Photo: STCC

Fredrik Ekblom heads Volkswagen 1-2 as Johan Kristoffersson retires again

By

Fredrik Ekblom won the second STCC race of the weekend at Karlskoga ahead of Volkswagen team-mate Fredrik Blomstedt while championship leader and title rival Robert Dahlgren crossed the line in third.

Disaster struck once again for pole sitter Johan Kristoffersson who had to retire after the formation lap due to a broken driveshaft.

Ekblom claimed the lead with PWR Racing’s Daniel Haglöf right behind him in second. Haglöf braked too late coming into the first corner a couple of laps later, trying to pass Ekblom for the lead, and dropped to fifth.

The SEAT driver fought back to third place, including passing his team-mate Dahlgren, only to let him back past again to finish fourth.

Mattias Andersson scored another top five place in fifth for Honda Team Sweden, with Tobias Brink coming back from his retirement in race one to finish sixth for Brink Motorsport.

Andreas Ahlberg made a strong drive once again from the back of the field to finish seventh ahead of Finnish Audi driver Joonas Lappalapinen.

Ekblom’s victory has got the Volkswagen driver up to second place in the championship, past his team-mate Kristoffersson. Dahlgren is still in the lead, but with the gap to Ekblom reduced by 10 points to 29 points.

The third and final race of the day starts at 15:55 CEST.