Maja Udtian took her first victory in the Top Fuel category at round five of the FIA European Drag Racing Championship held at Tierp Arena in Sweden.
In Top Methanol championship leader Sandro Bellio strengthened his position at the top of the standings with a win. Michael Gullqvist and Robin Norén were victorious in Pro Modified and Pro Stock respectively.
Udtian’s maiden win
Fourth-fastest in qualifying, Udtian made it to the semi-final after defeating Dennis Nilsson in the first round. She then faced the fastest qualifier, Jndia Erbacher. Udtian recorded a remarkable 3.816 seconds, braking Erchacher’s record set the previous day.
On the other side of the elimination ladder, championship leader Anita Mäkelä defeated Mikael Kågered in the first round and had a bye run in the semi-final as first round winner Liam Jones suffered an engine problem that ended his day prematurely. As a result, Mäkelä and Udtian faced each other in a second consecutive all-female final. In an extremely close encounter Udtian claimed the win with 3.88s run, beating Mäkelä by 0.03s.
Gullqvist comes out on top, moves into the lead of the standings
The first round of eliminations in Pro Modified reigning champion Jimmy Ålund and last year’s winner Andreas Arthursson ran into problems and were both defeated. But there was even more drama – championship leader and fastest qualifier Jan Ericsson suffered mechanical problems during burn out in the second round and was unable take part in his run.
Roger Johansson, David Vegter, Michael Gullqvist and Jere Rantaniemi advanced to the semi-finals. This time it was Vegter’s turn to run into problems and the Dutch racer was defeated by Johansson. In the other semi-final, multiple champion Gullqvist once again impressed with consistency and took the win over Rantaniemi with a 5.84s run. In the final, Gullqvist recorded his third consecutive 5.84s run to claim the victory over Johansson. The victory elevated Gullqvist at the top of the standings.
Norén takes first win of the season
The eliminations in Pro Stock were also full of mixed fortunes. In the first round, reigning champion Bengt Ljungdahl was defeated on a holeshot by number seventh qualifier Robin Norén. The Swede was also too quick for Sampsa Palos in the semi-final to advance to the final for the second consecutive time. On the other side of the elimination ladder, fastest qualifier Jimmy Ålund advanced to the final after a win in the semi-final over Michael Malmgren. In the final, championship leader Ålund was the clear favourite, but it was Norén who claimed the win with a 6.62s run, eclipsing Ålund by 0.05s. It was Norén's first victory of the season.
Bellio strengthens his lead
In Top Methanol the two fastest qualifiers, Jonny Lagg and Sandro Bellio, made no mistakes and both advanced to the final. Lagg had a bye run in the first round and defeated Daniel Jedborn in the semi-final. Bellio improved on his qualifying performance with two 5.51s runs to defeat Ari Pietilä and Mikael Larsson. In the final, Bellio improved to record 5.50s and claim the win over Lagg. With his third win of the season, Bellio extended his lead in the championship over his closest opponent, Lagg.
The next and final race meeting of the FIA EDRC is set to take place at Santa Pod Raceway in England on 5-8 September.
