Clastres Raceway, Clastres, France, 24th July 2026:The final round of the French Drag Racing Championship kicked off today with the first qualifications for all car categories and bike categories, for a change. Street Bike, Super Street Bike, Pro Twin, Competition Bike, E.T. Bike, and Petite Cylinders were the bike categories included in The Final Speed Weekend. The weather gods were at their best today, with temperatures around 25 degrees Celsius and a slight breeze, making it an ideal summer day. Around 14:00, the Juniors kicked off the weekend, and the rest followed. There was some oil down here and there at the start area of the track, where the last oil down resulted in a closed lane; hence, qualification continued on a single lane. All competitors got two qualification rounds before the end of the day. The provisional top qualifiers at the end of the first day are Lucas Potthoff (SPET), Chiara Stanzal (PET), Clement Dubois (SC), Eric Haccoun (SG), Bilal Moulessehoul (SR), and Eleanor Petzold (JrD). For the bikes are F Bornais (Pro Twin), M Contremoulin (competition bike/pro stock), M Menard (Street Bike), M Quattelbaum (ET bike), and R Amrouchi in Petite Cylindree.

Text: Benjamin Wefer
Pictures: Benjamin Wefer

Lucas Potthoff claimed the provisional number one spot in Super Pro E.T. (SPET). Potthoff claimed this in his first run of the day with a 7.736-second run at 280 km/hrs on a 7.73 dial-in. This was 0.006 seconds away from his dial-in and was close enough to maintain his lead at the end of the day. Stefan Eisenhauer is currently second with 8.318 seconds at 264 km/hrs on an 8.30 dial-in, which he ran during Q2 (huge improvement from Q1 where he was in the number 14 spot). Olivier Coulon qualified third with an 8.767-second run at 252 km/hrs in Q1 and improved his time in Q2 (8.756 seconds at 254 km/hrs on an 8.73 dial-in) to maintain his position.

Lucas Potthoff

Stefan Eisenhauer

C Stanzial claimed the number one spot in Pro E.T (PET) with 10.432 seconds at 205 km/hrs on a 10.43 dial-in in Q2. This was a huge improvement for Stanzial, who was in 23rd place in Q1. Alain Stahl is currently second with a 11.411 seconds at 184 km/hrs on a 11.40 dial-in. Carole Wayland ran 0.02 seconds away from her dial-in and is currently second. The Luxembourger driver clocked a 10.570-second run in Q2 on a 10.55 dial-in and moved up from 16th to third place.

C Stanzial

Carole Wayland

Clément Dubios once again claimed the provisional number one spot in SuperComp (SC). The French driver managed to push his slingshot dragster and ran an 8.915-second run in Q1 at 209 km/h. He didn’t manage to improve his time in Q2, but the 8.915 was good enough to maintain his lead. Keneth Celestin is currently second with an 8.927 at 213 km/hrs achieved in Q2, which was a great improvement on his 9.024-second run from Q1. Didier Billault claimed the provisional number 3 spot in his Dodge Challenger. Billault ran an 8.934-second run at 246 km/hrs. Championship leader Janine Petzold is currently sixth with a 9.145-second run at 258 km/hrs. Would be interested to see who will run closer to the 8.90 class index tomorrow.

Clément Dubios

Keneth Celestin

Didier Billaul

Eric Haccoun claimed the provisional number one spot in SuperGas (SG) with a 9.932-second run at 219 km/hrs. Haccoun, currently leading the French championship in SuperGas, didn’t improve during Q2, but the 9.932 was good enough to maintain his lead. Marianne Wisotzke is currently second with a 10.259 at 216 km/hrs and Karin Becker is currently third with a 10.409 second run at 208 km/hrs. Both Becker (10.357 in Q1) and Wisotzke (10.628 in Q1) ran better times in Q2, but have maintained their positions.

Eric Haccoun

Marianne Wisotzke

Bilal Moulessehoul is currently the top qualifier in Street Run (SR). Moulessehoul ran 0.009 seconds from his dial-in in Q1 (12.009 seconds at 167 km/hrs on a 12.00 dial-in) and maintained his lead at the end of the day. Second spot was claimed by David Pluijm, who ran a 12.760 second at 173 km/hrs on a 12.71 dial-in. Samantha Fermond claimed the third spot with a 14.524 second at 162 km/hrs.

Eleanor Petzold claimed the top qualifying spot in Junior Dragster (JrD). Petzold qualified in Q2 with a reaction time of 0.00124 of a second. Tim Fassler is currently second, and Loris Weyland is in third place.

Eleanor Petzold

Tim Fassler

Loris Weyland

Some newbies were spotted today at Clastres Raceway in the Junior Dragster category. Mathilda and Rosalie Habermann from the Werner-Habermann Top Methanol Racing Team made their first passes here in France. Another newcomer spotted was Aurora Scappocin from Gemelli Racing. Great to see the new generation behind the wheel!

Aurora Scappocin

Rosalie Habermann

Mathilda Habermann

So that was the summary for the car categories; let us break down the bike categories for you, starting with Pro Twin. It is F Bornais who takes the provisional number one spot with an elapsed time of 9.645 seconds at 227 km/hrs. J Dalla Vecchia is currently second with a 9.824-second run at 226 km/hr, and M Klessens is in third place.

In competition bike/Pro Stock, it is M Contremoulin who takes the provisional number one spot with an 8.879-second run at 246 km/h. T Waterschoot and E Calmettes are in numbers two and three.

M Menard takes the number one spot in Street Bike. Menard ran an 8.855-second run at 252 km/hrs in Q2 to take the number one spot. M Martin is currently second with a 9.134-second run at 243 km/hrs and A. Signoretto is currently third.

 

The first of three days of the 31st European Dragster weekend is completed. weather gods blessed us with lovely weather today. Let’s hope it stays that way for more qualifications on Saturday and eliminations on Sunday. Stay tuned and enjoy the media gallery.

THE MEDIA GALLERY