If you are going to go, you might as well go big.

For European Top Fuel racer Ida Zetterström, the delivery couldn’t get much bigger than she pulled off at Santa Pod Raceway. In capturing the final FIA Top Fuel race of the year, she also secured the series championship. The win was Zetterström’s fourth of the season and enabled her to close out the season with a 120-point lead over Susanne Callin. 

“We just doubled up in the Edelbrock Performance Top Fuel at Santa Pod Raceway by winning the European Finals with a 3.91 in the dark and taking home the European Championship title,” said Zetterström. “I am incredibly proud of my RFMotorsports team and the performance we have shown this year, losing only one round all year, earning numerous No. 1 qualifiers, running consistently, and taking home the European records for both speed and ET as well as the overall Championship. Thank you to all our partners for an incredible year, and now we’re going celebrate this championship.” 

Zetterström headlined a trio of female races, including Callin and Jndia Erbacher – three women with one thing in common: they are Europe’s fastest-ever racing drivers.
 
Zetterström holds the European speed record at 321.01mph. Sweden’s Callin is a shade slower at 320.20mph. Switzerland’s Erbacher held the previous record at 318.96mph before the other two topped it at Santa Pod in May.

Zetterström proved her championship mettle straight from the start by setting two new European records at the first event of the season with a 3.77-second ET record and a new European speed record of 321.01 mph. The finals were delayed Sunday night after bad weather found its way to the track in the afternoon and pushed the last rounds of racing up by several hours. Zetterström and her team could maintain their focus and take another win and the championship.

For Zetterström, the FIA season is an immediate and unending sprint from start to finish. There are six races to determine a championship. 

“People think racing in European Top Fuel is so easy because there’s less cars and less events,” Zetterström said on Lee Craft’s Between the Slicks podcast. “You can see that. But when those cars are top cars that are able to perform on a high level. It’s not really easy. We are in Countdown mode as soon as the season starts. Every little point counts.”

And in Zetterström’s case, every little point added up to a big total.