Rydell with his SEAT in the STCC

[JMeissner]

Rickard is at Mantorp this weekend making a guest apperance with his SEAT in the STCC. Check the qualifying report out here below:

Mantorp Qualifying

Rickard Rydell certainly stood up to the expectations and took pole position today in his guest appearance in the STCC. He took pole 0.05 seconds ahead of championship leader Richard Göransson who wasn't too impressed: "Let's see if you can keep up in the start with me." Despite pole Rickard wasn't too pleased with the new Dunlop tyres that he has do drive on in the STCC compared to his usual Michelin tyres in the ETCC. "It is a bigger difference than we thought. It requires bigger changes and there is more to do," Rickard said.

Rickard's old team mate Janne "Flash" Nilsson took third position in his Volvo S60 and was pleased: "I am pleased keeping in mind that I haven't driven on this circuit before this year." His team mate took fourth despite problems with a steering wheel and fifth took last year's champion Fredrik Ekblom who certainly was not pleased despite a new engine. "Now I'm tired to qualify fifth, which I have done in all of the races this year," Fredrik said. "The new engine isn't a great step forward at least." Stay tuned for the race later today!


1 Richard Rydell SEAT Toledo 1:22.711
2 Richard Göransson BMW 320i 1:22.765
3 Jan Nilsson Volvo S60 1:22.983
4 Robert Dahlgren Volvo S60 1:23.001
5 Fredrik Ekblom Audi A4 1:23.259
6 Tomas Engström Honda Civic 1:23.518
7 Johan Sturesson Peugeot 307 1:23.714
8 Mattias Andersson Alfa Romeo 156 1:23.861
9 Tommy Kristoffersson Audi A4 1:23.910
10 Tommy Rustad Opel Astra 1:23.955

[Hazard]

Hi,

Any update? I can't read the STCC site? Did he beat them all?

[JMeissner]

Mantorp Race
STCC 20/06/04


Race One

Rickard Rydell made most of his pole position and took the start coming in to the first corner. But at the second corner the luck pretty much ran out for Rydell in his SEAT. Richard Göransson punted Rydell off the track from behind who took Janne "Flash" in his Volvo with him in to the gravel trap. "I've never seen such bad driving," Rydell said after the race. "And it wasn't just Göransson, every one pushed and showed during the race. It is a difference to have contact and to crash in to each other."

With Rydell and Flash off the track Göransson had a clear track and could cross the line first. But the stewards decided to give him a 30-second penalty that meant that he got last position instead of first. "At least I didn't do it on purpose," Göransson said after the race. Both Rydell and Flash were able to get back on to the track and chase through the field. The two actually bumped in to each other again, this time leaving Flash standing in the gravel trap for good. Rydell on the other hand finally drove up to fifth place.

Instead Volvo-rookie Robert Dahlgren took the victory in this first eventful race of the day at Mantorp ahead of Peugeot's Johan Sturesson in second and Tomas Engström in his Honda Civic in a fine third place. "It's always great to win. But if you drive faster than the others at the right places it usually goes well," Robert said after the race.


1 Robert Dahlgren Volvo S60 12 laps
2 Johan Sturesson Peugeot 307 +1.701
3 Tomas Engström Honda Civic +2.938
4 Fredrik Ekblom Audi A4 +3.425
5 Richard Rydell SEAT Toledo +6.377
6 Johan Landegren Volvo S60 +9.160
7 Jens Hellström Honda Civic +10.019
8 Tommy Kristoffersson Audi A4 +10.317
9 Jan Nilsson Volvo S60 +12.089
10 Peo Norén BMW 320i +12.384
11 Johan Nilsson Volvo S60 +20.517
12 Richard Göransson BMW 320i +28.888



Race Two

The second race went better for Rydell but was still very eventful. Most of the cars on the track went for wet tyres on the track that was slowly drying up. Rickard Rydell, Richard Göransson, Fredrik Ekblom and Robert Dahlgren all went for wet tyres while Sturesson, Rustad and Landegren went for slicks. Göransson started from last position but was able to fight very quickly through the field up in to third place. But at that point his tyres were overheated and the drivers on slicks were gaining immensely fast.

Rickard Rydell was at this point in the lead with quite a margin. But Tommy Rustad and Johan Sturesson were cutting through the field like hot knives through butter. The pair passed Ekblom, Göransson and Dahlgren like they were standing still. Sturesson managed to squeeze past Rustad in a nice manoeuvre and had the aim on Rydell and the lead.

Sturesson caught Rydell at the two last corners of the race. And as they came in to the last corner the pair were along side each other but with Rydell on the inside and Sturesson trying on the outside. Sturesson tried to pass but Rydell used his routine and closed the door abruptly on the Peugeot driver as he had the inside line and therefore could choose his line first. Despite this Sturesson was upset after the race:

"He drove though and pushed me out, it was very hard and in this situation I didn't think it was fair. But everyone is here to defend his or her position and maybe I would have done the same thing in his situation. I am very happy over two second places," Sturesson said. Rickard was pleased with his win and admitted that he was surprised that Sturesson gained on him so fast: "I had started to slow down and thought the win was mine when I saw Johan in the rear view mirror. I had to defend my position right to the end and I was first in to the last corner and could choose my line," said Rickard after the race.

Tommy Rustad took a fine third place and was over the moon after the race: "This whole season has started badly. Today we had wrong setup from the start, so I am very happy for the third place," Tommy said. Rustad had a combination of dry- and wet tyres on his Opel Astra. Johan Landegren is worthy a special mention as he finished fourth in his Volvo S60 challenge car on slick tyres that he runs in the privateer’s cup. "This is the greatest thing I have done in racing, now I was up with the big guys and fighting," Johan said with a big smile.


1 Richard Rydell SEAT Toledo 15 laps
2 Johan Sturesson Peugeot 307 +1.189
3 Tommy Rustad Opel Astra +1.904
4 Johan Landegren Volvo S60
5 Fredrik Ekblom Audi A4 +5.261
6 Richard Göransson BMW 320i +6.733
7 Robert Dahlgren Volvo S60 +7.206
8 Tommy Kristoffersson Audi A4 +8.015
9 Niklas Lovén BMW 320i +1:21.519


Source: STCC

Johan Meissner
johan@meissner.se

[Hazard]

Nice work for at least winning one of them. Now, to conquer the first ETCC win for Seat!

[ATF]

Good stuff Rickard - must be years since he's actually won a race! Now where better to win for RR than Donington!!! With Tarquini and JT on the podium with him!!

[JMeissner]

3 years since his last win in fact.

[touringlegend]

What was that in, Johan? My minds completely blank.

[JMeissner]

2001 when driving a Prodrive Ferrari 550 in the FIA GT.

[ATF]

His last proper touring car win was Croft 2000 in the BTCC! And didn't he drive in that S60 Challenge - where did he finish?

[Husse]

Rydell did win the "Race of Champions" at Knutstorp 2001.

Check out Johan Meissners great site and a report from the race.

http://www.btcctimes.com/tct/news/266.shtml


Here is a picture of Rydell driving his S60 Challenge car.

I had the pleasure to see the race live and I can assure you that it was a wet race, soaking wet.

The race was a way to promote the new S60 Challenge cars.