FIA European Drag Racing Championship
  

Monthly Archives: August 2015

The European Finals, it’s decision time at Santa Pod

Santa Pod Raceway

The 2015 FIA European Drag Racing Championship is reaching its climax with the European Finals at Santa Pod Raceway. In the sixth and last round of Europe’s most prestigious drag racing championship, five titles will have to be decided, and there is no second chance. In two of the five categories the championship can go down to the wire, in two other classes there is a clear favourite, and in only one category the name of new European champion is already known.  Continue reading

Anita Mäkelä shines with victory and European record at Tierp Arena

Anita Mäkelä

Anita Mäkelä was in a class of her own in Top Fuel at the Scandinavian Internationals at Tierp Arena. In her Dom Lagana, Sami Lehtimäki and Tommi Haapanen tuned car, Mäkelä not only drove to victory, the Finnish fan favourite reset the European elapsed time record to a stunning 3.878 seconds, made six (!) consecutive 3 second passes and closed the gap to championship leader Micke Kågered to eighteen points! But Mäkelä was not the only one in the spot light, as more Top Fuel drivers had their best ever race at Tierp Arena.  Continue reading

Johan Lindberg bids farewell to his title with a win at the Scandinavian Internationals

Johan (and Jonnie) Lindberg

Johan Lindberg drove to victory at the Scandinavian Internationals at Tierp Arena. With his win, the 2014 FIA European Top Methanol Funny Car champion bid farewell to his title in style, as Lindberg will not take part in the last race of the season, and so Tierp Arena runner-up and championship leader Leif Andreasson can no longer be caught.  Continue reading

New European record for Timo Habermann, but Dennis Habermann wins at Tierp Arena

Timo and Dennis Habermann

As at Hockenheim two weeks earlier, it was another all Habermann party in Top Methanol Dragster at the Scandinavian Internationals, and again it was Dennis Habermann who defeated his brother Timo in the final, to take his second consecutive win and extend his lead in the FIA European Championship. But still, Timo Habermann also had his moment of glory, as the young German reset his own European elapsed time record to a stunning 5.210 seconds!  Continue reading

Class Review FIA Scandinavian Internationals – Pro Stock Car – All change at the top

Thomas Lindström

Class Review FIA Scandinavian Internationals  –  Pro Stock Car

Venue: Tierp Arena, Sweden
Dates: Aug 20-23rd 2015

All change at the top

Short introduction:
Any close observer to European Pro Stock racing would have expected Jimmy Ålund to arrive at Tierp Arena with all guns blazing.  Tierp after all is where Jimmy set the current European Speed and ET records.  The Blue Camaro has run NHRA type speed and ET at this track before, and one would have expected it to do so again.  The weather in Sweden has been relatively poor for most of the 2015 summer, but the forecast for the event was hot and sunny, the track was in top condition and ticket sales were at record levels.  Everything pointed towards a quick and fast qualification perhaps even quicker and faster than the previous record, also set at Tierp, of a 7.8 bump spot.  Ten cars would compete for the eight car ladder and the quality of the field promised excellence in every session.  Continue reading

Scandinavian Internationals class report – Pro Modified

Tero Laukkanen

Pro Modified – outstanding times and speed

It can´t be better when it comes to drag racing than it was at the Scandinavia Internationals at Tierp Arena. A whole weekend without a cloud, filled grandstands, perfect track and a record number of participating teams, 330 to be exact, along with records in speed and ET. Pro Modified saw 26 teams entering the arena.

Bruno Bader

Friday started off with some awesome racing at once. Tero Laukkanen is outstanding when it comes to speed. Straight out in first round he started with a PB at 414 km/h which was a first part of a new European speed record. Bruno Bader broke the finish line with a 5.98 and Niclas Andersson with a 5.93, 0.003 sec from his personal best. Anders Nilsson started off great with a 6.10 round.

Anders Nilsson

Things were not so good for Mats Eriksson and Michael Gullqvist in this first session. Both had tyre shake but Gullqvist drove through his and got a time at 6.56 sec. Not his usual quick and inspiring runs. Mats had to lift and roll to the finish line. It seemed that some of the teams misjudged the track and got tyreshake in this first round. The grip was just too good. Johan Westberg also with a PB at 6.18 and the team was jumping and hugging at the start line. The most unlucky team this round was Mats Logren who had to roll away the car from start line and Jan Brännvall who didn’t come to start.

David Vegter

David Vegter did a long burnout that made his back-up girl Elin to run a little bit extra for take him back to startline. Then he lost traction and went into tyre shake.  This first round produced a very wide differential in times, Niclas topped the list with 5.98 sec/ 374 km/h and Andreas Arthursson ended up at the other end on 20,77/53 km/h. But first round is hard when you don’t have a clue what the track is like. Next round was a bit better the gap between top and bottom narrowed considerably.

