Rickard Rydell: “The chance is still there”

Rickard Rydell had a tough STCC weekend at Jyllandsringen where he started off by retiring from the first race on the first lap.
“It was a messy start and unfortunately I ended almost immediately in the gravel trap,” said Rydell.

At that point, with championship rival Fredrik Ekblom finishing third, the gap to the championship lead had grown to 20 points for Rydell.
“I was very disappointed at the time, it felt like the chance of winning the championship had slipped through my fingers. 20 points behind Fredrik Ekblom and only 19th on the grid for race two, it did not look too good,” said Rydell.

The second race saw Rydell climbing from 19th on the grid to fifth over the finishing line, taking advantage of the first lap chaos.
“The second race was one of my best in a long time. I made a very good start and was lucky to go on the inside of the cars that collided in front of me. My last overtaking maneuver was under yellow flags when the sign for the safety car came up, and I had to let two cars through. At the restart I passed a few cars and later my teammate Viktor Hallrup moved over from sixth place,” said Rydell.

Rydell became involved in an incident with Johan Stureson a couple of laps later, resulting in a spin for Stureson.
“Ahead of me Johan Stureson and Johan Kristoffersson had a fight over fourth place. Stureson had a slow exit out of one corner and I went on the inside when he changed his line and steered into my car,” said Rydell.

Fifth in the race meant that Rydell could limit the damage to his point gap to Ekblom in the championship lead.
“That fifth place was very important going into the two last race weekends at Knutstorp and Mantorp. I still have a chance of winning the championship but Ekblom is doing a good job and currently has the upper hand,” said Rydell.