After his first ever FIA Top Fuel win at the Main Event, Risto Poutiainen scored two in a row at Tierp and with the race at his home track Alastaro to come, the Finn is still unbeaten in 2012. In a great side by side final Poutiainen defeated his Rune Fjeld Motorsport teammate Jari Halinen, the surprising number one qualifier.

Tierp Arena is of course the perfect facility for a great Top Fuel race. With twelve cars on the entry list for the second round of the FIA European Championship, qualifying promised to be a tough fight. But alas, Patrik Pers could not make it and Stig Neergaard had to cancel due to health issues after months of a far too heavy workload. Because Paul Ingar Udtian’s car was in the Danes trailer, the Norwegian had to withdraw too. Timo Lehtimäki was at Tierp but his car did not pass scrutineering as his rear wing was not recertified.

So eight cars at Friday morning’s first, and what later turned out to be the most important, qualifying session. In the first pair Håkan Fällström set the pace with a 4.24sec, but saw his run end in the sand trap as his parachutes did not deploy. The Swede was lucky to escape with only minor damage to his Peter Lantz tuned fueler. Later in the session only Jari Halinen could beat Fällström’s time and took over the number one spot with a 4.22sec.


Chris Andrews UK


Anita Mäkelä Finland

In third Janne Ahonen with his brand new and great looking Ahonen Racing Team dragster. The Simo Patoharju and Donnie Bender (former Brandon Bernstein crewchief) tuned Top Fueler only had two testruns at its credit and will soon be a force to be reckoned with. In fourth after the first day of qualifying Antti Horto in the car Duncan Micallef raced at the Main Event. The young Finnish driver was fifth after the first run but was the only one to improve his time in the second qualifying session. That made Chris Andrews number five after day one. Still testing al systems and collecting data, the third pass in the car this season was a scheduled half pass. The car did what it had to do with a good 4.51 as a result.


In sixth a far from happy Anita Mäkelä as she hurt an engine in run one and a broken blower belt spoiled her second run. So no improvements for the Finnish fan favourite. The only thing that could make her smile were the numbers given by Eurodragster’s Tog. In the first run Mäkelä passed the 330 foot speedtrap after 2.347sec and her speed: 298.67mph! Problems for Risto Poutiainen too.

The Main Event winner went up in smoke and the high revs damaged the engine. The team took their time to solve the problems and skipped round two, so Poutiainen was in seventh. Also only one run for Micke Kågered. A big fireball in the first run meant a lot of work for the crew and the Swede was back in eight. Because Saturday qualifying rained out, this was also the ladder for raceday.

In the first round of eliminations, late Sunday afternoon, the two Rune Fjeld Motorsport Top Fuelers of Poutiainen and Halinen showed great form. In almost identical numbers (4.138 and 4.139) the two teammates defeated a far from trouble free Fällström (flames) and Kågered (smoke from the engine). In an all Finnish first round Mäkelä had to race Ahonen. The ART-driver left too early, handing the win to a relieved and smiling Mäkelä. Andrews had to race Horto but the Lucas driver already knew he had no chance against the Finnish youngster. After the first qualifying run the team found a major problem with their only fuel pump and as a borrowed pump was not the right one for the F&A Racing car, Andrews knew he would hit trouble in the run. And immediately after the start that happened and Horto took the win. With Horto, Halinen, Poutiainen and Mäkelä four Finns in the semi-finals.

Halinen had to race Horto in the first semi-final. Both went up in smoke, but Halinen was the first to react, got back on the gas and took the win light. Almost the same happened to Poutiainen and Mäkelä, both went up in smoke, both pedalled, but flames from Mäkelä’s engine were an indication her race was over and Poutiainen was in the final. So both Rune Fjeld Motorsport cars in the all Finnish final. In a great side by side race Halinen had the best reaction time but Poutiainen (4.185 against 4.289sec) the better run and passed the finish line just in front of his teammate. After being without a FIA Top Fuel win for years, Poutiainen has now two in a row and remains unbeaten in 2012.    


Link to Elimination ladder