Jimmy Alund is the 2018 FIA European Drag Racing Series Pro Mod Champion

After more than a six week break Jimmy Ålund faced a hectic schedule, racing two consecutive weekends at the end of August and the final race of the FIA season in early September in his quest for FIA Pro Mod championship.

NitrOlympx, Hockemheimring, Germany
Ålund and the team stated on the wrong foot in Hockemheimring. A broken rear-end in the first round of qualifying put Ålund as the Number 10 qualifier. Problems continued in the next two rounds, but came out strong in the final qualifying session to take the Number 1 spot with a 5.95-second, 244.55 MPH pass. The run was Ålund’s personal best for top speed.

Ålund got two solo runs in the first rounds of elimination, and lined up the Old 51 Chevy against Jan Eriksson in the semifinals. Eriksson cut an excellent 0.006 second reaction time, giving him a lead he held all the way to the finish line.

"It was a mixed weekend" said Ålund. "Three bad runs in qualifying and then we got it all together in the fourth. The team hade the car in good shape for the semis on race day, but Jan Eriksson outdid me at the tree and that was it.”

Summit Racing Equipment Internationals, Tierp Arena, Sweden
This fifth race of the FIA drag racing season was the third and last weekend where Ålund fielded both a Pro Mod and a Pro Stock car.

In Pro Mod, Ålund did not get off to a good start with the Magnus Petersson-owned Old 51 Chevrolet. Tire shake left him on the bump spot as the Number 16 qualifier after day one. Things shaped up nicely on day 2 with two good putting Ålund in second place going into eliminations.

Ålund pretty much dominated his side of the ladder on race day with solid 5-second runs and a new best ET and speed for The Old 51 in the semifinals, 5.815 seconds at 244.56 MPH. he met up with Andreas Arthursson in the final round, but had to settle for another runner-up finish as Arthursson ran his quickest run all weekend (5.80 seconds) and took home the event win.

"We want to win of course, but we have to be happy with that runner up" said Ålund, "I'd rather forget that first day of qualifying but the rest of the weekend was fine. We ran a good number of solid 5-second runs and are now back in the points lead."

In Pro Stock, Ålund was the Number 1 qualifier after two rounds of qualifying, but slipped back to fourth place in a strong 10-car field. The team stepped it up big time during eliminations. Ålund was quickest and fastest in all rounds, and finished off the day by winning over old time foe Thomas Lindström with a 6.55 at 212.90 MPH. That run set Low ET and Top Speed of the whole weekend.

"Sunday was a day to remember for the team who put a perfect car on the track, said Ålund. "It may have looked easy, but be sure it was not. We had ten very competent Pro Stock teams out there and it's as hard as any drag racing event can get."

FIA European Finals, Santa Pod, UK
Jimmy Ålund came into Santa Pod in the top spot with a 57-point lead. That apparently was enough for second-place Michael Gullqvist, who decided to skip the last race of the season after technical problems during the race at Tierp, Sweden. That meant Ålund won his very first Pro Mod championship before the European Finals even started.

That didn’t mean he didn’t race hard, though. Ålund qualified second with a 5.82 second pass, and was both quick and consistent during eliminations as he ran a string of 5.8 second passes to defeat Wayne Nicholson, Kev Slyfield, and Andy Robinson on the way to the final round against Jan Ericsson. Ålund ran a 5.87 second pass to defeat Ericsson and claim the win, a fitting finish to one heck of a season.

A tip of the Summit Racing ball cap to Jimmy and the entire Old 51 Chevrolet team for a job well done!