Jimmy Ålund Wins 12th FIA Drag Racing Series Pro Stock Championship

After two years of pandemic, Summit Racing-sponsored Pro Stock driver Jimmy Ålund was ready for the 2022 FIA Drag Racing Series and the opportunity to win another FIA Pro Stock championship. With only three scheduled events to compete for the championship, Ålund had to be on top of his game. Fortunately he was as he secured his 12th FIA Pro Stock crown.

It all came down to qualifying points. At the season-opening Summit Racing Scandinavian Internationals at Tierp Arena in Sweden, Ålund team made four qualifying runs in the 6.50 second range in excess of 211.27 MPH, the quickest and fastest of qualifying and worth 12 bonus points. He would make it to the second round of eliminations due to mechanical issues.

"That's racing," Ålund said. "Despite what happened, we're good with what we accomplished in qualifying and in the first elimination round."

Race number two was the NitrOlympx in Hockenheim, Germany. High temperatures made it hard to master the tricky track. Ålund was the Number 1 qualifier in round one, had engine issues in round two, but made up for it by having the quickest elapsed times in the last two rounds. That earned him nine more qualifying bonus points. Ålund kept up his bracket racing consistency during eliminations and won the event.

The season-ending FIA Euro Finals at Santa Pod Raceway in the UK had only one qualifying round on Friday and one on Saturday due to rain.

Ålund’s Camaro shook the tires off the starting line and ended up in the last qualifying position on Friday, but got down the track OK on Saturday and ended up as the Number 2 qualifier.

The championship was on the line in round one of eliminations. Ålund took the win and secured the teams 12th FIA Pro Stock Championship. He lost in the final round to Number 1 qualifier Michael Malmgren with a 6.618 second ET to Malmgren’s 6.615. To show how valuable those qualifying bonus points were, Ålund took the 2022 championship by only 11 points over Malmgren.

"We lost the battle but won the war," Ålund said. "Malmgren was the guy to beat. Not only did he cut a better ET (in the final round) but he also cut down the tree with a great reaction time. I won the championship by only 11 points. Those qualifying points matter."

"It was great to race for a championship again, and it sure was an all-out team effort," Ålund continued. "We're looking forward to more of the same in 2023."

Congratulations, Jimmy, from everyone at Summit Racing!