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Rickard Rydell pleased despite missed podium

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Rickard Rydell was unable to make the podium in the Scandinavian Touring Car Championship premiere. But the 1998 BTCC champion was nonetheless pleased.
“I am pleased with the weekend. I would of course have liked to step up onto the podium, but 22 points is a good haul as many of my opponents did not do well,” said Rydell.

Rydell qualified fifth, 0,136 seconds from pole, after having been fastest in the first qualifying session.

“I made a couple of mistakes that cost me some time. Disappointing for sure as I was fastest in the first qualifying session,” said Rydell.

The first race saw Rydell finishing fourth and the second race fifth, after a hard fight with the Volvo duo of James Thompson and Tommy Rustad.

“I had too much understeer in the first race and the car went much better in the second race. I got stuck behind Thompson but gained a place when Rustad eliminated Thompson,” said Rydell.

While Chevrolet Team Sweden fields two cars for this season, Rydell was alone in the two races. Team mate Viktor Hallrup had to sit out both races due to missing parts for the gearbox in his Chevrolet Cruze.