Comments: After only one qualification run it was time for eliminations. None of the team did have a fair chance to tune in the cars after the track conditions, and they were tricky as rain had been puring down more or less non-stop for three days. Micke´s runs towards Urs Erbacher was not the greatest win we have seen, both drivers on and off the throttle struggling with tire shake and traction problems. First over the finish lines is what counts and that was Micke. Still in a 3rd place in the championship, now with Andy Carter in 1st place and Lex Joon in 2nd. In the run against Joon the bolts for the pulley that holds the blower belt snapped and the car stopped pulling half track. This meant Micke stayed in the 3rd place of the points standings while the batle for the championship title was still open between Joon and Carter. Rain sunday evening over the area (again!), meant the organisers had to give up on trying to dry the track and the top fuel final was by that cancelled. It means Carter, having qualified no#1 and set a low elapsed time of the event, is the 2008 Top Fuel Dragster Champion. Lex Joon, who was in a 5 point lead before the race needed to win the final to be champion. We imagine he is not too happy with the outcome of the weekend, as probably Carter would not have been if the complete event had been called off (we really thought that was going to be the case due to the heavy raining).

QUALIFICATION RESULTS Top Fuel Dragster E.T. sec/speed km	Sunday sept 7th
	Session #1
Mikael Kågered	6.04	all other qualification runs cancelled due to rain!
Alex Joon	5.00
Urs Erbacher	10.50
Andy Carter	4.90
Stig Nergaard	14.61
Jari Halinen	10.35
Tommi Haapanen	6.35
Risto Poutiainen	18.37

One qualification run sunday morning was all that could be run. The rained poured down friday and saturday, which meant no running on track was possible. 

Hockenheim Ring, Germany Nitro Olympics
FIA European Championship round #4 August 15-17th

Micke talking with Lex Joon at the line up area, minutes before they went out on track side by side for the first qualification run

To read Eurodragsters coverage of all FIA classes today, please click HERE

ELIMINATIONS 8-CAR FIELD TOP FUEL DRAGSTER
SUNDAY AUGUST 17th
 

QUALIFICATION RESULTS Top Fuel Dragster E.T. sec/speed km	Friday august 15th		Saturday august 16th
	Session #1	Session #2	Session #3	Session #4
Mikael Kågered	5.41/314	cancelled	4.865/463	10.95/132
Alex Joon	4.98/405	due to rain	13.61/106	4.82/455
Urs Erbacher	5.04/453		4.83/495	4.90/474
Andy Carter	4.867/505		5.58/283	4.90/394
Stig Nergaard	5.39/277		5.00/394	5.10/400
Jari Halinen	5.23/364		7.88/163	6.02/281
Tommi Haapanen	11.40/117		4.88/497	did not run
Janne Ahonen	5.58/264		did not run	did not run
Risto Poutiainen	6.29/225		5.10/396	did not run

Final qualification standing after 3 runs:
1. Lex Joon 4.82 sec.
2. Urs Erbacher 4.83
3. Micke Kågered 4.865
4. Andy Carter 4.867
5. Tommi Haapanen 4.88
6. Stig Neergard 5.00
7. Risto Poutiainen 5.10
8. Jari Halinen 5.32

Alternate: Janne Ahonen 5.58

Comments Saturday: Session #4 As we suspected before this run this last run turned out interestingly.  One team improved, while the rest struggled with lost traction or engine failures. In Mickes case the car drifted to the right directly after the launch, towards the center line and Micke shut off, cruised down the track rather than risk anything. He knew before the run he would stay 3rd quickest (or improve), as only Urs Erbacher remained to run after Micke. Haapanen was to run with Urs, but made it to the start area after Urs had already made the burnout (Haapanen was in for a change of engine to this run, and sadly did not make it in time) The only one in the field who did improve and did it in grand style was Lex Joon, who by running 4.82 seconds took the prestigious no#1 position.  Before this event Andy Carter was in the lead of the FIA cmahionship (209 points) before Urs and Lex (both 166 points) and Micke in the 4th spot with 143 points. Interesting to see how all that has changed by tomorrow evening. 

Session #3 Micke´s quickest run in a long, long time put him in the number 2 position after the first run saturday, thousands of a second quicker than Any Carter and with Urs Erbacher now in the lead with 4.83 seconds. A fast and tight field and we expect all teams for the last try will not only try to repeat but run quicker. it may work or it may mean lost traction, so the next session will definately be an interesting one to watch. Still waiting to get the car back in the pits, but the run looked nice and clean so hopefully there is not too much damage to the engine. Micke shut off somewhat early whick meanst the speed dropped some (463 km).
 
Comments friday Session #1 Carter in the lead after the first and only qualification run friday. Micke currently 6th with a time of 5.41 seconds, where the car smoked the tires after half track. Although not entirely happy with the time, Micke could tell after the run it was felt hugely different, the way the car acted than before. "We have found a clutch related fault that we have been running with for two seasons without knowing it. We found that out after the race at Mantorp and have changed some things since then. So we had to step back and take some guesses with the tune up for this run, as nothing we have done in a long time is reliable information anymore because of this clutch fault", says Micke. So we lost some traction on the last part of the track, but I am happy anyway for the time being, to be in the field this far among the 8 quickest and we hope to improve performance into the 4´s tomorrow during the teo remaining qualification runs", Micke concludes. The service of the car is ongoing at the time, seemingly with no damage to the engine.

