Dragster: Jndia drives European record 🎥
FASTEST TOPSPEED Jndia Erbacher crowned her first full season in the top class of drag racing with a European record in Sweden. The only thing that hasn't worked out yet is a victory. After sporadic entries in the first two years with a Top Fuel dragster, Jndia Erbacher tackled her first full season in the premier class in 2019. [...]
After sporadic entries in her first two years with a Top Fuel dragster, Jndia Erbacher tackled her first full season in the premier class in 2019. At the season opener in Santa Pod (GB), she was eliminated in the semifinals against Anita Mäkelä despite setting a personal best. In Sweden, technical problems with her approximately 12000 hp rocket caused an early exit. In Finland, her third race weekend on a new track was also a mixed affair. At least it was good practice for the first highlight of the season in Hockenheim in mid-August.
Always against Anita
At the NitrOlympiX, the Basel native achieved a low 4 time on an asphalt track with a difficult grip level for these horsepower monsters. Once again, she then failed in the semifinals against European champion Anita Mäkelä.
From Hockenheim, her truckies traveled directly to Sweden with the material for this year's second appearance in the Tierp Arena - and it was to prove another milestone in the still young career of the drag racer. With a time of 3.8175 seconds and a top speed of 513.31 km/h, Jndia Erbacher set a new absolute European record. In doing so, she also surpassed the best mark set by Finn Risto Poutianen in May 2011 with 510.26 km/h, when drag races were still over the quarter mile. It has long since been only 1000 feet for safety reasons.
Jndia Erbacher: "Everything fit, the material, the weather and me."
Her record-breaking ride can be seen in the following video from a spectator:
Out with a bitter aftertaste
In the semifinals, the Swiss again met a likewise fast woman. This time, however, it was the Norwegian Maja Udtian, who had bought herself a place in a top team and knew how to use the good conditions. With 4.010, the daughter of six-time European champion Urs Erbacher came up with a good time, but Udtian with 3.816 snatched the European record on the same track from her by a tiny thousandth of a second.
Because the Scandinavian had touched the timing at the finish, she was initially to be disqualified, which would have meant a place in the final for Jndia. However, Udtian's protest against this decision was upheld and she triumphed in the final duel against Anita Mäkelä, successfully taking revenge for her defeat in the Hockenheim final. Mäkelä is nevertheless on the verge of winning the title again.
What remains for Jndia is the speed record. And the uneasy feeling of a missed opportunity.
Jndia Erbacher: "Actually, the final place in Sweden would have been mine. Then we would have had time to repair the defective blower. And after that, everything would have been possible."
Last chance of the season in England
In the FIA European Top Fuel Dragster Championship, Switzerland's fastest woman occupies fourth intermediate place. The chance for the third medal place is minimal, but at the FIA Finals in Santa Pod her team will nevertheless leave no stone unturned to achieve it after all. After all, she made it to the final in England last year and was only defeated there by... Anita Mäkelä.
Jndia Erbacher: "If everything goes well, I can still finish third. Daddy also managed this once on the way to his first European Championship title. It would be nice if I could be the first in Europe to run a time under 3.8 seconds."
eurodragster.com/news/19points/fia2019.pdf
