Thed Björk claims double victory in decimated field
There was no stopping reigning champion Thed Björk who claimed a double victory after crossing the finishing line first in the second STCC race at Skövde airport. The Volvo driver won a race in which only four drivers finished the race.
Björk started ninth due to the reversed grid and lost one place to team mate Fredrik Ekblom in the start. Things looked even worse at the hairpin of the first lap when Richard Göransson outbraked him self and went straight into the back of Emma Kimiläinen’s Saab.
Kimiläinen and Göransson retired from the incident while Björk had to take evasive action and dropped to last position.
The safety car was issued for the incident and it was not long after that it was deployed again, this time after an incident between Prince Carl Philip Bernadotte and Erik Jonsson. The Volvo driver stayed on the outside of the BMW driver at the exit of turn one. Jonsson did not leave Bernadotte space, resulting in a spin and retirement for both.
Kia newcomer Erik Johansson made an impressive start and claimed the lead of the race in the early stages. But the rookie had Fredrik Larsson, Ekblom and Björk gaining fast behind him.
Ekblom had an intense fight with Larsson for second place, a scrap that saw Björk being able to get past his team mate. Not long after claiming third position, Björk was able to get past Larsson for second place as the BMW driver had to take evasive action for leading driver Johansson who went wide in the hairpin.
Ekblom took over the fight with Larsson for third, passing him in the hairpin, only to spin out of the race a couple of corners later due to a left rear puncture. This incident called the safety car out on track for the third time.
And it was not long after when the safety car was called out again for the fourth and final time. This time due to Roger Samuelsson missing his braking point for the hairpin and spinning out of the race.
Action continued as the safety car left the track with WestCoast Racing driver Larsson fighting hard with Team Kia driver Johansson for second place. Larsson seemed to give Johansson the slightest bump going into the penultimate corner, seeing Johansson spinning off track and retiring from the race with just four laps left.
The carnage on track saw just four cars taking the checkered flag and six drivers being classified. Björk won the race 1.3 seconds ahead of Larsson and Dacia driver Mattias Andersson in third.
Johansson got fourth place despite retiring four laps from the end, with Daniel Haglöf, who pitted several times due to technical gremlins, in fifth.
Björk heads the championship on 68 points thanks to his double victory with Dacia Dealer Team driver Mattias Andersson in second on 45 points. Ekblom holds third on 43 points with Larsson in fourth on 38.
