2011 is now officially part of the history and we take this opportunity to look back at the year and summarize WestCoast Racing’s 2011 motorsportseason. A season that in many ways was an eventful season for the team with highs and lows.

WestCoast Racing was once again a two car team in STCC entering two BMW. Here verything is prepared for the very first pre-season test.

Martin Öhlin left Carrera Cup and took the step up to STCC and together with Richard Göransson he prepared for his very first STCC-season. Richard Göransson had to adjust from the rally driving he did in the winter back to racing again. He finished a sensational second overall in PWRC in Rally Sweden.

WestCoast Racing didn’t only do touring cars this year. Besides STCC the team also entered it’s first full GT-season with the BMW Z4 GT3. Fredrik Lestrup joined the team to be the main driver in the GT-programme that included a full season in Swedish GT and selected races in German ADAC GT Masters.

The STCC-season started in Denmark and everything looked great to begin with. Richard Göransson had a commanding lead of 10 seconds in the first race on the penultimate lap. But a rear brake failure entering the last lap led to a huge crash. Richard went off in the barrier and hurt his back badly. A truly shocking start to the season for the whole team. 

WestCoast Racing was now back to just one car for the second race weekend two weeks later at Ring Knutstorp. Martin Öhlin was the sole driver in the team and made an heroic effort having third place in the first race when he was turned around by Johan Stureson just two laps before the finish.

The team’s first victory for the season came in the GT-race at Mantorp Park. Fredrik Lestrup together with Lars Stugemo won an exciting one hour long race. Fredrik Lestrup continued to win all the remaning races in the championship together with Fredrik Larsson.

STCC also went to Mantorp. Martin Öhlin was out for revenge after Knutstorp and qualified as the best BMW-driver. But this time he got pushed off in the first corner of the first lap.

Richard Göransson was badly hurt but surprised everyone by returning after just three race weekends off. He made his comeback in Gothenburg City Race and he didn’t wait around and won the race. The final lap in Denmark was now completed.

His comeback was the start of an intensive period with a lot of interest and pressure from media. Richard Göransson relaxes himself and the back between driving and interviews in the pit garage at Falkenberg. He claimed another podium here but more was to come ….
.

The summer was a busy period for the team with races every weekend. STCC, Swedish GT and GT Masters. In July WestCoast Racing entered it’s first race in the competitive GT Masters, Nürburgring was the place for the debut. A lot to learn but Fredrik Lestrup proved the team has the speed by setting the fifth fastest lap in one of the two races. WestCoast Racing entered another three races in the championship after this.

Back home in STCC Richard Göransson returned as the king of STCC. He won everything, both races, during a fantastic race weekend in Karlskoga where he was unbeatable. No. 1 was back and against all odds he was actually an outside candidate for the title now.

WestCoast Racing also had time for more than racing. Together with Champion Watches we also released a WestCoast Racing watch.

STCC returned to Denmark and Jyllandsringen after the summer break. Not the team’s favourite place but after having been close many times Martin Öhlin finally managed to claim his first podium in STCC. The Denmark chapter could finally be closed.

Back home in Sweden WestCoast Racing continued to dominate the Swedish GT Championship. Here is from Falkenberg which was hit with heavy rain all weekend. Fredrik Lestrup and Fredrik Larsson was unstoppable.

After having won all races in the championship Fredrik Lestrup won the drivers championship at the final round at Knutstorp and became the Swedish GT-champion. Together with Fredrik Larsson the pair also secured the team title to the team.

And so it was time to finish the STCC-season. After two weekends with few points in Denmark and Knutstorp WestCoast Racing came to the final round at Mantorp without a shot at the title for the first time in ages. WestCoast Racing proved the pace was there but this was just simply a season when it just didn’t happen.

This was also the last race in the team’s STCC-career. An extraordinary success story which has made WestCoast Racing the most succesful team in the championship’s history with five championship titles, four times in second place overall and third place overall respectively. Ricahrd Göransson is the most succesful driver with four titles, three of which with WestCoast Racing, and 37 race victories of which a majority won with WestCoast Racing. The cars are now up for sale.

The next challenge is TTA. WestCoast Racing is one of the four founding teams of a new Swedish championship. During the summer and autumn the testing of the prototype which will form the basis for the new car started.

