One Norwegian win + one Danish win = Swedish championship lead 26.04.2010: All three nations in the new championship came out on top April 25th 2010 – Scandinavian Touring Car Cup / Danish Touringcar Championship / Swedish Touring Car Championship Sunday saw the opening race of the new super series for Super 2000 racing

All three nations in the new championship came out on top


April 25th 2010 – Scandinavian Touring Car Cup / Danish Touringcar Championship / Swedish Touring Car Championship

Sunday saw the opening race of the new super series for Super 2000 racing in Northern Europe at Jyllandsringen in Denmark. The meeting had attracted a 25 car entry for the Scandinavian Touring Car Cup, which is a superstructure on top of the Danish Touringcar Championship and the Swedish Touring Car Championship – two series that will merge to become one in 2011.

    Volvo had been fastest in practice and qualifying, and from pole position Norway’s Tommy Rustad took the lead from team mate Robert Dahlgren with the BMWs of Thed Björk and Jan Magnussen in third and fourth. However, halfway through the opening lap a very late braking manoeuvre by Mattias Andersson saw the Swede’s Alfa Romeo 156 dive past Jan Magnussen, only to ram into Thed Björk and turn around his car.

    Whereas Tommy Rustad could keep his lead, Robert Dahlgren found it difficult to keep position. On lap four he was passed by Jan Magnussen, and three laps later he was overtaken by Richard Göransson as well.

    On lap seven Jan Magnussen was right on the tail of Tommy Rustad, but whereas the Norwegian’s Volvo C30 had straight line speed, it wasn’t that competitive in the corners. However, Jan Magnussen couldn’t find a way past in the bends, so with five laps to go he was caught by Richard Göransson and had to defend his position, before making another attack on Tommy Rustad. In the end, the positions weren’t changed and the trio crossed the finishing line separated by just 0.6 second.

    Robert Dahlgren was also put under pressure by Johan Sturesson, who was having his first race as a BMW driver, but the latter did not find a way by and had to settle for fifth ahead of Fredrik Ekblom’s gas fuelled Volkswagen Scirocco, newly crowned 2009 Danish privateer cup winner Jens Møller and Robert Schlünssen. Jason Watt survived to take ninth place despite a collision with Casper Elgaard, who had to retire with a broken front suspension on the last lap.

    Eighth place in race one meant that pole position for race two went to Robert Schlünssen – the former Formula Renault NEC runner-up having only completed his deal to race the ex-Jan Magnussen BMW 320si E90 a fortnight before the opening race

    In race two Robert Schlünssen made a perfect getaway to lead from Jens Møller, Fredrik Ekblom, Johan Stureson and Robert Dahlgren. Soon, however, gaps appeared between Robert Schlünssen and Jens Møller as well as between Jens Møller and Fredrik Ekblom. The latter’s Volkswagen Scirocco was clearly not the fastest car on the tracks, as soon a minor queue started to build behind him with Johan Stureson, Robert Dahlgren, Jason Watt, Richard Göransson and Jan Magnussen all running bumber to bumber. In the end Robert Dahlgren was the first to get out of the queue to set off after the drivers in the lead, where Jens Møller had closed right onto the tail of Robert Schlünssen.

    Having set the fastest lap of the race, Jens Møller was the quicker of the pair, and midway through the race he made his overtaking manoeuvre at the end of the straight, successfully taking the lead. However, the judge of the race gave the Seat Leon driver a so-called penalty route, as he had not given Robert Schlünssen enough room in the overtaking manoeuvre. After having served the penalty, Jens Møller had dropped to third behind Robert Schlünssen and Robert Dahlgren. The Dane wasn’t the only driver to go through the penalty route. Richard Göransson was handed the same penalty, when he pushed Fredrik Ekblom off the circuit in their battle for seventh.

    The race one winner had to retire from race two following a somewhat bizarre accident on lap seven. Thed Björk and Tommy Rustad had a minor collision, and although it looked as if the reigning STCC champion could continue the suspension of Tommy Rustad’s Volvo was broken, sending the Norwegian into an uncontrolled spin, which resulted in him hitting Thed Björk’s team mate, Jan Nilsson.

    Fourth and second places in the two races means that Robert Dahlgren now is a double leader as he is topping the point tables in both the Scandinavian Touring Car Cup and the Swedish Touring Car Championship, while Robert Schlünssen is the leader of the Danish Touringcar Championship. The next time that the Danish and Swedish teams will clash in the Scandinavian Touring Car Cup will be at the beginning of June in Gothenburg.

    The entry of Britian’s James Thompson was withdrawn a few days before the meeting, as his Danish team, Hartmann Honda Racing, chose to split with the Brit following new demands suddenly being made by James Thompson’s engineer.


Result of race 1:

1.    Tommy Rustad    Norway    Volvo C30    19:14,080
2.    Jan Magnussen    Denmark    BMW 320si E90    19:14,448
3.    Richard Göransson    Sweden    BMW 320si E90    19:14,652
4.    Robert Dahlgren    Sweden    Volvo C30    19:18,894
5.    Johan Stureson    Sweden    BMW 320si E90    19:19,415
6.    Fredrik Ekblom    Sweden    Volkswagen Scirocco    19:21,643
7.    Jens Reno Møller    Denmark    Seat Leon    19:22,900
8.    Robert Schlünssen    Denmark    BMW 320si E90    19:23,922
9.    Jason Watt    Denmark    Seat Leon    19:28,086
10.    Roger Eriksson    Sweden    Seat Leon    19:28,707

Result of race 2:

1.    Robert Schlünssen    Denmark    BMW 320si E90    19:16,207
2.    Robert Dahlgren    Sweden    Volvo C30    19:17,755
3.    Jens Reno Møller    Denmark    Seat Leon    19:19,110
4.    Johan Stureson    Sweden    BMW 320si E90    19:19,927
5.    Jason Watt    Denmark    Seat Leon    19:24,191
6.    Jan Magnussen    Denmark    BMW 320si E90    19:25,410
7.    Patrik Olsson    Sweden    Volkswagen Scirocco    19:31,584
8.    Thed Björk    Sweden    BMW 320si E90    19:31,823
9.    Mattias Anderson    Sweden    Alfa Romeo 156    19:34,122
10.    Dick Sahlen    Sweden    Seat Leon    19:34,899


- Morten Alstrup - photo Birger Vilen