Rico Anthes Quartermile, Hockenheimring, Germany, 23rd August 2026: It’s Sunday, like for the FIA and FIM classes; it also means race day for the sportsman classes! The weather conditions were ideal, with 20+ degrees and no rain in sight. Perfect conditions for the elimination. Unfortunately, bad luck struck, as an oil down in the final round of Funny Bike caused such a delay that it was impossible to recommence the final races for the remaining categories without going over the 18:00 curfew (the time after which it is not allowed to make any noise at Hockenheim). Therefore, there were no official winners at the 39th edition of NitrOlympX; the two competitors who advanced to the final round were the finalists, and the two competitors who didn’t advance were the semifinalists.

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

René Ehrismann and Jack Williams shared the winner’s spot as both proceeded to the final round in Pro Comp Doorslammer (PC). Only eight competitors in Pro Comp; therefore, it was a small ladder. Ehrismann, in his 1955 Chevrolet Bel Air, defeated Michael Maderer in the Quarter-finals and won over Christian Zulauf, who had a better reaction time (0.280 seconds against 0.043 for Ehrismann), and ran a 7.127 at 314 km/hr, while Zulauf crossed the finish line in 7.520 seconds. On the other side of the ladder, it was Jack Williams in his 1955 Chevrolet Corvette who advanced to the final race. As the race didn’t happen, both Ehrismann and Williams shared the number one spot.

René Ehrismann

Jack Williams

Robert Gassner & Marco Grandini advanced to the final round in Super Pro E.T. (PET). Gassner qualified third and defeated Alex Halter in the first elimination round and Robin Sattler in E2. In the semi-finals, Gassner met Christian Schneebeli, where Gassner won by a major holeshot with a reaction time of 0.009 seconds. Gassner ran an 8.525 on an 8.49 against Schneebeli, who ran a 7.823 on a 7.79 dial-in. On the other side of the ladder, Marco Grandini defeated Steven Cavgna in E-1 (as Cavgna left too early) and defeated Urs Embacher in the second round. Grandini had a bye run in the semi-finals and would have met Robert Gassner. As the race didn’t happen, Gassner and Grandini were the finalists, and Christian Schneebeli was the semi-finalist.

Robert Gassner

Robert Gassner

Björn Szczendzina and Jürgen Försch advanced to the final round in Pro. E.T (PET). Szczendzina, in his Chevrolet Camaro named ‘Lucille ’, qualified third and defeated C Piffaetti in the E1 and Marco Antonini in the second elimination round, who red-lit and broke out, giving the race away to Szczendzina. Szczendzina won against Dirk Sommer in the quarter-finals and defeated Stefan Albert (who broke out and gave the race away) to advance to the final race. On the other side of the ladder, Jürgen Försch defeated Harald Geuβ and Kim Hodgson in the first two elimination rounds. In the quarter-finals, he defeated Sascha Herrmann and defeated René Siefert in the semi-final to advance to the final. Försch and Szczendzina ended up as finalists, while Stefan Albert and René Siefert ended up as semi-finalists.

Björn Szczendzina

Jürgen Försch

In SuperComp (SC), Gerd Habermann and Janine Petzold shared the winner’s spot. Habermman defeated number one qualifier Ronnie Mercer in the first elimination round (who ran faster than the class index) and won from Oliver Krautberger, who also ran faster than the class index to advance to the final round. On the other side, Janine Petzold defeated Til Schöninger in the first round and Keneth Celestin in the semi-finals in a close race. Petzold had a slightly better reaction time than Celestin (0.041 for Petzold against 0.081 for Celestin) and crossed the finish line in 8.923, while Celestin ran a 8.962. As the final race never happened, both Habermann and Petzold receive the number one spot. Oliver Krautberger ended up second and Keneth Celestin third.

Gerd Habermann

Janine Petzold

Keneth Celestin

In Supergas (SG), in an eight-car field, the number three (Oscar Scappocin) and four (Philip Daud) advanced to the final round. Scappocin defeated Maximilian Scharnagl in the quarter-final and won from number-one qualifier Manfred Graβer by holes. Scappocin had a 0.022 reaction on three and won the race in 9.972 seconds. On the other side of the ladder, Daud defeated Putzmann and Daniel Vetterl to advance to the final round, where he and Oscar Scappocin are the 2026 finalists.

Oscar Scappocin

Philip Daud

In Junior dragster, Felix Schmid and Lille Rosa Erichsen advanced to the final round and shared the winner’s spot. Close call for Schmid in E1, where he broke out with a 7.988-second run on an 8.02 dial-in, but as his opponent, Mia Thoma, was much faster than her dial-in (8.282 on an 8.35 dial-in), Schmid took the win. Another close encounter was against Emily Schaupp in the semi-finals. Both Schmid and Schaupp left the tree too early, but as Schmid’s reaction time was -.027 (against -0.49), Schimdt took the win and proceeded to the final round. Lille Rosa Erichsen was on the other side of the ladder, defeated Lenny Fassler and Rosalie Habermann in E1 and the quarterfinals, and had a bye run in the semifinals, before proceeding to the final round.

Felix Schmid

Lille Rosa Erichsen

With only five entries, it was a short ladder for the Funny bike (FB) competitors, with Stefan Hagenstein and Marcus Laur advancing to the final round. Hagenstein, as the top qualifier, had a bye in both rounds before advancing to the final round, while Laur had to fight his way to the final round. Laur defeated Thomas Joswig with a 7.231 at 309 km/hr while Joswig ran a 7.621 at 280 km/hr. Laur also defeated Leon David Weikum to advance to the final round.

Stefan Hagenstein

Marcus Laur

In ET bike (ETB), Thomas Troupkos and Marc Quattelbaum reached the final round and shared the winner’s trophy. Troupkos defeated Carsten Hemberger-Frauenkron in the first round and had a bye run in the second elimination round. In the Semifinals, Troupkos defeated Falk Odenthal to advance to the final round. On the other side of the ladder, it was Quattelbaum who advanced to the final round.

Sami Ylhäinen and Peter Östlund shared the winner’s spot in SuperComp Bike (SCB- 8.50 index). Ylhäinen ran an 8.508, against Mike Dolata running 0.008 seconds from the class index to take the win. Ylhäinen advanced to the quarter-final, where he defeated Kimmo Rantala with an 8.753 (Rantala posted a 9.192), and beat Torben Frahm in the semi-finals to advance to the final round. On the other side of the ladder, it was Östlund who advanced to the final round.

Sami Ylhäinen

Peter Östlund

In Junior Drag Bike (JrD DSMB cup), it was Leona Schuh and Leif-Erik Braune who shared the winner’s spot. Schuh qualified in the number one spot with an 8.633-second run on an 8.61-second dial-in and had a bye run in E1. Schuh also defeated Eric Spanowski to proceed to the final round. On the other side of the ladder, it was Leif-Erik Braune who proceeded to the final round by winning from Mia Joline Hanke and Feline Groβ.

Leona Schuh

Leif-Erik Braune

A weekend influenced by weather and time constraints, where scores between the sportsman classes of the 39th edition of NitrOlympX were settled by points. Dates for the 2027 NitrOlympX weekend will be from 20th to 22nd August 2027.

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