‘Punctures cost me a shot at Anderstorp pole’ – Fredrik Ekblom

A slow puncture in the final segment of qualifying hurt Fredrik Ekblom’s chances of claiming pole position at Anderstorp, according to the Kristoffersson Motorsport driver.

Ekblom, second in the points standings coming into the weekend, had already suffered a set-back in Q1 with a puncture on the back-straight, which left the 2007 STCC champion fourth on the grid for race one.

A similar issue in Q3 struck his Volkswagen Golf GTI, forcing Ekblom to abort his first flying lap. He ended the session third, two places – and two-tenths – behind title rival Robert Dahlgren’s PWR Racing SEAT.

“It’s frustrating because we had problems with a puncture again, so that disturbed me quite a lot in Q1, and then in the last run of Q3, I felt the side-wall of the tyre was f***ed,” Ekblom told TouringCarTimes.

“I made it through the last corner and into the pits but I feel this tyre we used is about two corners from going bang, because I now know the feeling from earlier in the session.”

He added: “In Q1 I noticed that the car wasn’t feeling right and I couldn’t drive it in the same way. Then I went three corners and ‘boom’, the tyre went on the straight.”

Conscious of championship implications in the event of further punctures, Ekblom – who lost a certain victory in the final race at Falkenberg in July due to a blow-out – harbours concerns ahead of Sunday’s three races.

Ekblom said: “We need to have a look at what we are doing wrong.

“I hope it will be better in the race because if I get a puncture, I get zero points, and I haven’t run more than five laps in total yet.

“I think we should have tried this tyre before we arrived in Anderstorp because now tonight, we will have to guess a bit on what it’s going to do.”