Robert Dahlgren within grasp of 2021 STCC title at Mantorp Park
Robert Dahlgren will most likely secure the 2021 STCC TCR Scandinavia title this weekend during the penultimate round of the season at Mantorp Park.
The Cupra driver heads the standings over PWR Racing team-mate Mikaela Åhlin-Kottulinsky by 65 points and if he increases his lead by a single point after this weekend, he will secure the title.
“I still believe that attack is the best form of defense. I have two race weekends left to secure the title and I see no reason to change our approach,” said Dahlgren.
“The most important thing is to be careful with the details and not focus on the points, I’ll leave that to the ones by the pit wall.”
Should Dahlgren secure the title, he would become one of just four drivers that have more than two titles:
Richard Göransson – 5 titles
Thed Björk – 4 titles
Fredrik Ekblom – 3 titles
Tobias Brink is be best placed non-PWR Racing driver in third place, 81 points behind Dahlgren and heads to Mantorp with a 10kg weight break for his Audi RS 3 LMS.
But the Brink Motorsport driver says that his title hope is just theoretical.
“Sure, I have a theoretical shot at the title, but that’s not on my agenda for this weekend,” said Brink.
“I’m racing for one thing and that’s to claim at least one win. We had a very good weekend at Mantorp last year with three of three wins and it’s a track that I really like.”
Brink will be joined by Andreas Bäckman for this weekend who recently announced that he discontinue his WTCR programme with Target Competition.
Lestrup Racing Team driver Oliver Söderström is placed fourth overall has previously announced that his title hopes are gone and that he is instead, just like Brink, aiming for race wins.
“I’m excited to head for the final two rounds. I’m definitely aiming for my first win of the year and to close in on the drivers in front of me in the standings. We know that it will be tough, especially against the Cupras, but we will as always fight hard,” said Oliver Söderström.
Local hero Mattias Andersson is placed fifth overall and hopes to bounce back after a difficult weekend at Anderstorp where he was fighting excessive tyre wear.
“We’ve tested here before this year and it worked well, this is a track that I know very well,” said Andersson.
“We didn’t really have the speed at Anderstorp and we’ve analysed that since then. I’m as usual aiming for the podium, not only in the races but also for the overall championship.”
The STCC weekend at Mantorp starts tomorrow with testing and qualifying, followed by three races on Sunday.
Schedule Mantorp Park
Saturday 2/10
09:25 – Test 1
12:25 – Test 2
16:25 – Q1
16:50 – Q2
Sunday 3/10
10:45 – Race 1
13:20 – Race 2
15:29 – Race 3
