FIA Top Fuel Dragster

Anita Makela (Rose Hughes photo)

Disappointingly, only five teams made the trip to Germany, but those that did put on a pretty decent show (and this is something of an understatement). Although qualifying was led by points leader Stig Neergaard (no real surprise here with a stout 4.052), raceday really was the Anita Mäkelä show. First round of eliminations and Mäkelä dropped a stunning 3.962/299.26 on opponent Urs Erbacher to record the first three-second pass in Germany.

Stig Neergaard (Ivan Sansom photo)

This set up a much anticipated semifinal against Neergaard with substantial implications in the points as well as a progression to the event’s trophy round. The Dane left the line first but started to fall behind before a flash of flame ended his day, but in the left hand lane Anita was seriously trucking to a 3.939/302.55 (first over 300mph in the 1000-foot era in Germany) and the quickest and fastest pass in Europe so far this season.

Mikael Kagered (Ivan Sansom photo)

The Flying Finn’s opponent in the final would be reigning points champion Mikael Kågered and looking to haul himself in to 2016 title chase for good measure. The Swede had essentially severely dented Liam Jones’s championship aspirations with a hooked up and flying 4.156 at only 224mph, the short numbers suggesting something more, whilst the Brit’s rail (having delivered some solid low 4s in qualifying including a 4.062 best for second spot behind Neergaard’s 4.052) viciously shook and brought his weekend to a close at the quarter final stage.

Kågered thus gained a bye to the final (the fourth NitrOlymp’X final in a row for the Bacho Tools Express team) and staged due to the punishingly tight schedule that the teams were now operating to. With the curfew past and the second (or was it third) extension to the operating permit looming ever larger, the TF was accompanied by not a little drama and what a final it was with both drivers hitting violent shake and smoke and having to gather up their errant rides to get them over the finish line (Kågered was “thinking back to [his] funny car days to remember what to do” whilst Mäkelä was finding it more of an adrenaline rush than the smooth and straight 3s earlier in the day) and it would be Anita that got there first with a 4.550 to a 5.249.