Ekblom tops first part of Sturup test

Reigning champion Fredrik Ekblom topped the first part of the first official Swedish Touring Car Championship test of 2008. The BMW-man lapped the track in 1:01.739 which was just a couple of tenths from the lap record. Second fastest was 2006 champion and Honda-new boy Thed Björk. Third was Ekblom’s team mate Robin Rudholm.

BMW-cars occupied places 1-3-4-5 with Richard Göransson fourth ahead of Carl Rosenblad.

Thomas Schie showed strong form in the Chevrolet Lacetti and posted the sixth fastest time, right ahead of Mattias Andersson who is driving James Thompson’s previous WTCC-racer.

Roger Eriksson completed many laps in the brand new SEAT Léon. His best time was 1:03.042 which put him 10th fastest.

A total of 13 cars are driving today. One of the interesting entries is the second Kristoffersson Motorsport Audi A4. Team boss and owner Tommy Kristoffersson drove an completely white A4, but the second car was driven by a Russian – Andrey Smetsky.

According to our information, Smetsky and his team mate Alexandre Lvov will drive the Audi A4 today and tomorrow to evaluate a possible entry in STCC. The earlier plans for the two Russian’s were to drive Honda Accord in selected races of STCC and WTCC, something that now seems to be changed.

As we reported yesterday there was no sign of the Polestar Volvo-team at Sturup today. The team was present yesterday when they only managed to complete a few laps before technical problems made them go back to Gothenburg and the workshop. It is still uncertain if they will make it to the second test day at Knutstorp tomorrow.

The condition of the track is quite good with a completely dry surface and a temperature of around eight degrees.

Stay tuned for a complete report of the second test half!