For Andres Arnover, qualifying sessions for the opening round of 2025’s Motorsport UK British Drag Racing Championship were a blend of extremes.
The Estonian racer had built a reputation for bravura performances since entering the Pro Modified wars in 2021, albeit with just one victory so far to his name, scored last August at Hockenheim’s FIA round.
Of his four qualifying shots at Santa Pod’s clocks this Easter weekend, three were lost to tyre shake. The exception was his second attempt, on Friday afternoon. Quietly, without fuss or fanfare, the scarlet turbo Mustang reeled off the quickest Pro Mod pass ever seen in Europe, a 5.695s jaw-dropper at 254.67mph, fractionally shy of the career-best speed with which he had set Santa Pod’s Pro Mod track record last year.
Alongside him, Britain’s Andy Robinson was launching his bid for a 10th Motorsport UK title since Pro Mod became the championship class in 2007. Twice champion Kevin Slyfield is the only other racer in that period to have worn the crown more than once.
Last year, racing car constructor Robinson had recaptured both ends of the British Pro Mod record (5.820s/249.07mph) en route to his ninth championship while Slyfield sat out, officially retired. Now Slyfield was back, his Robinson-built Ford Thunderbird still unsold, and pipped Robinson for second spot on the qualifying list, 5.945s to Robinson’s 6.034s.
Among other qualifiers, David Smith achieved fresh personal bests in his young Pro Mod career, but all languished in the Estonian polesitter’s wake.
In Sunday’s eliminations, any hopes of Arnover succumbing to further shakes went unfulfilled. He beat Jon Webster in a first-round battle of turbo Mustangs, clocking 5.821s/254.71mph (top speed of the event), then continued, progressively quicker in each round, to meet and beat Robinson in the final.
Robinson’s 5.9s consistency to that point was no match. Arnover buried his 5.979s/241.59mph effort with a 5.736s/254.62mph blast to add Motorsport UK victory to that single FIA win.
Having vanquished Britain’s best in such summary fashion, Arnover is set to return next month to confront Europe’s Pro Mod elite when the FIA championship launches at Santa Pod.
