Pressure is on Dahlgren at Skellefteå home race as weights and three races return

The STCC TCR Scandinavia championship heads to the north of Sweden for the second round of 2022, held at the Skellefteå airfield circuit where the sun barely sets at this time of year.

All eyes are on reigning champion and local hero Robert Dahlgren as compensation weights come into force and the three-race format returns.

“Racing on my home grounds is awesome, this is the highlight of the season for me. As we are back with three races this weekend and weights come into force, we need to be strategic,” said Dahlgren.

“But my goal is the same, to go for pole and wins in all situations. I expect the Audis to be strong this weekend though.”

Cupra driver Dahlgren claimed pole position and won the season opener at Ljungbyhed two weeks ago, but his win wasn’t as superior as in previous years.

Closest to him was the Audi duo of Tobias Brink (Brink Motorsport) and Oliver Söderström (Lestrup Racing Team).

“A podium in the Ljungbyhed opener is okay but we are aiming higher than that, we want to be at the top and all of our work ahead of Skellefteå has been focussed on that,” said Brink.

“We have no doubt three very exciting races ahead of us and we won’t give a millimeter for free.”

Best of the non-Audi or Cupra drivers in the season opener was Lynk & Co driver Mattias Andersson who was forced to fight his way up through the field following a track limit penalty in qualifying.

The MA:GP driver performed strongly at Skellefteå last year, scoring two podium finishes and should be expected back at the top this weekend.

Another driver to keep an eye at is Norwegian youngster Marius Solberg Hansen who showed promising pace in practice but spun in qualifying and was taken out in the start crash at Ljungbyhed.

Weights will also play a big factor, with points leader Dahlgren running 65kg of combined compensation weight and success ballast for the first race. The weights are then changed between the races during the weekend.

His team-mate Axel Bengtsson, who finished sixth in the season opener, meanwhile will run his Cupra with no added weight at all. See full list below.

The STCC weekend at Skellefteå starts on Friday with practice and qualifying, followed by three races on Saturday from early afternoon to late evening.

Schedule Skellefteå

Friday 17/6
11:00 – Test 1
16:00 – Test 2
19:45 – Qualifying

Saturday 18/6
12:55 – Race 1
15:50 – Race 2
20:10 – Race 3

Compensation and success weight
Driver – Car – Compensation weight – Success ballast – Total weight
Robert Dahlgren – Cupra León Competición – 40kg – 25kg – 1330kg
Tobias Brink – Audi RS 3 LMS II – 40kg – 20kg – 1325kg
Oliver Söderström – Audi RS 3 LMS II – 40kg – 15kg – 1320kg
Mattias Andersson – Lynk & Co 03 TCR – 0kg – 15kg – 1320kg
Hugo Nerman – Audi RS 3 LMS II – 30kg – 10kg – 1305kg
Isac Aronsson – Audi RS 3 LMS II – 20kg – 0kg – 1285kg
Didrik Esbjug – Honda Civic Type R TCR – 0kg – 0kg – 1285kg
Andreas Bäckman – Audi RS 3 LMS II – 0kg – 5kg – 1270kg
Axel Bengtsson – Cupra León Competición – 0kg – 0kg – 1265kg
Rasmus Hedberg – Cupra TCR – 0kg – 0kg – 1265kg
Calle Bergman – Audi RS 3 LMS II – 0kg – 0kg – 1265kg
Dejan Dragicevic – Audi RS 3 LMS – 0kg – 0kg – 1255kg
Marius Solberg Hansen – Volkswagen Golf GTI TCR – 0kg – 0kg – 1255kg
Christian Skaar – Audi RS 3 LMS – 0kg – 0kg – 1255kg
Dennis Strandberg – Volkswagen Golf GTI TCR – 0kg – 0kg – 1255kg