Photo: STCC

Robert Dahlgren wins as Johan Kristoffersson makes rare mistake

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Robert Dahlgren won the first Scandinavian Touring Car Championship race of the Karlskoga weekend ahead of main title rival Fredrik Ekblom as pole sitter Johan Kristoffersson made a rare mistake to go off while leading.

Kristoffersson claimed the lead at the start of the race but made a mistake on the drying track on the opening lap and had to pit due to vibrations from mud in the wheels.

Dahlgren took over the lead and was chased down by Kristoffersson Motorsport’s Ekblom. The three-time STCC champion got closer and closer as the race progressed but never close enough to challenge the PWR Racing driver.

Dahlgren’s team-mate Daniel Haglöf received a drive through penalty for pushing Volkswagen driver Fredrik Blomstedt off track. Haglöf rejoined the track in eighth position and fought hard to get past Kia driver Nicklas Oscarsson, only to make a mistake and got passed by Volkswagen driver Andreas Ahlberg who made a strong charge from 16th on the grid to finish seventh.

Mattias Andersson claimed his second podium finish of 2017 for Honda Team Sweden from ninth on the grid, defending hard from Audi driver Joonas Lappalainen toward the end of the race. Lappalainen made a poor start and had to fight his way back past several drivers, finishing fourth.

Albin Wärnelöv of Lestrup Racing rounded off the top five, six seconds from race winner Dahlgren.

Brink Motorsport had a tough race with both drivers retiring their Audi RS 3 LMS race cars due to technical issues. The duo were involved in the fight for third place initially but dropped down the order to ultimately retire.

Dahlgren’s victory has extended his championship lead to 240 points, 36 points ahead of Kristoffersson and 39 points ahead of Ekblom. Race 2 starts at 13:45 CEST.