V8 Thunder Cars’ return to Gelleråsen Arena was the round that Christoffer Bergström needed to reclaim the championship lead and place himself as the favorite for the 2024 title.
Kanonloppet in Swedish means “the cannon race”, and a loud bang is exactly what the fans heard after V8 Thunder Cars put up a showdown to remember in the two races held at Gelleråsen Arena last week.
Following a major setback at Falkenbergs, Christoffer Bergström was the man to beat once again. A win and a third place finish was enough for the Team Pampas driver to reclaim the championship lead heading to the season finale at Mantorp Park on 20-21 September.
Race 1 Recap
Having swept the Qualifying session to claim pole position in both races, Bergström quickly showed his intent to be back on the Victory Lane by storming off to the lead at the start of Race 1 on Saturday afternoon.
Tommie Eliasson and Stein Frederik Akre put up a hefty fight to Bergström, but the 53-year old driver kept his head cool and fended off all challenges from Tommie and Frederik Akre to secure his fourth win of the 2024 season.
The championship contender trio was comfortably ahead of Charbel Jomha, who was the best of the rookies and AMG drivers in fourth place. The top-5 was completed by Isac Aronsson, the winner of the Junior Trophy classifications.
A poor Qualifying for Andreas Nilsson meant that he had his work cut out from 13th on the grid. The reigning champion gained six places in just four laps, but he only gained one more in the remaining 13 laps and had to contend with a sixth place finish.
Conny Brorsson held on to fourth for most of the race, but he used his tires too early and dropped down to seventh at the checkered flag.
Linus Holgersson and Julia Eliasson sandwiched debutant Alexzander Kristiansson, who made his series debut using the same Gustavson Bil Motorsport Ford Mustang that his father Niklas had raced with at Falkenbergs.
All three drivers rounded out the top-10, with Julia narrowly beating returning driver Kristoffer Norling for the final points-paying position.
Norling, a former EuroNASCAR Esports Series driver, had troubles in Qualifying that forced him to start from 21st on the grid. He only beat Kenneth Jurlestam, who also made his return as a substitute for son Dennis. Dennis sat out of the event to continue his recovery from a traffic accident that he had this summer.
Two other drivers made their first appearance at Kanonloppet: Sindre Baastad and Daniel Wigren. Baastad raced Team Trysil’s second Chevrolet Camaro while Wigren bought a Camaro to use for his team Wigge Racing. They finished 15th and 17th respectively.
Race 2 Recap
A field of 22 drivers reassembled a few hours later for the start of Race 2, which once again saw a great launch from Bergström that put the orange No. 42 Ford Mustang on the holeshot for the first corner.
There was early drama for Anders Gustavson and Ronny Olsson, who both suffered from an opening lap collision. Gustavson managed to rejoin, but Olsson was eliminated due to significant damage on the front-left suspension of his No. 60 Team 4 Food Racing Camaro.
A few laps later, Wigren made contact with Håkan Sjöman that resulted in the debutant’s retirement. With his No. 91 Camaro stranded on the gravel trap, the Porsche Taycan Safety Car was called to facilitate the extraction of Wigren’s machine.
Bergström kept his lead on the restart, but Frederic Akre found a way past at half distance. The Norwegian then worked hard to keep his rivals at bay and clinch his second win of the season, narrowly finishing ahead of Bergström, Tommie and Nilsson.
The drama, however, didn’t stop there because Bergström and Nilsson received a 10-second penalty post-race. Bergström was far enough ahead of the field to be classified in third, but Nilsson dropped all the way down to seventh.
The Junior Trophy contenders enjoyed a fine race, fighting tooth and nail for most of the race and had their battle ended with one of their closest finishes of the year.
Aronsson in fourth won the classification by just 0.04 seconds from Holgersson, with Julia only half a second behind to complete the Junior podium in sixth.
The Safety Car period gave Gustavson the chance to mount a comeback, recovering from last place on the track to eighth. Norling and Conny completed the top-10, the latter being the source of Nilsson’s penalty as he was tagged into a spin by the reigning champion.
Championship Standings
Bergström’s success at Kanonloppet was the result that he needed to put himself as the championship favorites once more. With 166 points, the Team Pampas driver now leads Tommie by eight points entering the final showdown at Mantorp Park.
Nilsson was relegated to third place, but with a deficit of 12 points and 52 points on the line at Mantorp, anything is still possible in his bid for a third consecutive title. Also in the hunt is Frederic Akre, who is just five points behind Nilsson.
Conny stays inside the top-5, but is at the risk of being overtaken by Jomha and Aronsson. Holgersson, Jonathan “Jonte” Engström and Gustavson completed the top-10, the latter beating Julia on a best finish tiebreaker.
In the Trophies, Bergstrom has already locked up the Super Star title as he had a 68 point advantage with just two races to go.
The Junior Trophy is still wide open however, with Aronsson, Holgersson, Jonte and Julia all having the mathematical chance to win the overall classifications at Mantorp Park.
Disclaimer: Credits for all photos are listed underneath each image.