2009 Swedish Touring Car Championship Explained

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

There were several rule changes for the 2009 season.[1]

Race format changes:

Other changes:

Drivers

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.

TeamCarDriversClassRounds
WestCoast RacingBMW 320si E901 Richard Göransson[3] DAll
4 Robin RudholmDAll
Biogas.seVolkswagen Scirocco[4] 2 Fredrik EkblomDAll
11 Patrik OlssonDAll
Flash EngineeringBMW 320si E903 Thed Björk[5] DAll
6 Jan "Flash" NilssonDAll
92 Tobias TegelbyS17–18
Polestar RacingVolvo C305 Robert Dahlgren[6] DAll
10 Tommy RustadDAll
Chevrolet Motorsport Sweden
Nordic Fine Art
Chevrolet Lacetti
7 Thomas Schie[7] D1–6
12 Pontus Mörth[8] D7–18
SEAT León9 Roger ErikssonDAll
Engström MotorsportHonda Accord8 Tomas EngströmDAll
MA:GP
IPS Motorsport
Alfa Romeo 15620 Mattias AnderssonDAll
Peugeot 30821 Johan SturesonDAll
Team CaWalliBMW 320i E4688 Viktor HallrupSAll
93 Dick SahlénSAll
Team MECAAlfa Romeo 156 GTA89 Claes HoffstenSAll
G-Rex SwedenMercedes-Benz C20091 Tony JohanssonS1–6,9–12
Micke Ohlsson MotorsportPeugeot 407/BMW 320i E46[9] 94 Mikael OhlssonS1–10,15–16
Kristoffersson MotorsportAudi A495 Andreas SimonsenS5–6,9–10
98 Johan KristofferssonSAll
Huggare RacingOpel Astra96 Viktor HuggareSAll
Mälarpower MotorsportVolvo S6099 Ronnie BrandtS5–8,11–14,17–18
IconClass
DDrivers' Championship
SSemcon Cup

* 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

The race calendar for this season was as follows:[10] [11]

Round Circuit/LocationDate
1 & 2 Mantorp ParkMay 2
3 & 4 Karlskoga MotorstadionMay 23
5 & 6 Göteborg City RaceJune 6
7 & 8 Ring KnutstorpJune 27
9 & 10 Falkenbergs MotorbanaJuly 11
11 & 12 Karlskoga MotorstadionAugust 15
13 & 14 VålerbanenAugust 29
15 & 16 Ring KnutstorpSeptember 12
17 & 18 Mantorp ParkSeptember 26

Results and standings

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

RoundCircuit/LocationPole PositionFastest LapWinning DriverWinning TeamHighest Scoring TeamWinning Privateer
1 Mantorp Park Robert Dahlgren Robert Dahlgren Robert DahlgrenPolestar RacingFlash Engineering Johan Kristoffersson
2 Thomas Schie Thed Björk Richard GöranssonWestCoast Racing Johan Kristoffersson
3 Karlskoga Motorstadion Robin Rudholm* Robin Rudholm Robin RudholmWestCoast RacingWestCoast Racing Johan Kristoffersson
4 Roger Eriksson Robin Rudholm Robin RudholmWestCoast Racing Viktor Hallrup
5 Göteborg City Race Tommy Rustad* Robert Dahlgren Tommy RustadPolestar RacingMA:GP/IPS Andreas Simonsen
6 Fredrik Ekblom Robert Dahlgren Tomas EngströmEngström Motorsport Viktor Hallrup
7 Ring Knutstorp Robert Dahlgren Robin Rudholm Robert DahlgrenPolestar RacingWestCoast Racing Dick Sahlén
8 Roger Eriksson Robin Rudholm Jan NilssonFlash Engineering Dick Sahlén
9 Falkenbergs Motorbana Tommy Rustad Tommy Rustad Tommy RustadPolestar RacingWestCoast Racing Johan Kristoffersson
10 Tomas Engström Thed Björk Richard GöranssonWestCoast Racing Andreas Simonsen
11 Karlskoga Motorstadion Robert Dahlgren Jan Nilsson Jan NilssonFlash EngineeringWestCoast Racing Tony Johansson
12 Patrik Olsson Robert Dahlgren Robert DahlgrenPolestar Racing Dick Sahlén
13 Vålerbanen Robert Dahlgren Tommy Rustad Tommy RustadPolestar RacingPolestar Racing Viktor Hallrup
14 Pontus Mörth Thed Björk Tommy RustadPolestar Racing Dick Sahlén
15 Ring Knutstorp Robert Dahlgren Robert Dahlgren Richard GöranssonWestCoast RacingMA:GP/IPS Viktor Hallrup
16 Patrik Olsson Thed Björk Johan SturesonIPS Motorsport Mikael Ohlsson
17 Mantorp Park Robin Rudholm Robert Dahlgren Tommy RustadPolestar RacingPolestar Racing Johan Kristoffersson
18 Tomas Engström Robert Dahlgren Robert DahlgrenPolestar 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

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]

