Engström takes Gelleråsen pole

Tomas Engström took pole position in his Honda for the STCC-race at Karlskoga this afternoon. Engström was fast in his Honda all through practice and qualifying and said he was confident for this race.

In a closely fought qualifying where the first 15 cars was covered with just eight tenths of a second in qualifying, Tommy Rustad was another surprise. The Norwegian took his Opel to Super Pole where he managed a brilliant second best time. His joy is short-lived however, an engine change for this weekend means he has to move down ten places on the grid.

Another surprise was Nicklas Karlson and the Chevrolet team. Nicklas set a fifth time in the first qualifying session for the team this year, taking him to Super Pole where he drove a careful lap to eight position.

Third best was Robert Dahlgren who looks solid in his Volvo just before Thed Björk in the Audi A4. The Audi driver had a spectacular engine fire in the morning practice but the team managed to get the car ready for qualifying. But the fire melted part of the splitter making the car too low. He will start from seventh position.

The championship battle looks to be intense with Robert Dahlgren starting from second position in front of BMW teammates Richard Göransson and Jan Nilsson, with championship leader Fredrik Ekblom in his BMW just behind them in fifth position. Two places behind Ekblom is Thed Björk, and the title candidates are close togehter. It all looks set for an afternoon thriller at Karlskoga.