FIA European Drag Racing Championship, Round Two, at Tierp Arena, Sweden

New Record Set But Rain Ruins the Day

Words and photos by Ivan Sansom & Rose Hughes

The second stop on the 2015 tour proved to be a hit and miss affair – although all too often the hits were on the retaining walls thanks to cool conditions and a track with some teeth (and enough bite for a new ET record in FIA Pro Stock Car). Unfortunately rain would be the ultimate victor, calling a halt to the event after only one round of eliminations in the FIA classes.

FIA Top Fuel Dragster

After dominating the opening event of the year, Anita Mäkelä was a significant step or two ahead of the rest in the nine car TFD field. It wasn't quite plain sailing as two of the Finn's four passes over the weekend saw her flambéing her way over the finish line. When not acting like a blowtorch, the Trade Parts/Auto Haapanen dragster propelled Mäkelä to low qualifying position with a 3.9726/298, and when ablaze in the quarter finals dropped a 3.9233/294 on opponent Björn Mårtensson.

Running a short season this year, Urs Erbacher had a troubled qualifying series with the Victory Motorcycles entry, ending up at fifth spot on the ladder with a 4.1640/216. Paired up with fuel rookie Liam Jones (who had lowered his ET PB to a 4.0655 from the Bomber entry in qualifying) in the first round, Erbacher lit his first win light of the year with a pedaling 5.2813 to Jones' hard shaking 8.5245.