Robert Dahlgren battles back from contact with Hugo Nerman to score pole

Robert Dahlgren’s first pole of 2018 today at Falkenberg nearly didn’t come at all, when the PWR Racing driver was hit in the rear by the KMS Volkswagen of Hugo Nerman at the start of the second part of qualifying.

The 38-year-old, who now extends his championship lead by five points over team-mate Daniel Haglöf after Haglöf was caught out by the rain and failed to make the top 12, had a brief scare as brought his damaged Cupra TCR back into the pit lane after the collision.

“Hugo made quite a big mistake. I could see it coming from far behind and he hit me which slowed him down but he still managed to go across the gravel. It’s not a problem though, he’s apologised and stuff like this happens,” said Dahlgren.

“The weather was special for everyone as we haven’t done any driving in the wet this weekend. I had to shoot from the hip a bit and get a lap together and it worked well.”

19-year-old Nerman, the points leader in the junior category, admitted it was his lack of experience in these conditions that was the key factor, though with seventh and fourth on the grid for tomorrow’s two races, he’s still in a good position.

“Just five minutes before the session it just started raining, so we had no time to change any set-ups, it was just put on the rain tyres, and go,” said Nerman to TouringCarTimes.

“I have no experience of this track in the rain, so it was quite interesting to explore the lines and find some good pace.

“In Q2, I tried to push and locked up the brakes in Turn1 – after that I went into the tyre barriers and broke my cooler, so I had to stay in the pits. I got some fast laps in but not enough, but we still start seventh and fourth so have some good chances tomorrow.

“We have some good pace in the dry, but I don’t have as much experience as the other guys in the rain. “