Mattias Andersson snatches dramatic last turn victory

Mattias Andersson won Race 1 at Mantorp Park after snatching the lead in the very last corner. With Tobias Brink finishing second and series leader Robert Dahlgren third, the battle for the TCR Scandinavia Drivers’ crown will be decided in the season’s final race with only Dahlgren and Brink now able to take the title.
Brink – after qualifying on pole for the first time – made a great start and led into Turn 1, but Andersson made a stronger start from P3 than Dahlgren and the Honda passed the CUPRA to lie in second place behind Brink. The opening lap also saw Andreas Wernersson pass Mikaela Åhlin-Kottulinsky for fifth place, while Hannes Morin dropped two places to tenth.
The fourteen-lap race was then largely processional, with Brink opening up a slender lead over Andersson over the first seven laps. Dahlgren looked to be more than happy to run in a relatively lonely third place while the pair ahead opened up a sizeable gap. Going into the race, four drivers were in contention for the TCR Scandinavia title, but with both Andreas Ahlberg and Wernersson running behind Dahlgren, it looked as though both would be eliminated from the contest going into the final round.
Over the final few laps, Andersson began closing the gap to Brink and the pair went into the penultimate lap separated by just 0.327 seconds. Brink had controlled the race from the start, however, and on the final lap it looked as though his third victory of the season was on the cards. Andersson clearly had other ideas and saw his opportunity as the pair headed towards the final left-hand hairpin that led onto the start/finish straight. The Honda dived up the inside of the Audi, the pair made contact and Andersson muscled his way past Brink to snatch the lead with only the sprint for the line remaining.
Andersson took his second win of the year by just over seven-tenths of a second from Brink, with Dahlgren over six seconds behind the pair. Daniel Haglöf was fourth, ahead of Wernersson and Åhlin-Kottulinsky.
The result means Dahlgren now leads Brink by 17 points with 25 on offer in the season’s final race. Brink will start from sixth on the reversed grid, well aware that he has to finish either first or second, with Dahlgren failing to score, if he’s to take the Drivers’ title. The situation is reversed in the battle for the Teams’ championship, with Brink Motorsport now 20 points ahead of PWR Racing.
Race 2 at Mantorp Park is scheduled to start at 15:30 local time (CET) with Wernersson and Åhlin-Kottulisnky filling the front row of the top-six reverse grid; live streaming at www.tcr-series.com and www.tcr-series.tv.

Race 1
1. Mattias Andersson (Team Honda Racing, Honda Civic FK2), 14 laps
2. Tobias Brink (Brink Motorsport, Audi RS 3 LMS), 0.731
3. Robert Dahlgren (PWR Racing, CUPRA), 6.866
4. Daniel Haglöf (PWR Racing, CUPRA), 11.351
5. Andreas Wernersson (Brink Motorsport, Audi RS 3 LMS), 11.775

Championship points
1. Dahlgren 240 pts; 2. Brink 223; 3. Ahlberg 196