Second round Gullqvist didn’t shake at all and did an amazing 5,88 sec/404 km/h round. First part of a new European record in both ET and speed was on here! But then Tero came and beat both himself and Micke in speed with a 6,02/ 418 km/h round. This is now the new European speed record, 418.60 km/h 260 m/h backed up and clear for Tero Laukkanen. The fastest door slammer in Europe! Congratulation Team Laukkanen!

Mats Eriksson

Elsewhere Mats Eriksson took fifth qualifying place this round at 6.04 sec. Odd Erik Fossum, who we are more used to seeing in Top Doorslammer, did a PB in the Pro Modified with a 6.15 round. Marko Lantto did a little pirouette this round and stop the car crossing the centerline just after he passed the 60 ft. A new driver Erik Andersson, with a really nice Mustang was in the bump spot this round at 7.03 sec/281 km/h which showed that this class on this track is a really tough field to work with.

Per Granqvist

Per Granqvist made it out in Q3 for his first round and he did a 6.94 with some pedaling during the run. Still no time for Janne Brännvall but Matts Logren got a 7.50 round and the team was very happy that they got the car rolled down the lane and a time on the board.  Åke Persson took the bump spot from Micke Johansson in this round. Freddy Fagerström also outside the ladder so far. Niclas Andersson couldn’t get reverse gear in after the burnout and rolled down the lane.  Bruno hit some shake in this round as did Roger Johansson but Roger drove through it and recorded a time, but did not improve his position. Micke Johansson did a PB round at 6.44 as Samuel Andersson at 6.29 sec. But Micke Gullqvist improved again, now with a 5.84 sec/400 km/h round. He won’t give up the speed record that easy, but he will have a bit to go to beat Tero. On the other hand Tero has a way to go to beat Gullqvists 5.84 sec ET. So for sure there is a battle going on between those two gentlemen for both halves of the record.

Fourth qualifying round was a bit odd. Neither Gullqvist nor Laukkanen got off the startline properly to get a better time than they had before. The same for Niclas Andersson and a few others. This round was much better for Mats Eriksson, who was back on track and hit a 5 sec round and climbed up to a third qualifying place. Åke Persson, in his lovely Viper, did a nice straight run and ended up at 6.05 sec which lifted him up to a Q 6 place.  Samuel Andersson hit the 16th place and was in the ladder for Sunday’s elimination. Out of the competition were Per Granqvist, Fredrik Lund, Micke Johansson, Freddy Fagerström, Stefan Gustafsson, Marko Lantton, Jöran Persåker and Matts Logren. Freddy took the first alternate position and was on stand-by if someone fails to start. Some of those racers we will see at the Pod in a few days.

Åke Persson

Elimination day started of early with Super Street Bikes at first, then first round of Pro Modified. Anders Nilsson took out Robert Joosten who had problems from start with tyre shakes and shut off. But Anders is having a great time now. Another 6.0 run with a very quick start at 0, 09 sec at the tree. Next pair was Roger Johansson vs Per Granqivst who was first alternate for Marco Maurischat who didn’t come to start due to a broken engine. Per and Roger both made a quick start but Roger had a faster time at the end and had a finish time at 6.11 sec due to Per’s 6.42.

Marco Maurischat

Odd Erik Fossum took out Åke Persson straight away at the start line with a 0,069 holeshot over Åke Persson’s 0,24 sec. Åke slept in a little bit but he really tried to keep up with Odd Erik. But even though Åke got a really good time at 6.03, Odd Erik was first over the finish line and took the win.

Tero Laukkanen had David Vegter in this first round and they were away at just about the same time. David a little bit slower, more like 0.0051 sec and David really gave Tero a match but halftrack Tero’s Turbo power kicked in to take him across the line in 6.00/413 km/h vs David’s 6.14/379.

Bruno Bader didn’t have much luck in this round where he red lit against Håkan Persson. Håkan had a good run at 6.12 sec.

Johan Westberg

Next up was Mats Eriksson and Johan Westberg. Mats was late into stage and a bit slow on the tree but had caught up at halftrack and took the win at a 6.05 time.

 

Niclas Andersson was back at the 5 sec runs again vs Andreas Arthursson. Niclas took Andreas on a hole shot and Andreas didn’t have chance, even thug he had a 6.08 sec round at the end this time.

Samuel Andersson had a hard nut to crack and he did whatever he could to beat the fastest man in the field, Michael Gullqvist. Michael almost slept away this round as Samuel was a way at 0,1077 sec to Michaels 0,2120. But had no thought about give this one away so at the end he passed the finish line at 5.84 sec/400 km/h. In this round there was six PB for either ET or speed!

