Successful weekend for former Rotax Max and KZ-driver Andreas Bäckman with two victories and pole-position

This year's fifth STCC event was held last weekend, September 9^th-11^th, at Scandinavian Raceway in Sweden. Andreas Bäckman had a strong weekend with pole position in the Qualifying and he won two out of three races. “Fantastic weekend at Anderstorp. The speed was there in all conditions throughout the weekend, and it was great fun to get two wins on the race day”, Andreas Bäckman says.

Last weekend, September 9^th-11^th, it was time for this year's fifth and penultimate round of the STCC championship at Scandinavian Raceway and Sweden National Team driver Andreas Bäckman was on the starting line, competing for the Lestrup Racing Team in an Audi RS 3 LMS TCR car. The historic Scandinavian Raceway track is located in Anderstorp, which is close to Gislaved, Sweden, and was inaugurated in 1968. It is the only track in the Nordics with Formula 1 history, where famous names such as Ronnie Peterson and Niki Lauda have previously competed.
 

Pole-position in the Qualifying
The weekend started with practice on Friday, where it rained during practice and rain tyres was used in the wet conditions at Anderstorp. Andreas had good speed in the rainy conditions. Also, on the practice sessions on Saturday, there were wet conditions on the track. During the Qualifying on Saturday afternoon, the rain stayed away from the track, and it was a dry qualifying, and thus also the first time during the weekend that the drivers had to drive on tires for dry conditions (slicks). In the first Qualifying round, Q1, Andreas immediately found the speed and got the second-best time, which meant 2^nd starting position for Sunday's first race. The top eight drivers then progressed to the second qualifying round, Q2, to fight for pole position for the second race.

In Q2, Andreas set the fastest time by a big margin and took his second pole position of the season, which meant 1^ststarting position for Race 2 on Sunday and also five extra points to the championship standings.

“Great fun to get my second pole position of the season. I felt I had the speed throughout qualifying and at the end of Q2 I got a good lap. Great starting position and opportunity for the race day”, Andreas Bäckman says.

Double wins in the races
In the first race on Sunday, Race 1, Andreas started in 2^nd starting position. It was wet conditions and a drying track with everyone driving on rain tyres. He got off to a good start and was in 2^nd position out of the first corner. He then chased the leader while he had to look behind as well. After a few laps he saw an opportunity and tried to overtake on the outside into Turn 6, a overtake that was successful, and he took the lead. He was then able to extend his lead to 4.4 seconds across the finish line to take a convincing victory.