Pos.DriverMAN
KAR
GÖT
KNU
FAL
KAR
VÅL
KNU
MAN
Pts
1 Tommy Rustad2458166612RetDNS11414*1594
2 Thed Björk4243243Ret2344232114Ret94
3 Robin RudholmRet111110922753362592680
4 Richard Göransson3111597453125991Ret3Ret75
5 Mattias Andersson65Ret103574Ret7525Ret966256
6 Jan "Flash" Nilsson533711165161218Ret73Ret9Ret54
7 Robert Dahlgren1Ret61617813RetDNS61Ret4Ret155152
8 Tomas EngströmRet102671911847143Ret1238350
9 Johan Stureson787262RetRet419RetDNS7561RetRet48
10 Roger Eriksson96844387513RetRet411134Ret739
11 Pontus MörthRet912697881187415
12 Patrik Olsson1415161215111081398610138211914
13 Fredrik Ekblom119109810Ret10917RetRetDNS61451089
14 Thomas Schie879Ret5DNS7
15 Mikael Ohlsson151618DNSRetRet161415141072
16 Viktor Hallrup12131411131212131411131011127Ret13112
17 Andreas Simonsen12141181
18 Johan Kristoffersson10121213RetDNS141510101111Ret16Ret1012100
19 Tobias Tegelby15120
20 Dick Sahlén16171317141311121715Ret9129Ret1214130
21 Viktor Huggare13141515161513Ret1616151213101513Ret140
22 Claes HoffstenRetDNS1714RetDNS1516181812131414RetDNSDNSDNS0
23 Ronnie BrandtDNSDNSDNSDNS14Ret1515DNSDNS0
24 Tony JohanssonDNSDNSDNSDNSRetRet19Ret10Ret0
Bold – Pole
Italics – Fastest Lap

* 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

The team championship was won by Polestar Racing, a single point ahead of West Coast Racing.[16]

PosTeamPtsPrize money
1Polestar Racing156300.000 SEK
2West Coast Racing155400.000 SEK
3Flash Engineering148100.000 SEK
4MA:GP / IPS104200.000 SEK
5CMS / NFA60
6Engström Motorsport50
7Biogas.se23

Semcon Cup

The results in the 2009 Semcon Cup were as follows:[17]

Pos.DriverMAN
KAR
GÖT
KNU
FAL
KAR
VÅL
KNU
MAN
Pts
1 Viktor Hallrup223121223342131Ret22133
2 Johan Kristoffersson1112RetDNS441223Ret6Ret211111
3 Dick Sahlén5525321165Ret121Ret334106
4 Viktor Huggare3344443Ret56643234Ret582
5 Mikael Ohlsson446DNSRetRet63442150
6 Claes HoffstenRetDNS53RetDNS55773544RetDNSDNSDNS42
7 Andreas Simonsen132134
8 Ronnie BrandtDNSDNSDNSDNS5Ret55DNSDNS12
9 Tobias Tegelby4311
10 Tony JohanssonDNSDNSDNSDNSRetRet8Ret1Ret11

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Sporting regulations STCC 2009. STCC. 2010-01-11.
  2. Web site: Official entry list for STCC 2009 . TouringCarTimes . 2009-03-18 . https://web.archive.org/web/20110716070926/http://www.touringcartimes.com/news.php?id=3239 . 2011-07-16 . dead .
  3. Web site: Göransson drafted to WestCoast Racing. STCC. Swedish. 2008-12-12.
  4. Web site: Volkswagen teaming up with E.ON in STCC 2009. STCC. Swedish. 2008-12-19.
  5. Web site: Thed Björk joins Flash Engineering . TouringCarTimes . 2009-01-02 . https://web.archive.org/web/20090112081502/http://www.touringcartimes.com/news.php?id=3052 . 12 January 2009 . dead .
  6. Web site: Rustad (with Dahlgren) ready for Polestar Racing. STCC. Swedish. 2008-12-23.
  7. Web site: Thomas Schie leaves Chevrolet . TouringCarTimes . 2009-08-30 . https://web.archive.org/web/20110716071656/http://www.touringcartimes.com/news.php?id=3595 . 2011-07-16 . dead .
  8. Web site: Pontus Mörth confirmed for Chevrolet . TouringCarTimes . 2009-08-30 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20110716071721/http://www.touringcartimes.com/news.php?id=3611 . July 16, 2011 .
  9. Web site: Ohlsson switches from Peugeot to BMW . TouringCarTimes . 2009-03-03 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20090703031740/http://www.touringcartimes.com/news.php?id=3646 . July 3, 2009 .
  10. Web site: Race Calendar dates. STCC. Swedish. 2008-11-05.
  11. Web site: 2009-calendar finally revealed . TouringCarTimes . 2010-01-11 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20120224130953/http://www.touringcartimes.com/news.php?id=2895 . February 24, 2012 .
  12. Web site: Rudholm on pole after penalty for Dahlgren . TouringCarTimes . 2010-01-11 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20120224130957/http://www.touringcartimes.com/news.php?id=3514 . February 24, 2012 .
  13. Web site: First pole for Tommy Rustad . TouringCarTimes . 2010-01-11 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20120224131008/http://www.touringcartimes.com/news.php?id=3580 . February 24, 2012 .
  14. Web site: Dahlgren and Rustad penalized . TouringCarTimes . 2010-01-11 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20120224131016/http://www.touringcartimes.com/news.php?id=3959 . February 24, 2012 .
  15. Web site: STCC Förarmästerskap 2009. STCC. Swedish. 2009-12-28. https://web.archive.org/web/20100326004626/http://www.stcc.se/876/. 2010-03-26. dead.
  16. Web site: Teammästerskap 2009. STCC. Swedish. 2009-12-28. https://web.archive.org/web/20100227012232/http://www.stcc.se/877/. 2010-02-27. dead.
  17. Web site: Semcon Cup 2009. STCC. Swedish. 2009-12-27. https://web.archive.org/web/20100227012238/http://www.stcc.se/879/. 2010-02-27. dead.