Björk leads Volvo 1-2 in Gothenburg after tyre gamble
Thed Björk headed a Volvo 1-2 at the Gothenburg City Arena after gambling on slick tyres on a drying track.
“I was a bit doubtful at first on the choice of slicks. But it really payed off quite early in the race. But to score my third straight win and to extend the championship lead at the home of Volvo and Polestar is just awesome,” said Björk.
Heavy rainfall hit the circuit during qualifying and ahead of the race. But with about 30 minutes left until the race, the sky turned blue and the track started to dry up quickly. Björk, Robert Dahlgren and Robin Rudholm were the front runners to gamble on slick tyres while the majority of the field went for wet tyres, including pole position man Richard Göransson.
Göransson took the start and headed the field ahead of Linus Ohlsson and Fredrik Larsson. The drivers on slicks fell down the order and it was not until about half-point of the race that Björk started to gain on Göransson who by then had over 20 seconds in the lead.
Ohlsson and Larsson were involved in a hard fight for second position. The both went side by side for several corners, resulting in contact and a damaged front end of Larsson and a drive through penalty for Ohlsson.
But the fight between the two went to nothing as the drivers with slick tyres made their way past. Björk went in to the lead with about 5 minutes left of the race and eventually finished first with 10 seconds ahead of manufacturer colleague Dahlgren in second.
Rudholm secured his first podium finish of the season in third ahead of pole-sitter Göransson, who struggled hard on his wet tyres in the end.
Mattias Andersson secured his best ever finish for Dacia in fifth ahead of Larsson in sixth, Daniel Haglöf in seventh and Jocke Mangs in eighth. Fredrik Ekblom and Prince Carl Philip Bernadotte rounded off the top ten.
