Erik Jonsson takes maiden victory under safety car

Erik Jonsson claimed his first ever STCC victory in a crash-filled first race at Gothenburg City Arena which was finished under safety car. The BMW driver started from the reversed grid pole position and managed to fend off the fast starting Dacia Dealer Team driver Mattias Andersson during the first couple of laps.

Andersson was unable to maintain the pressure on Jonsson as Kia driver Linus Ohlsson threw his car past Andersson in the final corner of the lap. Ohlsson finished second to take his best finish of the season, with Andersson taking third and his best ever result for Dacia.

The first incident came on the second lap as Philip Forsman and Fredrik Ekblom collided. Ekblom tried to go on the inside of Forsman in turn three, resulting in a tap and spin for Forsman who retired on the spot due to rear suspension damage. Ekblom was able to continue but was awarded with a drive through penalty to ultimately finish sixth.

It was not long after the safety car had entered the pits again that the second and bigger incident came. Volvo Polestar Racing driver Thed Björk had been tapped into a spin by Richard Göransson which the Saab driver was penalised with a drive through penalty for.

As Björk climbed back up through the field, he went on the outside of Emma Kimiläinen into turn three. The both made contact, a piece of body work came loose and resulted in a puncture for Kimiläinen who spun into the barriers. Björk and Kia driver Andreas Wernersson were unable to avoid Kimiläinen’s Saab, resulting in a forceful impact between Kimiläinen and Wernersson, with retirement for both of them.

Björk was able to continue to finish ninth and last under safety car.

Fredrik Larsson spun on his own on the opening lap and dropped to last. But the BMW driver managed to climb back up to fifth position and retakes the championship lead due to the following chaos of the other drivers.

The second race of the day starts at 15.30 CET.