Reuben Kressner and Andreas Andersson ruled out of third STCC race

Reuben Kressner and Andreas Andersson will not take part in the final STCC race of the opening round at Knutstorp due to irreparable car damage.

The pair made contact in the closing stages of race two while battling for position outside the top ten, resulting in Andersson’s SEAT León momentarily launching into the air as both cars hit the barriers heavily.

Kressner’s Audi RS 3 LMS suffered significant front-end damage on both the driver and passenger sides, ruling his car out of race three.

Andersson himself was injured in the accident and complained of rib and shoulder pain. His car fared even worse and the LMS Racing team is in a race against time to get the car ready for the second round of the championship at Alastaro in two weeks time.

Both Andersson and Kressner accepted the crash was a ‘racing incident’.

Kressner said: “Everything is okay with me but the car is really broken, so I don’t think it will be possible to make race three. But I hope we will be able to take the car to Finland.

“Almost everything at the front is badly damaged and the rear is also pretty bad.”

“I would say it was a racing incident. At first, I was really angry with him but when I looked at the replays, he was completely alongside me so it wasn’t his fault to try and overtake me. I just didn’t see him,” Kressner added.

For Andersson, the pain of retirement was more than an emotional one: “It could have been a lot worse. My neck is sore and so are my ribs and shoulder. It’s like stretching the muscles but I can barely move my arm.”

He continued: “It was a hard hit. I came through the first corner and was alongside Kressner and I think he just hit my right rear. I have no f***ing clue why he just turned in.”

“To me it seemed unnecessary but it was probably a racing incident.”

With a limited operating budget, Andersson is unsure whether or not his team will make it to Finland for round two.

“I was planning to [race in Alastaro] but it’s only in two weeks. This incident has punched a big hole in our budget so we will see when and if I am back,” Andersson said.