Rico Anthes Quartermile
August 23-25, 2024

Hot First day at the FIM-E NitrOlympX with more to come tomorrow

Words & photos by Ivan Sansom & Rose Hughes

Friday at the NitrOlympX, Hockenheimring, Germany is always a question of easing into the event on the annual visit to the woefully underused Rico Anthes Quartermile. The first qualifying session was something that can largely be overlooked, with a lot of track hiccups, oildowns and delays although the second session was a slight improvement, but the track itself really was baking under the sun. Unfortunately, tomorrow (Saturday) looks to be even hotter, but it is what it is and there is a fair amount at stake in qualifying ahead of Sunday’s eliminations.

FIM-E Top Fuel Bike

FIM-E Top Fuel Bike is currently led by championship leader Rikard Gustafsson with a second session 6.262/230.53, ahead of Eric Richard (6.638/216.93 – some nice mile per hour from the French Funny Bike), Kari Rautanen (6.772/209.17 – not bad for the Finn’s first trip to Hockenheim) and Mike Olie at a slowing 6.975 to round out the top four (of eight) and the only six second runners today.

FIM-E Super Twin Bike

Stop us if you’ve heard this before, but Marcus Christiansen ends day one with a substantial lead over the rest of the FIM-E Super Twin Bike field with a 6.418/218.12. Only Roman Sixta (7.035) and Chris van Nimmen (7.539) are in the sevens and the rest of the field could do with putting in some representative numbers tomorrow (only five of the nine actually have times recorded so far).

FIM-E Super Street Bike

More on the plus side (and not just through weight of numbers) is the FIM-E Super Street Bike field which is already the quickest sixteen bike field with a current bump of 7.519 (and nine riders currently outside that figure so plenty of scope for improvement there). At the sharp end, four are in the sixes (again room for improvement tomorrow in the remaining two sessions), with Jake Mechaell on top with a second session 6.810/217, followed by current points leader and last year’s NitrOlympX event winner Alan Morrison Jnr (6.856), Krisztian Jasz (6.917) and Savvas Tilsizoglou (also 6.917).

FIM-E Pro Stock Bike

FIM-E Pro Stock Bike points leader Jorg Lymant leads the seven currently qualified with a 7.182. The German decided to sit out the second session over some concerns about ‘stuff in the oil’ but Lymant was happy with the best number on his second Buell engine. Bertrand Maurice (7.241) and Dimitrios Petridis (7.277) are keeping pace.

FIM-E Junior Drag Bike Cup

Jaxon King heads the six entries in the FIM-E Junior Drag Bike Cup with what could prove to be a difficult to dislodge +0.040 on his 13.31 dial-in, although Brad Morrison (+0.056) and Richard Willcox (+0.096) are merely a blink behind.

Round by round results are available here: https://www.tw-sportsoft.de/NitrolympX_2024_577079/TW_ON_Virtueller_Aushang.php

Livestream is available here: https://www.nitrolympx.de/livestream/

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PRE-RACE REPORT

FIM-E fields head to a Hot Hockenheim for the NitrOlympX

Words & photos by Ivan Sansom & Rose Hughes

The filling in the middle of a frantic triple header over four weeks, the NitrOlympX on the fabled Rico Anthes Quartermile within the spectacular Hockenheimring is always a much-anticipated event. The 2024 version, taking place August 23– 25, is no different.

FIM-E Top Fuel Bike

Eight entries in FIM-E Top Fuel Bike are skewed towards the funny bikes, with championship 1 and 2 Rikard Gustafsson (a new PB at 5.731, two wins and a runner-up to his credit this season) and Rene van den Berg representing the nitro burners. The sextet of funny bikes is seriously quick, all with mid-six-second tickets or better, including Stuart Crane on his second appearance of the season with the quickest funny outside of the States.

View Top Fuel Bike Entry list – Click Here

FIM-E Super Twin Bike

The ten in FIM-E Super Twin Bike are led by Marcus Christiansen, the Dane looking to extend his unbeaten run which extends back to the start of 2022, and second in the points Per Bengtsson making a return to Hockenheim after a 13 year absence with the formidable Beast parallel twin. A number of teams are joining the FIM-E tour for the first time, including Carsten Hormann, Martin Bühler and Olaf Menzi and they’ll be angling for a spot in the qualified field come race day.

View Super Twin Bike Entry list – Click Here

FIM-E Super Street Bike

FIM-E Super Street Bike has a stunning 26 bike entry including 9 from Greece making their 2024 tour debut (although a withdrawal or two seems likely). Reigning champion and current points leader Alan Morrison Jnr will be looking to hold off a charge from Dániel Donát Lencsés although there are plenty of heavy hitters who will be looking to make gains of their own. Saturday afternoon’s bump session will be an intense affair.

View Super Street Bike Entry list – Click Here

FIM-E Pro Stock Bike

An oversubscribed field in FIM-E Pro Stock Bike for the first time in 2024 will provide a qualifying challenge for the assembled 10 riders. Jörg Lymant arrives at his home race in the points lead with two wins and a runner-up finish so far this year and will be hoping that Hockenheim will prove to be less challenging in terms of engine damage than the preceding event in Sweden. Current champion Bertrand Maurice will also be hoping for similar in what is a very tight championship chase featuring these two.

View Pro Stock Bike Entry list – Click Here

FIM-E Junior Dragbike Cup

After a long summer slumber, the FIM-E Junior Dragbike Cup resumes at the NitrOlympX with an Anglo-Dutch field of seven. Winner of the Main Event at Santa Pod, Hollie King will be looking to hold onto the points lead, but the field is usually so close it is difficult to predict a winner ahead of time.

View Junior Dragbike Cup Entry list – Click Here

Watch the LIVE STREAM this weekend, click here. 

Visit www.nitrolympx.de for more details

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