2008 FIA European Finals
Friday (qualifying)


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Latest update: 15:30

Jorgen Leanders, crew chief for the Top Methanol Funny Car Team said "We could have wrapped the championship up in Hockenheim but lost to Leif Andreasson in the semi final in exciting race. "We set the car to run 5.8, it ran a 5.88 but Leif beat us with a 5.80", he said. "We are very happy with the year. Our new clutch has been tested by a number of teams and the latest is Danny Cockerill who ran with one last weekend and he described it as a 'beautiful piece of kit'." The team make the whole clutch in-house apart from the bolts and the discs. Ulf Leanders can win the Championship if he qualifies better than no.5 and stages in the first round. Leif needs to win the race to gain the championship.


Anders Magnusson, mechanic for Leif Andreasson, said "Henrik, the MSD representative in Europe is servicing our Racepak computer and we have also freshened the blower since the NitrolympX. We came out quite late and in spite of a few problems were able to put more and more power into it and that got us payback against Ulf in the semi final. We are not going to lay down this event and Leif will do his best possible performance. Hockenheim has one of the smoothest surfaces in Europe and the reading from the Racepak bears that out, it is a much less bumpy graph. The guys there did a great job prepping it especially bearing in mind the high temperature."

Gary Page is here to drive Kenneth Lorentzon's fuel funny car. "We are ready to run and I am supporting Micke (Kågered) for the Top Fuel championship. Unfortunately this weather has made the outcome about as secure as being handcuffed to a ghost. It would be a shame if the Top Fuel championship was won off the track and we all want to run." Gary's season has been successful after racing at Pitea, Sundsvall and Gardermoen. "I have won the Swedish championship but this is subject to ratification from Knut, the championship co-ordinator." Kenneth has ordered a new car and there are indications that there could be eight fuel floppers running in 2009. Micke K˚gered's tuner Alan Jackson said "We had a great race at Hockenheim and ran three fours, a 4.86 in qualifying and 4.80 and 4.91 in eliminations. We spun the tyres in the final. The track was about the best it's ever been and the startline was awesome; it was a good event run really efficiently."

Fuel Funny Car racer Gordon Smith said "We made one pass in Sundsvall and three in Piteå with a best of 6.20, but the meeting at Gardermoen was rained off. The issue is getting the car down the track, we have got the tune-up to run the numbers." Crew chief Dave Bryant is also involved in Terry Haddock's IHRA Fuel Funny Car operation and is leading the points with two races to go at Epping this weekend and Rockingham. Dave was complimentary about the IHRA's attitude to pro racers and mentioned that IHRA will keep 1320ft for tracks that have sufficiently long shutdown area and facilities. Gordon has is supported by Mapei which makes adhesive sealants and building products.

Pro Mod racer Patrik Wikström said "We have done a lot of experimental work on the engine this year with new parts. The heads have a new design and there is a new blower. Our best performance was 6.33/362kph in Finland. Our main handling problem was due to anti-roll bar and we put the old one on the car and it started to work ok again. We may test at the Winternationals at Malmo which is two hours travel time. We are happy for Micke Lindahl who is a close friend."

Pro Mod racer Ulf Rapp is back after a fire at Meca Raceway caused him to miss most of the season. "At the startline on our third attempt the distributor came loose and valves hung open causing an engine explosion. The carburettors blew off and nitrous pipes also came off adding fuel and nitrous to the fire. It was too sudden for the fire crew so I had to get myself out of the car and managed to let the fire extinguishers off, but forgot the quick release for the steering wheel and broke a couple of ribs getting out. The Malmo hospital has a good burns unit and after an overnight stay I took the 500km trip back home. We were ordering parts from the hospital as we wanted to get back as quick as possible. The hood had to be made specially and that was the last part to arrive. So we missed Mantorp and came to test on Wednesday. The fuel pump broke and we had other small problems. It is fantastic to come here; it feels like our home track and is 120% safe.



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