WestCoast Racing had a mixed qualifying at Falkenberg. Richard Göransson went through to Q2 where he qualified sixth thus securing sixth starting sport for tomorrows first race.
“It’s weird but I’m actually happy. Normally I’m not happy with sixth place but I am this time. I feel I got everything out from me and the car this. We qualified as the best BMW and it’s difficult to ask for more in qualifying here,” Richard says.

He will now start sixth tomorrow and believes he has a good chance for the race. He started in a similar position here last year and went on to finish third and second in the two races.
“Sixth place might not be an ideal starting position but it was a similar case last year so I feel we have a good chance. The car feels very good over a race stint and we know that is where we are strong. I’m going to bed feeling happy and motivated for tomorrow.”

Martin Öhlin had a worse qualifying than his team mate and only finished 17th overall, three tenths from eight place and Q2 and only five tenths from pole.
“The car felt good but it just wasn’t enough. There’s nothing more to say, of course I’m not happy with this. The car felt good though so we will have to try and repair as much as possible tomorrow but the race is gonna be very tough,” Martin summarized.

Race 1 starts 1:05 pm followed by the second race 3:35 pm.

Qualifying, top eight Falkenberg:
1: F. Ekblom, Volkswagen 45,371
2: R. Rydell, Chevrolet + 0,063
3: Tommy Rustad, Volvo + 0,090
4: J. Kristoffersson, Volkswagen + 0,152
5: R. Eriksson, SEAT + 0,292
6: R. Göransson, BMW + 0,342
7: P. Olsson, Volkswagen + 0,412
8: C. Turkington, BMW + 0,416

17: M. Öhlin, BMW 46,002

The home track awaits WestCoast Racing. The fast track in Falkenberg has been a favourite track for WestCoast Racing through the years with a driver in the podium in every race since 2004. Richard Göransson has four podium finishes including one victory at this track from the last four races. He has one aim only for this weekend.
“It’s an high and ambitious goal but of course we aim to be on the podium in both races. This is our home track and we will have a team party afterwards so why not celebrate with a few podiums? I’m not in the championship fight now so good race weekends feels extra important and this is a track where we usually perform strong,” Richard says.

The weekend started on Thursday with an official STCC-test. Richard had the sixth fastest time but doesn’t think that has any bearings on the weekend.
“Testing is always testing, immediately afterwards you are kind of confused since we test so many different things every time. Of course I’m not happy with the time but I’m very happy with the feeling in the car. We don’t get any points for testing and it’s completely different when it’s time for qualifying and race. The weather seems to be a bit more cold tomorrow and on Saturday so that will change things also. As I said, we have set high targets.”

Martin Öhlin spent his test day driving a lot of laps as the team worked on different settings on his car. He ended the test day with 13th fastest time.
“Of course I’m not happy being so far down in the time sheets but this was not that kind of test day. We tested a lot of new settings on the car and that was our focus. Now I will have to sit down and go through all the things we tested but the weekend has started,” Martin says.

He aims for a lot of points this weekend as he wants to climb in the championship. He enjoys the Falkenberg track where he has race the Porsche the last three seasons and believes he will have a good weekend.
“The track likes me and I like the track. It’s a fun track to race at but at the same time very difficult and you can easily lose a lot of time. I enjoy it here and believe we can have a good weekend. It wouldn’t be bad to points with us from this weekend, and it would be really good with a lot of points from this weekend. That is an obvious goal, score as many points as possible.”

The race weekend starts Friday afternoon with free practice followed by qualifying later in the afternoon.

WestCoast Racing, podium finishes at Falkenberg 2003-2010:
2010: Richard Göransson 2:nd and 3:rd
2009: Richard Göransson 3rd and 1:st
2008: Fredrik Ekblom 1:st, Robin Rudholm 2:nd
2007: Fredrik Ekblom 2:nd
2006: Duncan Huisman 3:rd
2005: Richard Göransson 2:nd
2004: Richard Göransson 1:st and 1:st

Time schedule, STCC Falkenberg

Thursday 30/6
09.00 Test 1
13.30 Test 2

Friday 1/7
14.20 Test
17.20 Q1
17.45 Q2

Saturday 2/7
09.20 Warm up
13.05 Race 1 STCC
15.35 Race 2 STCC

TV-schdule, STCC

Viasat Motor
Saturday 2/7
12.30 Race 1, STCC
15.15 Race 2, STCC

SVT
Sunday 3/7
16.00 SVT2

Weight list, STCC Falkenberg

1225 kilo: BMW 320si E90 [6 speed SQ-box] 1210 kilo: BMW 320si E90 [5 speed H-box]
1210 kilo: Volkswagen Scirocco
1205 kilo: Chevrolet Cruze
1199 kilo: Volvo C30
1170 kilo: Honda Accord
1160 kilo: Alfa Romeo 156
1140 kilo:SEAT León TFSi
1120 kilo: SEAT León TFSi [Jason Watt] 1120 kilo: BMW 320i E46

Car # 1 is back winning again. Richard Göransson broke records when he returned after his injury to take an impressive victory. He only needed one heat to find his winning ways and the victory in Gothenburg City Race also means Richard once again has the record for number of STCC-victories. The victory also means he is the only driver having won twice in Gothenburg.
“Absolutely amazing, I’m so happy to be back and winning again. I honestly didn’t expect this, it felt like a victory just being able to be here and race.”

