Photo: Polestar

Thed Björk unstoppable in Karlskoga qualifying with double pole

Thed Björk was on his own in STCC qualifying at Karlskoga, setting a new qualifying lap record while claiming a double pole position to extend his championship lead to 16 points.

The three-time champion lapped the 2.4 kilometre Karlskoga circuit in 1:03.231, close to three tenths faster than anyone ever has lapped the track in an STCC car. Q1 pole means tenth position on the grid for the second race with the reversed grid, but more importantly 25 points to the championship.

Team-mate and title rival Fredrik Ekblom was second fastest in both sessions, four and three tenths of a second behind respectively.

Richard Göransson was third fastest in both sessions for Team Tidö, lapping over six tenths of a second slower than Björk.

BMW driver Fredrik Larsson had a nightmare session, claiming the fourth fastest time in Q1 before his gearbox expired, leaving him stranded in the pits for Q2. Larsson will start from eighth position in the first race, handing him a tough job to catch title rivals Björk and Ekblom.

Prince Carl Philip Bernadotte recored his best ever STCC qualifying result with fifth in Q1 and made it to Q2 for the first time ever. However, the Volvo driver failed to set a competitive lap in Q2 and was over two seconds behind team mate Björk, leaving him on grid position seven for the first race.

Mattias Andersson was sixth fastest for Dacia Dealer Team in Q1 with Erik Johansson in seventh and Erik Jonsson in eighth.

Q2 saw Andersson setting the fourth fastest time, with Team Kia driver Johansson in fifth and Sportpromotion driver Jonsson in sixth.

The first race of the day starts 14:05 CET.