Susanne Callin, Tina Høst Nedregård, Jere Rantaniemi and Robin Norén winners at Tierp Arena
Susanne Callin raced to victory by defeating Liam Jones in the Top Fuel final for the Summit Racing Equipment Internationals at Tierp Arena, round two of the FIA European Drag Racing Championship. In Top Methanol Tina Høst Nedregård won the final over Tony Bryntesson, while Jere Rantaniemi and Robin Norén defeated Marck Harteveld and Jimmy Ålund respectively in the finals to claim the wins in Pro Modified and Pro Stock.
It was a great day of racing at Tierp Arena during the eliminations of the Summit Racing Equipment Internationals, round two of the 2025 FIA European Drag Racing Championship. Sunshine, great temperatures and close racing made it to an excellent day for the many spectators that showed up on the Sunday, after they already had a perfect Saturday filled with so many stunning qualifying runs.
In Top Fuel the final was run between Susanne Callin, from Sweden, and Liam Jones from the UK. In qualifying Callin recorded 3,880 seconds and Jones 3.887 seconds, so it promised to be a great and close final. This time is was an anti-climax as both drivers ran into problems, but as it happened for Jones almost immediately at the start line, Callin claimed the win in 5.86 seconds.
In Pro Modified the racing was once again close and exciting. There was a major upset in the first round as the numbers two and six qualifiers and major championship contenders, Mats Eriksson and David Vegter, went out. Vegter was defeated by Bruno Bader and the Swiss Pro Mod veteran took another surprise win in the quarter finals over number three qualifier Andreas Arthursson. Michel Tooren, the number four qualifier, was defeated in the quarter finals by number five qualifier Andres Arnover.
As a result of the first two elimination rounds, number one qualifier Jere Rantaniemi had to face Arnover, while Marck Harteveld had to face Bader in the semifinals. Reigning FIA European champion Rantaniemi recorded 5.84 and 5.89-second runs to defeat Stian Rusanes and Lars Sjӧholm to advance to the semifinals, while Harteveld was too quick for Michael Gullqvist and Benny Strand, who suffered problems after the burn out. Rantaniemi recorded another 5.84 seconds to defeat Arnover (5.90 seconds) to advance to the final, while Harteveld defeated Bader.
In the final Rantaniemi stormed to another great 5.85 seconds to claim the win over Harteveld, who also had a good run with 5.91 seconds, but it was not enough to beat the FIA European champion from Finland.
In Top Methanol there was a major upset in the first elimination round as well. Number two qualifier and reigning champion Jonny Lagg lost traction at the start line, handing the win to Jürgen Nagel. The German racer then had to face Tina Høst Nedregård in the semifinals as the Norwegian-Swedish driver was too quick for Silvio Strauch in the first round with a great ET of 5.32 seconds. On the other side of the elimination ladder number one qualifier Tony Bryntesson had to face Sandro Bellio in the semifinals. Bryntesson had recorded a great 5.30-second ET in the first round to defeat Hampus Staflund, while the multiple champion from Belgium had been too quick for Magnus Larsson. Thus in the semifinals two races with a dragster and a funny car against each other. This time the dragsters were the winners as Bryntesson defeated Bellio and Høst Nedregård Nagel. As both winners had recorded 5.30-second ETs, it promised to be an exciting final.
In a close final Høst Nedregård stormed to a winning 5.37 seconds over Bryntesson who recorded 5.47 seconds.
In Pro Stock Jimmy Ålund carried on from where he left off in qualifying. After defeating Lasse Britsmar in round one with 6.59 seconds, another 6.59 seconds was enough to defeat Christian Sagelv in the semifinal. On the other side of the elimination ladder Robin Norén showed his great form by defeating Michael Malmgren in an extremely close run (6.634 and 6.633 seconds) with a better reaction time, to take out Richard Sundblom in the semifinals. Thus the final was between the numbers one and two qualifiers.
In the final Norén surprised with another great run to claim the win over Ålund with 6.61 seconds over 6.86 seconds for the reigning champion.
The FIA European Drag Racing Championship continues within three weeks with the NitrOlympX at the HockenheimRing, Germany.
Text and photos: Remco Scheelings
For all results: https: https://www.dragracing.eu/results.asp
For photos of the Summit Racing Equipment Internationals see the gallery on:
https://www.dragracingeurope.eu/fiaedc/7-10-aug-tierp-arena/
