The FIA Main Event held at Santa Pod Raceway traditionally kicked off the 2024 European FIA Drag Racing season. This year, however, something was different since three of the four reigning champions in the pro categories didn’t return to defend their titles.
Top Fuel champ Ida Zetterström moved to the U.S. to fulfill her ultimate goal of competing in the NHRA championship series as part of the JCM Racing team alongside Tony Schumacher. The vacant seat she left in one of Rune Fjeld’s Top Fuel Dragsters will be filled by Maltese driver Duncan Micallef for the 2024 season. Linn Fløysvik, the 2023 Top Methanol Funny Car champ, will be skipping this season due to a lack of parts and financial reasons. Pro Mod dominator Jan Ericsson and his nearly invincible orange Camaro won’t be back either, as Ericsson decided to park it at the end of the 2023 season and retire from racing. This made for an interesting season opener, with over 250 entries that thousands of fans eagerly awaited through a long winter break.
Despite great racing rounds on the first qualifying day, the weather unfortunately posed a significant threat and played a major spoiler during the rest of the weekend, shortening the qualifying rounds to three instead of the originally planned four for most classes.
After three rounds, Jndia Erbacher remained the quickest in Top Fuel with a best of 3.863 at 303 mph, followed by Susanne Callin and Duncan Micallef. Nitro Funny Car pilot Kevin Kent ran 4.245 at 296 mph to secure the top spot ahead of Patrick Pers from Sweden and Steve Ashdown in the “Undertaker” Funny Car. In FIA Pro Stock, Jimmy Ålund took the top spot with his 6.569 at 210 mph run, followed by Robin Noren and Michael Malmgren. In FIA Pro Mod, David Vegter led the class with a stout 5.809 at 240 mph, just ahead of Andy Robinson and Andres Arnover from Estonia. FIA Top Methanol contested in a Cannonball format, mixing dragsters with Funny Cars. Tony Bryntesson was the quickest of the bunch with a 5.362 at 264 mph, followed by Silvio Strauch and Sandro Bellio. A 6.079 at 230 mph helped Tim Garlick gain the top spot in Nostalgia Funny Car, followed by Tony Betts and Wendy Baker in the ‘Time Warp’ Mustang.
Eliminations on Monday, a bank holiday in the UK, were plagued by numerous rain showers throughout the day, leading to many delays and forcing officials to cancel the remaining race rounds due to the 9 pm curfew.
With only three cars entered in Top Fuel, No. 1 qualifier Jndia Erbacher had a bye run into the finals, as did Duncan Micallef, because Susanne Callin was a no-show due to severe engine damage from her qualifying attempts. Erbacher and Micallef were supposed to run against each other in the finals, but that never came to pass.
In Pro Mod, No. 1 qualifier David Vegter ran the quickest pass of the weekend, a 5.766 seconds at 246 mph, to beat Jean Dulamon, who ran 6.225 at 226 mph. In the second round, Vegter left before the tree was activated, handing the win to Andres Arnover. Stian Rusånes beat Jere Rantaniemi to advance to the semifinals. Swiss driver Bruno Bader won over Bobby Wallace to advance to the next round, as did Andreas Sjödin, who got the win due to a red-lighting Andy Robinson. It would have been Andres Arnover vs. Bruno Bader and Andreas Sjödin vs. Stian Rusånes in the semifinals if the weather hadn’t intervened.
In Pro Stock, Stefan Ernryd pulled an upset win over reigning champ Michael Malmgren in the first round, and Richard Sundblom took the win over Simon Ekengren. Jimmy Ålund had an easy bye run into the semifinals, and Robin Norén also won against Lasse Britsmar, but unfortunately, the semifinals of Pro Stock were rained out as well.
Funny Car driver Kevin Kent advanced to the semifinals with a bye run because Jason Phelps was unable to compete due to major engine damage from an explosion during his qualifying round. Steve Ashdown faced Swedish driver Patrick Pers, defeating him with a 4.525 at 223 mph, while Pers coasted to a 6.693 at 104 mph.
In Top Methanol, Tony Bryntesson squared off against Jonny Lagg. Both spun their tires, and although Lagg crossed the finish line first, his run was disqualified because a team member had touched the car after he went into the pre-stage beams. On the other side of the ladder, Silvio Strauch in the dragster ran against Sandro Bellio in the Funny Car. Bellio was off the line first, quick enough to beat Strauch on a holeshot, 5.515 at 272 mph to Strauch’s 5.522 at 231 mph. The win came at the price of a big fire under Bellio’s Funny Car body, but the safety crew quickly put it out, and he escaped unhurt. It would have been Tony Bryntesson vs. Sandro Bellio in the final round.
In Nostalgia Funny Car, Tim Garlick had a bye run into the finals because Andy Raw’s “Nitro Bug” damaged too many parts during qualifying for him to return. Garlick still went for it and was rewarded with a new personal best of 5.930 at 236 mph. He would have raced Tony Betts in the final, who won over Wendy Baker in the semifinals.
All in all, it was a weekend best described as “tough.” The track crew and helpers put in a tremendous effort to combat the persistent rain showers, but in the end, they had to acknowledge that the weather had won and there was no more time to finish the event. Nevertheless, they were able to conclude the finals in at least four classes.
Congratulations to the following winners:
FIM E Pro Stock Bike: Jorg Lymant
FIM Super Twin TF: M Christiansen
Street Eliminator: Anthony Higgs
Junior Dragster: Eva Davies
The next round of the FIA European Drag Racing Championship will be held June 13-16 at Tierp Arena, Sweden.
This story was originally published on June 19, 2024. 
