Daniel Haglöf wins eventful race as Robert Dahlgren’s car catches fire

Daniel Haglöf claimed his third ever STCC victory in the first and eventful race at Solvalla as title candidate Robert Dahlgren was forced to retire as his car caught fire.

Björn Wirdheim started from pole position only to lose the lead on the first lap when he braked too late into corner four, enabling SEAT driver Haglöf to snatch the lead and keep it to the finish line.

This left Wirdheim in a furious battle for second place with Richard Göransson, Dahlgren and newcomer Philip Morin.

The fight was hardest between Polestar Cyan Racing team-mates Göransson and Dahlgren with the duo swapping paint and places several times. Göransson started ahead of Dahlgren but lost positions in the first corner of the start when making a half-spin due to a light rain shower.

Göransson was able to fight back, seemingly having the pace on the drivers ahead of him. But in the battle with his team-mate and title rival, Göransson went into the back of Dahlgren that pushed his rear bodywork into the rear tyres.

The rubbing of the tyres against the bodywork started a fire that saw Dahlgren retiring from the race and the marshals quickly putting the fire out. Dahlgren said after the race that the team is expecting to have the car ready for race two.

Flash Engineering driver Wirdheim kept second place while Morin fought back up after a spin on the first lap to take third ahead of Göransson who pulled up his championship lead from 13 to 25 points as Dahlgren scored zero points.

Reuben Kressner finished in fourth with Dacia Dealer Team driver Mattias Andersson in sixth and Ford driver Rasmus Mårthen in a distant seventh and last place.

Nissan driver Linus Ohlsson was involved in the top fight early in the race but had to retire from bodywork damage.

The second race of the day starts at 16:00 CET.