Andy Carter returns to Santa Pod for the FIA European Finals as the already crowned FIA Top Fuel champion!

Welcome to Santa Pod for our first live update of the 2009 European Finals! It's fantastic to be here as already crowned European Champions. It takes a great deal of pressure off of the team but at the same time the team are all 100% committed to completing the season unbeaten and finishing the campaign with some very very fast runs.

The Lucas Oil pit and hospitality area was all set-up on Wednesday and the crew spent the morning making preparations for this weekend. The Lucas Oil dragster is sporting a few new features this weekend including some scary looking spill plates on the front wing.

As always the Lucas Oil hospitality area will be packed with guests this weekend, around 90 guests will be joining us over the weekend. On the merchandise side we have a full range of Lucas Oil products at very special prices. Andy is ready to sign copies of his book “King Of Europe” and we have t-shirts and crew shirts back in stock!

Tune back in the morning for all of the news from the first qualifying session.

A glorious day here at Santa Pod, lovely sunshine, not too warm and relatively cool air – perfect conditions for racing! This morning Channel 4's Paul O'Grady show visited us to film a feature on drag racing that will go out in the next few weeks. You can also catch an interview with Andy on BBC Sport tomorrow morning.

Only 5 Top Fuel cars towed down for the session. Andy was last to run in the right hand lane. Stig had gone before us and ran a very nice 4.79 – a new personal best so we knew the track should be there. Andy lunched hard to 60ft, the dragster looked a little lazy around the middle of the track but then it really started to thunder in the last half of the track. A little smoke from the engine at the top and then 4.78 at 310mph flashed onto the scoreboard! Once again Carter was sitting on the number one spot!

After session one..

1. Andy Carter 4.78 @ 310.58
2. Stig Neergaard 4.79 @ 302.16
3. Anita Makela 5.69 @ 163.06
4. Micke Kagered 8.18 @ 99.93
5. Joran Persaker 11.09 @ 74.41

Its been a great day here at Santa Pod - we have seen record breaking runs in a number of classes including the first ever 5 in Pro Mod from Mats Erikson! So, understandably expectations amongst the crowd was high for the second session of Top Fuel. Unfortunately the session did not quite live up to its billing. Anita Makala made the only notable run with a 5.4 pass to consolidate her third place. Risto Poutiainen ran a 5.9 but the rest of the runs were seven seconds or slower... including that of Andy Carter in the Lucas Oil dragster.

Andy left well and looked to be on a stormer but by half track Andy hit strong shake and shut off, coasting to a 7.3 second pass. Andy said "Its been a great day and being number 1 qualifier I will sleep well tonight. I want to say hello to Sarah and Albert tuning in from America, see you soon, miss you xx".

We will be back in the morning for more qualifying from Santa Pod.

After session 2...

1. Andy Carter 4.78
2. Stig Neergaard 4.79
3. Anita Makela 5.41
4. Risto Poutiainen 5.92
5. Jon Webster 7.16
6. Linda Thun Tonseth 7.97
7. Micke Kagered 8.18
8. Joran Persaker 11.09

Another glorious day here at Santa Pod... hardly a cloud in the sky and a packed spectator banking. Andy was back to the right hand lane this time around and really made it work... the dragster took off well – hit shake, a brief pedal from Andy and then it started to fly. 254mph at half track and on to another 4.78 second pass at 310mph. Stig Neergaard ran a 4.79 – Andy and the Lucas Oil team stay in the number one spot. Jon Webster and Joran Persaker both ran 5.3 second passes to move up the field.

Back it pits Andy said - “That was strong shake – I've got a headache from that! I'd like to say hello to Les Downey from Lucas Oil UK... we all wish you could be here with us.”

After session 3...

1. Andy Carter 4.78
2. Stig Neergaard 4.79

3. Joran Persaker 5.36

4. Jon Webster 5.37

5. Anita Makela 5.41

6. Risto Poutiainen 5.92

7. Micke Kagered 6.89

8. Linda Thun Tonseth 7.97

A few delays before this run due to oil downs on the track, its pretty warm for an English September an the crew enjoy relaxing in the sun for a few minutes in the fire up road.

A couple of great passes before us – Anita Makela with a 4.86 and Jon Webster with a 4.82 – a new personal best. No one could better Andy's number one time so it was down to the last pair – Andy and Risto Poutiainen. The Lucas Oil dragster was slow off the line and cylinders were out early on – Andy felt the car wasn't pulling and got off it... Risto also had problem so Andy holds on to the number one spot.

Another great qualifying position for the Lucas Oil team. We cant wait to start eliminations tomorrow where Andy will face Linda Thun Tonseth.

Final qualifying positions...

1. Andy Carter 4.78
2. Stig Neergaard 4.79
3. Jon Webster 4.82

4. Anita Makela 4.86

5. Joran Persaker 5.36

6. Risto Poutiainen 5.92

7. Micke Kagered 6.89

8. Linda Thun Tonseth 7.97

Welcome back to Santa Pod for final eliminations at the FIA European Finals. A slightly cooler day today – the air should be good for making power! Andy went to the line this morning for the number one qualifier interview in his “King Of Europe” outfit – which entertained the commentators, photographers and spectators.

On to the first round – Anita had problems and rolled through stage to hand the win to Joran Persaker who peddled after strong shake. A fantastic win for Jon Webster against team mate Risto Poutiainen – pedalling and smoking his way to victory. A terrible looking crash for Stig Neergaard – the car lost its rear wheel turned sharp left and crossed the track to hit the wall. Stig was quickly out of the car and quickly back on the startline showing off his only injury – a bruised hand. While eyes were on Stig Micke Kagered ran a strong 4.9 to take him through.

After the clean up Carter was up next against Linda Thun Tonseth driving what used to be Andy's B&Q backed car. Carter away first at the hit but the Lucas Oil dragster was having problems, slow to 60ft and dropped cylinders. Not knowing where Linda was Andy stuck with it, a pedal near the top end and a 5.6. Linda struggled away from the line and hit shake. Carter took the win and goes through to face Joran Persaker.

Andy said “It was an ugly win, but sometimes you have to take those.”

We'll be back with news from the semi final later.

Andy was paired against Joran Persaker. A cracking 0.05 light to Joran's 0.43 saw the Lucas Oil dragster well ahead by 60ft. Joran hit shake and got off the throttle. Andy looked to be cruising to a win but then all fell silent – something had gone wrong and Andy was powerless. Joran hit the throttle and with the engine eating itself up and tires smoking it looked like he might not catch Andy but he just took the win on the line by 0.4 seconds.

When we got to the top end we found a failed blower pulley to be the reason for the loss of power, a real unfortunate problem and a terrible was to loose a race. Andy said “That really hurts – we are still FIA Champions and maybe it shouldn't hurt so much but this race still meant a hell of a lot to us”.

The final will see Joran take on Jon Webster.

Thankyou to all of our guests this weekend, we hope you enjoyed your weekend in the Andersen Racing / Carter Motorsport Pits. Thank you to all of the fans who have congratulated us on our championship win – thank you for your support this season – see you next year!

Thanks to Lucas Oil and all of our associate sponsors... Landmeco, Impact Race Products, NGK Spark Plugs, Binamic, Pioneer Print, K&N Filters, Yuasa Batteries, BMRS, Sigma Signs, Rainbow Conference Sets, 3T Creative, Norfolkline Ferriers, RCS Cables, Teng Tools, CAAR, Autotel, Jerrys, USA Autodele, AACI, Ultimate Airbrush, ZIP Karts and GPR.