Göransson loses ground despite awesome qualifying lap (video)

Richard Göransson left the race weekend at Gothenburg with the gap to championship leader Thed Björk growing bigger, despite posting one of the most impressive qualifying laps ever in the STCC.
“It is the way it is. It was unfortunate to lose points in the championship, but now the three points for pole position feels even more important,” said Göransson.

The BMW driver qualified on pole position after a phantom lap (do NOT miss the onboard video of Göransson’s pole lap below), beating Volvo driver Linus Ohlsson to pole position with just 0.085 seconds despite the rain increasing as the session progressed.
“I was really going for it and it came close to ending there, but you have to push for it here. It was a messy session for us and we worked with the car during all of the session and it was not until the end that we got things right and the conditions were far from ideal,” said Göransson.

The torrential rain was gone as the race started and the track dried quickly. Göransson decided to remain on wet tyres despite Volvo rivals Thed Björk and Robert Dahlgren going for slicks. The BMW driver pulled out a big lead in the first part of the race, over 20 seconds, but was unable to defend from Björk, Dahlgren and team mate Robin Rudholm in the end as they were lapping over three seconds per lap faster on the slicks.
“I feel comfortable with our decision even looking back at the race. I made a perfect race and I was superior at the start. Unfortunately the track dried up too quickly and my gap was not enough,” said Göransson.

Next up is the home race for BMW Dealer Team WestCoast Racing at Falkenberg where Göransson won in style last year.
“We did what we could in Gothenburg and we are aiming high for the two rounds in Falkenberg!” said Göransson.