Söderström and Brink share TCR Scandinavia poles

Oliver Söderström and Tobias Brink have claimed the two pole positions for the first round of the TCR Scandinavia championship at the Gelleråsen Arena in a tight pair of qualifying sessions.
It was Brink Motorsport Audi driver Hannes Morin who set the first competitive benchmark in the first session, setting a time early-on of 1:06.340.
Reigning champion Robert Dahlgren was unable to beat Morin’s time on his run, with the PWR Racing CUPRA Leon Competición driver just 0.010 seconds behind, while Söderström, back in the championship with Lestrup Racing Team, was just another eight-thousandths of a second behind after his first run.
Then, into the last ten minutes of the session, the Volkswagen cars all jumped to the front, with first Rob Huff, making his Scandinavian championship debut this weekend, leaping to first place, before his time was bettered by championship newcomer Emil Persson’s Kågered Racing Volkswagen.
With under five minutes to go, Söderström and Huff went out again and both improved on their final laps, delivering a perfect 1-2 result for Lestrup Racing, with Persson third, Tobias Brink’s Audi fourth, and Mikaela Åhlin-Kottulinsky the best of the CUPRA cars in fifth.
In the short ten-minute Q2, Brink set a 1:05.923 on his first timed run, which established pole position for Race 2, and earned Brink additional championship points as a result.
Dahlgren was his closest threat, just 0.010 seconds behind, while Huff set a late improvement to go third, just a tenth of a second behind Brink, leaving the Briton well-placed in the first two races tomorrow. Åhlin-Kottulinsky was fourth fastest in Q2, just two-thousandths of a second behind Huff, with Persson fifth fastest.
The first race is scheduled to take place at 11:10 CEST on Sunday. 

Qualifying 1
1:06.021 Oliver Söderström (Lestrup Racing, Volkswagen Golf GTI)
1:06.077 Rob Huff (Lestrup Racing, Volkswagen Golf GTI)
1:06.179 Emil Persson (Kågered Racing, Volkswagen Golf GTI)
1:06.185 Tobias Brink (Brink Motorsport, Audi RS 3 LMS)
1:06.216 Mikaela Åhlin-Kottulinsky (PWR Racing, CUPRA Leon Competición)

Qualifying 2
1:05.923 Tobias Brink (Brink Motorsport, Audi RS 3 LMS)
1:05.933 Robert Dahlgren (PWR Racing, CUPRA Leon Competición)
1:06.024 Rob Huff (Lestrup Racing, Volkswagen Golf GTI)
1:06.026 Mikaela Åhlin-Kottulinsky (PWR Racing, CUPRA Leon Competición)
1:06.074 Emil Persson (Kågered Racing, Volkswagen Golf GTI)

Championship points
1. Tobias Brink 5 pts; 2. Robert Dahlgren 4; 3. Rob Huff 3
 

Picture: TCR Scandinavia