After the first day of FIA and FIM-E qualifying at the Summit Racing Equipment Internationals held at Tierp from 8th-11th August, the top qualifying positions were provisionally held as follows:
Top Fuel Dragster: Duncan Micallef: 3.7912/517,24kph (321.398mph) – New PBs and new FIA speed record subject to ratification
Top Methanol: Jonny Lagg, 5.3437/440.46
Pro Modified: David Vegter. 5.8427/389.89
Pro Stock Car: Jimmy Ålund, 6.5624/340.91
Top Fuel Bike: Rikard Gustafsson (5.7799/409.40)
Super Twin Bike: Marcus Christiansen (6.1302/364.37)
Pro Stock Motorcycle: Joerg Lymant (7.1334/297.85)
Super Street Bike: Alan Morrison Jnr (6.8740/352.25)
Duncan Micallef, undoubtedly the star of today’s action, and Susanne Callin were the only two Top Fuel cars making passes today, we are expecting Linn Engan Fløysvik, after her first attempt today, to be making licensing runs tomorrow and plans to compete on Sunday subject to her license being signed off. Susanne ran a great 3.9650/ 442.62 early shutoff.
Top Methanol consists of two A/FDs and three methanol funny cars. Behind Jonny Lagg, Tony Bryntesson ran 5.3758/432.00 in Q2. Sandro Bellio had a 5.5244/366.35 run in Q2 disallowed, leaving him in third place with his earlier pass. The Funny Car of Johnny Oksa is at the track but has not yet been able to make a qualifying pass.
Sixteen cars made the call for Pro Modified. David Vegter was quick off the trailer in session 1, and Mats Eriksson ran within 2 hundredths of his PB in Q2 with a 5.8613/394.74. Third is Roger Johansson (5.8821/ 390.17), fourth the turbo car of Andreas Arthursson (5.8828/380.55), fifth Åke Persson with 5.9335/390.17 and sixth and final PM racer in the fives was the new Camaro of Michel Tooren at 5.9432/388.21.
Pro Stock is once again dominated by Jimmy Ålund with Stefan Ernryd in second place and Robin Norén in third, both running in the 6.6s. Eight cars comprise the provisional qualifying
Rikard Gustafsson ran his career second best ET to go over two tenths clear in Top Fuel Bike, whereas Sverre Dahl went 6.0495/359.28 after a rebuild of his engines between events.
In Super Twin Bike, Marcus Christiansen ran a great 6.1302/364.37 ahead of Erling Opheim’s 6.3403/325.89, massively quicker than before on the quickest of Rofstad machines. Greger Johansson suffered a big engine explosion off the line but no-one was hurt by flying debris.
In Competition Eliminator Robert Arthursson ran incredible passes of 6.06 and 5.991/392.44 in his Toyota 2JZ powered Camaro, however these times were disallowed from the official qualifying lists. Niklas Heikkilä ended the day on top of the listings with a new PB of 6.5762/341.77 on a 7.37 index
Top Doorslammer had Matthias Wulcan returning to competition and he was on top of the standings with a 3,7406/329.47 to the eighth, barely ahead of points leader Jaakko Lauhasmaa’s 3.7567/318.77.
Read about today’s FIA qualifying with Remco’s Scheeling’s report on www.dragracingeurope.eu at this link and photos at this link. A complete report on bike classes by Ivan Samson and Rose Hughes is on www.dragbike.com at this link.
British racers did well in Pro Street (aka 7.60 Heads-Up) with Kevin Jenkins in 3rd (7.6012) – the first two cars ran perfect ETs. Billy Gane is in 13th spot with 7.6243, the bump spot for 16 of 22 qualifiers being 7.6380. In the Super Class (combined Super Comp/Super Gas/Super Street), Ronnie Mercer is 13th of 21 with a 10.9905 on the 10.90 SST index.
Stock/Super Stock racer Carla Pittau suffered a breakage in the rear end. She posted “I heard something strange coming back from the last run. Jacked the car up, turned the wheels, and the axle locked after 3 revolutions. Forced free, it turned freely again and locked.
“Dropped the cover and found the problem. Five years’ service, time for a new ring and pinion. We have an old one at home, not the same ratio, but what can you do…
“So, 4.56 it will be, so it isn’t going to be great, but if it keeps the wheels turning and Carla able to compete, we’ll take that! We always say that if we break something, now we’re just going to drink beer… but so far we haven’t managed to resist the urge to fix it when it breaks. Carla was 14th in the standings at the end of the day, with partner Rick McCann 26th of 33.
Good news for fans not at the track! you can watch Saturday and Sunday’s action at the SpeedEvents YouTube channel at this link for Saturday and this link for Sunday. Follow our John Woolfe-sponsored race report tomorrow.
