Oliver Söderström claims first win since 2020 at Gelleråsen

Oliver Söderström headed the STCC TCR Scandinavia field from lights to flag in the first Gelleråsen Arena race to claim his first win since 2020 for Lestrup Racing Team.

The start saw Mattias Andersson bogging down and dropping from second to fourth while points leader Robert Dahlgren made a strong start to slot in behind Söderström.

Dahlgren’s PWR Racing team-mate Axel Bengtsson and Exion Racing driver Calle Bergman were handed 20-second penalties for jumping the start.

The first lap saw contact between Isac Aronsson and Christian Skaar, resulting in a retirement for Team Auto Lounge Racing driver Skaar while Aronsson could continue, albeit with a five-second penalty for the contact.

Brink Motorsport driver Hugo Nerman ran fifth early in the race, but made a mistake which saw him drop to seventh position.

Volkswagen driver Marius Solberg Hansen made his way back up through the field after a slow start, passing fellow Norwegian Didrik Esbjug and Calle Bergman to finish seventh.

The last lap saw Bergman braking too late, hitting Dennis Strandberg at Turn 7. The contact resulted in a broken suspension and retirement for Bergman while a furious Strandberg was able to rejoin the track to finish eleventh.

Söderström won the race by 1.6 seconds over Dahlgren and 2.8 seconds over Bäckman.

Lynk & Co driver Andersson finished fourth ahead of Tobias Brink and Nerman.

The second race of the weekend starts at 14:10 CEST.