Photo: STCC Media

Robert Dahlgren: “A good feeling” heading into the break with the lead

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Robert Dahlgren heads into the summer break with a 31 point lead in the drivers’ standings over surprise title rival Andreas Wernersson, after scoring both his best and worst results of the season at Falkenberg this weekend.

The reigning champion, carrying the 20kg maximum success ballast after his success last time out at Anderstorp, maximised a wet-dry-wet qualifying session to take his first pole, which he converted into his first win of the year despite a sluggish start in his PWR Racing Cupra TCR.

In the second race from tenth on the grid, he rose as high as fourth, before losing spots in the final laps due to a technical problem and finished sixth, the first time he hasn’t finished on the podium this year.

“In Race 2, when there were nine laps to go I overtook (Andreas) Wernersson and pulled away a little bit, but then had trouble on my right-front,” said Dahlgren to TouringCarTimes. “I don’t know what it was but I had an enormous vibration. I called the pits and asked to prepare a new tyre as I thought I had a puncture.

“It really slowed me down so I had a back off which is why I lost places. I thought I had another podium coming, but these things happen and luckily I didn’t have a puncture.”

The reigning champion now leads Lestrup Racing Team’s Andreas Wernersson in the standings after another steady weekend for the Volkwagen driver, while a puncture for KMS Volkswagen driver Johan Kristoffersson in Race 2, and a mixed weekend for PWR team-mate and title rival Daniel Haglöf sees them both fall further behind in the standings.

“Ahead of the season, I wouldn’t have put (Wernersson) in second place at the half-way point, but he’s a good driver and the team is a hardworking team with good people. We’re still strong in terms of pace, as is (Johan) Kristoffersson, and a lot of things will happen before the end of the year, even though there’s only three rounds to go, which feels strange to say.

“It’s still a very good feeling to have this lead and to top it off with a win today was fantastic.”