A Maltese team today won the FIA European Top Methanol Dragster Championship 2012 in the final race in the series at the Santa Pod circuit, UK.
The honours went to the Mr Whippy Racing Team and driver Manty Bugeja.
More than 300 competitors took part in the six races of the FIA championship - two at Santa Pod, two in Sweden, one in Finland and one in Hockenheim, Germany.
The final at Santa Pod were followed by more than 40,000 spectators and streamed live registering more than 3.5million hits for the weekend.
The final race was won by Manty Bugeja with a 5.36sec run, with Chris Polidano very closely behind with a 5.54sec.
A contingent of more than 500 Maltese drag racing enthusiasts travelled to Santa Pod to watch and support the Maltese teams.
Manty Bugeja started the first qualifying session by taking the lead with a top time of 5.3257sec speeding up to 266.74miles for the quarter mile. Chris Polidano kept the pressure, improving throughout the qualifying sessions placing himself behind Manty after the 3rd qualifying session with a 5.3842 at 266.81mph, the only teams in the 5.3sec bracket
"A dream coming true!" was Manty first’ comments. "The team worked brilliantly throughout the season, and although the weather was not always on our side during the championship, we kept our hopes high that we can make it. This is a great honour for us to bring this prestigious FIA Championship title to our island. We did it!"
He thanked all the supporters who travelled to Santa Pod and all those who supported the venture throughout the championship.
The team returns to Malta on Tuesday at 3 p.m. from Heathrow.