Saturday leaders Stig Neergaard, Chris Polidano, Bruno Bader and Jimmy Alund hold on for top spots at The Main Event at Santa Pod Raceway
Saturday leaders Stig Neergaard (Top Fuel), Chris Polidano (Top Methanol Dragster), Bruno Bader (Pro Modified) and Jimmy Alund (Pro Stock) claimed number one qualifying positions at The Main Event at Santa Pod Raceway and will lead their classes into Monday’s eliminations at the opening round of the FIA European Drag Racing Championship.
In Top Fuel, Stig Neergaard from Denmark held on to the top qualifying position with his Saturday performance of 4.023 seconds at 267 mph. There were also no changes in the number two and three qualifying positions.
Anita Mäkelä’s Saturday performance of 4.07 seconds was enough for the Finnish racer to keep the second qualifying position. Saturday’s number three, Steve Ashdown shortly had to change positions with Rune Fjeld Motorsport teammate Liam Jones, but the Top Fuel rookie improved on his earlier performance in the next run to take back the number three position (4.16 seconds).
Reigning FIA European champion Micke Kågered stayed in the number seven position and will face number two qualifier and last years runner-up in the championship Mäkelä.
With his Saturday personal best elapsed time of 5.94 seconds, Bruno Bader from Switzerland claimed the number one qualifying position in Pro Modified. Michael Gullqvist improved on his Saturday performance, but the reigning FIA European champion’s 5.974 seconds kept him in the second position.
In his final qualifying run Johan Lindberg was the third driver to break the 6-second barrier with a stunning 5.977 seconds, to jump into the number three qualifying position. Mats Eriksson, also from Sweden is fourth, Andy Robinson from England fifth and Pro Mod rookie Michel Tooren (6.16 seconds) from The Netherlands sixth.
There were no changes at all in Top Methanol Dragster. With his Saturday performance of 5.38 seconds Chris Polidano from Malta will start eliminations from the number one position and as number two and three, Dave Wilson and Jonny Lagg also couldn’t improve on their Saturday performance, everything stayed as it was after day one.
In Pro Stock there were many improvements but no changes in the number one and two qualifying positions. Saturday leader Jimmy Alund improved to 6.55 seconds and stayed in the number one position.
Saturday’s number two, Bengt Ljungdahl surprised with a great 6.58 seconds and will start eliminations from second position. Yesterdays number three and four changed positions as reigning FIA European champion Thomas Lindström improved to 6.64 seconds. Magnus Pettersson is fourth.
Eliminations for The Main Event at Santa Pod Raceway will start tomorrow morning, bank holiday Monday May 30th.
For pit notes see eurodragster.com:
http://www.eurodragstereventcoverage.com/santapod/live/2016fiamainevent/pitnotes/sunday.asp
Final qualifying results
http://www.santapod.co.uk/track/Results/2016/FIA%20Main%20Event%202016/FIA%20TOP%20FUEL/QUAL.pdf
http://www.santapod.co.uk/track/Results/2016/FIA%20Main%20Event%202016/FIA%20PRO%20MODIFIED/QUAL.pdf