Photo: STCC/Anders Helgesson

Oliver Söderström fights back to maiden win as Rob Huff is penalised

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Lestrup Racing Team driver Oliver Söderström fought back to win his first STCC TCR Scandinavia race in the 2020 opener at Gelleråsen Arena as his team-mate Rob Huff was penalised and dropped from second to fourth.

Söderström started from pole and claimed the lead into the first corner while Huff bogged down from second on the grid and dropped down to fifth.

Brink Motorsport driver Tobias Brink made a very strong start from fourth on the grid to second place into Turn 1. And the Audi driver had strong pace on the opening lap, managing to get past Söderström for the lead before the end of the first lap.

Reigning champion Robert Dahlgren meanwhile had a tough start to the race, being passed by Huff on lap five and was caught by Hannes Morin on lap eight in the fight for fifth.

Morin managed to pass Dahlgren with some contact, also allowing PWR Racing driver Mikaela Åhlin-Kottulinsky and Kågered Racing driver Andreas Ahlberg to get past.

And the tussle resulted in a broken rear suspension for Åhlin-Kottulinsky who had to limp back into the pits and retire from the race. Dahlgren meanwhile managed to get back past Morin for fifth place.

Brink made a mistake coming into the “Ejes corner”, allowing Söderström to take a lead that he was not to lose again.

2012 WTCC champion Huff meanwhile was making strong progress back up through the field, passing Persson in the “Trösen corner” for third place on lap 11.

Huff quickly closed the gap on Brink in second place and managed to get past after some contact in the “Ejes corner”. The stewards however found the move too tough, handing the Brit a five-second penalty that dropped him down to fourth place.

Söderström won the race with a seven-second margin to Brink, with Persson third, just three tenths of a second behind. Huff was fourth ahead of reigning champion Dahlgren and Morin in sixth.

Volkswagen Golf GTI TCR driver Ahlberg crossed the line in seventh ahead of Honda Racing Sweden driver Mattias Andersson in eighth. Albin Wärnelöv and Mikael Karlsson rounded off the top ten, 20 seconds behind the leader.

The second race starts at 14:00 CEST.