Last season’s surprise winner in Alastaro, Timo Lehtimäki and the TIL Racing Finlight dragster demonstrated a further liking for his home track, taking the second qualifying spot behind Horti with a 4.315 and easily outrunning fellow Finn Jari Halinen in the opening round of eliminations before being knocked out of competition by the Andersen Racing juggernaut in the final four.

The two non-qualifiers presented stories of their own – with Poutiainen failing to make the cut ending a strong run to second place in the points at the previous two events being one of them. However, Micke Kågered really lit things up with a huge engine explosion that was triggered off by a failed exhaust rocker that left the Bacho Tools Express ablaze from half track onwards and bringing Friday’s qualifying to a dramatic halt before a torrential downpour brought it to a close. Amazingly, the team were able to get another bullet between the rails after a thrash until early on the Saturday morning, but what would prove to be a last ditch qualifying effort failed to make the field before the rain and hailstones appeared on Saturday afternoon.