Rico Anthes Quartermile, Hockenheimring, Germany, 23rd August 2026: It’s Sunday, meaning race day! Only Super Street Bike Competitors had a last qualification round early in the morning before going into elimination, to compensate for the lost session on Saturday. The weather conditions were ideal, with 20+ degrees and no rain in sight. Perfect conditions for the elimination. With some minor delay due to track cleaning here and there, the day went smoothly. The final races kicked off around five o’clock, starting with the sportsman classes, which resulted in the final race for the Funny Bike class. The oil down caused such a delay that it was impossible to recommence the races without going over the 18:00 curfew (the time after which it is not allowed to make any noise at Hockenheim). Therefore, the 39th edition of the Nitrolympx weekend ran out of time. No official winners, but points will determine who will get away with the number one, two, and three spot.

Text: Benjamin Wefer
Pictures: Benjamin Wefer
Last updated: 23-08-2026

Eliminations for Top Fuel Dragster started with Colin Millar against Susanne Callin. Both with good reaction time on the tree, paddled down lightly, and it is Callin who takes the win with a 4.102 second at 480 km/hr. The second pair of the day was between Jndia Erbacher and Øyvor Jacobsen. Erbacher managed to cross the finish line in 4.053 seconds at 400 km/hr to defeat Jacobsen, who ran a 4.802 second at 257 km/hr. Erbacher and Callin would have met in the final round. Unfortunately, no three-second run this time, but with Erbacher close to the 3-second zone, the spectators still got the thrill.

Jndia Erbacher

Susanne Callin

In Top Methanol, the number-one qualifier, Tony Bryntesson, had a bye run, while Isac Lagg defeated Sylvio Strauch. Bryntesson also defeated Isaac Lagg to proceed to the final race. On the other side of the ladder, Timo Habermman had defeated Reigning Champion Sandro Bellio, while Johnny Lagg defeated Jürgen Nagel. Lagg proceeded to the finals by defeating Timo Habermann in the semi-finals. Habermann was quicker on the tree (0.037 seconds vs 0.078 for Jonny Lagg), but it was just not sufficient, as Lagg won the race with a 5.317 seconds at 433 km/hr against a 5.385 seconds at 426 km/hr for Habermann.

Tony Bryntesson

Jonny Lagg

For the Pro Modified competitors, the pressure was on! Top qualifier Michel Tooren started the elimination with a Bye, clocking a 5.846 to show the pool he meant business. Tooren defeated Marck Harteveld in the Quarterfinals with a 5.845-second run at 394 km/hr and a stunning reaction time of 0.008 seconds (Harteveld unfortunately broke his gearbox and rolled down to the finish line). In the semi-finals, Tooren pulled another 0.008 reaction time against Andres Arnover. But bad luck hit as Tooren’s supercharger belt broke, giving the race away to Arnover, who paddled down to a 6.378-second run at 347 km/hr. On the other side of the ladder, it was Stian Rusånes the one to beat, as he defeated Markus Hilt in E1. Rusånes had a bye run in the quarter-finals and met Reigning champion Jere Rantaniemi in the Semi-finals. Rusånes left the tree in 0.003 and clocked 5.888 seconds at 355 km/hr to defeat Rantaniemi. It would have been a breathtaking final between Rusånes and Arnover, as both are capable of running low 5.8.

Andres Arnover

Stian Rusånes

History repeated itself at Nitrolympx in Pro Stock as Jimmy Ålund and Robin Norén, like last year, advanced to the final race. Ålund defeated local hero Henry Riehl with a 6.600 at 338 km/hr (with a reaction time of 0.027). Ålund had a bye run in the semi-finals, where he ran a 6.599-second run at 339 km/hr. On the other side of the ladder, Norén defeated Stefan Ernryd with a 6.629-second run at 335 (0.052 reaction time) and defeated Michael Malmgren in the semi-finals with a 6.635 at 335 km/hr to proceed to the final race.

Jimmy Ålund

Robin Norén

In Top Fuel Bike, the top qualifier, Luke Farrugia (qualified with a 6.146 at 356 km/hr), would have met number two qualifier Stuart Crane in the final round. Farrugia had a bye run in E1 and defeated Karl Rautanen with a 6.846 at 252 km/hr (vs a 7.277 for Rautanen) to proceed to the final round. On the other side of the ladder, Crane defeated Dutch Rider, Rene van den Berg with a 6.370 at 349 km/hr (vs a 6.483-second run at 338 km hr for van den Berg). In the semi -finals, Crane defeated Mark Simon Smith with a 6.320-second run at 340 km/hr.

With a four-bike entry, it was supposed to be a quick ladder, but unfortunately, the final Super Twin Bike race didn’t happen due to time constraints. Number one qualifier Marcus Christiansen defeated Roman Sixt with a 6.231-second run at 357 km/hr (vs a 7.374 for Sixta) to proceed to the final round. On the other side of the ladder, number two qualifier Anders Vodby Jensen defeated Martin Bühler with a 6.791-second run at 316 km/hr to proceed to the final round.

The last two standing in Super Street bike were Dimitros Kontarinis and Alan Morrison. Morrison defeated Clemens Walleit in the first elimination round and won from Nikolaos Emmanouilidis with a 7.096-second run at 336 km/hr in the quarter-finals. Morrison also defeated Aggelos Semertzidis with a 7.037-second run at 319 (vs a 7.169-second run at 332 for Semertzidis) to proceed to the final round. Kontarinis, from Greece, defeated Simon Giordmaina in E1 and top qualifier Loannis Martzaklis in the quarter-finals. Kontarinis also defeated Daniel Donat Lecses in the semi-final with a 6.932-second run at 332 km/hr to proceed to the final round.

Like the previous year, the 39th edition of the Nitrolympx weekend ended with no three-second run for Top Fuel Dragsters, but there were undoubtedly some thrilling races and enough to see for the spectators. A weekend influenced by weather and time constraints, where scores between the competitors of the European Championship will be settled in the European Finals in two weeks’ time. Dates for the 2027 NitrOlympX weekend will be from 20th to 22nd August 2027.

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