WestCoast Racing finished their weekend in Denmark on a high when Martin Öhlin finished third, claiming his first podium finish in STCC, while Richard Göransson starting from the 16th spot on the grid flew through the field to finish 6th. Martin Öhlin was very happy after the race.

”Finally my speed this season pays off,” he said. ”Even though it felt like I had a hard time finding the rhythm in this race, we had a good weekend. Coming in to this weekend I tried changing my focus and find my joy of racing again, and it helped. Points-wise we were among the best, and now we’re going to keep going in that direction.”

Martin started from second and went round the outside in the first two curves, making sure to stay out of trouble and then fall back in line in third. He then guarded his position until he started to attack Mattias Andersson in second place, but in the end he had to settle for third, crossing the finish line only a couple of tenths behind. An incident in the beginning of the race meant that the first laps were driven behind the safety car which cost Martin valuable time.

”During the first laps I was a little defensive and made sure I secured third place. Then I was able to begin attacking Mattias Andersson, but not many laps were left. I tried saving my tyres to have the grip for a final go at him towards the end of the race, but there wasn’t enough laps left. I’m still pretty happy, I’ve been chasing this podium for much too long,” he said.

Richard Göransson was once again able to charge through the field and advanced quickly from 16th on the grid. He had the fastest lap of the race by far and crossed the finish line in 6th place.

”Ten spots up is okay, I think,” said Richard. ”We showed that we were as fast as we knew we were and were able to salvage part of this weekend. We set the fastest lap time and considering what happened in the first race, sixth feels okay.”

He advanced several places at the start of the race where a numbers of cars went off the track and then continued to plough through the field. Towards the end he was fighting Rickard Rydell.

”Both Rydell and Hallrup drove very defensively and closed the door a lot, and there just weren’t enough laps to pass Rydell too. The first race defined our weekend, but I think we’re still ahead in our own championship and we didn’t lose too much overall. We’ll have to be satisfied and remember that we were the fastest. It’s looking good for Knutstorp!”

Team manager Dick Jönsson Wigroth had high expectations for the weekend, but thought afterwards that considering how it began, the weekend turned out alright.

”Martin has had a really good weekend. He’s looked confident and secured a lot of points, and it was about time he stood on the podium. Overall we would have been able to claim even more points, but the timing of the tyre choice for Richards qualifying and his first race didn’t go according to plan. Martin still got a lot of points and he can get a strong finish to the season. Richard showed in the second race that we were once again the fastest, and that’s what we’re bringing to Knutstorp.”

The next race is at Ring Knutstorp in two weeks.

Results, top 8 Jyllandsringen:
1: Fabrizio Giovanardi, Honda 16 laps
2: Mattias Andersson, Alfa Romeo + 0.590
3: Martin Öhlin, BMW + 0.918
4: Johan Kristofersson, Volkswagen + 2.728
5: Rickard Rydell, Chevrolet + 5.718
6: Richard Göransson, BMW + 5.980
7: Viktor Hallrup, Chevrolet + 6.269
8: Patrik Olsson, Volkswagen + 12.001