Photo: Polestar Cyan Racing

Robert Dahlgren on cloud nine after strong opening weekend in Skövde

Polestar Cyan Racing driver Robert Dahlgren leaves Skövde with a 28-point lead in the Scandinavian Touring Car Championship standings after a strong weekend behind the wheel of the Volvo S60, topping every session except the final race, where he drove from tenth to second, finishing behind team-mate Richard Göransson.

The 36-year-old secured victory on his return to the STCC after three years away from the championship, dominating every session despite strong pressure from Volvo team-mates Göransson and Prince Carl Philip Bernadotte’s stand-in Scott McLaughlin, with the added threat from STCC front-runners Linus Ohlsson and former champion Johan Kristoffersson also making their returns this weekend.

“It’s one of the toughest STCC’s in terms of entry in a long time, and to come out first in every session bar the second race is great,” said Dahlgren to TouringCarTimes.

Dahlgren dominated the first race from pole position, while race two was a challenge, starting from the back of the grid at the tricky airport circuit.

“I had my race plan set out for me and that was to be really cautious and not do anything stupid,” he said. “But when I saw Richard (Göransson) had got up into the lead I thought I need to get my shit together and get going.

“I saw how many cars there were and counted the laps, so I worked out I had two laps for each car and that worked out well.”

Dahlgren was briefly held up behind Rasmus Mårthen’s Ford Mondeo, with the Brovallen Design driver trying to make the best of the reversed grid pole in the brand new car.

“I probably could have taken him earlier, but I saw he really wanted that podium so badly, I didn’t want to end up in trouble so I waited until the right opportunity appeared,” explained Dahlgren.

Dahlgren will also continue to work with Polestar Cyan Racing’s development programme of the Volvo S60 TC1 car in addition to his STCC duties. The driver who contested the 2011 WTCC season with the C30 drove the new car throughout 2015, and said he’s looking forward to more testing, but at the moment he’s enjoying racing again.

“I’ve not driven the (TC1) car for a while but I will do during the year, and I’ll be doing testing throughout the year inbetween the STCC races. I like the testing part, but I love to race, that’s why I’m here.”

Dahlgren leads the championship by 28 points over team-mate Göransson, with Dacia Dealer Team driver Mattias Andersson in third, 31 points behind heading to the next race.

This year, drivers’ worst round’s score will be dropped, due to a number of drivers such as Johan Kristoffersson, Bjorn Wirdheim and Prince Carl Philip Bernadotte unable to take part in every race meeting.