FIA/MSA Pro Modified

Mattias Wulcan gained the first event win of the season in Finland, backed it up with the NitrOlympX trophy in Germany but left the door open for a challenge with a first round loss in Tierp at the penultimate event of the season. At the Finals that door remained slightly ajar during qualifying as Wulcan had slim pickings through the qualifying points for each session despite managing a 6.0063/234.93 for fifth spot, but when it came to eliminations it was firmly slammed shut with the Swede progressing past Roger Moore, Bruno Bader (with a 5.9685/240.30) and David Vegter (with a 5.9812/240.30) to set up the final against Marc Meihuizen (who had qualified in third with a 5.9839/242.88). The all Firebird head to head wasn’t the performance feast that might have been anticipated as both hit hard tireshake and got hideously out of shape with Meihuizen (far lane) side swiping the wall around half track – handing Wulcan the exclamation point on his first championship season.

Long time British Pro Modified stalwart Andy Robinson finally dipped into the five second bracket with a 5.9689 to qualify behind Micke Gullqvist’s 5.8938 in second spot on the ladder that brought the Saturday crowd to its feet. Robinson’s weekend appeared to be heading very much in the right direction with wins over FIA class debutant Bobby Wallace in the first round and Marcus Hilt at the quarter final stage, but a early leave against Meihuizen ended his day at the semi-final stage with a cherry on the tree.

Another to join the five-second club, Bruno Bader has proven to be one of the most consistent runners in European competition with the ex-Ashley vette, and produced a 5.9873 in the third qualifying session to improve on his PB, but the Swiss Golden Vette team departed proceedings on race day in the second round to Wulcan.