Photo: STCC

Sub-minute Knutstorp lap times possible with TCR cars says Fredrik Ekblom

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The Scandinavian Touring Car Championship held its first official test with the new TCR specification cars at Knutstorp yesterday, where Kristoffersson Motorsport driver Fredrik Ekblom was fastest of all. The three-time champion says he believes the cars should be capable of going below the prestigious one-minute lap time at the circuit.

Ekblom’s fastest time was 1:00.742.

“The car is fun to drive and I think we can push the lap time further. It should be possible to get beneath one minute,” he said.

Knutstorp has been used in its current layout, albeit with a number of re-surfaces, since the inaugural STCC season in 1996 and has been a benchmark of speed on the different regulations used in the championship.

Knutstorp race lap records per technical regulations:

Super Touring
1:00.492 – Tommy Kristoffersson – Audi A4 B5 Quattro – 2002
S2000
1:00.571 – Fredrik Ekblom – BMW 320si E90 – 2008
TTA
0:58.184 – Johan Kristoffersson – SEAT León STCC – 2016

Knutstorp qualifying lap records per technical regulations:

Super Touring
1:00.134 – Nicklas Karlsson – Vauxhall Vectra – 2002
S2000
1:00.165 – Robert Dahlgren – Volvo C30 – 2009
TTA
0:57.496 – Richard Göransson – BMW SR – 2013

The TTA cars, used from 2013 to 2016, were well below the one-minute lap time, with low 58-second lap times in the races and mid-57 seconds in qualifying.

Super Touring and S2000 come surprisingly close, with Nicklas Karlsson just 0.134 seconds from breaking the magical one-minute barrier in the 2002 qualifying with his Picko Troberg Racing-prepared Vauxhall Vectra.

Robert Dahlgren was just 31-thousands of a seconds slower with his Polestar Cyan Racing-prepared Volvo C30 seven years later in qualifying. It is interesting to note that during the remaining three years of S2000, used from 2003 to 2012, no other driver came close to matching the lap times set during the 2008 and 2009 season, most likely due to the switch from Michelin to Yokohama tyres.

Sub-minute lap times have been reported both for Super Touring and S2000, but set during private testing or free practice, meaning their validity cannot be confirmed.

STCC pre-season testing continues today at Knutstorp, as well as the season start taking place there on May 5-6th. Can the barrier be broken?