Andreas Ahlberg targeting Falkenberg podium from sixth

Micke Kågered Racing’s Andreas Ahlberg believes he can fight for a podium in Sunday’s three Scandinavian Touring Car Championship races at Falkenberg, after a strong qualifying.

Set-up changes made to his Volkswagen Golf GTI after two frustrating test sessions – 13th place in both – Ahlberg comfortably managed to make it into Q2 with the sixth fastest time, despite a lock-up limiting him to a solitary run.

“I had two clear laps to try to make it through [to Q2] but I locked up my brakes into the chicane and had to abort it,” Ahlberg told TouringCarTimes. “So then I only had one lap!”

“I was disappointed with practice because I wasn’t so far off the fastest guys, but when I looked at the times, I was P13. We made some set-up changes, so I pushed like hell and thankfully I made it through.”

Ahlberg has struggled for outright pace in qualifying sessions this season, but has been able to turn things around in races, scoring a best result of sixth in Solvalla and Alastaro.

Now the former V8 Thundercars driver is adament he has the speed in the races to take his Volkswagen Golf to the podium.

“Qualifying has always been the hardest part for us,” he said. “We have a far better car in the races than we’ve had in qualy so I am hopeful that we can fight for the top three in the races.”

“The car feels a lot better now since the set-up was changed so I’m ready for the challenge.”