Statistics of the STCC 2008-season

The Swedish Touring Car Championship 2008 ended two weeks ago with Richard Göransson as champion and WestCoast Racing as team champions. More than 1 000 laps and over 2 000 kilometers were completed over the season. While Göransson secured the title one race before the season finale, it was still a hard fight. TouringCarTimes has put together statistics of the season, showing some interesting figures.

Göransson was the only driver to score four victories. Third placed man Thed Björk scored second most victories, three wins, compared to second placed Fredrik Ekblom’s two.

But when it comes to podium finishes, Ekblom rules. Thanks to two wins, three second places and two third places, he heads the list ahead of Göransson and Björk.

Victories:
Göransson: 4
Björk: 3
Ekblom: 2
Dahlgren: 2

Second places:
Ekblom: 3
Rudholm: 3
Andersson: 1
Eriksson: 1
Stureson: 1
Schie: 1
Rustad: 1

Third places:
Björk: 3
Ekblom: 2
Göransson: 2
Rosenblad: 1
Dahlgren: 1
Nilsson: 1
Rudholm: 1

Podium finishes:
Ekblom: 7
Göransson: 6
Björk: 6
Rudholm: 4
Dahlgren: 3
Nilsson: 1
Eriksson: 1
Schie: 1
Andersson: 1
Rustad: 1
Rosenblad: 1
Stureson: 1

The main key for Göransson to his victory this year was consistency. Nobody came close to the BMW-man in average finishes. Göransson’s average finish was 3,6, his closest opponent, Ekblom, had “only” 5,1 in average.

On the other end of the list we find Volvo-man Robert Dahlgren. Despite winning twice he has the worst average finish, 7,4, of the top six drivers in the championship. The Volvo-man had problems in too many races.

Average finish:
Göransson: 3,6
Ekblom: 5,1
Björk: 5,2
Rudholm: 5,4
Nilsson: 6,6
Dahlgren: 7,4

There is no question on who is the pole position expert this year. Thanks to his excellent hot lap skills, the super-light Volvo, Dahlgren scored no less than 5 pole positions – half of the available this year.

Pole positions:
Dahlgren: 5
Ekblom: 3
Göransson: 1
Engström: 1
Eriksson: 1

Ekblom is second best with three pole positions. But when it comes to consistent qualifying, Ekblom is unbeatable. Ekblom made it to the Super Pole in all races but one. The 2007-champion also heads the qualifying average with the average starting position of 4,5, only just ahead of Göransson’s 4,6.

Super Pole:
Ekblom: 10
Göransson: 9
Rudholm: 9
Dahlgren: 8
Björk: 6
Nilsson: 4

Qualifying average:
Ekblom: 4,5
Göransson: 4,6
Dahlgren: 4,9
Björk: 5,7
Rudholm: 5,8
Nilsson: 9,2

The pre-qualifying session, which decides the eight first drivers that get to run the Super Pole, shows almost the same stats as the final grid positions. Ekblom tops the list with Göransson just behind.

Ekblom’s team mate Robin Rudholm on the other hand looses two positions from pre-qualifying to the Super Pole-decided grid. Rudholm’s average in pre-qualifying is 4,6 but falls down to 5,8 in the Super Pole.

Pre-qualifying average:
Ekblom: 3,5
Göransson: 3,7
Rudholm: 4,6
Dahlgren: 5,6
Björk: 6,4
Nilsson: 9,3

Fastest lap:
Ekblom: 3
Dahlgren: 2
Rudholm: 2
Andersson: 1
Göransson: 1
Björk: 1
Schie: 1

Victory margin:
Björk: 2,794
Göransson: 2,407
Dahlgren: 1,587
Ekblom: 1,056

Reliability:
Göransson: 100%
Rudholm: 100%
Nilsson: 100%
Björk: 91%
Ekblom: 91%
Dahlgren: 82%

Summary:

Göransson won thanks to a superior average finishing position and most wins. Notable is that Ekblom no doubt had the speed this year, topping qualifying average and fastest laps, but failed when it came to finish races and scoring more points. Interestingly enough things were the other way around last year between Göransson and Ekblom.

Dahlgren and the Volvo C30 was no doubt the star of one lap and the final two races of the season. But the Volvo-man suffered in the early stages of the season due to the all new C30-model.

(We have selected top six for some of the categories)