Per Eklund News: Eklund 4th at first SC

The Saturday at the Knutstorp circuit began very good for Per Eklund. At this first race for the Swedish Championship he had a first time overall in the first qualification heat.

The second and third head he had a fifth time overall, putting him on a third position in the a-final.

Photo:(c)Mikael Persson

Report A-final by http://www.rallycross.com/:

Stig-Olov Walfridsson, who was on the innerside as pole sitter Eriksson opted for the outerside of the grid, went into the lead when the green(!) light was showen ahead of Eklund and Hedström. Eriksson faced some issues during the start and joined the field in sixth position. Already in the first corner Eklund went off the track as Peter Hedström was too enthousiastic to try to gain second place in the race. Eventually Hedström was blackflagged by the Clerk of the Course for pushing on Eklund. Eklund on the other hand lost a lot of time with this incident but continued racing and joined the track again in last position. By the end of the first lap Walfridsson was leading the field ahead of Tony Croon, Eriksson, who worked his way up to third place after missing the start, Jernberg and Eklund. During the second lap, Walfridsson who was chased by Croon and Eriksson slowed down. Croon was forced to brake and Eriksson hit Croon by accident. Eriksson damaged the turbo and intercooler of the Fiesta and his final was reduced to driving the remaining laps at a very low speed. By the end of that second lap Walfridsson went to the startgrid again. "I noticed a red flag and i supposed the race was stopped. Therefore I went back to the startgrid," Walfridsson declared afterwards. "Yeah, i also saw a red flag," said Croon. "I was forced to brake behind Walfridsson, but then i realised that the race still was going on, so I continued," he said. Racing went on with Croon in the lead while Jernberg climbed to second place. Jernberg went into the joker lap in the penultimate lap while Croon passed through it in the last lap. However, the joker lap didn't change the positions anymore. Croon came in first and won surprisingly his first Division one event of his career. Jernberg, with a puncture (back left), was second while Eriksson and Eklund finished the race on places three and four.

Per Eklund (SAAB 9-3 ASS) in close contact with Peter Hedström (Ford Fiesta ST). The latter got blackflagged for this action on Eklund. (Photo: © Lennart Pettersson)

Results: