Photo: STCC - Daniel Ahlgren

Hard fight expected in STCC season finale at Mantorp Park

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The final STCC race weekend of 2013 will be held at Mantorp Park this weekend with a hard fight for the final top positions of the year expected. While the fight for the STCC title was decided last weekend in favor of Volvo’s Thed Björk, the fight is on for second place in the championship.

The contenders are BMW driver Richard Göransson, currently holding second place, Volvo driver Robert Dahlgren, in third position 31 points further behind, and Fredrik Ekblom, also driving for Volvo, in fourth position, a further eight points behind.
“Second place in the championship is very important for both me and the team. It is kind of cool to be on the threshold of my 40th STCC victory with BMW in my 10th STCC season. It would be a nice anniversary to end the year with,” said Göransson.

Ekblom has scored most points of the three in the past couple of races and the Volvo Polestar Racing driver is expecting a tough fight.
“I want to reach the overall podium in the championship and Mantorp is a perfect circuit for me. A lot of drivers will drive hard this weekend to secure a good final result of the year. I am ready,” said Ekblom.

BMW Dealer Team WestCoast Racing have expanded to four cars this weekend, with Robin Rudholm returning and STCC newcomer Philip Forsman joining. The expansion and subsequent extra test session allowed for Forsman, as well as for Andreas Wernersson of Brovallen Design, has upset drivers in the field, with Daniel Haglöf, currently best non Volvo or BMW driver in the championship, criticizing the test.
“These teams are going to have a big advantage compared to the other of us who won’t get the extra test. I am still hoping that we can come close to the results we had at Tierp Arena when I finished fourth. We had a good car there and we are brining that to Mantorp,” said Haglöf.

The driver closest to Haglöf in the championship is Dacia Dealer Team driver Mattias Andersson who lives not far from Mantorp Park.
“Mantorp is the track I know best, I have raced here many times since I started with racing in 1991. The goal is as always to reach the top five, but to end the year with a podium would of course be a dream,” said Andersson.

The STCC race weekend at Mantorp Park features two races of 20 minutes each, starting at 12.40 CET on Saturday.

Mantorp Park Entry List

Driver – Team – Car
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 – WestCoast Racing – BMW SR
Philip Forsman – WestCoast Racing – BMW SR
Jocke Mangs – Brovallen Design – Citroën C5
Andreas Wernersson – Brovallen Design – Citroën C5
Tomas Engström – Engström Motorsport – Honda Civic
Mattias Andersson – Dacia Dealer Team – Dacia SE
Roger Samuelsson – Team Tidö – Saab 9-3
Daniel Haglöf – PWR Racing – Saab 9-3
Daniel Roos – Picko Troberg Racing – Saab 9-3

Schedule

Friday 20/9
13.30 – Test 1
16.15 – Test 2

Saturday 21/9
09.00 – Q1
09.20 – Q2
09.35 – Q3
12.40 – Race 1
15.25 – Race 2

All times are CET.