Commanding victory for Richard Göransson in first race of 2013

BMW driver Richard Göransson took a commanding victory in the first Scandinavian Touring Car Championship race of 2013 ahead of Volvo driver Robert Dahlgren.
“A great race, I am so pleased to have started the season like this. I gave it all during the first laps and I was able to pull up a gap,” said Göransson.

Göransson’s team mate Fredrik Larsson held pole position but nearly stalled on the grid and lost two positions. Dahlgren took the lead, but was only able to hold it for a couple of corners before Göransson threw his car on the inside to take the lead.
“There was nothing I could do about Göransson today, all credit to him. But I am pleased with second position today so far,” said Dahlgren.

Larsson tried to come back on Dahlgren in the early part of the race, launching an attack on the outside in to the first corner. But the maneuver only resulted in Volvo driver Thed Björk and Linus Ohlsson getting past, demoting Larsson to fifth.

As the race reached mid-point, Larsson had got past Ohlsson and closed in on Björk. Larsson was able to get past Björk for third after some contact and side-by-side racing.

Björk finished fourth ahead of manufacturer colleagues Ohlsson and Fredrik Ekblom, with the latter being really close to Ohlsson towards the end of the race but unable to get past.

Jocke Mangs was top Citroën driver in eighth ahead of Daniel Haglöf and Mattias Andersson. Prince Carl Philip Bernadotte had a good fight for Haglöf for ninth, being clearly faster. But Bernadotte made a mistake in to corner five, spinning off track and rejoining in 13th position.

The second race of the day starts at 15.30 CET.