Decisive weather awaits STCC in Gothenburg

Difficult weather conditions are forecasted for the STCC race at Gothenburg City Arena this weekend with rain showers and sunshine mixed. With no races so far being held in the rain with the new STCC cars, the top could be turned around this weekend.

The statistics points at championship leader Thed Björk who has the most number of wins in Gothenburg, three, including both TTA races there last year.
“I am pushing to keep the flow from Solvalla and we’ll see if the others can keep up. They haven’t been able to do that for the past two races,” said Björk.

Manufacturer colleague Robert Dahlgren is also on the subject of statistics ahead of the weekend as the Volvo driver celebrates his 100th STCC race this weekend.
“It feels amazing to celebrate 100 races on the home circuit of Volvo Polestar Racing and I hope that we can celebrate with champagne on Saturday. I have so many good memories from the races in Gothenburg and I love to race here,” said Dahlgren.

While the statistics might point to Volvo, the BMW drivers are out for revenge this weekend after a nightmare weekend in Stockholm three weeks. Richard Göransson was penalized for a jump start and spun in the race, team mate Fredrik Larsson got black flagged after ignoring a drive through penalty for turning Linus Ohlsson around and Robin Rudholm had to retire after contact with Dahlgren.
“We have shown that we have the speed with fastest laps in all races so far and we are for sure not concerned or under pressure. The main task this weekend is to gain on the championship lead, a quite obvious goal,” said Göransson.

A dark horse for this weekend might be Dacia driver Mattias Andersson. The Swede has had a tough start to the season but he showed an impressive form in the Gothenburg races last and the track seems to suit Andersson.
“Gothenburg is very technical and demands precision. You have to touch the barriers with the side mirrors on many places to get the max out of a lap. One of my strengths is that I am careful with the line and you get rewarded for that in Gothenburg. My goal is to get on to Q2 in Gothenburg and we know that we have the capacity for that here,” said Andersson.

Another driver with a strong track record at Gothenburg City Arena is Jocke Mangs who had a dreadful weekend at Solvalla where he retired on the grid with a broken driveshaft.
“I lost a lot of important points at Solvalla and I have to get up to take the highest points if I am to have anything to do with the top places of the championship later this year. I like the track, it is challenging and I have four podium finishes on five starts at the track,” said Mangs.

Other drivers to watch out for this weekend is Linus Ohlsson who had a strong run in the TTA season finale in Gothenburg last year, Daniel Haglöf who surprised everyone with a podium here last year and Norwegian Saab driver Roar Lindland who has had a lot of success in the support classes at this track in the past.

The race weekend in Gothenburg features one race of 40 minutes with testing starting on Friday and qualifying and race on Saturday.

Entry list Gothenburg

Fredrik Ekblom – Volvo Polestar Racing – Volvo S60
Thed Björk – Volvo Polestar Racing – Volvo S60
Robert Dahlgren – Volvo Polestar Performance – Volvo S60
Linus Ohlsson – Volvo Polestar Performance – Volvo S60
Carl Philip Bernadotte – Volvo Polestar – Volvo S60
Richard Göransson – BMW Dealer Team – BMW SR
Fredrik Larsson – BMW Dealer Team – BMW SR
Robin Rudholm – Xlander Racing WCR – BMW SR
Jocke Mangs – Brovallen Design – Citroën C5
Niclas Olsson – Brovallen Design – Citroën C5
Tomas Engström – Engström Motorsport – Honda Civic
Mattias Andersson – Dacia Dealer Team – Dacia SE
Roar Lindland – Team Tidö – Saab 9-3
Daniel Haglöf – PWR Racing – Saab 9-3
Alexander Graff – Picko Troberg Racing – Saab 9-3

Schedule Gothenburg

Friday 28/6
13.10 – STCC Test 1
17.30 – STCC Test 2

Saturday 29/6
12.25 – STCC Kval Q1
12.55 – STCC Kval Q2
13.00 – STCC Kval Q3
15.05 – STCC Race