NITROLYMPX from 16 to 18 August 2019 // High-speed duels in quick succession
The NitrOlympX is taking place at the Hockenheimring in Baden-Württemberg from 16 to 18 August 2019: Europe’s most spectacular festival for the world’s fastest motorsport. These three midsummer days are all about drag racing. Europe’s very fastest drivers will be facing off at the FIA and FIM European Drag Racing Championships for the 34th time.
Drag racing is motorsport in its purest form. Like modern gladiators, the competitors go head to head against each other. For a whole weekend, viewers can experience what it’s like when 10,000-horsepower roaring monsters line up at the starting grid and make the Motodrom shake like a force of nature. They can then be seen accelerating from 0 to 100 km/h in 0.8 seconds and reaching top speeds of up to 500 km/h.
The teams will already need to be extremely concentrated for Friday’s qualification rounds. For those who don’t manage to qualify, the big dream of participating in the final on Sunday will have already gone up in smoke. Especially for classes with the largest fields of drivers, the first day will thus already have the flair of a final for some of them. The fact that often only fractions of a second decide between winning and losing, triumphing or heading back home is symptomatic for the drama of drag racing.
FIA and FIM European Championships
Around 250 national and international racing teams – subdivided into four FIA car classes, five FIM motorcycle classes and nine sportsman classes – will be competing, guaranteeing a weekend full of high-speed duels in quick succession.
For the four FIA classes, Hockenheim is the fourth stage on the way to ‘Drag Racing Olympus’. They have already been hard at work gathering points at Santa Pod (GB), Tierp Arena (Sweden) and Kauhava (Finland) to ensure they have the best possible starting point at the NitrOlympX.
Two fast women are currently ranked at top of the Top Fuel class. Anita Mäkela from Finland, who has always been celebrated in Hockenheim, is number one with 260 points in the overall standings. Maja Udtian from Norway follows her in second place with 214 points. Jndia Erbacher (CH) is currently ranked seventh. The fans of the Erbacher Top Fuel team can be happy: although Urs Erbacher is actually no longer ‘active’, ever since his appearance in Finland, he has insisted on starting together with his daughter Jndia in Germany too.
Both Top Methanol dragsters and Top Methanol funny cars are competing in the Top Methanol class. Belgium’s Sandro Bellio leads the field in his TM funny car with 227 points. The appearance of Silvio Strauch, who made his debut in this class in 2019, will be particularly interesting from a German point of view. He is currently ranked sixth with his Top Methanol dragster. Brothers Habermann and Jürgen Nagel, who have not yet participated in the championship, will also do their utmost to win their home race on the Rico Anthes Quarter Mile.
As with the FIA car classes, the FIM motorbike classes have already completed three races in England, Sweden and Finland. Since the Hockenheim Quarter Mile has always been a very special strip for bikes and often sets new records, two-wheeler aficionados can look forward to particularly hotly contested duels.
Sweden’s Rikard Gustafsson attracted a lot of attention at the beginning of the season in drag bike’s elite Top Fuel class. After crashing at last year’s NitrOlympX, he made a sensational comeback with his rebuilt bike in Santa Pod. Coming in as top qualifier with 378.14 km/h in 5.8361 seconds from the very start, Gustafsson ploughed through all the racing rounds in flying colours before going on to effortlessly defeat his opponent Glenn Borg from Malta in the final. Reigning champion Filippos Papafilippou (GRE) won the events in Sweden and Finland and thus took over the lead with 243 points. Racking up 234 points, Gustafsson comes to Hockenheim in second place, followed by Thomas Pettersson with 141 points.
With his two victories and one runner-up title this season, Super Twin Top Fuel driver Marcus Christiansen comes to Germany’s high-speed mecca ranked first. The Finn Samu Kemppainen has exactly 100 points less in his championship account, closely followed by the Dutchman Gert-Jan Laseur in third place with 159 points. Although the single German in the field, Christian Jäger – who has only competed in England to date – can be counted on to give it his all at his home race.
The car and motorcycle classes in the Sportsman starting field are equally spectacular and diverse. Nine different classes will offer motorsport fans all they need to get their hearts beating faster.
Night Show
After race days full of infights, another highlight traditionally follows on Saturday evening: the night show! The moment twilight falls over the Motodrom and headlights throw coloured light onto the drag strip, it’s showtime. This is a breathtaking mix of great entertainment with plenty of action and high speed: the Red Bull X-Fighters will also be taking part, making the audience sigh in awe once again this year with their wild stunts. Terry Grant will thrill fans with his captivating stunt show on the Quarter Mile. Jet cars with smoking tyres and flames shooting up metres into the sky are essential elements in this scenario.
This sensational elite sport & entertainment package makes the NitrOlympX an absolute highlight and a must see for every motorsport enthusiast. This is the only venue where full throttle, action and power junkies can experience the need for speed at the highest level.
Tickets
Friday tickets are available from €25.00 and a weekend ticket for three days of action starts at €69.00. All tickets include entry to the paddock and are available through the Hockenheim Ring ticket hotline at +49 (0)6205 950 222 or in the online ticket shop.
