Photo: Johan Meissner

Review & statistics of STCC 2006

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Two races are left and the championship is still open for three different drivers – Björk, Göransson and Huisman. In this article we present a short summary of the races that have been run. The season started at Knutstorp, the very same track that is next up.

Season start – Knutstorp
1. Thed Björk – Audi A4
2. Fredrik Ekblom – Audi A4
3. Tomas Engström – Honda Accord

Despite expected dominance from the all new BMW’s, the first race was dominated by FWD cars. Audi put their foot down and showed that they were going to be a real contender this year with a fresh three car team with support from Audi Germany. Björk won the race ahead of team mate Ekblom.

Drivers adapted to the new race format with pitstops. Robin Rudholm with West Coast Racing used the very large pitstop window and pitted on the penultimate lap. Björk had pitted earlier and the two got in to an exciting battle on the very last lap. Rudholm were on cold tyres while Björk used his warm tyres and harrassed Rudholm hard.

Unfortunately the battle ended in the gravel trap when Björk threw his car on the inside of Rudholm who spun off. Both drivers blamed each other and the stewards decided to rule it as an race incident.

Race Two – Gelleråsen
1. Robert Dahlgren – Volvo S60
2. Tomas Engström – Honda Accord
3. Thed Björk – Audi A4

The FWD cars continued to dominate the race despite Gelleråsen being a track which favors RWD cars. Robert Dahlgren took a fine win thanks to many other drivers making surprisingly many mistakes. Göransson spun on the way in to the pits, Ekblom ran over equipment from another team, Sandström ran over the white line on the pit exit, and more.

Thed Björk continued to score valuable points with third position and held the lead in the championship.

Race Three – Mantorp
1. Richard Göransson – BMW 320si
2. Robin Rudholm – BMW 320i
3. Duncan Huisman

The BMW’s took revenge at Mantorp Park during a very chaotic race. Only eight cars finished the race, many cars were eliminated in the very first lap. Four cars disappaered in the first corner and later Sandström rolled his car violently, putting him out for the rest of the season.

Göransson took his first step towards the championship chase after a slow start of the season. Björk scored only two points after problems with the exhaust on his Audi A4.

Race Four – Falkenberg
1. Thed Björk – Audi A4
2. Robert Dahlgren – Volvo S60
3. Duncan Huisman – BMW 320i

Thed Björk took back the lost points at Mantorp with a win at the very fast Falkenberg-circuit in the middle of the hot Swedish summer. Poleman Robert Dahlgren was close through the entire race but couldn’t get past. Björk extended his lead in the championship as Göransson scored zero points.

Race Five – Våler
1. Richard Göransson – BMW 320si
2. Thed Björk – Audi A4
3. Fredrik Ekblom – Audi A4

Richard Göransson took his second win of the season in Norway. But Björk impressed as usual by taking pole position and finishing second despite carrying lots of penalty weight. Göransson only gained two points on Björk who led the championship with 12 points down to his closest rival.

Race Six – Anderstorp
1. Richard Göransson – BMW 320si
2. Duncan Huisman – BMW 320i
3. Robert Dahlgren – Volvo S60

Thed Björk lost ten points of his lead in the championship at the rainy race of Anderstorp. Richard Göransson took an important win after an exciting last lap battle with Duncan Huisman. Björk retired after an incident with Volvo-driver Alexander Storckenfeldt. The incident was judged as an race incident while both drivers blamed each other, as usual.

Race Seven – Gelleråsen
1. Thed Björk – Audi A4
2. Duncan Huisman – BMW 320i
3. Robin Rudholm – BMW 320i

Just as quickly as Björk lost ten points of his championship lead, he took them back. Björk took an impressive win at Gelleråsen under very difficult conditions. The race started dry but the rain came after a little over half distance. Björk stayed out on slick tyres and was able to hold the lead despite cars chasing him from behind with wet tyres.

Duncan Huisman took second place after starting last on the grid, making yet another impressive drive through the field. Göransson on the other hand scored only one point after being off the track a couple of times.

Championship standings with seven races run: