Fredrik Ekblom hangs on to take race two win at Falkenberg

Fredrik Ekblom withstood a stern attack from Robert Dahlgren to take victory in an action-packed second STCC race of the day at Falkenberg.

Having made another tardy start from pole position, Ekblom profited from Kristoffersson Motorsport team-mates Johan Kristoffersson and Fredrik Blomstedt holding each other up while fighting for the lead to head Dahlgren to the flag.

Daniel Haglöf finished third in the second of the PWR SEAT Leóns.

Blomstedt again got the best getaway from second on the grid to leapfrog Ekblom on the run down to the first chicane. In a repeat of the opening race, Kristoffersson also got the better of Ekblom as they made their way round the first lap.

Andreas Ahlberg’s miserable race weekend continued on the opening tour as he spun off into the gravel at the fast turn six. His Volkswagen Golf GTI appeared to twitch left and right before being jettisoned off track, causing the safety car to come out.

Upon resumption, Blomstedt immediately found himself under pressure from Kristoffersson who pulled alongside his team-mate as they crossed the line. Kristoffersson narrowly avoided taking Blomstedt out after out-braking himself into the chicane and taking to the escape road.

Kristoffersson rejoined the track as Blomstedt, who had already lost the lead to Ekblom exiting the corner, and Dahlgren ran side-by-side into turn four. Dahlgren muscled his way past to take second, while the squabbling KMS VWs allowed Haglöf to move up to third.

The leading four remained nose-to-tail for the duration of the 21-lap encounter with Ekblom fiercely defending the challenge of Dahlgren, particularly in the closing stages. Blomstedt made several fained attempts at getting past Haglöf, but the race-one winner couldn’t quite manage to find a gap big enough for his Golf GTI.

Blomstedt eventually took himself out of contention for a second top-four result on the final lap when his car went straight at the same corner that Ahlberg met his match. This time, with an apparent puncture, Blomstedt scrubbed little if any speed off and hit the tyre barrier hard. He was unhurt.

Taking fourth behind Ekblom, Dahlgren and Haglöf was Kristoffersson who, with 45kg of success ballast lost crucial points in his battle with Dahlgren at the top of the points standings.

Audi endured a race of contrasting fortunes. Reuben Kressner and Joonas Lappalainen finished fifth and sixth respectively with Tobias Brink ninth in the Brink Motorsport Audi RS 3 LMS.

His team-mate Micke Ohlsson finished a lowly 16th after contact with the PWR Junior car of Mikaela Åhlin-Kottulinsky.

Åhlin-Kottulinsky made a daring late-braking move down the inside of Ohlsson at the chicane, but tagged the Audi in front, sending Ohlsson wide with damage. An action-filled lap for Åhlin-Kottulinsky ended with a wild slide into the gravel at the high-speed final turn as she attempted to go round the outside of Nicklas Oscarsson’s Kia Cee’d. She finished 12th at the flag.

Oscarsson himself looked certain to score more points until a clumsy overtaking attempt from LMS Racing’s Kari-Pekka Laaksonen tipped the former Renault Clio Cup driver, who eventually finished 15th, into the gravel at turn one.

After sustaining heavy damage in the first race, both Mattias Andersson in the Honda Civic and Lestrup Racing’s Albin Wärnelöv scored points, with seventh and eighth respectively.

Race three at Falkenberg begins at 15:55 CEST.