Brink wins Race 2 as Dahlgren is eliminated at the start
Tobias Brink drove his Audi RS 3 LMS to a lights-to-flag victory in Race 2 at Karlskoga, finishing ahead of Andreas Ahlberg and Mikaela Åhlin-Kottulinsky, while an incident immediately after the start saw series leader Robert Dahlgren eliminated from the race.
With the Alfa Romeo of Denmark’s Louise Frost repaired, all twelve cars were on the grid ahead of the start. When the lights went out, Brink made a brisk getaway and led the field into T1, but Race 1 winner Mattias Andersson made contact with Tomas Engström’s Volkswagen Golf GTI which in turn hit Dahlgren’s CUPRA. Andersson was able to continue, but both Engström and Dahlgren were forced to retire as a result of the incident.
With Engström sidelined, Andreas Ahlberg had moved up two places, also passing Åhlin-Kottulinsky off the start line to lie in second place behind Brink. The trio ran together for the remainder of the seventeen-lap race, but the positions remained unchanged. Behind the podium places, Andreas Wernersson held onto fourth place from Andersson who was under investigation for the incident involving Dahlgren and Engström.
There was more action in the lower half of the top ten, with Tobias Johansson passing Peter Wallenberg for eighth place on Lap 2 and Wallenberg then being given a drive-through penalty for a jump start that dropped him to tenth place, although he soon moved up to ninth when he passed Frost. On lap 9, Albin Wärnelöv passed Hannes Morin for sixth place.
In the standings, Brink moved to within 15 points of Dahlgren, with Wernersson dropping to third just 3 points behind Brink. Ahlberg, too, is very much still in contention for the title, as he lies fourth in the table, a further six points adrift of Wernersson, but just 24 points cover first to fourth thanks to Dahlgren’s DNF.
TCR Scandinavia next heads to Jyllandsringen in Denmark on September 6th and 7th.
Race 2
1. Tobias Brink (Brink Motorsport, Audi RS 3 LMS), 17 laps
2. Andreas Ahlberg (Micke Kågered Racing, Volkswagen Golf GTI), 0.710
3. Mikaela Åhlin-Kottulinsky (PWR Racing, CUPRA), 1.671
4. Andrea Wernersson (Brink Motorsport, Audi RS 3 LMS), 2.143
5. Mattias Andersson (Honda Team Sweden, Honda Civic FK2), 2.578
Championship points
1. Dahlgren 176 pts; 2. Brink 161; 3. Wernersson 158
