Photo: STCC

A wide open STCC season starts at Ljungbyhed this weekend

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A wide open STCC TCR Scandinavia season starts this weekend at Ljungbyhed with a field of 13 cars across eight teams.

With reigning champion Rob Huff leaving for the WTCR, the fight for the 2021 title is rather unpredictable.

There is no doubt that 2017 and 2019 champion Robert Dahlgren could be considered the favourite for the title after a very strong first season with the then new Cupra León Competición for PWR Racing last year.

But he will face tough opposition from the impressive Oliver Söderström who now will get full focus from Lestrup Racing Team following Huff’s departure.

The youngster won the opening race of 2020 and matched Huff on speed consistently but fell behind due to a combination of inexperience, technical issues and incidents.

Audi driver Tobias Brink was right in the thick of the 2020 title fight but fell down to finish third overall after a tough last race weekend of the year. Brink has made it clear that nothing but the title counts this year.

An outside for the title could be STCC veteran Mattias Andersson who will start his 21st season this year.

The MA:GP driver has bought a Lynk & Co 03 TCR and while it will be the heaviest car of the field, there is no doubt that Andersson is driving considerably more competitive machinery compared to the old Honda Civic FK2 that he drove last year.

Dahlgren’s team-mate Mikaela Åhlin-Kottulinsky has also made it clear that she wants to take a step further beyond being the first female STCC race winner to become the first female STCC champion.

The STCC opener starts today with practice and qualifying, followed by three races on Saturday.

Ljungbyhed schedule

Times in CEST
Friday 4/6
09:35 – Test 1
13:45 – Test 2
16:59 – Qualifying Q1
17:20 – Qualifying Q2

Saturday 5/6
10:50 – Race 1
13:45 – Race 2
16:50 – Race 3

Ljungbyhed entry list

#7 – Oliver Söderström – Lestrup Racing Team by VW STHLM – Volkswagen Golf GTI TCR
#48 – Mikael Karlsson – Lestrup Racing Team by VW STHLM – Volkswagen Golf GTI TCR
#32 – Robin Knutsson – Lestrup Racing Team – Volkswagen Golf GTI TCR
#20 – Mattias Andersson – MA:GP – Lynk & Co 03 TCR
#2 – Robert Dahlgren – CUPRA Dealer Team PWR Racing – CUPRA León Competición
#19 – Mikaela Åhlin-Kottulinsky – CUPRA Dealer Team PWR Racing – CUPRA León Competición
#71 – Tobias Brink – Brink Motorsport – Audi RS 3 LMS
#51 – Hannes Morin – Brink Motorsport – Audi RS 3 LMS
#69 – Hugo Nerman – Kågered Racing – Volkswagen Golf GTI TCR
#21 – Andreas Ahlberg – Kågered Racing – Volkswagen Golf GTI TCR
#22 – Albin Wärnelöv – Experion Racing – Hyundai i30 N TCR
#33 – Rasmus Hedberg – FH Racing – Cupra TCR
#70 – Isac Aronsson – Brovallen Design – Audi RS 3 LMS