Fredrik Ekblom fastest in opening practice in Knutstorp
Fredrik Ekblom was fastest in the first practice session of the new Scandinavian Touring Car Championship season at Ring Knutstorp in his KMS Volkswagen Golf.
The 2007 champion, who dominated the pre-season test at the same circuit, set time of 1:00.496, a full 0.23 seconds faster than PWR’s Robert Dahlgren in the SEAT.
Dahlgren set the early pace while the track was still relatively green, but Ekblom gradually brought the deficit down to a couple of hundredths of a second, before edging his nose in front.
Behind the top two, Brink Motorsport teammates continued their strong testing form with third and fourth in the hands of Tobias Brink and Micke Ohlsson respectively. They were the only Audi RS3s in the top 10, with series returnee Reuben Kressner the next best down in 14th.
Dennis Strandberg was fifth fastest for Lestrup Racing Team with a time of 1:00.778. The Helsingborg local was a tenth of a second faster than Renault Clio Cup graduate and teammate Albin Wärnelöv who rounded out the top six.
It was a disappointing session for Honda who lacked pace in comparison with the leading VWs and Audis. Mattias Andersson was the best of the trio of Hondas in 10th with a time of 1:00.921, some 0.7s off Ekblom.
Behind Andersson, Niklas Lilja and Marcus Annervi were the first runners lapping outside the one-minute barrier.
Nicklas Oscarsson piloted the new Kia Cee’d TCR to 13th fastest, while the field was completed by series debutants Mikaela Åhlin-Kottulinsky and Andreas Andersson.
Practice two at Ring Knutstorp begins at 11:40 CET.
