Mikaela Åhlin-Kottulinsky blasts “inconsistent” stewards after Race 2 penalty

PWR Junior driver Mikaela Åhlin-Kottulinsky has hit out at the “inconsistency” of decisions made by STCC officials after she was stripped of fifth place in the second race at Anderstorp.

Åhlin-Kottulinsky had started 11th but made her way through the field, in part to the first corner incident which took out Brink Motorsport’s Tobias Brink and held up a number of drivers behind.

Despite the first turn carnage, Åhlin-Kottulinsky managed to work her way up to a net eighth after passing both Micke Ohlsson and Andreas Ahlberg.

But the 22-year-old was handed a 30-second penalty for her part in contact which sent the Lestrup Racing VW Golf GTI of Dennis Strandberg into the gravel and out of the race.

Strandberg and Åhlin-Kottulinsky came together in the first race, putting the latter out on the spot, with Strandberg escaping without punishment.

The Audi RS 3 LMS driver voiced her frustration and labelled the decision as ‘completely wrong’.

Speaking to TouringCarTimes, Åhlin-Kottulinsky said: “I definitely don’t think my punishment was right. Strandberg hit me in the first race but didn’t get a penalty, but now I get something.

“This has happened before with this judge, that people crash into me and don’t get penalised, but I do one thing and get a penalty,” she continued.

“I don’t think there’s any consistency with the decisions that are made in this championship and for them to punish me and not the others is really unfair.”

For Strandberg, he believes there was a distinct difference between the two incidents and put the blame firmly towards Åhlin-Kottulinsky for their race two clash.

He said: “I just went into the corner, and I felt a big hit from behind. She was far too far behind and all of a sudden my race is over.”

“Her penalty didn’t help me in the clasification but it’s good that the stewards took the decision they did,” Strandberg added.