Photo: Mediaempire.se

Jan “Flash” Nilsson claims 34th STCC victory

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50-year-old Jan “Flash” Nilsson secured his 34th STCC victory in the second race of the day at Mantorp Park. The Flash Engineering driver claimed the lead on the first lap and stayed ahead of new championship leader Tommy Rustad.
“Wonderful! For a driver that supposedly is too old, I have to say that this result is okay,” said “Flash” to TouringCarTimes.

Volvo Polestar Racing driver Rustad put pressure on “Flash” in the start of the race but was never able to get close enough for an attack.
“It has been an okay weekend, taking over the championship lead is great though. I was disappointed with the first race while the second race was better. I tried to put pressure on Jan in the start, but then I did not want to stress my tires too hard,” said Rustad.

Tomas Engström had yet another consistent race to secure his second podium finish of the weekend.
“I am really pleased after all the hard work we have had in the team. The Honda worked great today,” said Engström.

Rickard Rydell fought his way from eighth to fourth in the race and was really close to Engström in the end. James Thompson followed Rydell though a couple of close battles during the race to finish fifth in the end. The both had a hard fight in the first part of the race, with Rydell throwing his Chevrolet Cruze on the inside of Thompson’s Volvo C30 in a brave move at the high speed Mjölby corner.

Race one winner Fredrik Ekblom crossed the line as sixth ahead of Roger Eriksson and Patrik Olsson. BMW men Martin Öhlin and Colin Turkington claimed the final points of the race, with Turkington getting past previous championship leader Johan Stureson on the final lap.

Pole man Alx Danielsson had a troublesome race and retired on lap six after going off track and damaging his SEAT León.

Rustad heads the championship on 72 points ahead of Rydell and Ekblom on equal points for second with 67 points. Former championship leader Stureson drops to fourth on 57 points with no points at all from this weekend. Team mates Turkington and “Flash” shares fifth on 48 points.

STCC continues on the streets of Gothenburg in four weeks.