Besides a large programme in TTA WestCoast Racing also plans an increased GT-programme with compeition both in Sweden and Germany. 2012 will be another intensive and busy year for WestCoast Racing.

We would like to take the opportunity to thank all partners, all guests that have joined us at the races, our fans, colleagues and competitors for support this year. We promise to return with exciting news for 2012 during the next few months.

Pictures:

STCC – Mediaempire.se
GT – Martin Palm, Martin Öberg, Thomas Granbacka, Mikael Teng, Christoffer Ahlin

Racing driver Richard Göransson will face the challenge of his professional life this winter. He will take on the world’s best rally drivers on their own territory – in the top class!

After last years success where Richard Göransson finished second overall in the PWRC class in Rally Sweden he is now ready for an even greater challenge, to compete in the WRC-class. A challenge he hasn’t fully understood himself yet.
”This is the greatest challenge in my career and I would be lying if I said I wasn’t nervous”, Richard says. ”It is after all just over a year ago that I drove my very first rally and now I will compete in WRC.”

Richard will be driving a MINI John Cooper Works WRC in Rally Sweden, a car entered by the british factory team Prodrive. Richard says a big reason for his WRC-drive in Rally Sweden is to become an even better racing driver.
”I’ve been on top in racing for several years and for me it’s important to continue develop as a driver and doing rallying is a way of achieving this. I learn how to improvise, to face different conditions in a much better way and quicker make the right decisions when behind the wheel. Rally is still something completely new for me and WRC is the biggest thing you can do as a rally driver, it’s the Formula 1 of rally,” Richard explains.

Richard will continue his cooperation with Fredrik Eljas and Eljas Motorsport with whom he worked together in Rally Sweden last year. Fredrik Eljas will be involved as an advisor to Richard and responsible for events. He will also handle the test and competion programme Richard is planning in order to prepare for Rally Sweden.
”Last winter Richard shoved us he has an extraordinary speed in a rally car despite few preparations before hand,” Fredrik says. ”The cooperation with Richard developed us as a team as well and this will be the first time Eljas Motorsport is involved in a WRC-programme in Rally Sweden.”

Rally Sweden is held between February 9th and February 12th and Fredrik Eljas has a clear goal.
”First of all we will make sure we have fun and enjoy the moment. Last year we set a the target of finishing top 5 in PWRC, a goal we surpassed with great margin with a second place. If we could get into the points this time around, meaning finishing tenth overall or better, it would be an extraordinary effort,” Fredrik Eljas concludes.

Experienced and succesful world championship rally team Prodrive develops and builds the MINI WRC factory cars. They look forward to the challenge of guiding Richard Göransson against the worlds best rally drivers in WRC.
” Prodrive are delighted to be working with a driver of Richard’s talent”, Richard Taylor of Prodrive says. ”Although he is more used to dry tarmac Richard does have previous snow rally experience and  we know that the MINI WRC car is very easy to drive and are sure he will have no trouble adapting to it. Our aim is to help Richard to achieve his best ever finish in Rally Sweden.”

WestCoast Racing BMW Dealer Team, one of Sweden’s most qualified and victorious racing teams, is looking to expand for the 2012 season. In 2012, WestCoast Racing will race in the new TTA championship as well as internationally in GT cars.
“Our mechanics are the heart of our business, and one of the reasons we have been so successful for the past 20 years is that we have some of the best and keenest racing mechanics working for us,” says team manager Dick Jönsson-Wigroth. “Our will to win permeates our entire organization, and now that we will be expanding and taking on two championship programs to race both the TTA and GT cars in Europe, we need to bring in more winners as reinforcements.”

WestCoast Racing is looking for mechanics for full-time as well as part-time positions. We are primarily looking for someone between the ages of 20 and 35 who is interested in an exciting challenge as a racing mechanic. Experience from motorsports is of course a plus.

We are offering both part-time positions for work during the race weekends as well as full-time positions. If you apply for a full-time position, you must be able to relocate and live close to the team headquarters in Halmstad, Sweden.´

If this has caught your attention and you’re interested in working with one of Sweden’s fastest racing teams, please send your resume and personal letter to info@westcoastracing.se.

