Pit stop drama in STCC

18 August 2008

Ruins the weekend after this years best qualifying session for Volvo

Despite strong lap times at the end of the race, Dahlgren finished fifth and Rustad sixth after an unfortunate pit stop.

This years eight race at Karlskoga looked like being Volvos weekend. Drivers Robert Dahlgren and Tommy Rustad were fastest and next fastest on both the test session and the preliminary qualification. During super pole, the Volvo drivers were even more impressive. Dahlgren claimed pole one tenth ahead of his team mate Rustad who in turn was five tenths faster than third placed Thed Björk.

The Volvo drivers started the race in the same fashion. Dahlgren was in the lead and Rustad in third place up to the pit stops. However the pit stops would prove extremely problematic for the Volvo team this day. One nut stuck on Dahlgren's car and on the next lap, when Rustad was in the pit, one of the air pistols failed. Both drivers lost valuable seconds and came out in sixth and seventh place. Despite strong lap times at the end of the race, Dahlgren finished fifth and Rustad sixth.

"Naturally very disappointing. These things do happen but on average once every 50 pit stops or even less. Now it happened twice in the same race. What is definitely positive is that we have taken 50 % of all the pole positions this year and our qualifying margins are growing. Also, we have made a big step forward to reduce tyre wear under the race. Our lap times towards the end of the races are continuously getting better. Now we need to have patience and continue to push", says Christian Dahl, team manager for the Volvo team Polestar.