Dahlgren wins ahead of team mate Rustad
Volvo continued the weekend in dominating fashion and took a 1-2 in the race just as in qualifying. Robert Dahlgren won the race ahead of team mate Tommy Rustad.
“Fantastic! The race went perfectly despite that we had an airhose that exploded in the car right before the start,” said Dahlgren.
Behind the two Volvo’s, BMW competitors Richard Göransson and Thed Björk had a really hard fight. The fight went on through out the entire race and it was not until the last lap that it was decided.
Björk was quicker and managed to pass Göransson in the final corner with four laps to go. But on the last lap Björk made a mistake and Göransson passed him instantly.
“I sold him a dummy and was able to pass. But there was nothing to do about the Volvo’s in this race, hats off to them,” said Göransson.
Björk finished behind Göransson in fourth and was a bit disappointed.
“I was much quicker than him, but as I got past, my rear tyres just died and I made a mistake. But we are going to change the car for next race,” said Björk.
Jan “Flash” Nilsson made a solid race and finished fifth after starting seventh. Mantorp Park home boy Mattias Andersson finished sixth ahead of Johan Stureson and Thomas Schie.
Best privateer driver was Johan Kristoffersson in the Audi A4 in tenth just behind Roger Eriksson.
The race had two safety car session due to Robin Rudholm. The WestCoast Racing driver made a bad start and collided slightly with Viktor Huggare on the exit to the long straight.
The front suspension was broken on the BMW and Rudholm had to watch the race from the side of the track. The race officials seemed to bring in the safety car too early as the track marshals had not cleared Rudholm’s car when the green flag came out first.
The safety car then went out again for two laps to let the marshals clear Rudholm’s car.
The second race starts 15.30 CET and the grid order is decided with top eight from the first race reversed. That means Schie in pole position ahead of Stureson and Andersson.