Click here for the information in Swedish

WestCoast Racing’s penultimate STCC race turned out to be an unexciting affair. Martin Öhlin was pushed off at the start and Richard Göransson crossed the finish line in 9th place after having lost ground on the long straight at Mantorp Park fighting for 8th with Mattias Andersson. He was disappointed not to have held on to 8th and secured pole position for the last STCC race.
“This was my most boring STCC race ever,” Richard complained. “I was very fast across the lap, but that means nothing when you lose four to six car lengths on every straight. There was nothing I could do, we’re fighting against turbo cars and very light cars, and it easily becomes frustrating. However, it is what it is, and what will be will be in the last STCC race.”

Martin Öhlin’s race was over almost as quickly as it began. Heading into the second corner he was hit by Tomas Engström who had gone off and upon re-entering the track ran straight into Martin.
“I made a mistake at the start which I have to take the blame for. I thought I saw a red light and eased up on the accelerator and so I lost a couple of positions. After that I saw Engström going off at the first corner and then he just went straight into me on his way back onto the track. There was nothing to do about it, the tie rod broke and I had no choice but to park the car.”

Richard Göransson will be 9th and Martin Öhlin next to last at the start of the last STCC race which begins at 3.35 pm.

Results, finale race 1 Mantorp Park:

1: Rickard Rydell, Chevrolet 14 laps
2: Fredrik Ekblom, Volkswagen + 3,147
3: Johan Kristoffersson, Volkswagen + 4,776
4: Patrik Olsson, Volkswagen + 5,776
5: Michel Nykjær, Chevrolet + 6,503
6: Robert Dahlgren, Volvo + 7,089
7: Thed Björk, Volkswagen + 7,470
8: Mattias Andersson, Alfa Romeo + 8,012
9: Richard Göransson, BMW + 9,770
10: Jan Nilsson, BMW + 11,315
11: Viktor Hallrup, Chevrolet + 11,315
12: Colin Turkington, BMW + 12,831
13: Johan Stureson, BMW + 18,071
14: Tomas Engström, Honda +19,182
15: Alx Danielsson, SEAT+ 19,995
16: Tobias Johansson, SEAT +21,238
17: Daniel Roos, BMW +21,461
18: Joakim Ahlberg, BMW +22,641
19: Andreas Ebbesson, BMW +24,086
20: Robin Appelqvist, SEAT +30,113
21: Claes Hoffsten, Alfa Romeo +1:09,657
22: Roger Eriksson, SEAT + 1 lap

DNF:
Martin Öhlin

DNS:
Tommy Rustad

Richard Göransson and Martin Öhlin qualified 8th and 9th respectively in the last STCC qualifying at Mantorp Park. Both made two very good qualifying runs and were happy with their laps afterwards.
“A job well done, I think,” said Richard Göransson. “There wasn’t much more to give, maybe a tenth or so but nothing that could have changed our position. We knew it would be hard to challenge the cars in front of us during qualifying, but we have a good car for the race. My goal is still to finish my career in STCC with a victory and there are different possible scenarios.”

Martin Öhlin missed Q2 by a tiny margin, only half a tenth from the important 8th position. He will now start the race from the 9th spot on the grid and is gearing up for the race.
“It was close, but I’m happy with my lap,” said Martin. “I couldn’t have done much better and it’s a very tight margin, but of course it’s annoying to miss out on Q2 by so little. The good thing is that I will be starting on the inside tomorrow and that we have a good car for the race. We’ll be pushing the others!”

Tomorrow there will be a warm-up at 9.20 am followed by the first race at 1.05 pm.

Results, qualifying Mantorp Park top nine:
1: Rickard Rydell, Chevrolet 1:20.778
2: Johan Kristofersson, Volkswagen + 0,384
3: Fredrik Ekblom, Volkswagen + 0,540
4: Patrik Olsson, Volkswagen + 0,573
5: Michael Nykjaer, Chevrolet + 0,613
6: Robert Dahlgren, Volvo + 0,650
7: Thed Björk, Volkswagen + 0,764
8: Richard Göransson, BMW + 0,896
9: Martin Öhlin, BMW

It’s time for the final weekend in STCC held at Mantorp Park and WestCoast Racing goes there looking for victories. Team manager Dick Jönsson Wigroth wants to finish a season that has been tough for the team with injuries and unplanned events by scoring top results in their final STCC-weekend. WestCoast Racing is despite all this joint first in number of race victories this season.
“Despite the fact Richard Göransson got injured at the first race and we were forced to race with just one car for several races we have managed to win three races this year. We want to increase that at Mantorp and finish the season in style. There’s no doubt we have had the speed to yet again challenge for the championship this year but nothing has gone our way and that’s the way it is. Mantorp might not be the best track for us trying to compete with the more powerful cars on the long straight but it’s the final weekend which always has surprises for all of us. Our target is to win races.”

