User blog:Ivaneurope/New era for touring car racing in Scandinavia

On 4th May a new era began on the Scandinavian touring car scene - the newly formed TCR Scandinavia Series, which took over from the bankrupt STCC AB as the organizer of touring car events in Sweden, went underway at Knutstorp. With one racing weekend already behind them, the new TCR Scandinavia Series is set to leave a mark.

How it all began? On 6th February it was announced that STCC AB, the company responsible for running the Scandinavian Touring Car Championship and its predecessor - the Swedish Touring Car Championship - declared bankruptcy amid huge financial difficulties. The STCC already had some issues during the 2018 season, which saw the infamous "exhaust gate". The scandal revolved around the series leader in both drivers and teams standings PWR Racing, in which the team was disqualified from the Karlskoga meeting for exhaust infrigement. The team appealed the decision which was granted and the team's results were reinstated. This didn't sit well with the competition with West Coast Racing and MA:GP (representing Honda Racing Sweden) launched a counter-appeal, but later withdrew it. With this no one was sure who is going to be the champion until the very last race at Matorp Park. In the end Volkswagen's Johan Kristofferson snatched the title from PWR's Robert Dahlgren, who was also the reigning champion and led the championship for the majority of the season. PWR took the team's title, but the exhaust scandal left bad taste in everyone's mouths.

Rumours then began to spread that Greger Petersson, who owns the TCR Scandinavia rights, would cut support for STCC amid the scandal, which was denied by both parties as STCC was gearing up for the 2019 season. Kristofferson Motorsport and West Coast Racing already announced that they'll not be competing, leaving only PWR Racing (with support from SEAT/CUPRA) as the major player. The series also announced new calendar, featuring a midnight race at the Skellefteå Driving Centre and the first visit in Denmark in 7 years at the Jyllandsringen. But behind the scenes things weren't well - the financial crisis that hit the world was also hurting the series' organizing body with STCC AB opperating mostly on loss. On 6th February 2019 STCC AB announced bankruptcy, leaving the touring car scene in Sweden in parts unknown.

There were concerns if there will be a championship at all. Enter the afromentioned Greger Petersson - TCR Scandinavian Series AB's managing director. A new organisation was formed consisting of the Swedish ASN, the track owners and TCR Scandinavian Series AB itself. The new organisation assured that it came "well prepared" for the 2019 season. A week later the takeover was complete and the TCR Scandinavia Touring Car Championship was formed. The original calendar for 2019 was left mostly untouched with the exception the the Danish round at Jyllandsringen was omitted. Teams that've participated in the STCC last season confirmed their participation in the comming weeks - Brink Motorsport, PWR Racing, Experion Racing Team, Micke Kågered Racing and MA:GP.

The grid however took a huge hit. Last season's STCC had around 23 cars which was the 4th most represented TCR series behind WTCR, TCR Europe and ADAC TCR Germany. With KMS and West Coast Racing gone 13 entries were registered for the innaugural season. Many of the familiar names remained like Robert Dahlgren and Mattias Andersson and also got presence from Denmark as Insight Racing was due to enter 2 Alfa Romeo Giulietta TCR, but for the openning round Knutstorp entered a single car for Louise Frost. Soon drivers like Tomas Engström and Estonian Andre Kiil joined.

And so, the first round at the Knutstorp went underway. After snow disrupted the free-practice session, it was Mikaela Åhlin-Kottulinsky surprisingly on pole, driving one of the CUPRA TCR cars of PWR Racing. She would later convert the pole into victory in Race 1 with 2 seconds ahead of her teammate Dahlgren. In Race 2 it was Andreas Wernersson who was on the top step of the podium for Brink Motorsport. With this win Wernersson also took the lead in the championship.

The newly formed series still has a long way to go, but the future looks promising.