FIA Top Fuel Dragster
The Lucas Oil car had the dominant combination at Mantorp, with Andy Carter driving to his fifth pole position in a row with a 4.059/294.11mph clocking earning a considerable advantage over the rest of the field. The tune up from the deadly Danish Andersen duo then gave Carter the same dominance during eliminations, including low ET of the event with a 4.049/293 defeat of local favourite Micke Kagered in the first round. The car barely missed a beat and used up a frankly laughably small amount of parts over the course of the weekend, finishing off with victory over an up in smoke Urs Erbacher in the final round to take the Veidec title and a precious lead in the points with two events left.
Coming into the final qualifying session (and what a bumping feast that was) outside of the field Urs Erbacher just got in in seventh spot with his final attempt making for a huge match-up with then points leader Lex Joon in the first round. Having drilled the Dutchman off the line Erbacher stayed ahead with a 4.215, and then had something of an anxious and warm wait in the staging lanes whilst the track was cleaned prior to his semi-final match up with Jari Halinen, which he duly won with a 4.267. Another long wait preceded the final round match up with Carter, but leaving first didn’t amount to much as the Midland Oil car churned the slicks before it had moved a car length.
The ever smiling Joran Persaker was perhaps a surprising semi-finalist, qualifying well with a 4.189/272, thanks to the guidance of Jimmy Brissette who was enjoying his all too brief first season in Europe to give the Swedish team some tips. Persaker then accounted for Stig Neergaard in the opening round of eliminations, but was flattened by the Carter juggernaut in the semi-finals.