Mattias Andersson secures his first win of 2019 at Karlskoga

MA:GP Honda driver Mattias Andersson controlled the first race of the day at the Gelleråsen Arena, winning the race ahead of championship leader Robert Dahlgren’s PWR Racing Cupra, while Dahlgren’s chief rival Andreas Wernersson battled his way through from seventh to fifth.

There was a casualty before the race even started, with the sole Danish entry of Louise Frost stopping on the formation lap with an apparent drive shaft failure on her Insight Racing Alfa Romeo Giulietta TCR.

At the start, Andersson had a typically strong launch from second on the grid in his Honda Civic Type R FK2 TCR and led into Turn 1 ahead of Dahlgren, with Andreas Ahlberg holding third in his Kågered Racing Volkswagen Golf GTI TCR.

Ahlberg’s team-mate Tomas Engström lost two spots to the Cupra of Mikaela Åhlin-Kottulinsky and the Audi of Tobias Brink, and was running in sixth at the end of the first lap after starting fourth.

Andersson began to pull away from the compensation weight-laden Cupra of Dahlgren, who was forced to defend in the early stages from the also light Volkswagen of Ahlberg.

The field spread out in the final laps, but Brink found himself under constant pressure from Engström’s Volkswagen, with the 55-year-old making a lunge at the final corner with two laps to go, with Brink running wide allowing both Engström and Wernersson through.

Engström then locked up with possible contact from Wernersson into Turn 1 on lap 16, with Wernersson, Brink and the Volkswagen of Albin Wärnelöv all making their way past him.

Andersson won the race by two seconds over Dahlgren, with Ahlberg completing the podium.

Dahlgren now leads the championship by 22 points over Wernersson, with Brink and Ahlberg now tied in third, 20 points further back.

Andersson has now moved past Åhlin-Kottulinsky to fifth in the standings after his victory.

Race 2 follows at 15:45 CEST with Tobias Brink’s Audi on pole position.