A game-changing Västkustloppet round saw Andreas Nilsson take the championship lead following a double victory at Falkenbergs Motorbana.
The 2024 edition of V8 Thunder Cars’ summer classic round, the Västkustloppet at Falkenbergs Motorbana held on 13-14 July, proved to be the round that Andreas Nilsson needed in his quest to become a three-time consecutive champion in the series.
With two victories out of three and two spins for Christoffer Bergström, Nilsson managed to completely flip the championship situation around and is now the favorites heading to the final two rounds at Gelleråsen Arena and Mantorp Park.
Race 1 Recap
After a thrilling Qualifying session that was dominated by Stein Frederic Akre, twenty-one drivers started Race 1 on Saturday under rainy conditions. The wet track made things challenging, but everyone was able to keep their cars pointing in the right direction – for the most part.
The returning Anders Gustavson lost control of his No. 46 Swoosh Ford Mustang in the penultimate corner on the opening lap. Gustavson had missed the previous round at Karlskoga on medical grounds, as revealed by V8TC on their official website.
Per-Olof Selerup spun his No. 19 Beulco AMG a few laps later at the exit of the chicane, while Gustav Berggren found himself facing the Armco barrier when he slid off at the chicane itself on lap 13. Both drivers rejoined with significant time losses.
All of this was not an issue for Frederic Akre, who dominated the race from start to finish. The Norwegian cruised to the finish and led Tommie Eliasson by 6.742 seconds after 21 laps of racing.
Bergström completed the podium, having found a lucky break through traffic that gave him just enough gap to fend off Nilsson. Conny Brorsson was in a lonely fifth ahead of Charbel Jomha, who enjoyed a fantastic battle with Junior winner Jonathan “Jonte” Engström.
Local hero Niklas Kristiansson made a great impression by finishing eighth on his debut race. Another rookie in Alexander Andersson also performed well, taking home the last points paying position in tenth. Linus Holgersson was sandwiched by the two debutants in ninth.
Race 2 Recap
Sunshine greeted the drivers on Sunday for their remaining two races. Frederic Akre started from pole just like in Race 1, but Nilsson managed to leapfrog him at the start. Tommie soon found a way past as well with a clean pass at the chicane on lap 2.
Tommie then began to hound Nilsson for the entire race. The Team Brorsson driver tried to find a gap for lap after lap, but Nilsson’s awareness made it impossible for the reigning champion to give even a millimeter of space away to his rival.
Eventually, Tommie’s challenges were fruitless and Nilsson took his first victory of the season after a masterful showcase in defensive driving. Behind them, there was plenty of drama in the battle for third position that could end up as the defining moment of 2024.
Bergström made an overtake attempt on Frederic Akre at the chicane on lap 3, but Frederic Akre then tagged the Team Pampas driver into a spin. Bergström was relegated to last position and was unable to recover back to the points, finishing 13th and a lap down to the leaders.
Conny took advantage of this situation to move up to third, but the oil hose of his No. 22 Gavatec Ford Mustang broke on lap 4. He was forced to retire a few laps later when oil managed to find its way to the cockpit.
Frederic Akre was then hit with a 10-second time penalty, eliminating him from the podium contention. This should’ve resulted in Jonte claiming the podium after he finished fourth on the road, but the youngster was disqualified for technical reasons.
All of this was good news for Gustavson, who was classified with a podium finish. Holgersson wound up in fourth as the Junior winner ahead of Jomha, who was tagged by Jonte on lap 7 at the chicane.
Isac Aronsson ran a great race and fought valiantly to sixth place. Frederic Akre’s penalty dropped him behind Julia Eliasson, who nearly matched her career-best finish from Karlskoga with a seventh place finish. Kristiansson and Robert Moller completed the top-10.
Race 3 Recap
Tommie and Nilsson shared the front row for Race 3, but neither of them led into the first corner. Instead, it was Bergström who took the holeshot. The 53-year old driver was motivated to return back to Victory Lane after his spin in Race 2.
Bergström’s move to the lead was aided by the fact that Tommie had jumped the start. Tommie quickly stepped on the brake, but he was given a 10-second time penalty when the infraction was found after the race.
This played a crucial role towards the final results because Tommie had been dominating the race, but could only build up a margin of 9.455 seconds when he crossed the line.
This handed the victory to Nilsson, who narrowly avoided disaster when he made contact with Gustavson at the chicane on lap 13. Both drivers initially escaped with minor damage, but Gustavson retired with 5 laps to go when the damaged front splitter got stuck on the drivetrain of his machine.
On that same lap, Frederic Akre and Bergström – who had lost his lead due to a lack of race pace – made contact once more. Bergström again found himself spinning around, but this time he was able to recover to sixth place at the finish.
Frederic Akre escaped a penalty, the collision being deemed as a racing incident. The Norwegian was classified in second at the end, having finished within 10 seconds of Tommie.
Fourth place finisher Conny narrowly missed the podium, being just 0.017 seconds short. Isac Aronsson rounded the top-5 as the Junior winner. Holgersson, Moller, Andersson and Selerup completed the top-10 positions.
Selerup was involved in an incident that took Kristiansson out of the race. The local hero was going side-by-side with “Pelle” when both made contact on lap 12. This unsettled Kristiansson’s No. 7 Ford Mustang, which then spun off into the Armco barrier.
Jonte’s misfortunes continued as a sudden engine failure forced him to retire on lap 19. This caught Holgersson by surprise, resulting in a spin for the driver of the No. 33 Bergs Fegen Camaro.
Julia was also unlucky in this race. Having started from a career-best fifth place on the grid, she began to lose ground when the brake servo in her No. 12 Camaro started to have issues.
The situation worsened as the race went on and Julia’s pace slowed down tremendously. With practically no brakes, the sole female driver in the V8TC grid managed to keep her car alive for long enough to finish in 15th place – one lap down from Nilsson.
Championship Standings
Despite entering the Falkenbergs round with a 32 point deficit to Bergström, Nilsson’s double victory gave him enough points to take over the championship lead with 142 points, 18 points ahead of Bergström who was relegated to second place.
Tommie’s triple podium finishes and Frederic Akre’s first win in 2024 allowed them to maintain third and fourth places with 121 and 110 points respectively.
Conny also kept fifth, but he now has a 79 point deficit to Nilsson. With how far behind Conny and everyone else were, the top four drivers will be the primary championship contenders for the 2024 title.
Jomha, Aronsson, Holgersson, Jonte and Gustavson completed the top-10 in the overall standings. Bergström and Holgersson now act as the leaders in the Super Star and Junior trophies.
Disclaimer: Credits for all photos are listed underneath each image.