Having had the form hot rod at the preceding two events in Sweden and Germany, and been denied a shot at trophies by rainouts, Anita Mäkelä came to Santa Pod looking strong. It got a bit nervewracking in qualifying as her first shot ended up with a 9th place smoker. The drama heightened a bit more when a hard charging (including the best of the rest incrementals behind Carter) pass saw the blue and silver bullet pick the front wheels up way down track; the resulting 4.746/275 being discounted when the front wing vapourised the finishline timing blocks “You can bet I wasn´t in my best mood”; and the damage sustained meant a front wing swap to a spare lower downforce version. Still outside the field, and with the distraction of being called for a random drugs test (perhaps drag racing will feature at the 2012 London Olympics?), Anita had to get ahead of Jöran Persåker to get in, and her anxiety levels started to climb when the car struggled to go into reverse for an age, but fortunately it did and a early clicked but save 5.33 got her in at number seven. A big first round match-up against Poutiainen was over before they had reached the tree as Risto went up into smoke at the hit, but Mäkelä had to lift early as the front wheels started floating past half track and the same happened in the semifinals against Erbacher. “Ending the season with some mid fives wasn’t the way I wanted to finish 2010, but we know how to make the car drivable and the earlier quick runs gives us some comfort for next season. I’m happy with our number 3 in the European championship, it makes my feet dance”.