Photo: STCC

Fredrik Ekblom takes lights-to-flag victory in third STCC race

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Fredrik Ekblom staved off a persistent Robert Dahlgren to emerge victorious in the final STCC race of the weekend at Knutstorp.

Leading from start-to-finish, Ekblom was rarely at ease in his Kristoffersson Motorsport Volkswagen Golf GTI, with Dahlgren’s SEAT pushing him all the way.

Behind the leading two, Daniel Haglöf scored his second on-the-road, but first official podium of the new season in third.

Local racer Tobias Brink was embroiled in a race-long tussle with Fredrik Blomstedt, with the ex-UK Formula Renault driver beating the Audi to the line by less than a second.

The field had barely made it round the first corner before the safety car was deployed for the third consecutive race. Dennis Strandberg’s Volkswagen was tapped by Niklas Lilja’s Honda into the pit-wall off the line, putting Strandberg out on the spot.

Lilja continued unaffected but Nicklas Oscarsson’s Kia Cee’d was hit in the rear as Strandberg rebounded back onto the track.

Ekblom led Dahlgren from the restart but the SEAT León was hot on the heels of the 2007 champion. Behind, Haglöf led a train of four cars in the battle for third, with second race podium-finisher Tobias Brink pushing the PWR man hard early on.

Enjoying a relatively trouble-free final race was the Andreas Ahlberg. Driving a repaired Volkswagen Golf following accident damage sustained at the start of race two, Ahlberg ran well in seventh and was part of the three-car squabble with Mattias Andersson behind and Micke Ohlsson ahead for sixth.

Andersson was once again the best-placed Honda Civic runner in eighth, with Clio Cup graduates Albin Wärnelöv and Marcus Annervi claiming the final two points-scoring positions.

Out front, the race was largely processional with track temperatures dictating how much both Ekblom and Dahlgren could push. Dahlgren eventually settled for second, leaving Ekblom in the clear to take his first STCC win of the season.

The runner-up spot for Dahlgren means he is now in the driving seat in the title race. A near-perfect weekend for the ex-Volvo driver leaves him heading the standings on 69 points, with part-timer Ekblom next up on 63. The closest full-time rival for Dahlgren is PWR team-mate Haglöf on 39 points.

The STCC resumes in two weeks time at Alastaro in Finland.