SAAB Motorsport

Saab Sport: Chaotic STCC race at Solvalla

Andreas Wernersson claimed his first ever STCC victory in a chaotic first Scandinavian Touring Car Championship race at Solvalla. Thed Björk won the second STCC race at Solvalla from pole position and extends his championship lead with just one race weekend left of the 2014 season.

The Kia driver started from third position on the grid but took the lead from pole sitter Emma Kimiläinen (Saab 9-3 STCC) in the first corner. And Kimiläinen was a topic for controversy in the race.

kimilainen

ema

But before the Saab driver got involved in the controversies, the safety car was issued on lap two after contact between Erik Jonsson and Prince Carl Philip Bernadotte. Kimiläinen was able to continue, only to be turned around again two corners later by Ohlsson’s team mate Mattias Lindberg. Chaos followed as Kimiläinen rejoined the track without looking and was collected by a number of drivers, with Matte Karlsson dealing the final blow to the Finn’s car, resulting in a retirement for Kimiläinen.

Lindberg finished sixth for Kia ahead of the top newcomer in the form of Karlsson for BMW in seventh position, with double STCC champion Jan ”Flash” Nilsson (Saab 9-3 STCC) coming home in 8. position. Philip Forsman crossed the line in ninth position after serving a drive through penalty for turning Richard Göransson (Saab 9-3 STCC) around, an incident with resulted in a broken rear suspension and retirement for Göransson.

Heat 1 – TOP 10 SCORECARD

01 Andreas Wernersson 26 laps
02 Mattias Andersson +0.558
03 Linus Ohlsson +1.888
04 Fredrik Larsson +2.412
05 Thed Björk +3.078
06 Mattias Lindberg +4.616
07 Matte Karlsson +12.171
08 Jan Nilsson +14.581
09 Philip Forsman +15.119
10 Carl Philip Bernadotte +39.321

Second Race

Saab driver Göransson looked set to secure second place in second the race with a small gap to BMW driver Philip Forsman. But Göransson suffered from a gearbox problem with just two laps left, enabling Forsman to get past. The Saab driver almost lost third place as well, with Volvo driver Fredrik Ekblom crossing the line in fourth, just 0.083 seconds behind.

Heat 2 – TOP 10 SCORECARD

01 Thed Björk 26 laps
02 Philip Forsman +5.291
03 Richard Göransson +9.622
04 Fredrik Ekblom +9.705
05 Fredrik Larsson +24.348
06 Andreas Wernersson +24.916
07 Mattias Andersson +31.255
08 Matte Karlsson +36.387
09 Mattias Lindberg +1 lap
10 Carl Philip Bernadotte +1 lap

Next STCC Race

STCC continues with the season finale at Mantorp Park in two weeks where Björk will arrive with a 31-point lead over Larsson in second place with 75 points left to fight for.

Goran Aničić
the authorGoran Aničić
For over 15 years, Goran Aničić has been passionately focused on Saab automobiles and everything related to them. His initial encounter with Saab cars took place back in 2003 when the first Saab 9-3 and sedan version were introduced. At that moment, he was captivated by the car's Scandinavian design logic and top-notch engineering, and everything that followed stemmed from that first encounter. Later on, through his work at the editorial team of the Serbian automotive magazines "Autostart" and later "AutoBild," he had the opportunity to engage more closely with Saab vehicles. In 2008, he tested the latest Saab cars of that time, such as the Saab 9-3 TTiD Aero and Saab 9-3 Turbo X. In 2010, as the sole blogger from the region, he participated in the Saab 9-5ng presentation in Trollhättan, Sweden. Alongside journalists from around the world, he got a firsthand experience of the pinnacle of technological offerings from Saab at that time. Currently, Goran owns two Saabs: a 2008 Saab 9-3 Vector Sportcombi with a manual transmission, and a Saab 9-3 Aero Griffin Sport Sedan from the last generation, which rolled off the production line in Trollhättan in December 2011.

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