Martin Öhlin has had a tough rookie season in STCC but he has shown the speed is there. He’s been the fastest BMW both in qualifying and races several times. He qualified sixth at Mantorp in May but got pushed off at the start. He is seeking revenge.
“There’s no reason to think about that now, I will go all in for this weekend. I have no reason to go safe so the target is to finish in style. A godo qualifying and two good races is the only thing I have planned.”

A year ago Richard Göransson took his fourth STCC-title in style at Mantorp Park thus becoming historic. This year he’s made more history as he is now the most winning driver in the history of the championship. He is out of contention for the title but he wants to increase his tally of victories.
“It’s quite funny Chevrolet feels they need three cars to win this championship and the Volkswagenteam needs four cars. We did fine last year with just one car when we took the championship. I’m not able to defend my title this year after my injury in the first race this year but I will give it my all to fight about the victories this final weekend. Anyone wanting to win this on Saturday will have to count with me and be prepared to work hard for it.” 

Time schedule – Mantorp Park

Friday
14.15 – Test
16.20 – Qualifying

Saturday
09.20 – Warm up
11.55 – Gridshow
13.05 – Race 1
15.35 – Race 2

Weights – Mantorp

1225 kilo – BMW 320si E90 [6 speed SQ-box]
1210 kilo – BMW 320si E90 [5 speed H-box]
1210 kilo – Volkswagen Scirocco
1210 kilo – Volkswagen Scirocco [Kristoffersson, Björk]
1210 kilo – Chevrolet Cruze
1199 kilo – Volvo C30
1150 kilo – Alfa Romeo 156
1140 kilo – Honda Accord
1130 kilo – SEAT León TFSi
1120 kilo – BMW 320i E46

Quadruple and reigning STCC-champion Richard Göransson have decided to leave STCC and join the new TTA-championship next year. After four STCC-titles, 37 race victories and 61 podiums in 119 starts he now looks forward to new challenges.
“I’m very proud over what I’ve acomplished in STCC and most of all that I’ve won more STCC-titles than anyone else. I aim to finish my STCC-career on a high this weekend,” Richard says.

He will now face new challenges. Before this season he signed a three year deal with BMW-team WestCoast Racing where he will continue as they are one of the teams behind the new championship.
“I believe TTA offers a good platform for drivers with long term ambitions and targets. It’s been possible to be a professional racing driver in Sweden for quite some years now and I now look forward to even better possibilities for that. TTA has an interesting concept with faster cars, better possibilities for teams, drivers and organizers and an exciting set up for the fans and the sponsors. Next year will present a new challenge for me as a driver which I’m looking forward to.”

Teammanager Dick Jönsson Wigroth has worked with Richard Göransson in six years and is happy to see their cooperation continue as the team switches to TTA. Together they have scored three STCC-championships and one ETCC-title and WestCoast Racing is the most succesful STCC-team since the championship started in 1996.
“I am of course thrilled and proud Richard Göransson and WestCoast Racing will continue our succesful cooperation. Richard is a vital part of this team and he further strengthens TTA. WestCoast Racing will participate in TTA next year and it’s a sign of strength we will have Richard with us on this new journey.”

Richard Göransson now aims to finish his STCC-career in style. He is unussaly not involved in the fight for the title this year after he was injured at the start of the season. But he will fight for the victories in the final two STCC-races which sees an expaned field.
“It’s quite funny Chevrolet feels they need three cars to win this championship and the Volkswagenteam needs four cars. We did fine last year with just one car when we took the championship. I’m not able to defend my title this year after my injury in the first race this year but I will give it my all to fight about the victories this final weekend. Anyone wanting to win this on Saturday will have to count with me and be prepared to work hard for it.” 
 
