Saving tyres crucial to securing maiden podium for Reuben Kressner

Reuben Kressner feels his tyre preservation in the early stages of the final race at Falkenberg helped him secure a maiden Scandinavian Touring Car Championship podium.

Having started the third race from seventh, the Brovallen Design driver profited from an array of punctures from the leading runners to claim his first top-three finish in the series.

Kristoffersson Motorsport lost two of its drivers in a race of attrition, pole-sitter Fredrik Blomstedt before the start due to accident damage caused by a punture, and Fredrik Ekblom who crashed out of the lead when his front-left tyre also blew.

PWR Racing’s Daniel Haglöf also fell by the wayside early on, and had to pit to replace his tyre.

Making his way through the carnage was Kressner, who finished the day ecstatic, if a little stunned. Speaking to TouringCarTimes, Kressner said: “what a race!”

“Coming into the weekend this result was impossible for me. This year, a good result for me has been to go from P14 to P10, and now P3 is unbeleivable.”

He added: “the punctures were in my mind the whole race. I knew I had to just take it easy at the start with the kerbs, and then push at the end, because I knew I had the pace.”

Such was the pace of Kressner and the apparent trepidation of Dahlgren in front, that the Brovallen Design driver almost made a move for second place on the points leader.

But with one eye on the result, Kressner backed off in the closing stages of the lap to take his Audi RS 3 LMS to a strong third place.

“I really wanted to get past Dahlgren on the final lap. I felt I was much faster in the first corner, although I don’t know if he was taking it easy or what but I was close. But I also had to remember that it was the first time in the top three so had to make sure of the finish.”