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.
Like in qualifying, conditions were perfect on Sunday, elimination day for the Scandinavian Internationals at Tierp Arena. And so the spectators had an action packed and exciting race day at the state-of-the-art drag race facility north of Stockholm.
Anita Mäkelä
In Top Fuel Anita Mäkelä from Finland already reset the European record in qualifying with 3.878 seconds. But Mäkelä was extremely fast on race day too. In 3.94 and 3.91 second runs, Mäkelä outran Stefan Gunnarsson and Liam Jones. In the final Mäkelä had to face Duncan Micallef. The Maltese driver reset his personal best several times this weekend and defeated championship leader Micke Kågered in the semi-final.
Top Fuel final
But in a great side-by-side final Mäkelä was a bit quicker (3.98 against 4.01 seconds for Micallef) and took the win. A well deserved win as Mäkelä was the quickest and fastest all weekend. With one race to go, the difference between championship leader Kågered and Mäkelä is only 18 points, less than one round win.
Anita Mäkelä
Michael Gullqvist
In Pro Modified number one qualifier Michael Gullqvist was extremely consistent and with a string of 5.8-second runs the Swede defeated Alastaro winner Anders Nilsson and a surprising semi-finalist Håkan Persson. In the final Gullqvist had to face Roger Johansson who reached the final by defeating another surprising semi-finalist, Odd Erik Fossum from Norway.
Pro Modified final
In the final Gullqvist continued his string of 5.8 passes with another 5.88 seconds to defeat Johansson and take the win. As champion leader Mats Eriksson was eliminated in the quarter finals, Gullqvist took over the points lead. The two Swedish drivers are separated by only three points.
Thomas Lindström
There is also a new championship leader in Pro Stock. A major upset in the first round as number one qualifier and championship leader Jimmy Alund was defeated by Jan Ericsson. In the semi-final Ericsson also surprised Michael Malmgren and advanced to the final to face Thomas Lindström. But the final was an anti-climax for Ericsson as his engine wouldn’t fire up and so Lindström had a bye run and took the win. With the win Lindström is also the new leader in the championship, 46 points ahead of Alund.
Thomas Lindström and Jan Ericsson
Dennis Habermann
In Top Methanol Dragster with brothers Dennis and Timo an all Habermann final. Timo reached the final with a stunning 5.21-second run, the quickest ever Top Methanol Dragster run in Europe. But in the final Timo had traction problems at the startline, handing the win to Dennis who crossed the finish line in a great 5.28 seconds. In the championship Dennis Habermann extended his lead over brother Timo to 45 points.
Johan Lindberg
In Top Methanol Funny Car number one qualifier Johan Lindberg stunned with a 5.46 seconds in the first round and advanced to the final by defeating Johnny Oksa in the semi-final. In the final the reigning champion had to face Leif Andreasson. At the start line the race was already decided as Andreasson had traction problems, and although Lindberg had a far from trouble free run too, the reigning champion took the win. In the championship Andreasson is the leader, with Lindberg in second position,
Top Methanol Funny Car final
The sixth and final round of the FIA European Drag Racing Championship will be in two weeks at Santa Pod Raceway in England.