Mantorp Park, Sweden VEIDEC Festival
FIA European Championship round #3 July 25-27th

ELIMINATION LADDER TOP FUEL DRAGSTER 8-CAR FIELD  July 27th
over 990 foot (301.75 meter)
 
Low Elapsed time of the event: 4.04 Andy Carter
Top Speed of the event: 472 km Andy Carter
 

Final qualification positions after 4 runs:

1. Andy Carter 4.05 sec.
2. Lex Joon 4.11 sec.
3. Tommi Haapanen 4.14 sec  
4. Jöran Persåker 4.18 sec
5. Stig Nergaard 4.267 sec.
6. Jari Halinen 4.268 sec.
7. Urs Erbacher 4.272 sec.
8. Micke Kågered 4.279 sec.
______________________
outside the elimination ladder;
9. Timo Lehtimäki 4.34 sec.
10. Risto Poutiainen 4.35 sec.
11. Monica Öberg 4.46 sec
12. Håkan Fällström 5.10 sec.
13. Torstein Risdal 5.45 sec

Alastaro Raceway, Finland Nitro Nationals
FIA European Championship round #2 July 4-6th

ELIMINATION LADDER TOP FUEL DRAGSTER 8-CAR FIELD  July 6th

Low Elapsed time of the event: 4.76 Andy Carter
Top Speed of the event: 497 km Andy Carter
 

Final qualification positions after 4 runs:

1. Andy Carter 4.76 sec.
2. Urs Erbacher 4.84 sec.
3. Lex Joon 4.89 sec.
4. Micke Kågered 5.05 sec
5. Jari Halinen 5.18 sec.
6. Janne Ahonen 5.31 sec.
7. Tommi Haapanen 5.46 sec
8. Jöran Persåker 5.52 sec
______________________
outside the elimination ladder;
9. Torstein Risdal 5.60 sec.
10. Stig Nergaard 5.89 sec.
11. Håkan Fällström 14.23 sec. 

 

QUALIFICATION RESULTS Top Fuel Dragster E.T. sec/speed km	Friday july 4th		Saturday july 5th
	Session #1	Session #2	Session #3	Session #4
Mikael Kågered	broke	6.00/251	9.59/117	5.05/432
Alex Joon	4.94/463	7.46/158	4.89/491	did not run
Urs Erbacher	5.34/419	4.91/479	5.86/254	4.84/489
Andy Carter	4.76/497	10.24/128	11.02/116	6.67/237
Stig Nergaard	broke	6.08/249	5.89/259	did not run
Håkan Fällström	19.18/82	15.52/65	broke	14.23/?
Jari Halinen	5.18/425	5.39/315	8.80/142	broke
Torstein Risdal	5.83/267	5.60/322	6.16/234	broke
Jöran Persåker	did not run	broke	5.52/300	smoked the tires time?
Tommi Haapanen	broke	broke	5.46/293	red light/no time
Janne Ahonen	5.31/376	broke	5.93/265	5.52/325
outside competition:
Timo Lehtimäki	license runs	with a best	ET of 4.89	seconds

---

Santa Pod Raceway, England The Main Event
FIA European Championship round #1 May 24-26th

ELIMINATION LADDER TOP FUEL DRAGSTER 8-CAR FIELD  May 26th

All the eliminations were cancelled due to rain. For more details, please visit www.eurodragster.com  
 

	QUARTER-FINALS
1	Andy Carter
8	Håkan Fällström	SEMI-FINALS
4	Micke Kågered
5	Jari Halinen		FINAL
2	Stig Nergaard
7	Lex Joon
3	Urs Erbacher
6	Torstein Risdal

 

QUALIFICATION RESULTS Top Fuel Dragster E.T. sec/speed mph	Saturday May 24th		Sunday May 25th
	Session #1	Session #2	Session #3	Session #4
Mikael Kågered	6.99/122	5.01/254  #4
Alex Joon	6.21/173	6.07/186  #7
Urs Erbacher	7.73/98	4.894/311 #3
Andy Carter	4.89/292	4.81/305  #1
Stig Nergaard	5.11/?	4.893/299 #2
Håkan Fällström	broke	15.47/52  #8
Jari Halinen	5.12/261	no show   #5
Torstein Risdal	5.69/170	5.49/192  #6

Team Kågered comments saturday: Micke Kågered 4th quickest after the first day of qualifications. No full pass for Micke yet, still getting to know "his new car". It actually acts so different compared to last season, that is almost like a different one. The engine working like a clock, the mechanics team so well syncronised. During the last run we lost some boost and have changed the blower for tomorrow´s continued qualifications.

Overall a pretty quick top fuel field, where there is still more to come from several of the teams we are sure.