Michel Nykjaer’s win and second place at Ring Knutstorp last weekend has moved him up to second place in the standings, and the Dane heads to the final round hot on the heels of team-mate Rickard Rydell in the drivers’ championship.
Nykjaer had claimed pole position from race one, and despite a first corner incident with Volkswagen Team Biogas driver Johan Kristoffersson, for which Nykjaer was cleared by the stewards, the race was uneventful for the 32-year-old as he went on to record his fifth win of the season, more than any other driver has achieved in this year’s STCC.
In race two, Nykjaer was running in third following behind Kristoffersson, when the Volkswagen Scirocco’s suspension failed, sending him off at Kvällposten, which promoted Nykjaer to second.
“I could see at the end of the race, he’d broken his wishbone on the left-front,” said Nykjaer to TouringCarTimes .”Of course I’m happy to get the position but a little bit sad for him, as it’s not fun to go off with a mechanical problem.”
Nykjaer’s results from the weekend have moved him from third in the standings with a 20 point deficit to the points leader to second place, just nine behind the new leader, Nykjaer’s Chevrolet Motorsport Sweden team-mate and reigning STCC champion Rickard Rydell.
“A perfect weekend and I’m nine points behind Rickard,” said Nykjaer. “But it’s going to be difficult at Solvalla because my team-mate is very good and it’s difficult to get more points. If he’s P2 and I’m P1, I close by seven points, and if I do that in both races, I’m the champion, but it will be difficult, but we’ll do what we can.”