TTA was created in 2010 by four of the most succesful teams in Sweden. Together these teams have won six out of the last seven STCC-titles. TTA is an organization for teams competing at the highest level and for race organizers, where teams and organizers are share holders in the championship.

The GT Masters race at Assen was yet another evaluationrace for WestCoast Racing as the team is coming to grips with the BMW Z4 GT3. Richard Göransson and Fredrik Larsson were the drivers this time and they qualified 19th and 22nd in the two qualifying rounds as they were down on grip and top speed. The finished ninth in the first race and was forced to retire from the second race as Richard Göransson were in the middle of start chaos in the last corner of the formation lap. He tried to avoid the cars around him as several cars slowed down causing a chain reaxction but was forced to retire with a broken front and suspension.
“The second race ended all too quickly for us”, Richard said. “It was chaos on the formationlap when several cars started braking causing a chain reaction through the field. A Mercedes in front of me hit an Audi and I tried to avoid both of them but I touched the Mercedes and had to retired. I just tried to say out of it but to no avail. This was an evaluation weekend for us and we would have needed the second race to gain more data and information. There’s still a lot of work to do with the car.  The first race was pretty ok with a ninth position after having started from 19th position. It shows we have the race pace but we need a lot more, we are lacking top speed for instance. Anyway it was fun to drive, Assen was an awesome circuit to race on.”

Fredrik Larsson qualified 22nd for the first race after struggling with traffic on his qualifying round. He took the start and drove the first stint before handing over to Richard Göransson. He shares Richards impressions of the weekend.
“We are working very hard right now and we are trying everything and we are treating these races as test sessions. Of course we want to score results and it’s a shame we have not been able to do that although ninth place isn’t too bad. We know there is a lot of work still to be done and we need to use these races to continue the development with BMW. You have to remember though that we are putting ourselves up against the toughest possible competition on tracks where this car belongs,” Fredrik said.

WestCoast Racing has a final GT-race planned, the GT Masters season finale at Hockenheim next weekend where Richard Göransson and Fredrik Larsson will team up again.

A weekend filled with disapointments. There’s no other way to summarize the WestCoast Racings weekend at Ring Knutstorp which is unusual. Richard Göransson had two DNF:s while Martin Öhlin finished ninth and eight respectively after having got stuck behind the Volvo in the first race and the turbopowered Volkswagen in the second race, cars that have a distinct straight line advantage. Team manager Dick Jönsson Wigroth was pretty honest with his feelings about the day.
“It’s a day that simply just doesn’t exist. That’s just how it is and it’s something I’ve already forgotten. It just didn’t go our way from the start of the weekend and that’s how it is.”

Martin Öhlin finished ninth in the first race, just missing out on eight place and pole position for the second race. He got stuck behind Tommy Rustad in the Volvo which struggled in the corners but could pull out a gap on the straight each lap. Martin was unable to pass.
“I feel that you need to be able to pas cleanly and I never had an opportunity for that. I was clearly much quicker and his tyres must have been finished the last few laps but I never had an opportunity to pass him cleanly. Of course I could have pushed him and pass but that would mean one of us would have spun and I didn’t want to pass him that way. Finishing ninth is worthless,” Martin said.

His team mate Richard Göransson had a shorter and worse race. He got hit in a start crash and was forced to retire immediately with broken suspension.
“What can I say, I can’t really get myself invisible. It’s impossible to start way back in the field, it’s a chaos in the middle of the grid. I could see it was getting tight in the first corner and tried to back off when suddenly I just got hit everywhere. We’ll probably start from last position in next race, I can’t say it matters.”

The second race was in a way a replay of the first one. Martin Öhlin finished eight this time, once again stuck behind a slower car with a straight line advantage. He was chasing Fredrik Ekblom in the turbopowered Volkswagen the whole way and Ekblom struggled to find any speed in the corners but could gain large gap on the straight each lap preventing Martin to make the pass.
“I’ve probably gained a lot of new friends this weekend but not much in the way of points,” Martin said afterwards. “I think Tommy Rustad and Fredrik Ekblom both owe me at least a huge dinner each for this. The car was good and I feel I drove well but I got stuck behind the wrong cars in both races. It’s impossible to overtake their Volkswagen without pushing them out of the way. It pretty much summarizes my weekend, a big boring disapointment.”

