Susanne Callin, Jonny Lagg, Jere Rantaniemi and Jimmy Ålund winners at Tierp Arena
Susanne Callin raced to victory by defeating Duncan Micallef in the Top Fuel final for the Summit Racing Equipment Internationals at Tierp Arena, round three of the FIA European Drag Racing Championship. In Top Methanol Jonny Lagg won the final over Johnny Oksa, while Jere Rantaniemi and Jimmy Ålund claimed 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 three of the 2024 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. Only a rain shower in the afternoon caused a delay before the finals could be completed.
In Top Fuel the final was run between the number one qualifier Duncan Micallef, from Malta, and the number two qualifier Susanne Callin, from Sweden.
While in qualifying Micallef was the quicker one, in the final it was Callin who took the win. The Slick Tricks Racing RF Motorsport driver stormed to a great 3.89 seconds while Micallef ran into traction problems after 100 meters.
In Pro Modified Jere Rantaniemi, from Finland, and Roger Johansson, from Sweden advanced to the final. And that was a major surprise as Rantaniemi was the number eleven qualifier and Johansson the number four.
Rantaniemi improved dramatically on his qualifying performance by defeating Åke Persson and number three qualifier Mats Eriksson with two 5.8-second runs. In the semi-finals the Finn was too quick for Michel Tooren, who defeated title contender Andres Arnover in the quarter finals.
Johansson defeated Micke Johansson and Marcus Perman to advance to the semi-finals. There the Swede had to face number one qualifier and leader in the championship David Vegter, who was quick again with two 5.8-second runs in the first two rounds of eliminations.
It was a great semi-final and with 5.86 seconds for Johansson and 5.88 seconds for Vegter, the Swede advanced to the final.
In the final Johansson immediately ran into problems and had to abord his run, while Rantaniemi also had a far from trouble free run and went sideways, but crossed the finish line first with a 7.82 seconds ET.
In Top Methanol it was a Sweden Finland battle as well. Johnny Oksa, from Finland, advanced to the final after defeating Tony Bryntesson in the first round and then surprised number one qualifier Sandro Bellio who pulled a 0.08-second red light. In the final Oksa had to face Jonny Lagg. The Swede defeated Ari Pietilä in the quarter finals and had a bye run in the semi-final.
In the final Lagg stormed to a winning 5.35 seconds while Oksa had some traction problems and recorded a losing 6.02 seconds ET.
In Pro Stock Jimmy Ålund carried on from where he left off in qualifying. After defeating reigning European champion Michael Malmgren in round one with 6.55 seconds, a 6.57 seconds was more than enough to defeat Christian Sagelv in the semi-final as the Swede pulled a red light.
On the other side of the elimination ladder Robin Norén showed his great form by defeating Simon Ekengren and number two qualifier Stefan Ernryd with 6.65 and 6.62-second runs.
The final was a great race but it was once again Ålund who stormed to a great 6.55 seconds to claim another win over Norén who came close with an also great 6.62 seconds.
The FIA European Drag Racing Championship continues within two weeks with the NitrOlympX at the HockenheimRing, Germany.
Text and photos: Remco Scheelings
For all results: https://www.dragracing.eu/results.asp
For photos of the Summit Racing Equipment Internationals see the gallery on:
https://www.dragracingeurope.eu/fiaedc/round-3-tierp-arena-aug-8-11/
