KA: - First of all it was nice to be back at Tierp Arena. Last time we were there, was back in 2011, where we won the race together with Tommy Johnson Jr. and set the track record with a 3,95. So we were kind of eager to do even better, but we ran into some issues on each run. For instance we had ignition problems on almost every run, and that kind of spoiled our tune-up.
For Sunday’s elimination, we had no idea about how the car would actually run. Luckily the car ran really good in E1, but E2 and E3 would not have been won without a good driver and some luck. In E2 Thomas had to pedal it 6 times – and in E3 he had to pedal it 2 times. He was getting very close to the wall, but he stayed on it till 3,86sec. and that was enough to take the win. Thanks for that Thomas – We owe you one….
ÅK: Does the concrete track at Tierp Arena differ a lot from the asphalt tracks when it comes to how you need to work with the setup of the car?
KA: Well, normally we have experienced that a concrete track takes less weight on the clutch @ hit, but for some reason we could not get enough weight and power in it. Yes, we did have ignition problems but it would have taken some “nuke” in the tank, or a billet blower to get the power to kick the tires loose. Unfortunately we don’t have any radioactive material or a billet blower. We never really found out if the track was better or worse further out – compared to a “good” asphalt track.
ÅK: Can you comment on how you think the championship season 2013 is progressing overall, for the Top Fuel Dragster class and for your team?
- It looks like there will be a full field at each event, which is really good. It puts us all under pressure, and it will take a good car, crew, driver, and some luck to win the 2013 championship. One of the big challenges is that the tracks can change dramatically over night – or within a few hours here in Europe. Why?
Maybe because so many different people work on the track preparation. In the US they have more or less the same crew at each event. We think that’s a good idea. It makes it a little easier to tune the cars, and that should make them run more consistently. That would benefit everyone at the race. The fans too.
It was not before after Main Event in England, that we discovered that there was a new rule regarding gathering points in qualifying. Normally you would get an extra 5 point for being low qualifier. Now you can earn up to 3 point in each qualifying round. With that new rule you really need to do all qualifying rounds – and do well. We need to work at that now. We have always been trying to get that “one” good run to get the 5 point. Now we need to do 4 good runs… What does that mean for the race? Well we think there will be more full runs, but there will be less really fast runs.