Richard Göransson ended a terrible race weekend by retiring from the second race as well. This time on the last lap after he had advanced from last to ninth position.
“Retiring on the last lap is the icing on the cake on a really shitty weekend. The race was pretty ok. Even though the car was very difficult to drive after I flatspotted the tyres on the first lap I could show it’s possible to overtake here. I think I drove around five cars on the outside at the hairpin. Not that it matters much even though it would have been nice to see the chequered flag. Retiring with a broken driveshaft on the very last lap is a sign that this was a terrible weekend from the start.”

Result topp 10, race 1 Ring Knutstorp:
1: R. Rydell, Chevrolet 19 laps
2: F. Ekblom, Volkswagen + 4,686
3: R. Dahlgren, Volvo + 5,033
4: M. Nykjaer, Chevrolet + 5,511
5: J. Kristoffersson, Volkswagen + 7,207
6: C. Turkington, BMW + 7,898
7: J. Stureson, BMW + 8,339
8: T. Rustad, Volvo + 10,006
9: M. Öhlin, BMW + 10,226
10: V. Hallrup, Chevrolet + 12,843

DNF:
P. Olsson, R. Göransson, J. Watt, T. Johansson

Result, race 2 Ring Knutstorp topp eight:
1: T. Rustad, Volvo 19 laps
2: C. Turkington, BMW + 3,324
3: J. Kristoffersson, Volkswagen + 10,541
4: R. Dahlgren, Volvo + 12,191
5: Johan Stureson, BMW + 12,602
6: R. Rydell, Chevrolet + 13,274
7: F. Ekblom, Volkswagen + 13,868
8: M. Öhlin, BMW + 14,104

DNF:
R. Göransson, J. Nilsson, J. Watt

A weekend full of lessons learnt and challenges is the summary of the GT Masters-weekend in Lausitz. 17th and 21st from the two races are results far from the expectations for this weekend. Team manager Dick Jönsson Wigroth summarizes a weekend where WestCoast Racing never quite got into the set-up of the car.
“Of course we expected better results but this soon proved to be one of those weekends where we struggled to get the car right,” he says. “The positives we take from this weekend is that we have learnt a lot and it’s clear we need more track time to get to know this car better. We know that when we get it right it’s very quick and when we then have two such fast drivers as we ha this weekend we can challenge the very top even in a competition as tough as this one.”

Fredrik Lestrup started the first race and could quickly gain a lot of places thanks to a good start and mistakes from drivers ahead. Everything looked set for a finish in 12th position when the team was slightly less than a second to quick in the pit stop when Fredrik Larsson took over from Fredrik Lestrup. That small mistake by the team meant Fredrik Larsson had to take a drive through penalty and slip back to 21st position. In the second race Fredrik Larsson started and quickly gained a lot of positions just as Lestrup in the first race. He handed over the car in 14th place to Fredrik Lestrup who was 13th on the penultimated lap when he was forced to retire in the pits with a broken diff on the very last lap.
“We improved the car throughout the weekend but it wasn’t enough. Without the drive through penalty in the first race and the technical problem on the last lap in the second race we would have had better results but still far from what we hoped for,” Lestrup says. “This has been a tough but informative weekend, we have gained a lot of information for the coming races here. In that respect this was an important weekend, it was a very special track and we have learnt more about how to work with the car on these kind of tracks. Looking at the results we are not happy but we have learnt a lot and we are putting ourselves up against the toughest possible competition here.”

Fredrik Larsson drove the second stint in the first race and had to take a drive through penalty after which he slipped back and did his stint pretty much alone on the track. In the second race he made a great start and could thanks to that and to mistakes by cars ahead climp to ninth position by the end of the first lap. He was 14th when he handed over the car in the pit stop to Fredrik Lestrup who was 13th when he was forced to retire on the last lap because of technical problems.
“We had higher expectations than this coming here but it has been a tough weekend where we started off a bit wrong and never fully recovered,” Larsson summarizes. “We improved through qualifying and in between the races but not fast enough. The positives is that both me and Fredrik managed to get a lot of mileage and the team brings a lot of information back home. It was a very special track and it never quite gelled for us but we have been able to test a lot and learnt a lot and those are the good things we take with us from this weekend.”

Result, race 1
Result, race 2