BADEN-WURTTEMBURG, Germany (August 13) – American drag racing megastar Melanie Troxel wowed European fans Friday by zooming to the provisional No. 1 qualifying spot in Pro Mod at the 25th annual FIA Nitrolympx at Hockenheimring.
"It's nice to start this weekend off strong," Troxel said. "The car is going down the track and our crew chief, Al Billes, has a handle on the track conditions. Now that we've a good run in each lane, we've got a great foundation to build on."
After being fastest after the first round, Billes tweaked the tune-up and Troxel raced her car to a second qualifying pass of 6.099 seconds at 240.39 mph, fastest on the day by .07 seconds and .003 seconds off a track record.
"That's a good day right there," Billes said. "The car went down the track twice. Melanie did a great job, the guys did a great job. We'll be able to go home tonight and relax instead of sweating about if the car will make it down the track like we did earlier this summer in Santa Pod.
"It took us three runs in Santa Pod to figure out how to run the car. Now we're in a position where I think we can make this car go quicker."
Mats Eriksson of Sweden holds the track record of 6.096 seconds.
In her first qualifying run, Troxel came out of the gate strong in the R2B2 Racing Camaro with a pass of 6.183 seconds at 239.50 mph, which was .2 seconds quicker than her closest competitor, teammate Michael Gullqvist.
"After getting the first pass out of the way, I felt a lot more comfortable making the second one," Troxel said. "The car ran more smoothly down the track the second run."
Eriksson ended up second behind Troxel with a 6.161 second run at 233.25 mph. Sweden's Gullqvist, who won the Get Screened America Pro Mod Series race in Atlanta in an R2B2 race car, is third with a best lap of 6.173 at 234.02 mph.
Earlier in the day, Troxel met with various European media outlets and got reacquainted with the FIA competitors she first got to know at England's Santa Pod track back in May.
"The fans and the people here are very enthusiastic about us being here," Troxel said. "They make us feel very welcome. It's good to be back here, we have a good time racing in Europe."
Troxel said she's been impressed with Germany's legendary racing facility, which has been operating since the 1930s, even if it does require a bit of adjustment.
"Every track is configured a little different," Troxel said. "The scoring towers here are located at half-track instead of near the finish line, and it felt a little bumpy to me half-track to the finish line. But it didn't take long to get used to it."
In other FIA racing at Hockenheimring, Anita Maekelae of Finland leads Top Fuel with a best pass of 4.852 at 276.25 mph. Sweden's Jimmy Alund leads Pro Stock with a 6.757 at 204.40 mph.
Racing continues Saturday with two more rounds of qualifying and the first round of eliminations.
