Robert Dahlgren scores two wins to take points lead

Robert Dahlgren has assumed the lead of TCR Scandinavia after taking two wins at his home circuit at Skellefteå for the PWR Racing team, despite not finishing the last race, which was full of drama.
Dahlgren placed his CUPRA Leon Competición on pole position for the first two races, with his fastest lap in Q2 nearly a second faster than Tobias Brink’s Audi RS 3 LMS, his closest competition in the points-awarded qualifying session.
In the first race, Dahlgren drove off into the distance, while Hannes Morin made a good start from third on the grid to move up to second, with Rob Huff also making up a spot at the start to third, both passing Andreas Ahlberg. The race then settled down until the final few laps, when Morin’s car started to struggle for grip and fell back towards Huff. Huff made his move at Turn 14 with four laps to go and snatched second from Morin. Two laps later, Morin was under attack from teammate Brink, with Brink getting past on lap nine, only for Morin to hit him at Turn 14, knocking him wide. Brink managed to hold on, while Morin lost two positions to Ahlberg and Oliver Söderström, and went on to finish in sixth. 
Dahlgren was in a class of his own up front and won the race by over four seconds ahead of Huff, with Dahlgren taking over the points lead from Söderström, with Huff moving ahead of his teammate in the standings.
The start of Race 2 was delayed after Mattias Andersson’s Honda broke a wheel on the formation lap, relinquishing his seventh position on the grid. Up front, Dahlgren led away from pole at the start ahead of Brink and Huff, with Dahlgren this time having to run a defensive race, never managing to break away from his title rival, but at the same time, never letting Brink get close enough to strike. Dahlgren won the somewhat processional race ahead of Brink and Huff, and further extended his points lead.
All the drama was saved for Race 3. With the top eight reversed, championship rookie Magnus Gustavsen started from pole in his Brovallen Design Audi, but duly stalled at the start, with Ahlberg and Morin forced to take avoiding action behind, while Kågered Racing’s Mikael Karlsson swooped into the lead from second on the grid.
The race quickly turned into a disaster for PWR Racing, with Mikaela Åhlin-Kottulinsky retiring in an incident at Turn 8, before Dahlgren made a lunge down the inside of the two Lestrup Racing Team Volkswagen cars at the Turn 10 hairpin, spearing Söderström’s Golf and was also collected by Huff’s car. Dahlgren was out on the spot, while Huff was soon in for repairs, losing two laps, while Söderström was able to continue.
Brink closed in on and passed his teammate Morin for second on lap six to pick up vital championship points in a race where his chief rivals were in trouble. Brink then closed in on Karlsson, but despite two desperate attempts to pass on the final lap, he was unable to make a move stick, and Karlsson went on to score his first career victory, with Brink and Morin completing the podium.
Only eight cars were classified in the race, with Huff picking up four points in last position despite being two laps down, and closed in on Dahlgren in the championship standings.
Dahlgren leads the table on 100 points, 12 points ahead of Brink and Huff heading to the next round at Mantorp Park on 2-3 October.

Race 1
1. Robert Dahlgren (PWR Racing, CUPRA Leon Competición), 11 laps
2. Rob Huff (Lestrup Racing, Volkswagen Golf GTI), 4.181
3. Tobias Brink (Brink Motorsport, Audi RS 3 LMS), 7.466
4. Andreas Ahlberg (Kågered Racing, Volkswagen Golf GTI), 9.501
5. Oliver Söderström (Lestrup Racing, Volkswagen Golf GTI), 11.149

Race 2
1. Robert Dahlgren (PWR Racing, CUPRA Leon Competición), 11 laps
2. Tobias Brink (Brink Motorsport, Audi RS 3 LMS), 0.863
3. Rob Huff (Lestrup Racing, Volkswagen Golf GTI), 1.763
4. Hannes Morin (Brink Motorsport, Audi RS 3 LMS), 4.781
5. Oliver Söderström (Lestrup Racing, Volkswagen Golf GTI), 5.895
 

Race 3
1. Mikael Karlsson (Kågered Racing, Volkswagen Golf GTI), 11 laps
2. Tobias Brink (Brink Motorsport, Audi RS 3 LMS), 0.281
3. Hannes Morin (Brink Motorsport, Audi RS 3 LMS), 3.866
4. Oliver Söderström (Lestrup Racing, Volkswagen Golf GTI), 5.799
5. Mattias Andersson (MA GP, Honda Civic Type R FK2), 6.907

Championship points
1. Robert Dahlgren 100 pts; 2. Tobias Brink 88; 3. Rob Huff 88 

Picture: TCR Scandinavia