Broken driveshaft curtails Albin Wärnelöv’s running in first test

Lestrup Racing’s Albin Wärnelöv suffered a broken driveshaft on his Volkswagen which halted his running towards the end of the opening STCC test session at Solvalla, his team confirmed.

Wärnelöv ended the session ninth fastest, behind team-mate Dennis Strandberg, but damaged his car on one of Solvalla’s notoriously high kerbs with two minutes remaining.

“The track was very green, very slippery,” explained Wärnelöv to TouringCarTimes, who set a best lap-time of 46.081s.

“At the end of the session, I clipped one of the kerbs a bit too much and it broke the driveshaft. It isn’t ideal but at least it is a quick fix.

“The kerbs are so big but you can’t really see them from the cockpit. If you just brush them, then it is no problem and you carry on. If you go a couple of centimeters closer to them, you risk breaking something,” added the VW driver.

The former Clio Cup driver had an eventful session, three times taking to the gravel on the exit of the Stockholm circuit’s final hairpin.

Despite these incidents, Wärnelöv remained confident of finding more time ahead of qualifying.

“I think we can still find about half a second,” he said. “The field is so tight, one mistake can mean you lose four or five positions. We’ve made some small changes to the car so I’m hopeful we can find more speed.”

Second practice at Solvalla begins at 16:20 CET, while qualifying takes place later on at 18:50 CET.