Round #2 of the FIA European Drag Racing Championship took place July 3-6th at the Alastaro track in Finland. The track had been resurfaced shortly before the event which was not optimal for the traction and meant the performance was at no record level and tricky to adjust to. But many tight and exciting races was nevertheless presented by the teams on site which pleased the crowd.

No 1 qualifiers:

Top Fuel Dragster: Thomas Nataas (NOR) 4.39 sec/429 km over 1000 foot distance
Pro Modified: Mattias Wulcan (SWE) 6.25 sec/368 km
Pro Stock: Jimmy Ålund (SWE) 6.85 sec/336 km
Top Methanol Funny Car: Johan Lindberg (SWE) 5.74 sec/409 km
Top Methanol Dragster: Monty Bugeja (MAL) 5.53 sec/422 km

ELIMINATIONS Sunday July 6th

In the fastest category, Top Fuel Dragster two of the veterans in the class drove for the event in and championship points in a tight final. Stig Neergaard from Denmark took it leaving Anita Mäkelä Finland as runner up. In the championship points table that is also the ranking, with 2013 champion Thomas Nataas in third place. Nataas was taken out in the semi-final by winner Neergaard.  

FIA Pro Stock car was an all Swedish affair where the only non Swedish driver Sampsa Palos from Finland lost in the first round. Performed best and most consistent this event did Michael Malmgren and team, who  also impressively managed to outrun the 2013 champion Jimmy Ålund in the final. It means Malmgren pass Ålund in the points (six points ahead) and with Magnus Petterson in third place in the rankings.

In Top Methanol Funny Car, it was Johan Lindberg and his Lindberg Bros teams from  Sweden who was quickest all through the event. Only three teams on site and Johan could start off with a bye run, while Johnny Oksa Finland took on and outran Ari Pietilä, also from Finland. Ari who started his career during the later part of the season last year and is still on a learning curve. Johan Lindberg in comfortable championship lead ahead of Oksa and Pietilä in third place.

In FIA Pro Modified a few teams stood out and got the hang of the track better than the rest and Finland´s Tami Brander was among those. His team performed stable and elapsed times improved throughout the event, but Tami lost in the semi-final to Roger Johansson, Sweden. Also loosing i  the semi final was Robert Joosten from the Netherlands. Roger Johansson and Mattias Wulcan (both from Sweden) was in a close final where Wulcan´s car which had been a bit quicker all along and also was so in the final. A lot of knowledge goes in to managing to take off enough horse powers not to overpower the track and team Wulcan managed to do it best and won. It also means Mattias is the new championship leader, while Johansson is in second and Tero Laukkanen Finland is third.  

In the Top Methanol Dragster category the two Maltese teams on site was performing well all through the event and took out the competition in the semi-final (in form of Swedes Jonny Lagg and new driver Stefan Gunnarsson who did his first ever FIA event). Bugeja and Polidano presented a fast side by side final where Monty Bugeja crossed the finish line slightly ahead. The winning ET impressive 5.53 sec at a speed of 422km

Results of Round 2