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Pics: Test for Turkington, Göransson and more at Knutstorp

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Five STCC teams completed their first test session of 2011 at Knutstorp today. Former BTCC champion Colin Turkington turned his first laps of the Swedish track and was pleased.
“It is good to get back in the groove. I feel comfortable in the team and with the car. We did some longer runs to get a feel for the circuit. The characteristics of Knutstorp is rather special, but I like it,” said Turkington to TouringCarTimes.

Quadruple STCC champion Richard Göransson was present during the test, testing out a new development program with the Swedish damper manufacturer Öhlins.

“We have developed some new things with Öhlins and we had a lot of things done on our first test day of the year. It is great to get going and we have a lot to do tomorrow,” said Göransson.

Göransson’s new team mate for this year, Martin Öhlin, completed his first proper test day with the S2000 BMW 320si, after having taken part in the Porsche Carrera Cup Scandinavia last year.

“This was a lot of run. Things are moving in the right directions and I have a lot of impressions to take in. I have gone through a lot of data with Richard [Göransson] and I look forward to test some new ideas tomorrow,” said Öhlin.

1996 and 1997 champion Jan “Flash” Nilsson, team mate to Turkington, starts his 16th STCC season this year and the 50-year-old Swede looks forward to the season start.

“The car worked really well today, the things we have gone through this winter has payed off and I can’t wait for the season start,” said “Flash”.

The Volkswagen-team with drivers Fredrik Ekblom and Patrik Olsson completed a lot of laps in the CNG powered Volkswagen Sciroccos.

“The team knows the cars inside out, we are focusing our energy on fine tuning the cars carefully ahead of the season premiere,” said Ekblom.

Also present during the test was Alfa Romeo-driver Mattias Andersson and privateer BMW-driver Andreas Ebbesson. Testing continues tomorrow at Knutstorp with the Volvo Polestar Racing team and Brovallen Design joining.

There was no official timing during the day, but the majority of the times were set at around 62 seconds, with some drivers breaking in to lap times of 61 seconds.