Photo: STCC Media

Mattias Andersson takes his first win since 2016 at Falkenberg

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Mattias Andersson has taken his first win in the STCC since the season finale of 2016, and his first in the TCR era in the second race at Falkenberg, holding off a charge in his Honda from KMS’s Johan Kristoffersson, who retired with a puncture late in the race.

Andersson had a perfect start from third on the grid in his Honda Civic TCR and sailed past the two Brink Motorsport Audis of Tobias Brink and Micke Ohlsson and into the lead.

Brink and Ohlsson briefly held station, before Ohlsson found himself under threat from Philip Morin’s PWR Cupra, with Morin moving ahead at the chicane before they made contact, with Morin dropping out of the top ten and with Ohlsson regaining the position.

Ohlsson lost two spots just two laps later when both the Volkswagens of Johan Kristoffersson and Fredrik Ekblom made their way past him in move.

Ohlsson’s race then ended with a driveshaft failure, while Kristoffersson blasted past Brink’s Audi for second on lap 12 and closed in on race leader Andersson.

Ekblom then passed Brink’s Audi in lap 17 and started to close in on the leading pair, but the battle for the lead ended on lap 21 when Johan Kristoffersson suffered a front-left puncture and was forced to return to the pits.

The safety car was out as the Volkswagen of Nicklas Oscarsson was recovered from Turn 3, leaving a two-lap dash for the flag at the end, with Andersson holding on to take the victory ahead of Ekblom and Brink.

Robert Dahlgren lost two places on the final two laps and dropped from fourth to sixth behind the Volkswagens of Andreas Wernersson and Hugo Nerman, but still extends his points lead, now over Wernersson, who finds himself second in the drivers’ standings, 31 points behind.

Philip Morin recovered to finish seventh in his PWR Cupra, ahead of Oliver Söderström’s Lestrup Volkswagen, with Mikaela Åhlin-Kottulinsky passing team-mate Daniel Haglöf on the final lap to snatch ninth.

The STCC now heads into its summer break, with the next round at Karlskoga on August 19th.