Photo: Racefoto.se

Mattias Andersson bemoans “disappointing weekend” at Skellefteå

MA:GP’s efforts to replace the engine in Mattias Andersson’s car went relatively unrewarded, with the Honda driver picking up sixth place in Race 1 at Skellefteå, before a DNF in Race 2, although the 12 points he picked up could be key later in the season.

With a short entry of just eight cars making the long trek up to Norrland, the northern section of Sweden, the team made a 2,000km round trip back to Linköping on Friday night to fetch the spare engine after it failed in FP1.

In Race 1, Andersson made up two spots, passing Peter ‘Poker’ Wallenberg’s PWR Racing Cupra, and gathering a spot by default when Hannes Morin’s Audi RS 3 LMS suffered a puncture on the first lap.

In Race 2, Andersson made a lightning start from last to be second into Turn 1, but was deemed to have jumped and handed a drive-through penalty.

Even finishing eighth wasn’t a possibility following a broken upright later in the race, possibly linked to contact at Turn 2 at the start, when PWR Racing’s Robert Dahlgren fought his way back past.

“Suddenly the car just turned left, I don’t really know what happened,” said Andersson to TouringCarTimes.

“My start was on the limit, but there’s nothing we can do after the race,” he said. “It was good we scored some points, but overall it was a disappointing weekend.”