by the President of Association Throphee Dragster (ATD), Miss Severine Gerieux. ATD was glad everyone was okay and that all damage was material only. On the same note, she put the decision in the drivers’ hands to vote on whether to ride or cancel on Sunday. All drivers voted to stay and run, which was a beautiful statement that the drag community present was fully behind ATD. Around 9.30 the first pair of Jr Dragsters competitors staged their vehicles for the first run of the weekend, followed by the other categories.

Six Categories, six runs, with points to be collected from top qualifiers to the 17th and up. Therefore, let us break it down for you.

Alex Halter from Switzerland takes the number one spot in qualification round two already with 7.952 in the second run at 278 km/hrs on a 7.94-second dial-in, and maintains his lead through the day. Halter backed up his number one spot in Q4 by running even closer to his dial-in with a 7.991-second run on a 7.99 dial-in at 277 km/hrs, which was 0.001 of a second off his dial-in. Christian Schneebeli, also from Switzerland, took the number two spot with a 7.923-second run on a 7.92 dial-in (0.003 of a second) at 275 km/hrs. Third spot was claimed by Spanish driver Angel Romero from Centauros Racing, who clocked an 8.019 on a quarter-mile with an 8.01 dial-in at 278 km/hrs. This was 0.009 of a second from his Dail-in. Reigning Champion and 2026 leader, Lucas Potthoff, didn’t have his best Sunday and ended up in sixth position with a 7.777-second run on a 7.775 dial-in at 277 km/hrs.


Alex Halter

Christian Schneebeli	Angel Romero

In Pro ET, Peter Soursas claimed the number one spot in the fifth qualification round. The French driver ran an impressive 0.0005 seconds from his dial-in; yes, that’s right. Soursas ran a 9.9705-second run on a 9.97 dial-in at 217 km/hrs. Second place was claimed by Florian Salzmann from Germany with a 10.851-second (dial-in: 10.85) run at 213 km/hrs, which was 0.001 of a second from his dial-in. Third place was claimed by British driver Ronnie Mercer. Mercer ran a 10.424-second run at 205 km/hrs in Q2, which put him in the number one spot at the end of Q2, but as Mercer couldn’t improve, he was pushed down by Soursas and Salzmann to the third spot.


Peter Soursas	Ronnie Mercer

In supercomp [8.90 index], Clement Dubios claimed the number-one spot with an 8.902-second run at 209 km/h. Second qualifying spot was claimed by 2026 leader Janine Petzold, who ran an 8.932-second run at 260 km/hrs. Third place was claimed by Clarissa Czekalla, who ran an 8.944-second run at 233 km/hrs. Reigning champion Gerd Habermann isn’t quite there yet with his new car and qualified in seventh place after 6 rounds of qualification with a 9.368-second run.


Janine Petzold	Clarissa Czekalla

Eric Haccoun took the number one spot in SuperGas [9.90 index]. Haccoun drove his Ford Contina to 9.904 seconds at 217 km/hrs which is 0.004 seconds from the class index. Phillip Daud from Germany claimed second place with a 9.94 at 226 km/hrs and third place was claimed by Marianne Wisotzke with a 9.96 at 218 km/hrs.


Eric Haccoun

Phillip Daud	Marianne Wisotzke

Maxime Chevaillaud took the number one spot with a 13.008-second run on a 13.00 dial-in in Street Run. Chevaillaud was second in this year’s championship and would take the lead now from Simone Pagani with this win (Pagani didn’t compete this round). Dutch driver David Plujm takes the second spot with a 12.724-second run on a 12.71-second dial-in. Third place was claimed by Enzo Ganci, who drove his Ford Focus ST in 14.419 seconds at 157 km/hrs on a 14.40 dial-in.

In Junior dragster (JrD), the only category that qualified based on the reaction time, Emily Petzold takes the win with a reaction time of 0.003 seconds. She drove her dragster in 8.465 seconds on the 1/8 mile at a speed of 124 km/hrs. The number-two spot was claimed by reigning champion Yannis Wayland, who qualified with a reaction time of 0.007 seconds. Mia Thoma qualified third with a reaction time of 0.01 second.


Emily Petzold	Mia Thoma

Also, the 30th European Dragster weekend was affected by the weather gods. But still, all who stayed till the end could have made six runs this Sunday, and the spectators had seen some excellent elapsed times and reaction times. We want to congratulate all our winners. To the rest of the racers, keep a positive mindset. Every journey is a learning experience, and you’ll return next time stronger to beat the competition! Enjoy the media gallery.