Johan Kristoffersson takes opening race win at Solvalla
A jump-start penalty for pole-sitter Daniel Haglöf gifted Johan Kristoffersson his fourth consecutive Scandinavian Touring Car Chamionship victory in the first race at Solvalla.
The Kristoffersson Motorsport driver, who started fourth after being stripped of pole post-qualifying, made a lightning start to run second in the early stages before Haglöf’s 3.5 second stop-and-go penalty.
Haglöf’s PWR team-mate Robert Dahlgren came home second, 2.585 seconds adrift in the SEAT León, with Mattias Andersson competing the podium in the Honda Civic.
Championship leader Fredrik Ekblom also receive a jump-start penalty and finished out of the points in 11th while Haglöf recovered to take seventh.
Keen to make the most of his first career pole position, Haglöf’s SEAT was clearly creeping as the lights were still red, making his subsequent penalty inevitable.
Until then, there was a real race between Haglöf and Kristoffersson who jumped Dahlgren and Ekblom off the line on the run down to the first corner. The KMS Volkswagen Golf hounded Haglöf in front without a viable overtake looking possible.
Once released however, it was a familiar story as Kristoffersson gradually bridged the gap between himself and Dahlgren to take an easy victory.
Behind the leading trio, Fredrik Blomstedt came out on top in a terrific race-long battle with Dennis Strandberg for fourth, the latter handing the KMS VW an easy pass by out-braking himself into the first corner.
The opening turn was the scene of action in the early stages as Marcus Annervi turned round the SEAT of Olli Kangas, who in turn, speared into LMS team-mate Kari-Pekka Laaksonen and causing a traffic-jam on the exit of turn two.
Both Kangas and Laaksonen retired shortly after while Annervi received a five-second penalty for unfair driving.
Despite a spin at the second corner on lap two, Tobias Brink brought some joy to the Brink Motorsport team with a point for tenth in the Audi RS 3 LMS.
All-in-all, it was a far more productive morning for the Audis as Joonas Lappalainen continued his superb form by claiming sixth, while Stockholm-native Reuben Kressner finished eighth ahead of Albin Wärnelöv, who fought his way through from the back of the grid to ninth.
Race two at Solvalla takes place at 13:05 CET
