Top Fuel Dragster – Main Event Preview
Micke Kågered
A fresh new start for Top Fuel this season. After the European Finals, multiple championship winning team Andersen Racing announced their retirement from the sport, and almost at the same time, their driver Thomas Nataas announced a break for at least one year. Then of course there were the problems with the disqualification of Nataas, weeks after the Euro Finals and a total review of the championship points another few weeks later. Then suddenly Micke Kågered was the 2014 FIA European Top Fuel champion. It was not the way the Swede wanted to win the title, so this season the Bahco driver wants to win his second Top Fuel crown at the track by going rounds and winning races. The professional Kågered team will start their title defence at the Main Event. Without Andersen Racing the title fight is pretty open and it’s hard to mention a number one favorite.
Anita Mäkelä
Of course one of the front runners will be crowd favorite Anita Mäkelä. Last year was not her best season, so she wants to strike back. “Everything will be pretty much the same. We already had a good package in 2014, nice piece of a car and a talented and hardworking crew. We feel, there was much more to tune out of this combination than what we did. So we keep up that good work. We start where we left last year, so with this background, we have a good and solid baseline to start the season 2015. Over the winter we have just updated existing parts with some small changes. Our plan is to join all the FIA events. We wish to see good tracks, where we can load all our power and run fast. Like the idea is all about in drag racing. No de-tuning”, says the ever competitive Finnish chicken farmer.
Stig Neergaard
Stig Neergaard had ups and downs last season and will be looking for more consistency. They might be the next Danish team to win the championship.
Missing from the Main Event entry list is Urs Erbacher. However, the Erbacher Racing trailer will still show up in the paddock, but this time for home favorite Tethys.
Tethys
As earlier announced Tethys signed up to drive the second (but now first and only) Erbacher Racing car. “The original plan was for Urs to be racing at the Main Event and so it was no problem to take the second car with him. But plans changed and Urs will now race at Tierp, Hockenheim and the Finals and skip the Main Event. He could have backed out, of course, but he decided to stick to the agreement we had. For which I’m very grateful!”, says Tethys, who hopes to race the European Finals too, finances permitting.
RF Motorsport
The eight car Main Event field will be completed by the four Rune Fjeld Motorsport cars. Jari Halinen, Duncan Micallef and Liam Jones will do the whole tour. After a sabbatical (but interrupted when he had to replace an injured Chris Andrews, early 2014) Halinen is back, and will again be supported by Sisu. Maltese Micallef is back for his second full tour. “There are some changes in the crew, but the two Maltese crew members Mark and Melvin will stay. We will have Stefan from Norway, who is very experienced and already a European champion with Risto, and we will have Leon on the clutch, who is also well experienced. Probably we will have some help from the States also. There will be a new paint job with Manta as our main sponsor, and we keep the help of the sponsors from last two years. And of course there will be a few new things on the car for 2015. Our plan is to do the full season. Last year was a hard one with a lot of mishaps, so hopefully we’ll do better this year. The Lion is more angry than ever!”, says an optimistic Micallef from the sunny island of Malta. For more information about his sponsors see: www.manta.com.pl, www.totalnet.com.mt, www.talocanltd.com, www.unique.com.mt, www.jportelliprojects.com, DBR investmenta Malta.
Liam Jones
It’s always good to see new drivers stepping up to Fuel Fuel. In the third RFM car Liam Jones will make his FIA European Championship Top Fuel debut. Jones, a former Super Pro ET racer, already made some license runs and with the help of nitro wizard Fjeld, the Englishman can surprise at his home track. Those who remember the paint job of his Super Pro ET dragster, will know the Top Full paint scheme will be stunning too.
Birgitte Bremnes
New in Top Fuel and a rising star from Norway is Birgitte Bremnes. Only 23 years old Birgitte made a name in Junior Dragster and Sportsman classes, completed her Top Methanol Dragster licence runs and made her first Top Fuel (licence) runs at Easter at Santa Pod. She still has to do her final licence runs and then will drive the fourth RFM car in qualifying and eliminations. In her first season Bremnes will not do all races. In other races Antti Horto will be back in the car.
Not on the entry list for the Main Event is Chris Andrews. “I am going to take this year off and focus on getting my own car back out for next year. Work is manic at the moment as well and need to focus on that”, says Chris, who hopes to be back at the European Finals, in his own car and with his own team.
Text & photos: Remco Scheelings
