2009 Swedish Touring Car Championship
The 2009 Swedish Touring Car Championship season was the 14th Swedish Touring Car Championship (STCC) season. It was decided over nine race weekends (comprising eighteen races) at six different circuits.
Tommy Rustad won the drivers' championship for the second time. The ethanol powered Volvo C30 of Polestar Racing proved to be the fastest car over one lap, as evidenced by them setting all fastest qualifying times during the season (although grid penalties ruined the perfect score), but they were plagued by bad reliability. Instead, Thed Björk, driving for Flash Engineering, lead the championship most of the season, only to be overtaken in the last race.
The team championship also went down to the wire, with Polestar Racing besting WestCoast Racing by one point in the last race.
The entry of the Biogas.se team with their Volkswagen Scirocco meant the debut of a biogas powered car in STCC. Unfortunately, they had trouble matching the pace of the other factory teams and ended up last in the team championship.
Changes for 2009
[edit]There were several rule changes for the 2009 season.[1]
Race format changes:
- Two races of approximately 20 minutes were held each race weekend.
- There were no mandatory pitstops in either race.
- The starting grid of the first race was determined by qualifying.
- The starting grid of the second race was determined by the results from the first race with the top eight positions reversed.
- The qualifying was divided into two sessions, where the eight fastest from the first (20 minutes) session moved on to the second (10 minutes) session.
- Both races used rolling starts.
Other changes:
- Yokohama replaced Michelin as tyre supplier.
- Each race weekend, the team that scored most points received a price sum of 100.000 SEK. For this purpose, some of the one-car teams combined two and two.
- The winner of the team championship was awarded an additional 100.000 SEK.
- The manufacturers' championship was dropped.
Drivers
[edit]These were the STCC entries for the 2009 season.[2] Drivers with numbers 88 and higher also competed in Semcon Cup, open for privateers only. All teams were Swedish-registered.
* Mikko Tiainen, Petter Granlund and Joakim Ahlberg were on the official entry list, but failed to participate in any races during the season.
Race calendar
[edit]The race calendar for this season was as follows:[10][11]
Round | Circuit/Location | Date |
---|---|---|
1 & 2 | Mantorp Park | May 2 |
3 & 4 | Karlskoga Motorstadion | May 23 |
5 & 6 | Göteborg City Race | June 6 |
7 & 8 | Ring Knutstorp | June 27 |
9 & 10 | Falkenbergs Motorbana | July 11 |
11 & 12 | Karlskoga Motorstadion | August 15 |
13 & 14 | Vålerbanen | August 29 |
15 & 16 | Ring Knutstorp | September 12 |
17 & 18 | Mantorp Park | September 26 |
Results and standings
[edit]The points system used for both the main championship and Semcon Cup was the standard FIA system of 10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1, awarded to the top eight finishers of each race. In case of ties in points, the championship positions were determined by the classification in the latest race.[1]
Races
[edit]Round | Circuit/Location | Pole Position | Fastest Lap | Winning Driver | Winning Team | Highest Scoring Team | Winning Privateer |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Mantorp Park | Robert Dahlgren | Robert Dahlgren | Robert Dahlgren | Polestar Racing | Flash Engineering | Johan Kristoffersson |
2 | Thomas Schie | Thed Björk | Richard Göransson | WestCoast Racing | Johan Kristoffersson | ||
3 | Karlskoga Motorstadion | Robin Rudholm* | Robin Rudholm | Robin Rudholm | WestCoast Racing | WestCoast Racing | Johan Kristoffersson |
4 | Roger Eriksson | Robin Rudholm | Robin Rudholm | WestCoast Racing | Viktor Hallrup | ||
5 | Göteborg City Race | Tommy Rustad* | Robert Dahlgren | Tommy Rustad | Polestar Racing | MA:GP/IPS | Andreas Simonsen |
6 | Fredrik Ekblom | Robert Dahlgren | Tomas Engström | Engström Motorsport | Viktor Hallrup | ||
7 | Ring Knutstorp | Robert Dahlgren | Robin Rudholm | Robert Dahlgren | Polestar Racing | WestCoast Racing | Dick Sahlén |
8 | Roger Eriksson | Robin Rudholm | Jan Nilsson | Flash Engineering | Dick Sahlén | ||
9 | Falkenbergs Motorbana | Tommy Rustad | Tommy Rustad | Tommy Rustad | Polestar Racing | WestCoast Racing | Johan Kristoffersson |
