The FIM-E drag racing community is in mourning after the loss of Rikard Gustafsson following an accident during a demonstration in his home town of Falkenberg, Sweden. Rikard was a six time FIM-E Top Fuel Bike champion, his 2025 title being the fourth in succession and a dominating performance at last weekend’s Main Event at Santa Pod Raceway indicated he was embarking on a solid title defence this year. Rikard joined the European tour two decades ago with a GS Suzuki Funnybike that quickly propelled him into the sharp end of the world’s best for the turbocharged breed, competing and often winning against the higher horsepower nitro fuelled bikes and taking his first FIM-E Top Fuel points title in 2006 (adding a FIM-E Funny Bike Cup title in 2011). After six years of building a new ride, Rikard and the RG Engineering team quickly got to grips with the supercharged nitro bike ride on FIM-E debut in 2016, finishing second in the points in his first year on pop. Moving up to top spot in t

FIM-E Main Event 2026 Eliminations Monday After sweltering conditions for qualifying, the move to the knock-out phase of the Main Event delivered even hotter conditions at Santa Pod Raceway, England placing even more stress on the teams and machines; a situation that wasn’t helped by most of the classes running their first round of eliminations in the blazing early afternoon heat. FIM-E Super Street Bike Kicking off this report are the phenomenal Super Street Bike class which remarkably delivered a slew of new personal bests and ultimately a further lowering of the European record. Daniel Donat Lencses stamped an element of authority during the first three rounds of eliminations, running high 6.5s like a bracket bike although the semifinal victory over Giannis Martzaklis (a 6.5934/211.90 to a 6.6831/221.90) came with a big pop at the finishline to set up a final round match up with Casper Racing’s principal Ioannis Lampropoulos (who accounted for Jake Mechaell at the semifinal stage wi

A day of attrition both on and off the track with sweltering temperatures as survival mode kicked in at the second day of qualifying at Santa Pod Raceway, England to set the final qualifying fields. FIM-E Top Fuel Bike Rikard Gustafsson maintained his position at the head of the pile with a 5.9519/246.87 being the quickest in class today but over a tenth off his 5.8 from yesterday. Behind him there was a fair bit of movement, with Luke Farrugia getting a valid time with Gabriel Briffa’s Funnybike after a weekend of woes, a 6.4477/217.19 placing the Maltese team in second spot ahead of Neil Midgley’s 6.4696/156.19 on a very early click off. Nine entries have times on the board, but it is likely that one of the qualified eight won’t make the startline tomorrow for eliminations. FIM-E Super Street Bike Hungary’s Daniel Donat Lencses has clearly found something over the winter and maintained his spot at the head of the field with 6.5 second runs on three out of the four sessions, yesterday

The opening two qualifying sessions of the 2026 FIM-E Drag Racing championship season proved to be hot and slippery affairs with the sweltering conditions that have set in at Santa Pod Raceway, England for the whole course of the Main Event. The track prep however delivered a European record and a number of PBs in the assembled five classes, with the opportunity of stable conditions providing further opportunities for the remaining two qualifying sessions tomorrow before heading into eliminations on Monday. FIM-E Super Street Bike Starting off with the bumper Super Street Bike field (21 entries having broken the beams today), Hungary’s Daniel Donat Lencses celebrated his return to FIM-E action in fine style with a 6.574/221.21 in the opening session (first FIM-E pass in the class into the fifties) and then went quicker in the slightly cooler (these things being relative) air of the second session resetting the mark to a 6.568/224.76 from the Team Brothers Hayabusa (remember the class i

The opening round of this season’s FIM-E tour commences this weekend at Santa Pod Raceway, England with qualifying scheduled for Saturday and Sunday, before eliminations kick off on the Whitsun Bank Holiday Monday. The meeting is also the first of the headlining European rounds as part of the 60th year of operations at one of the most famous tracks outside of North America. Legendary names such as E.J. Potter and Alf Hagon were among the two wheeled attractions of the opening season in 1966 when ets and speeds in the 5 second and 260 mph range on two wheels would have been unthinkable. FIM-E Top Fuel Bike A very healthy mix of nitro burners and funnybikes to kick of the 2026 season here at the Main Event bodes well. Three of last season’s top five in the points are in attendance, with the reigning champion Rikard Gustafsson leading the way with his 5.6 second Indian backed nitro burner hailing from Sweden. Stuart Crane ended up in second place in 2025 with his 6.1 second funnybike, ahe

Following on a record breaking 2025, the Danish father and son duo of Claus ‘Speedy’ and Marcus Christiansen are exploring the envelope some more this year in FIM-E Super Twin. New ignition and management system, new exhaust and downforce and a whole lot more in the race to the five second zone. Marcus gave us a run down before heading off on their first event of the year. “This offseason has probably been one of the biggest technical overhauls we’ve ever done on the bike. After winning our sixth consecutive European Championship and running a 6.07 world record pass last season, we knew we had to keep pushing if we wanted to stay ahead (Per is right behind us, and we work hard to make it stay that way!!). One of the biggest updates for 2026 is a complete switch to a FuelTech FT700 system. We’re now running a full FuelTech setup with their powerful FTSPARK 1500 mJ CDI setup. That gives us far more precise control over ignition and engine management compared to our previous setup. The tr