Round two started off with a 5.85 round from Gullqivst vs Anders Nilsson who red lit. but you have to try and be fast on the tree when you race Gullqvist. Sometimes you’re lucky, sometimes not. Tero did the same in next round vs Håkan Persson. It isn’t easy to stage a turbo car so it might have been a problem here for Tero. Next red light was Niclas who really gave the win away to Roger who had trouble with tyre shake and shut off right after start. Pity for Niclas as he got a time at 5.95 sec /388 km/h. Mats Eriksson picked up some trouble after last qualifying round Saturday and had to fix the blower but they managed to get it all in shape and through the first round. But this round something went very wrong and Mats couldn’t get the car to roll at all when he was supposed to make the burnout. The gearbox problem meant they had to push away and give this round to Odd Erik Fossum.

The quarter final saw steady 5.8 round from Gullqvist. But Håkan Persson who was up against him had a good round anyway with a 6.04 sec time. He did whatever he could to beat the Smurf at the tree, but had no chance this time. Roger up against Odd Erik that had big problems from last round with the car. But did a try anyway vs Roger but had to let him go. Roger didn’t just roll to the finish line, he hit the pedal and got a 6.03 sec/385 km/h time.

Roger Johansson

Roger Johansson and Michael Gullqvist in Finals. A fast straight nice and fair run. Roger a bit faster on the tree, but then Michael hit the pedal and took the win at a 5,88 sec/401 km/h bracket time for Michael. Roger had a 6.06 sec/379 km/h. Congratulation to Michael Gullqvist to the win of Pro Modified and a fantastic racing weekend.

Micke Gullqvist winner at Tierp Arena

This makes the table a bit different until the Finals at the Pod. Michael is the new leader, with just three points, over Mats Eriksson who has held the lead all season, until now! Bader who was no 2 in the table when the weekend started was out in first elimination round, slides down to a third place, Tero stays at number four but will have a good chance to take the third place as Bruno is just 16 before him. The battle at the Pod will be a thrill.

Text & Photo by Lena Perés/edited by Ian Hart

 

Anita Mäkelä, Dennis Habermann, Johan Lindberg, Thomas Lindström and Michael Gullqvist win at Tierp Arena

Anita Mäkelä and her winning team

Anita Mäkelä finished off a record-setting weekend at Tierp Arena by claiming a victory over Duncan Micallef in the Top Fuel final. Michael Gullqvist and Thomas Lindström were winner in Pro Modified and Pro Stock and took over the lead in their respective championship. Johan Lindberg (Top Methanol Funny Car) and Dennis Habermann (Top Methanol Dragster) also were winners at the Scandinavian Internationals, the fifth round of the FIA European Drag Racing Championship.  Continue reading

Anita Mäkelä, Johan Lindberg, Timo Habermann, Jimmy Alund and Michael Gullqvist number one qualifiers at Scandinavian Internationals

Anita Mäkelä

With a stunning 3.878 seconds Anita Mäkelä reset the European Top Fuel record and stormed to the number one qualifying position at Tierp Arena in today’s qualifying for the Scandinavian Internationals. Jimmy Alund (Pro Stock) and Michael Gullqvist (Pro Modified) improved on their Friday performance and also stayed in the number one qualifying position. Timo Habermann and Johan Lindberg are the new leaders in Top Methanol Dragster and Top Methanol Funny Car and will lead their respective categories into Sunday eliminations for the Scandinavian Internationals, the fifth round of the FIA European Drag Racing Championship.  Continue reading

Anita Mäkelä, Leif Andreasson, Dennis Habermann, Jimmy Alund and Michael Gullqvist provisional leaders at super fast Tierp Arena

Anita Mäkelä

With a great 3.99 seconds Anita Mäkelä stormed to the number one qualifying position in Top Fuel at the first day of qualifying for the Scandinavian Internationals, the fifth race of the FIA European Drag Racing Championship. In Pro Modified Micke Gullqvist leads the now 22-car field and in Pro Stock reigning champion Jimmy Alund is the provisional leader. In Top Methanol Dragster and Top Methanol Funny Car Dennis Habermann and Leif Andreasson are the leaders after day one. With 418.60 kmh Tero Laukkanen reset the Pro Modified European speed record at Tierp Arena.  Continue reading

Scandinavian Internationals, the key to win the championship

Tierp Arena

With the Scandinavian Internationals, the FIA European Drag Racing Championship enters its most crucial stage of the season. Mistakes or early exits can let point leads disappear and ruin title chances. Micke Kågered, Dennis Habermann, Leif Andreasson, Mats Eriksson and Jimmy Ålund come to the penultimate race of the championship as the leaders in their respective categories. They will all be at Tierp Arena to defend their lead, but competition will be tough with many entries in all classes. And when the weather conditions are good, Tierp Arena can always surprise with new European records.  Continue reading

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