Ida Zetterström, Tina Høst Nedregård, Andres Arnover and Jimmy Ålund provisional leaders at Tierp Arena

Ida Zetterström raced to the provisional number one qualifying position in Top Fuel at the first day of qualifying for the Summit Racing Equipment Internationals, the third round  of the FIA European Drag Racing Championship at Tierp Arena in Sweden. In Top Methanol rookie Tina Høst Nedregård surprised with a great 5.26 seconds to claim the provisional number one position. Andres Arnover is the leader in Pro Modified, while in Pro Stock Jimmy Ålund claimed the provisional number one qualifying position after two runs.

After all the rain from Thursday, the tuners and teams had the difficult task to find the right set-up for the Tierp Arena track, that would normally have been used for a long day of Sportsman qualifying. In several classes the ETs were not as good as we are used to see nowadays, but there were also many teams that underestimated the track conditions and had a too soft set-up in their cars.

Top Fuel had one qualifying run on Friday. Several showers during the day caused delays and when the Top Fuelers were scheduled to make their second run, it was already so late that the track was too cold. On her first and only run championship leader Ida Zetterström recorded 4.06 seconds to claim the provisional number one position.

Timo Lehtimäki surprised with 4.16 seconds and is the number two qualifier after day one. Reigning FIA European Top Fuel champion Antti Horto is the provisional number three, with Susanne Callin fourth and Stig Neergaard fifth.

In Top Methanol Tina Høst Nedregård surprised with an excellent 5.26 seconds on her second run of the day. The Summit Racing Equipment Internationals is the first official race in Top Methanol for the Norwegian lady, who completed her licensing procedure only one week ago.  

Tony Bryntesson surprised as well with a great 5.39 seconds to claim the provisional number two qualifying position. Championship leader Linn Fløysvik is third and reigning champion Sandro Bellio fourth.

In Pro Modified Andres Arnover, from Estonia, surprised with a great 5.87 seconds on his second run of the day to claim the provisional number one qualifying position. The second run was also the best one for multiple champion Michael Gullqvist, who is second with 5.93 seconds. Åke Persson was the leader after the first run, but finished the day in third position with 5.95 seconds. These were the only drivers to break the 6-second barrier on day one.

Marck Harteveld is fourth (6.05 seconds), David Vegter fifth (6.11 seconds) and championship leader Jan Ericsson sixth (6.12 seconds). There will be many improvements in the 22-car field on day two, so the qualifying order will change dramatically. 

In Pro Stock it was once again Jimmy Ålund who claimed the provisional number one position with a great 6.59 seconds. The multiple champion was the only driver who had the right set-up for the Tierp Arena track.

Robin Norén is second with 6.86 seconds and Tommy Leindahl third with 7.07 seconds. All other competitors had serious traction problems and will definitely improve their ETs tomorrow.

Qualifying for the Summit Racing Equipment Internationals, round three of the FIA European Drag Racing Championship, continues on the Saturday.

Text and photos: Remco Scheelings

For all qualifying results: https://www.dragracing.eu/results.asp

For photos of the Tierp Internationals see the gallery on:https://www.dragracingeurope.eu/fiaedc/round-3-tierp-arena-sweden-august-10-13/