FIA Pro Modified

Micke Gullqvist is enjoying life at the moment. When an engine replacement in his own ’57 Chevy Pro Mod ran behind schedule, his association with the R2B2 team provided Gullqvist with the opportunity to step behind the wheel of the Camaro he’d taken to the final in Gainesville and which had been wheeled by Melanie Troxel at the previous round in England. With a highly experienced Swedish crew augmented by a couple of fly in guys from the R2B2 squad, Gullqvist just flattened the opposition in qualifying, with a 6.026/244 mph someway ahead of Andy Robinson’s 6.105 in second spot. Whilst Robinson wouldn’t be around to contest eliminations, Gullqvist certainly was, and a 5.911/245.76 in the comparative cool of the first round of eliminations demolished the track record and, although the string of low 6.0s that took him to the event win meant that he was unable to back up the ET number, the speed was good for a four mph leap in the FIA Pro Modified speed record. “I think most of us were surprised about the track prep at Alastaro this year; it held up great in the hot weather conditions. In Pro Mod we always start early on Sunday for eliminations and I was pretty confident we could dip into the 5s zone with a track temp of only 100F. And we did with a 5.911/245 mph, which was quite a bit better than I figured we could run." The opposition are now scratching their heads about where to gain the horsepower to match Gullqvist’s top end charges (and the short numbers as well), but we predict a fair few runners will be in the 5s before the end of the season.

A perusal of the elimination ladder on the Saturday evening brought the observation that whilst the top half of the field looked like a killer (with Gullqvist being joined by fellow Swedish heavy hitters like Freddy Fagerström, Mikael Lindahl, Mats Eriksson, Adam Flamholc and Jan Gunnarson ‘up there’), the lower half appeared to be a benefit for the championship leading Lindberg Brothers and their Rockstar Firebird. Once again Johan Lindberg did his job well, this time from third spot with a 6.112 and then used consistent 6.1s to defeat Jari Paren, Roger Johansson, and Urban Johansson before stepping up to a 6.114/232.73 that would have been good enough for victory at all Alastaro Pro Mod finals but this one, this year it merely provided a good seat to watch Gullqvist’s victorious 6.030/242.78.