LEICESTER skipper Max Fricke made progress up the Grand Prix standings into the all-important top seven during a busy weekend of racing in Manchester.
Fricke arrived at Belle Vue for the double-header taking the series to the halfway stage in tenth place in the standings.
But with a Sprint Race victory on Friday afternoon and a fifth-place finish on Saturday, he is now up to joint sixth overall which would see him qualify automatically for 2026.
The Sprint was worth four GP points as Fricke won his head-to-head qualifying duels before defeating Brady Kurtz, Bartosz Zmarzlik and Martin Vaculik in the race to round off the session.
He was then very much the class of the field in the evening Grand Prix with 11 points from his first four rides, but a third place in Heat 20 saw him level on 12 with Zmarzlik and Kurtz, who were classified higher due to faster race times.
That left Fricke in the Last Chance Qualifier and there was a frustrating end to the night as he could not make the impression he hoped from the outside, and it left him with just eight GP points which was poor reward for his overall performance.
Saturday’s meeting saw Fricke finish fifth in the standings after the 20 qualifying races, scoring nine points, and he finished second to Fredrik Lindgren in his Last Chance Qualifier.
Fifth place overall was worth 12 GP points, making a total of 24 for the weekend, and he is now tied on 46 points with Andzejs Lebedevs in the two final automatic places for next season, three ahead of Robert Lambert.
Zmarzlik won the second meeting of the weekend to extend his series lead to 11 points, following on from a popular home triumph for Dan Bewley on Friday.
Fricke will be back to lead the Watling JCB Lions in a crunch home clash against defending ROWE Motor Oil Premiership champions Belle Vue at the Hydroscand Arena, Beaumont Park on Thursday.
Photo credit: IAN CHARLES
