This weekend the first round of the Swedish National Cup was held at the Green Hill race track and hosted by MHF Skarpnäck. The club made very good race arrangements and everything was well taken care of, apart form the temperaturte, so the race days were fauirly cold, but at least we didn\'t have any rain, which is always a plus.
In the qualifications rounds we were playing around a bit with the setup. this year mandated the use of a different spec front tire, so we needed to find the right balance on those tires at this track, but after a couple of rounds Alexander was very happy with the feeling in the car. Alexander managed to TQ one round and would eventually line up second for the finals behind local dricer Niclas M?nsson.
(click to enlarge)
In the first final the top three cars broke away quite early, and they kept their running order runnig tightly together for a while until Niclas made a bobble, Alexander picked up the lead only to make a bobble himself two turns later, and the marshals were far away picking up other cars, so a lot of time lost here. Wilhelm Skjödebrand, who had been starting third, in turn inherited the lead and drove really well so ther was no chance catching him unless he made a mistake. Wilhelm kept it on the wheel and Alexander rolled over the line in second.
In the second final Niclas made a small mistake going into the wall ride and Alexander took immediate advantage and passed on the inside, after that he got a couple of seconds gap down to Wilhelm and produced a very stable drive to stay in front and secure the win in the second round.
All this meant that only Alexander or Wilhelm could take the overall honors, Alexanders winning time was also the fastest so far, so Wilhelm had to win the third round to be able to get past. The third round started off by the top cars breaking away from the field again, and the top three cars were running in original order the whole race, where Alexander produced a very sensible drive to stay in control of the situation and take the overall win.
Saturday was 2WD time and we got the car wortking really well on the bumpy track, Alexander managed to qualify fourth and finished overall fourth in the end. Of course it would have been nice to get a podium but a lot of other fast drivers and a bit of hit and miss kept that out of reach this time.
