{"id":2161,"date":"2015-07-14T19:06:58","date_gmt":"2015-07-14T19:06:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/fiaedc.edrspro.com\/?p=2161"},"modified":"2015-07-14T19:06:58","modified_gmt":"2015-07-14T19:06:58","slug":"reigning-champion-micke-kagered-in-command-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dragracingeurope.eu\/fiaedc\/2015\/07\/14\/reigning-champion-micke-kagered-in-command-again\/","title":{"rendered":"Reigning champion Micke K\u00e5gered in command again"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

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

You don\u2019t have to be the fastest to win races. It\u2019s all about being fast enough in the right moment to defeat your opponent. And that\u2019s exactly what Micke K\u00e5gered did at the FHRA Nitro Nationals at Alastaro. The reigning FIA European Top Fuel champion took a hole shot win against Janne Ahonen, saw Stig Neergaard run into problems with an engine explosion in the semi-finals, to have a bye-run in the final. With his victory the Bahco Express driver is the new leader in the championship after the Finnish round of the 2015 FIA European Drag Racing Championship.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

The FHRA Nitro Nationals at Alastaro was the third race of the FIA European Drag Racing Championship. After the track was resurfaced last year, Alastaro is one of the smoothest tracks in Europe. Traction was already far better than last year, but it was no surprise it still couldn\u2019t handle the 8,500 bhp that Top Fuelers produce. The extreme temperatures didn\u2019t make it any easier either. But the crew chiefs did a great job, as the number of \u2018up in smoke runs\u2019 were limited and although the elapsed times might not be so impressive, racing was exciting and close.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

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

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

With eleven cars entered and an eight car elimination ladder, qualifying was a serious business for the Top Fuel drivers and tuners. Stig Neergaard had the best set-up for the Alastaro track, as in three of the four qualifications the Dane had the best ET. Neergaard\u2019s best time of 4.282 seconds handed him the number one qualifying position, just ahead of three Finnish local heroes.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Antti Horto<\/p><\/div>\n

Only 0.003 seconds short of the Dane, Antti Horto in his first race of the season secured the number two spot, with Anita M\u00e4kel\u00e4 in third. With 4.306 seconds the Tommi Haapanen\/Sami Lehtim\u00e4ki tuned combination was also not far away from the leader. After weeks of hard work the Ahonen Racing Team, crew chief Simo Patoharju and the returning Janne Ahonen got their reward with a fourth qualifying position. Micke K\u00e5gered started Saturday qualifying in eleventh position, but with 4.38 seconds the reigning champion moved up into the number five spot.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Janne Ahonen<\/p><\/div>\n

The two Rune Fjeld Motorsport cars of Liam Jones and Jari Halinen were sixth and seventh, while Stefan Gunnarsson in only his second Top Fuel race qualified in eighth. With only a few runs at their credit the BSG Dragracing crew was of course extremely happy to make the field.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

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

With 4.282 for the number one, and 4.468 seconds for the number eight qualifier, the Alastaro field was not the fastest one, but with a margin of only 0.186 seconds, it was one of the closest. A surprising non-qualifier was Duncan Micallef and although Timo Lehtim\u00e4ki and Bj\u00f6rn M\u00e5rtensson were also running in the four seconds, they were tenth and eleventh and also non-qualifiers.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

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

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

Quarter finals<\/p>\n

The first round saw some great racing with some surprising winners. In a spectacular side-by-side run Jones defeated championship leader and home favorite M\u00e4kel\u00e4. The difference at the finish line: 0.039 seconds! In another side-by-side run K\u00e5gered needed a hole shot win against Ahonen to advance to\u00a0 the semi-finals. The Finn\u2019s ET was 0.004 seconds better, but the Bahco Express was 0.03 seconds quicker at the lights and thus K\u00e5gered was in the semi-finals.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Jari Halinen and Antti Horto<\/p><\/div>\n

Halinen continued a \u2018not so good\u2019 weekend with a red light against Horto, who had low ET and top speed of the meeting in that run with 4.192 seconds and 457.19 km\/h. Also no major upset when Neergaard outran Gunnarsson.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

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

Semi-finals<\/p>\n

Drama in the semi-finals. K\u00e5gered had to face Neergaard and in a close run suddenly an engine explosion made an early end to the Dane\u2019s run. In 4.20 against 4.32 seconds the reigning champion advanced to the final. The other semi-final was like a carbon copy of the first one. This time it was Horto who suffered an engine explosion, but as Jones pulled a red light, the Finn was still the winner and in the final.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

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

Final<\/p>\n

What normally is the highlight of eliminations, this time was an anticlimax. The damage to Horto\u2019s car was so great that the Eagle Racing Motorsport team didn\u2019t even start with the repair of it and had to withdraw from the final. In a bye-run K\u00e5gered took the win, the first of the season for the reigning FIA European champion.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Antti Horto and Micke K\u00e5gered<\/p><\/div>\n

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

In the championship Micke K\u00e5gered is the new leader, only two points ahead of former leader M\u00e4kel\u00e4. Neergaard is third, sixteen points short of the Swedish Bahco Express driver.<\/p>\n

FHRA Nitro Nationals statistics<\/strong><\/p>\n

Low ET: Antti Horto, 4.192 seconds<\/p>\n

Top speed: Antti Horto, 457.19 km\/h<\/p>\n

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

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

http:\/\/fiaedc.edrspro.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/NITRO-2015_PRO-Cars-Q-E-2.pdf<\/a><\/p>\n

Link to elimination ladder<\/p>\n

http:\/\/fiaedc.edrspro.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/NITRO-2015_PRO-Cars-Q-E-2.pdf<\/a><\/p>\n

Link to championship points standing after the FHRA Nitro Nationals<\/p>\n

http:\/\/fiaedc.edrspro.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/FIA-DR-Championship-2015-points.pdf<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

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

\"\"<\/a>

Timo Lehtim\u00e4ki<\/p><\/div>\n

\"\"<\/a>

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

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

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

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

You don\u2019t have to be the fastest to win races. It\u2019s all about being fast enough in the right moment to defeat your opponent. And that\u2019s exactly what Micke K\u00e5gered did at the FHRA Nitro Nationals at Alastaro. The reigning FIA European Top Fuel champion took a hole shot win against Janne Ahonen, saw Stig […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,9,1],"tags":[17],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dragracingeurope.eu\/fiaedc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2161"}],"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=2161"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.dragracingeurope.eu\/fiaedc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2161\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dragracingeurope.eu\/fiaedc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2161"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dragracingeurope.eu\/fiaedc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2161"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dragracingeurope.eu\/fiaedc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2161"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}