STCC Round 2 - Knutstorp

[Jimmy Magnusson]

I can't believe that there hasn't been any thread on this I was there today and thoroughly enjoyed it. Spectacular race with lots of action! Pictures to come tomorrow. For now, the results:

Round 2
1. Robert Dahlgren (Volvo S60 / Polestar Racing)
2. Robin Rudholm (BMW 320si / West Coast Racing)
3. Fredrik Ekblom (BMW 320si / West Coast Racing)
4. Alexander Storckenfeldt (Volvo S60 / Polestar Racing)
5. Jan Nilsson (BMW 320si / Flash Engineering)
6. Johan Stureson (Peugeot 407 / IPS Motorsport)
7. Tomas Engström (Honda Accord / Engström Motorsport)
8. Tommy Kristoffersson (Audi A4 / Kristoffersson Motorsport)
9. Mattias Andersson (Alfa Romeo 156 / MA GP)
10. David Björk (BMW 320i / Team caWalli)
11. Hans Simonsson (Mercedes C200 / MB Sport)
12. Fredrik Lestrup (BMW 320i / Picko Troberg Racing)
13. Roger Eriksson (BMW 320i / Picko Troberg Racing)
14. Tobias Johansson (Mercedes C200 / MB Sport)
15. Joakim Fridh (Opel Astra Coupe / Team Euromaster) [I]
16. Viktor Huggare (BMW 320i / Huggare Racing) [I]

DNF:
Thed Björk (Audi A4 / Kristoffersson Motorsport)
Tobias Tegelby (BMW 320i / Tysslinge Racing) [I]
Richard Göransson (BMW 320si / Flash Engineering)
Frank Stippler (Audi A4 / Kristoffersson Motorsport)
Tommy Rustad (Opel Astra GTC / Opel Team Sweden)


Driver's Championship
1. Dahlgren 20
2. Nilsson 12
3. Stureson 9
4. Rudholm 8
5. Engström 7
6. Ekblom 6
7. Storckenfeldt 5
8. Stippler 4
9. Kristoffersson 4
10. T. Björk 2
11. D. Björk 1

Manufacteror's Championship
1. Volvo 20
2. BMW 16
3. Peugeot 12
4. Honda 10
5. Audi 8
6. Alfa Romeo 6
7. Opel 3
8. Mercedes 3

Team's Championship
1. Polestar Engineering 20
2. Flash Engineering 14
3. IPS Motorsport 11
4. West Coast Racing 9
5. Engström Motorspor 9
6. Kristoffersson Motorsport 7
7. Team caWalli 4
8. Opel Team Sweden 2
9. MA GP 2

Independent's Championship
1. Fridh 20
2. Tegelby 8
3. Huggare 8

[Bramzel]

Definitely one to watch tomorrow then! It's annoying that the live-timing didn't work anymore at the time of the race: would have been the perfect 3rd screen next to WTCC (tv), DTC (live-feed on pc).

[Jimmy Magnusson]

Some comments and opinions about the drivers now, pictures when I get home in ~8hrs. Starting from last:

Rustad: Unlucky man of the weekend. Blew his engine after the first few laps.

Stippler: Something broke in the suspension (?) when he was heading into turn 1 and he parked it in the gravel. Up until that he had been solidly unimpressive, qualifying 10th/11th and not making much progress.

Göransson: Neither FE cars were that good today. Göransson only qualified 7th (Flash 8th) but the two of them managed to tangle a few laps into the race. Göransson dropped back a few places, collided with Engström in a very rough overtaking manouvre and retired half a lap later with a broken suspension.

Tegelby: Made a bliding start and was up to 14th/15th from dead last, but dropped back eventually. Came out in front of the leaders after his pitstop, and because he lifted over the top of the hill were the others went flat out he was bumped into the wall.

Björk: Stuck behind Dahlgren for quite some time until pit strategy took him to the lead. Retired with mechanical failures not many laps from the finish; unlucky, otherwise he surely would have won.

Huggare: Didn't see much of him really.

Fridh: Initially fought with the other privateers but soon left them behind himself.

Johansson: Actually a pretty impressive performance. Without his jump start drive through penalty he would have finished in the top ten.

