Risto Poutiainen saw a dream come true by winning the 2012 FIA European Top Fuel title. After three consecutive runner-up positions the Finn won his first ever Top Fuel title in style by winning the first two races of the season and be the most consistent driver in the rest of the year too. A great result for the Multi-Lotto.com sponsored driver and the whole Rune Fjeld Motorsport team.

Risto Poutiainen started drag racing in the early ‘80’s and is in Top Fuel for twenty years now. After running his own Top Fuel team in the early ‘90’s, Poutiainen raced for Rune Fjeld Motorsport for the first time in 1994, as a stand in for the popular Liv Berstad. He then retired from the sport to concentrate on his business, but almost 15 years later, in 2008, Poutiainen made a comeback and again with a RF Motorsport Top Fueler. In 2009 Poutiainen was back in the FIA European Top Fuel Championship full time with the ultimate goal to win the title in three years. In 2009, 2010 and 2011 the Finn was the runner-up but 2012 was his season and he made his lifelong dream come true.

Poutiainen started the season with a win at the Main Event, to everybody’s surprise his first ever FIA race win. Now used to winning the RF Motorsport driver won again in race two, the Sweden Internationals at Tierp Arena. Poutiainen was the man to beat and the favourite to win the championship. Alastaro was less successful and at Tierp’s Scandinavian Internationals there was a major setback as the parachutes deployed before the start of the first round of eliminations and the leader was out. With only the European Finals to go, everything was possible again and the nightmare of a fourth consecutive runner-up position was there.

But at the European Finals Poutiainen was back to form and with the first round loss of Jari Halinen the title was for Poutiainen, his first FIA European Top Fuel title. Without any pressure the new crowned champion won the semi-final against Thomas Nataas on a holeshot and ended the season with a runner-up finish behind race-winner Anita Mäkelä. A great result for the Finn in his first year with the Multo-Lotto.com sponsorship. And one thing is for sure, Poutiainen is already working on his title defence. After three runner-up positions, three titles might be his next dream.