Richard won the race in tricky rainy conditions that is one of his strenghts. It started raining before the heat and the city track was very slippery the whole race. Göransson admitted it was a mentally tough race to drive.
“I’m perfectly fine physically but mentally it was hard. I was very disapointed after qualifying where I pushed too much when it was dry. It was very slippery in the race and I started thinking exactly what you’re not supposed to think in those circumstances – to avoid mistakes and of course that is when you start making them. I didn’t drive very well then and Tomas Engström fought hard but I really wanted to win this one. I’m going for more victories now,” said a happy Göransson.

Richard Göransson had a great weekend in Gothenburg but for Martin Öhlin this was a weekend to forget. He finished the second race in 13th position despite usually being strong in rainy conditions. He leaves Gothenburg without any points and dissapointed.
“I’m extremely dissapointed and angry with myself, there’s nothing more to say. Richard drove a fantastic race and I congratulated him immediately afterwards. He impressed in his comeback. I could say a lot of things about my race but in the end I just wasn’t good enough this weekend. Now I just want to go home, forget this weekend and start thinking about the next race instead,” Martin said.

Team manager Dick Jönsson Wigroth felt this was one of the races he felt most nervous about.
“We have won a lot of race but I was more nervous than usually today. This victory means a lot to us and it feels fair we won. We have finally completed that last lap in Denmark. We never pushed Richard to return, we just told him we were ready when he was and we would give him the best possible conditions for his return. I’m happy we lived up to that today. Martin had a tough weekend and I know he is the first one to be dissapointed about that. We know he can much more than this and that he will return to the form he showed in the previous races. We look forward to our home race in Falkenberg now” he said.

Result, topp eight Göteborg City Race heat 2:
1: Richard Göransson, BWM 24 laps
2: Tomas Engström, Honda + 0,387
3: Fredrik Ekblom, Volkswagen + 4,827
4: Tommy Rustad, Volvo + 6,803
5: Rickard Rydell, Chevrolet + 7,506
6: James Thompson, Volvo + 13,988
7: Patrik Olsson, Volkswagen + 24,155
8: Jan Nilsson, BMW + 32,018

13: Martin Öhlin, BMW + 37,197

Resultat, race 2 Göteborg

Richard Göransson followed his game plan and took eight place in the first heat in Gothenburg, thus securing pole position for the second race later this afternoon.
“It was  a tactical race, I could have tried and gain a couple of spots more but now we have a really good starting point for the next race instead,” Richard said.

The start was eventful where Richard Göransson was stuck in the middle of a very tight pack. He managed to get himself out of that situation but lost a place doing so and finished the first lap in tenth place. He started the chase for the cars in front and could quickly overtake twice at the end of the back straight showing he is back in good old form.
“The start was a bit chaotic and the car got hit a couple of times but it’s only cosmetic. It worked really well and I could quickly gain on the guys in front of me. We have the speed and the car to win here and now it’s time to recharge for the next race.”

Martin Öhlin had an even tougher race than Richard and hade problems advancing from his 15th starting position. He gained a place early on but was relatively alone from then on until he late in the race could gain another position. He finished in 13th place.
“Boring is the word of my race. It got very tight in the middle of the pack in the start and after that I ended up driving along alone in 14th place. It wasn’t very fun and the only fun I had was chasing my own laptimes. I just didn’t drive faster than this in this race. The car worked well and now I have to look at the next race. I aim to get myself into top 10 and get a point or two from this weekend.”

Result Göteborg City Race:
1: Rickard Rydell, Chevrolet 24 laps
2: Fredrik Ekblom, Volkswagen + 0,985
3: James Thompson, Volvo + 3,964
4: Tomas Engström, Honda + 5,046
5: Johan Stureson, BMW + 5,873
6: Viktor Hallrup, Chevrolet + 14,220
7: Tommy Rustad, Volvo + 14,727
8: Richard Göransson, BMW + 15,761

13: Martin Öhlin, BMW + 21,832

Result, race 1

Qualifying did not go as expected for WestCoast Racing in Gothenburg. Both drivers missed the cut to Q2 with Richard Göransson ending up in ninth place just outside Q2. Martin Öhlin finished 15th after having hit the barriers early in qualifying and damaging the car.
“We know this is a tough track for rear wheel drive cars in qualifying and I’äve missed Q2 once before here,” Richard says. “The grip in the track is different and we didn’t managed to handle that this time. We know we are strong in the races however and it’s reasonable to aim for eight place and pole position for the second race. I can’t be too disapointed with this, I’m very happy to be here and we’ll see what we can do for the race.”

Martin Öhlin hit the barriers early in the session and damaged the left front. The team had a struggle to fix the car during the 20 minute long session but with two minutes left Martin could go out again and have a second run. The car was still damaged though and he couldn’t improve on his first time.
“I tried to make the track here wider again but apparently the barriers are very firm,” Martin says with a smile. “We have to mount a comeback run in the race now, I have seven spots up to eight place and pole for the second race and that have to be the target now. We have a strong car in the races and with some action ahead of me it shouldn’t be impossible to climb through the field.”

Result, Q1

Result, Q2

The first heat starts 13:05.