Eriksson: Had the better on Lestrup for most of the race and a good scrap with Simonsson, but lost it and went grasstracking, which allowed Simonsson and Lestrup to go through.

Lestrup: Wasn't really that spectacular, but didn't make any mistakes.

Simonsson: Actually had a good race with some pace and fought hard with Eriksson. Made an excellent pass into Liton, but lost the place because of a bad pitstop, only to regain it when Eriksson went grasstracking.

D. Björk: Slid of into the gravel trap on Rustad's oil and ended up dead last early into the race. Solid job to make his way up tenths place.

Andersson: Good race from Mattias; no mistakes were made, gained places in a race of attrition but could have finished in the points. Good tussle with Engström, twice to boot. Could have scored points today!

Kristoffersson: I think Tommy would make a good endurance pilot. Solid job with no mistakes to bring it home into top 8.

Engström: Had a really bad weekend and never looked to be really on the pace. Did a good job out of it though and brought it home for two points.

Stureson: Only just missed the super pole, and that probably sealed his chance of success for this weekend. His car started smoking halfway through the race but held togeather.

Nilsson: I don't know who is to be blamed for the team-mate tangle (we'll see that on TV tomorrow) but Flash has certainly been capable of it in the past Solid job but nothing more really.

Storckenfeldt: A big suprise. Really stepped up to nearly match Dahlgren and nearly matched his pace in the qualifying and the race. Was gaining time on the top three towards the end.

Ekblom: Got stuck behind Dahlgren early on. Gave his teammate Rudholm no rest after the pitstops and made several good overtaking attempts.

Rudholm: Also got stuck behind Dahlgren. Didn't manage to find a way through though, and wasn't helped by his teammate at all!

Dahlgren: The man of the weekend. He was under preassure from Audi and BMW from the start of the race but defended extremley well and drove beautifully with a very heavy car. Excellent win, two out of two for him and Volvo!

[roachy101]

that bio-ethanol volvo is working wonders for dahlgren.

[JMeissner]

From Flash Engineerings part it was a bit mixed, just as last race. Janne 5:th despite penalty weight while Göransson had to retire with a broken damper due to an off track excursion.

Other than that it was strange that the WCR BMW's couldn't get past Dahlgren who has got full penalty weight.

[Jimmy Magnusson]

Images from Sunday, part 1

[Charlies]

Is there anyway to watch the STCC in the UK?

[Bramzel]

Interesting race. I was really dissapointed to see Thed Björk leave the scene with technical problems. Dahlgren drove a solid race again, was quite surprised as well to see the Westcoast BMW's were driving eachother in the way meaning none of them could effectively attack Dahlgren. Goransson was confused about the event I guess, he was rallycrossing out there. Guess that suspensionfailure is pretty much something he called over himself.

All in all another entertaining race It's a shame I can't go to Mantorp, it's not that far away from where I live, but it's pretty far from where I'll be that weekend. Which is Holland

[Bezzen]

Originally Posted by Charlies

Is there anyway to watch the STCC in the UK?

Here's a 30 minute highlight program from this sunday's race.

For some reason the first 45 seconds seems black, but then it starts....

The race starts at about 5:30 in the video.

http://svt.se/svt/play/video.jsp?a=822513

[Charlies]

Thanks for the link Bezzen. Great racing even if you don't speak Swedish! Fantastic circuit, fast with elevation change and camber. I've not seen Knutstorp before. Are the rolling starts to negate the advantage of RWD?

[M-Power]

I have a question to the Rudholm-Göransson crash. Göransson needed a new chassis. Is this a new chassis from BMW Motorsport? Or ist that an older chassis? What are the costs for rebuild? And did also Rudholm became a new chassis?

[JMeissner]

It is a chassis from BMW Motorsport that, I think, Schnitzer had as spair. So it is not a brand new one.

Rudholm did not need a new chassis.

[M-Power]

Has Flash one of his old 320i e46 cars? Or an old s40?

[Bezzen]

Wasn't it Flash's old 320i that Sandström trashed completely last year?

[JMeissner]

That 320i Tegelby is driving this year.