FIA/FIM-Europe FHRA Nitro Nationals, Alastaro, Finland

Words and Photos Ivan Sansom & Rose Hughes

The 2013 visit to Finland, where vowels and alcohol are to be encountered in equally lavish quantities (although the former is somewhat cheaper than the latter), was a bit of a slow burner, but when it crackled into action during eliminations it was cooking nicely. From that intro you can probably guess that it was also a pretty warm affair, particularly during knockout Sunday, and the locals (comprising the biggest raceday crowd we’ve seen in Alastaro, traditionally Sunday is a bit of a quiet affair at the turnstiles) had some winners to cheer on.

FIA Top Fuel Dragster

Third event of the year and the third victor in FIA Top Fuel has done a lot to tighten up the points table, with Anita Mäkelä bouncing back from a first round exit in Sweden a couple of weeks previously to excel in front of her home town crowd. Like many in the fuel car ranks, the second half of the track proving to be particularly tricky, and Mäkelä’s only representative run was a 4.460 that gained her second spot on the ladder. ETs didn’t improve for the Vilppula-based chicken farmer in the opening rounds of eliminations, but 4.59s were enough to take care of Stig Neergaard and Timo Lehtimäki to set up an all-Finnish final against points leader Antti Horto in a re-match of the fuel finale at the season opener back in May. On that occasion Horto came out on top, but Anita’s 4.260/267.77 kept her ahead of Horto’s tire hazing 4.658/193.92. Looking ahead to the next round in August as part of a tight points chase, Anita commented “We will get some more new stuff for Hockenheim, including a fuel pump and a blower, and Don Bender will be over to consult with Sami [Lehtimäki – crew chief]”: the last time Bender was over to assist Mäkelä resulted in a win at the European Finals last year.

Quite a few in the points chase were breathing a sigh of relief after Horto’s defeat as a second victory of the year to the RFM/Eagle Racing team would have started to open out a worrying lead at the midpoint of the season. Like many others, Horto found track conditions in qualifying a bit of an obstacle, but was involved in a couple of tight ones in eliminations with a 4.207/ to a 4.275 getting him past Jari Halinen’s holeshot in the opener and a 4.517/ overcoming Thomas Nataas’s 4.558 in a double tyresmoking duel at the semi-final stage. A lane swap following on from a clean-up in the preceding final didn’t prevent Antti from going up in smoke at around the eighth mile mark against Mäkelä in the final.