Tomas Engström wins for Honda at Sturup

Tomas Engström has taken his first STCC win in three years for Honda Racing Sweden at Sturup Raceway, and has also taken the first ever win for a Next Generation Touring Car (NGTC) powered car in the Scandinavian Touring Car Championship.

Engström started from pole position for the first race and led from lights to flag, holding just under a two second lead to IPS Team Biogas’s Johan Stureson throughout the race, who had got the jump on Michel Nykjaer’s Chevrolet at the start.

Reigning champion Rickard Rydell passed championship rival Johan Kristoffersson for fifth place on lap two, and held station till the end of the race, reducing Kristoffersson’s points lead from four points to two going into the second race of the day, where Rydell will start fifth and Kristoffersson second.

Tony Johansson retired on lap six in the G-Rex Mercedes, whilst Robin Appelqvist’s race ended early with the SEAT Dealer Team driver pulling into the pits to retire on lap 15.

Niclas Olsson finished as the top Semcon Cup driver in eighth in the normally aspirated SEAT León.

Engström’s win the first for Honda since Giovanardi triumphed at Jyllandsringen last season with the Hartmann Racing team, and Engström’s first win since Gothenburg in 2009, then with the Accord.

The win is also a first for the STCC, being the first win for a car equipped with a 2.0 litre turbocharged engine built to the British Touring Car Championship’s NGTC regulations.

Engström starts third on the grid in the second race of the day which gets underway at 15:15 CET.