Photo: Mediaempire.se

Ekblom heads Volvo 1-2 in eventful Karlskoga race

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Fredrik Ekblom and Thed Björk secured a Volvo 1-2 in the TTA – Racing Elite League race at Karlskoga, a race that proved to be extremely eventful.
“Wonderful, what a victory! I had it under control, but it was challenging as the rain came and it was nice to see Björk behind me towards the end,” said Ekblom.

Björk fought his way to second position after dropping to seventh after the start where he’d collided with Linus Ohlsson of Team Tidö/PWR Racing. Ohlsson was penalized for the incident with a drive through penalty, which dropped him to last position.

Ohlsson then started a furious chase through the field, helped by a safety car period, and climbed to fourth position in the race, setting the fastest lap on his way.

Ohlsson was close, but not close enough to Martin Öhlin, who secured his first ever TTA podium finish.
“This was a great day! I wasn’t able to hold Björk behind me, but we’ve shown all weekend that the pace is there for the top and that feels great,” said Öhlin.

Title contender Richard Göransson’s weekend went from bad to worse. After a poor run in qualifying, Göransson’s hopes were ended in the second corner as he was caught up in a pile-up and had to pit for repairs. His team mate Fredrik Larsson had an even worse day, and had to retire from the very same incident, while Göransson was able to continue to finish 12th.

The action was thick all through the field with several incidents, penalties and overtaking manoeuvres. Flash Engineering drivers Robin Rudholm and Mattias Andersson were right in the middle of the action, with Rudholm pushing Andersson in to the gravel, bringing the safety car out on track.

Rudholm then worked his way through the field and was fourth at one point, only to lose five positions while braking too late when trying to pass Citroën driver Alx Danielsson, who was unhappy with the Saab-driver after the race.

Ekblom heads the championship on 100 points with three races left of the season. Ohlsson remains in second 30 points behind and Björk third a further five points behind. TTA continues in two weeks time at Anderstorp.