The trouble is, drag races happen on the track, not on paper, and 33 other Pro Mod drivers will be itching to dispute that assessment. That's right: there are 35 Pro Mods on the Mantorp Park entry list. True, three class newcomers – Jonas Hall, Erik Andersson, David Olsson – will doubtless concede that their chances are slim, but that still leaves 30 others. Just think: 16 will qualify for Sunday's eliminations; 19 more will pack for home on Saturday night.



The shame is that Andy Robinson will not be present. Between bouts of tyre shake and engine damage, Robinson had threatened the strongest challenge so far to Lindberg and Gullqvist until a finish-line fire at Alastaro put his Studebaker out of commission at least until Hockenheim next month, possibly longer. Graham Ellis is Britain's sole flag-carrier and will be eager to regain the 6.07sec performance that qualified him second at the Main Event.

It is usually about now that Mats Eriksson's season gathers momentum. The reigning FIA champion and still European ET record holder (at 5.988, after Gullqvist's Alastaro 5.91 proved too quick for back-up purposes) discovered damaged suspension components in Finland which may have accounted for his mediocre form thus far. Former champions Urban Johansson and Mikael Lindahl are rarely far off the pace and Bruno Bader looks likely to win something big sometime soon. Adam Flamholc set a personal-best ET (6.147) at Alastaro in a USA-built Camaro that has already demonstrated its worth across the Atlantic while Jan Gunnarsson's surprise trip to last year's rained-off final will act as a beacon of hope to other unfancied runners, amongst whom Gunnarsson will not figure this year.

Roger Johansson has shown before that the nitrous brigade should never be discounted. Håkan Nilsson proved that years ago by scooping numerous Pro Mod wins in a nitrous Camaro, culminating in the 2004 NDRS Bilsport championship, before switching to Top Fuel and winning the 2006 FIA crown. Nilsson makes an intriguing return to FIA Pro Mod, this time driving a blown methanol '57 Chevy. A discerning punter might venture an each-way bet on another ex-NDRS champ, Patrik Wikström, making his first 2010 appearance behind the wheel.

That leaves just 20 other entrants hoping to influence the result.

Qualifying will be brutal and the bump spot is likely to garner as much attention as the low qualifier mark. Graham Ellis set Europe's quickest bump here last year, at 6.408. Twenty drivers on the entry list already have personal bests quicker than that – Mattias Wulcan, at 6.407, by the barest margin, and Håkan Nilsson (6.252) in his old nitrous car – and a couple more lie within a tenth.

In short, Michael Gullqvist and Johan Lindberg may yet slug it out again in the final, but it's going to be rivetingly interesting to watch how they get there.