Robert Dahlgren and Andreas Bäckman take poles at Mantorp Park

Robert Dahlgren is on the brink of securing his third TCR Scandinavia drivers’ title, after the PWR Racing driver scored his ninth pole position of the 2021 season in Qualifying 1 at Mantorp Park – but Dahlgren’s perfect run has been broken by guest star Andreas Bäckman, who took pole position for Race 2 in his Audi.
In the first part of the session, Dahlgren was the first to set down a competitive benchmark of 1:19.950 in his CUPRA Leon Competición, just ahead of his teammate Mikaela Åhlin-Kottulinsky, with Hugo Nerman third quickest at this point in his Kågered Racing Volkswagen Golf.
Then, after a short safety car intervention to recover Albin Wärnelöv’s Hyundai, there was a flurry of improvements in the final five minutes, with Dahlgren extending his pole position further to a time of 1:19.368, while Tobias Brink slotted in second place in his Audi RS 3 LMS, with Lestrup Racing Team’s Oliver Söderström third fastest, just ahead of Brink’s new teammate Andreas Bäckman.
The shuffle saw Åhlin-Kottulinsky drop from second to ninth in the final order, with the 28-year-old left with some work to do in the first race on Sunday to defend her second place in the standings, as that is where she will have to start the first two races tomorrow.
In the ten-minute Q2 session, Bäckman then produced a shock as he broke the qualifying lap record on his first run with a time of 1:19.039 – this put his Brink Motorsport Audi on provisional pole position, with Dahlgren 66-thousandths of a second adrift after his lap, and with Söderström third fastest.
The drivers just had time to head out for another run, but neither Bäckman nor Dahlgren could improve on their first laps, which gave Bäckman pole position, the first driver to deprive Dahlgren of a pole position all season. Dahlgren was forced to settle for second on the grid.
Bäckman’s teammate Brink made a late improvement to go third quickest, while Söderström secured fourth position in his Volkswagen, with Mattias Andersson’s MA:GP Lynk & Co fifth.
Dahlgren’s championship lead over teammate Åhlin-Kottulinsky is now 69 points, with Dahlgren picking up the four points for second place.
The first race is scheduled to take place at 10:45 CEST on Sunday morning.

Mantorp Park – Qualifying
1:19.039 Andreas Bäckman (Brink Motorsport, Audi RS 3 LMS)
1:19.105 Robert Dahlgren (PWR Racing, CUPRA Leon Competición)
1:19.538 Tobias Brink (Brink Motorsport, Audi RS 3 LMS)
1:19.637 Oliver Söderström (Lestrup Racing Team, Volkswagen Golf GTI)
1:19.776 Mattias Andersson (MA:GP, Lynk & Co 03)

Championship points
1. R. Dahlgren 240 pts.; 2. M. Åhlin-Kottulinsky 171; 3. T. Brink 158

Picture: TCR Scandinavia