Dragster: The future belongs to Jndia Erbacher
SECOND PLACE IN ENGLAND At the FIA European Finals in England, Jndia Erbacher took a brilliant second place in the top class of Top Fuel Dragsters. At the same time her father Urs Erbacher announced his retirement from drag racing. Moderate times by Jndia Erbacher in the heats at the drag strip in the British dragster mecca of Santa Pod promised [...]
Moderate times by Jndia Erbacher in the heats at the drag strip in the British drag racing mecca of Santa Pod did not promise a particularly good performance in the eliminations. Promptly, she and her father Urs Erbacher met in the first round of the 2018 FIA European Finals.
First time under four seconds
While the six-time European champion's approximately 12,000-hp engine went up in smoke, his daughter covered the 1,000-foot distance in a time under four seconds for the first time.
When the coasting dad saw the 3.9920 on the scoreboard at the finish, all the dams broke for him in the cockpit.
Resignation of Urs Erbacher
It was the moment when the 57-year-old from Arlesheim decided to retire - the family team should now use and release its energies for the further future of his 24-year-old daughter in this fascinating sport.
Urs Erbacher will remain in drag racing as a team manager and will only appear sporadically as a driver at most. He has won three European Championship titles (2003, 2004 and 2005) in the FIA Top Methanol Funny Cars class and three in the Top Fuel class (2007, 2010 and 2011).
Will he ever fall off the wagon? We will see...
Two women in the final
Back to Santa Pod: In the semifinals, Jndia Erbacher eliminated Finland's Antti Horto with a time of 4.0091. As his compatriot Anita Mäkelä won the second round with a time of 3.89 - only two hundredths above her own European record - it came to the unprecedented final run of the two fastest women in Europe.
Once again, experience prevailed over youthful recklessness. The old and new European champion punched another time under four seconds into the track on her way to victory in the final.
Aggressive strategy
Thus, the intrepid and strong-nerved racer from Basel-Landschaft ended the 2018 season with a sensational second place. She had already come as far as this in August 2017 at the NitrOlympX in Hockenheim.
Jndia Erbacher: "After the qualifying runs didn't go so well, this is a pleasing result. We chose an aggressive setup in the final. If you want to win, you have to risk it. Unfortunately, our final run was not until 8 p.m. in the evening. The track was already so cold by then that this strategy didn't pay off. My tires couldn't find any grip."
Next goal: an EM run victory
Now that she has broken the 4-second barrier, her next goal will be to win her first European Championship race. On the podium in Santa Pod, the winner Anita Mäkelä also paid tribute to her: Jndia had thus proved that she was a real Erbacher.
However, the successful newcomer had mixed feelings afterwards.
Jndia Erbacher: "Actually, I'm mega happy. But I would have liked to see Papi on the podium, too. This success is important for our team, which put in a tremendous effort at Hockenheim and in England. Everyone deserves it."
Search for further sponsors
In the coming weeks and months, Jndia Erbacher must now win another race against time.
Only if she finds more sponsors like Midland Swiss Quality Oil, Monster Energy Drink and just drive after this great success, a complete European Championship season with starts also at the Scandinavian events can be realized in 2019.
