Ida Zetterström Continues to Show Progress at Sonoma
SONOMA, CA – Ida Zetterström and the JCM Racing Top Fuel team made strides at the NHRA Sonoma Nationals, posting solid runs in 
challenging conditions, but a first-round loss to the reigning world champ Sunday morning ended her chance at going rounds on race day.
Making her 16th NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series start and first appearance at Sonoma Raceway, the multi-time European drag racing champion opened the weekend with a strong run in the first qualifying session, taking her 12,000-horsepower machine straight down the groove in 3.754 seconds at 328.70 mph to place her fourth on the timing sheets. During Friday’s nighttime run, her dragster lost traction early, but she quickly rebounded, clocking another good, clean pass of 3.730 seconds at 331.45 mph on Saturday in Q3. A loss of traction followed in Q4 and once qualifying had wrapped, she settled into the No. 7 position on the Top Fuel elimination ladder.
Facing the category’s defending event champion, Zetterström lined up next to Antron Brown on Sunday morning, ready to add more round wins to her total. She took the JCM Racing dragster on a respectable 3.739-second at 323.12 mph ride but was outpaced by Brown’s 3.718-second pass.
“We want to turn on win lights on Sunday, so when we lose first round, it’s hard to say we’re happy with that, but during qualifying when conditions were especially tricky, we made it down the track twice,” explained Zetterström. “You saw a lot of teams struggling to get down in qualifying, so the fact that we were able to put together two good runs, one of which was when conditions were good and then we actually improved upon our time in worse conditions, is a testament to our team and makes us feel like we’re moving in the right direction. Seattle was kind of a test race for us, and we’re seeing that what we tested there we were able to apply here, and the car reacted well.
“First round today, we had a parts malfunction that caused us to slow. We ran what would have been a good tight race, but that issue slowed us down and we just missed it a little bit on both ends, but if it had held up, there’s a good chance we could’ve beat the champion.”
Zetterström, the 2023 FIA European Top Fuel champion, made her American Top Fuel debut nearly one year ago when she hit the gas in NHRA competition for the first time during the 2024 Lucas Oil Nationals in Brainerd, Minn. Since that time, she has competed on a limited schedule as she works to find the funding needed to run on a full-time basis. Zetterström admits that the gaps in her schedule have made it challenging for her and her team to get into a rhythm but is grateful to have the opportunity to compete in back-to-back races as she prepares for the upcoming NHRA U.S. Nationals over Labor Day weekend. In addition to last weekend’s event near Seattle and her outing in Sonoma this weekend, JCM Racing recently announced that Zetterström would compete in Brainerd before making her second Top Fuel start in Indianapolis.
“I’m so happy we were able to add that to our schedule so that we’re not in a situation where we’re having to sit out for a long time,” said Zetterström. “Indy is of course the biggest race of the year, so Brainerd is going to be all about gaining that momentum we need to be able to qualify well in Indy. We keep talking about wanting to qualify higher. It’s incredibly tough when we come out to races like this here in Sonoma where there are fewer cars, because that means every car here on the property is a top 10, full-time touring car. The teams here are the best in the world. We qualified seventh and we want to keep improving on our qualifying position with each race.
“Overall, I’m happy we were able to race here in Sonoma. I had a great time, did a lot of media leading into the weekend, and the fans were fantastic. We would of course preferred to have made it out of first round, and I know I’ve shown some emotion in my top end interviews because we don’t want to lose, but we know we’re getting better. We’re continuing to chip away at it, and we know there’s more in the tank.”
Zetterström and the JCM Racing Top Fuel team, who advanced to the semifinals at their debut event, will return to the team’s headquarters in Brownsburg, Ind. ahead of the Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals at Brainerd International Raceway, August 15 – 17.
Qualified: No. 7 (3.730 E.T. at 331.45 MPH)
Elimination Round Results:
E1: 3.739 E.T. at 323.12 MPH defeated by Antron Brown 3.718 E.T. at 336.07 MPH
