Photo: STCC

Jimmy Eriksson keeps title hopes alive with win in Knutstorp finale

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Jimmy Eriksson won the fourth and final STCC race of the weekend, heading another Brink Motorsport 1-2-3 and keeps his title hopes alive ahead of the season finale at Mantorp Park next weekend.

Eriksson started second but managed to get the jump on pole sitter and team-mate Mikael Karlsson at Turn 1.

The trio remained close throughout the race, but kept things orderly in bright contrast to the crash in the previous race.

The race was fairly static behind the leading Tesla trio, with the exception of the fight for fourth between Alexander Graff (Volkswagen) and Robert Dahlgren (Cupra).

Reigning champion Dahlgren seemed to have better pace in this race and reeled Graff in at mid-point of the race. But Dahlgren braked too late into Turn 8 and went wide, handing fifth to Månz Thalin who equalled his so far best STCC result with fifth.

Eriksson won the race with a margin of just six tenths to Karlsson and nine tenths to Brink.

Graff was far behind in fourth ahead of Thalin and Dahlgren, while Micke Bern (BMW) and Anton Marklund (Cupra) rounded off the top eight.

Brink keeps the lead of the drivers’ championship on 156 points, 12 more than Karlsson and 17 more than Eriksson. Dahlgren is the only other driver with a theoretical shot at the title in fourth place, trailing Brink by 38 points with 60 points remaining.

The final STCC round of the 2024 season takes place at Mantorp Park next weekend.