10 | Tomas Engström | Thed Björk | Richard Göransson | WestCoast Racing | Andreas Simonsen | ||
11 | Karlskoga Motorstadion | Robert Dahlgren | Jan Nilsson | Jan Nilsson | Flash Engineering | WestCoast Racing | Tony Johansson |
12 | Patrik Olsson | Robert Dahlgren | Robert Dahlgren | Polestar Racing | Dick Sahlén | ||
13 | Vålerbanen | Robert Dahlgren | Tommy Rustad | Tommy Rustad | Polestar Racing | Polestar Racing | Viktor Hallrup |
14 | Pontus Mörth | Thed Björk | Tommy Rustad | Polestar Racing | Dick Sahlén | ||
15 | Ring Knutstorp | Robert Dahlgren | Robert Dahlgren | Richard Göransson | WestCoast Racing | MA:GP/IPS | Viktor Hallrup |
16 | Patrik Olsson | Thed Björk | Johan Stureson | IPS Motorsport | Mikael Ohlsson | ||
17 | Mantorp Park | Robin Rudholm♯ | Robert Dahlgren | Tommy Rustad | Polestar Racing | Polestar Racing | Johan Kristoffersson |
18 | Tomas Engström | Robert Dahlgren | Robert Dahlgren | Polestar Racing | Johan Kristoffersson |
* Robert Dahlgren set the fastest qualifying time, but was moved down 10 places on the grid, due to engine changes.[12][13]
♯ Robert Dahlgren set the fastest qualifying time, but was moved down 10 places on the grid, due to having received two yellow cards for unfair driving.[14]
Drivers championship
[edit]The drivers' championship was won by Tommy Rustad. In the end he scored the same number of points as Thed Björk, but won thanks to finishing higher in the last race.[15]
|
Bold – Pole |
* Tommy Rustad was given a 30 seconds time penalty for an incident in the start, dropping him from 7th to 14th place.[14]
♯ Robert Dahlgren was docked 10 points in the drivers' championship, due to being deemed responsible for a crash with Thed Björk. Note that this penalty didn't affect the team score.[14]
Team championship
[edit]The team championship was won by Polestar Racing, a single point ahead of West Coast Racing.[16]
Pos | Team | Pts | Prize money |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Polestar Racing | 156 | 300.000 SEK |
2 | West Coast Racing | 155 | 400.000 SEK |
3 | Flash Engineering | 148 | 100.000 SEK |
4 | MA:GP / IPS | 104 | 200.000 SEK |
5 | CMS / NFA | 60 | |
6 | Engström Motorsport | 50 | |
7 | Biogas.se | 23 |
Semcon Cup
[edit]The results in the 2009 Semcon Cup were as follows:[17]
|
|
References
[edit]- ^ a b "Sporting regulations STCC 2009" (PDF). STCC. Retrieved 2010-01-11.[permanent dead link]
- ^ "Official entry list for STCC 2009". TouringCarTimes. Archived from the original on 2011-07-16. Retrieved 2009-03-18.
- ^ "Göransson drafted to WestCoast Racing" (in Swedish). STCC. Retrieved 2008-12-12.[permanent dead link]
- ^ "Volkswagen teaming up with E.ON in STCC 2009" (in Swedish). STCC. Retrieved 2008-12-19.[permanent dead link]
- ^ "Thed Björk joins Flash Engineering". TouringCarTimes. Archived from the original on 12 January 2009. Retrieved 2009-01-02.
- ^ a b "Rustad (with Dahlgren) ready for Polestar Racing" (in Swedish). STCC. Retrieved 2008-12-23.[permanent dead link]
- ^ "Thomas Schie leaves Chevrolet". TouringCarTimes. Archived from the original on 2011-07-16. Retrieved 2009-08-30.
- ^ "Pontus Mörth confirmed for Chevrolet". TouringCarTimes. Archived from the original on July 16, 2011. Retrieved 2009-08-30.
- ^ "Ohlsson switches from Peugeot to BMW". TouringCarTimes. Archived from the original on July 3, 2009. Retrieved 2009-03-03.
- ^ "Race Calendar dates" (in Swedish). STCC. Retrieved 2008-11-05.[permanent dead link]
- ^ "2009-calendar finally revealed". TouringCarTimes. Archived from the original on February 24, 2012. Retrieved 2010-01-11.
- ^ "Rudholm on pole after penalty for Dahlgren". TouringCarTimes. Archived from the original on February 24, 2012. Retrieved 2010-01-11.
- ^ "First pole for Tommy Rustad". TouringCarTimes. Archived from the original on February 24, 2012. Retrieved 2010-01-11.
- ^ a b c "Dahlgren and Rustad penalized". TouringCarTimes. Archived from the original on February 24, 2012. Retrieved 2010-01-11.
- ^ "STCC Förarmästerskap 2009" (in Swedish). STCC. Archived from the original on 2010-03-26. Retrieved 2009-12-28.
- ^ "Teammästerskap 2009" (in Swedish). STCC. Archived from the original on 2010-02-27. Retrieved 2009-12-28.
- ^ "Semcon Cup 2009" (in Swedish). STCC. Archived from the original on 2010-02-27. Retrieved 2009-12-27.