Photo: Simon Blanck

Mattias Andersson steals win from Tobias Brink at the line in Race 1

Mattias Andersson has claimed his second win of the 2019 TCR Scandinavia Touring Car Championship, and could have ended Tobias Brink’s title chances, after an epic battle in the final laps of the first race at Mantorp Park.

Andersson launched from third on the grid to second into the first corner in his MA:GP Honda Civic TCR, chopping off the PWR Racing Cupra TCR of points leader Robert Dahlgren, while Brink led the way in his Brink Motorsport Audi RS 3 LMS.

The two drivers quickly began to pull away from Dahlgren, who was left on his own in third, while a few seconds behind was his returning team-mate Daniel Haglöf, who was fighting his own battle, trying to keep the Audi of Andreas Wernersson behind.

The battle raged on between Haglöf and Wernersson, who also had the PWR Cupra of Mikaela Åhlin-Kottulinsky right with him and so couldn’t take too many risks or could have fallen back.

Up front, Brink and Andersson quietly pulled away more than five seconds on Dahlgren, but then in the last few laps, Andersson went on the offensive, twice trying to pass the Audi driver.

His last move, a lunge at Depåkurvan, was successful, and saw him grab the win by seven-tenths of a second.

Dahlgren finished third ahead of Haglöf and Wernersson, followed by Åhlin-Kottulinsky, Andreas Ahlberg, Hannes Morin and Tomas Engström, with Albin Wärnelöv’s Volkswagen completing the top ten.

The title now goes to the wire, with Dahlgren still in the lead, now 17 points ahead of Brink, but with Brink starting sixth on the grid, the Audi driver will need no less than a top-two finish in order to deprive the PWR Racing driver of the title.

Brink Motorsport are looking good to win the teams’ title, now 20 points clear of PWR Racing.

The final race of the season is scheduled for 15:28 CEST.