{"id":2079,"date":"2015-06-12T20:05:34","date_gmt":"2015-06-12T20:05:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/fiaedc.edrspro.com\/?p=2079"},"modified":"2015-06-12T20:05:34","modified_gmt":"2015-06-12T20:05:34","slug":"even-flames-cant-hold-back-anita-makela-from-running-3-9-seconds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dragracingeurope.eu\/fiaedc\/2015\/06\/12\/even-flames-cant-hold-back-anita-makela-from-running-3-9-seconds\/","title":{"rendered":"Even flames can\u2019t hold back Anita M\u00e4kel\u00e4 from running 3.9 seconds"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Anita M\u00e4kel\u00e4<\/p><\/div>\n

New personal bests in qualifying and an exciting first round of eliminations, that was what everybody expected to see, and got to see, at the state-of-the-art and ultra-fast Tierp Arena dragstrip. But the Saturday rain came back on elimination day, and with the Top Fuelers almost lined-up for the semi-finals, the race director had no other choice then to make an early end to the Tierp Internationals, the second round of the FIA European Drag Racing Championship. As the number one qualifier, first round winner, and again, only driver in the 3 seconds, Anita M\u00e4kel\u00e4 will go to Alastaro as the leader in the championship.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Tierp Arena was host to the second round of the 2015 FIA European Drag Racing Championship. After two qualifying runs on Friday, Saturday had to be rescheduled to only one session. But that was enough for most drivers and teams to show what they were capable of, and even personal bests were reset.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Stig Neergaard<\/p><\/div>\n

Qualifying<\/strong><\/p>\n

Leader after day one was Stig Neergaard. With a storming 4.015 seconds, the Danish \u2018real Stig\u2019 just missed the 3-second zone. But in the third and final qualifying, Anita M\u00e4kel\u00e4 improved to 3.972 seconds, another 3-second run and like at Santa Pod, more than enough to claim the number one qualifying position. And that after a fire in qualifying one, and without American tuner Dom Lagana.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Jari Halinen<\/p><\/div>\n

Jari Halinen was by far the most consistent driver in qualifying. The first run was a 4.03 seconds new personal best, followed by two 4.04s. The Sisu driver was third, with Rune Fjeld Motorsport teammate and Top Fuel rookie Liam Jones, also setting a new personal best (4.065 seconds), in fourth. In his first race of the 2015 season, Urs Erbacher had some problems to solve and the same could be said about reigning FIA European Top Fuel champion Micke K\u00e5gered.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Duncan Micallef<\/p><\/div>\n

Most worried about the Saturday rain was Duncan Micallef. The Maltese driver and his team had problems on their way to Tierp and arrived so late, they were still putting their car together on Friday and missed both qualifying sessions. But the rain stopped just in time and one run (4.288 seconds) was enough for Micallef to qualify in seventh position. Bj\u00f6rn M\u00e5rtensson was the last one to qualify for the eight car ladder.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Stefan Gunnarsson<\/p><\/div>\n

Top Methanol Dragster driver Stefan Gunnarsson made his Top Fuel debut at Tierp Arena. After 4.87 seconds in his (first ever) license run, the Swede was allowed to take part in official qualifying. His second run was 4.54 seconds, a great job of both team and driver, and only 0.02 short of qualifying.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Bj\u00f6rn M\u00e5rtensson<\/p><\/div>\n

Eliminations<\/strong><\/p>\n

Quarter finals<\/p>\n

Excitement and upsets in the quarter finals. As expected M\u00e4kel\u00e4 was too fast for M\u00e5rtensson and with 3.923 seconds the Finnish crowd favorite came close to her Main Event European record (3.912). A broken oil line caused a big fire at the finish line, but as usual, even that couldn\u2019t spoil her good mood.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Micke K\u00e5gered<\/p><\/div>\n

In a pedal fest, multiple champion Erbacher defeated rookie Jones, and Halinen, so consistent in qualifying, went up-in-smoke and was surprised by a stunning 4.009 seconds personal best for K\u00e5gered.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Liam Jones<\/p><\/div>\n

Most frightening run was the one of Neergaard and Micallef. The Dane had to correct the car when it went into the other lane, but after the steering correction the car went sideways, on two wheels, and just at the moment everybody thought it would go over, it fell back, and after another correction, only hit the wall with the right rear tyre. Although Micallef\u2019s run was also far from straight, the Maltese driver advanced to the semi-finals. As mentioned, before the start of the semi-finals, the rain was back and the race cancelled.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Urs Erbacher<\/p><\/div>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Anita M\u00e4kel\u00e4<\/p><\/div>\n

Championship<\/strong><\/p>\n

In the championship M\u00e4kel\u00e4 is still in the lead when the teams travel to Finland for the third round of the FIA European Championship.<\/p>\n

Tierp Internationals statistics<\/strong><\/p>\n

Low ET: Anita M\u00e4kel\u00e4, 3.923 seconds<\/p>\n

Top speed: Jari Halinen, 492.25 km\/h<\/p>\n

Results<\/strong><\/p>\n

Link to final qualifying list:<\/p>\n

http:\/\/fiaedc.edrspro.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/Qualification-results-Tierp-Internationals-2015-all-FIA-classes.pdf<\/a><\/p>\n

Link to elimination ladder<\/p>\n

http:\/\/fiaedc.edrspro.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/Tierp_Internationals_2015-Top_Fuel_Dragster.gif<\/a><\/p>\n

Link to championship points standing after the Tierp Internationals<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.speedgroup.eu\/FIA%20DR%20Championship%202015%20points.pdf<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Leader in the FIA European Top Fuel Championship after two races, Anita M\u00e4kel\u00e4<\/p><\/div>\n

For more photos see<\/strong>: FIA European Drag Racing Championship facebook<\/p>\n

Text: Remco Scheelings<\/em><\/p>\n

Photos: Remco Scheelings<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

New personal bests in qualifying and an exciting first round of eliminations, that was what everybody expected to see, and got to see, at the state-of-the-art and ultra-fast Tierp Arena dragstrip. But the Saturday rain came back on elimination day, and with the Top Fuelers almost lined-up for the semi-finals, the race director had no […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,9],"tags":[17],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dragracingeurope.eu\/fiaedc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2079"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dragracingeurope.eu\/fiaedc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dragracingeurope.eu\/fiaedc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dragracingeurope.eu\/fiaedc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dragracingeurope.eu\/fiaedc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2079"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.dragracingeurope.eu\/fiaedc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2079\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dragracingeurope.eu\/fiaedc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2079"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dragracingeurope.eu\/fiaedc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2079"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dragracingeurope.eu\/fiaedc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2079"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}