The day started quite good with practice. I've driven so many times at this track I don't really need too much practice as I know how to setup the car and what tires to run.

The first qualification race went well with a comfortable win that put me in the pole position for the first race. But already in qualification I felt something was not right with the engine, the idle was not stable.

In the frist race a took a comfortable lead but the track had already developed some big bumps, characteristically for Sandhem. I managed to turn around at one big bump and the engine just died. I ran down to restart it and continued driving but the engine was now on the verge of dying all the time and I had to be really careful. But at one point it died again, ran down and restarted it. I managed to complete one more lap. At this point I was pretty sure I was in the bottom of the race to drop down to the B heat. But it turned out I actually finished second. This means I had a really good lead before the problems started.

After the heat I also found out that I cracked the rim of the rear tire, maybe from that big bump or I got hit. Since the GRP tires are the best tires in Sandhem and I didn't have any more with me I got to lend a pair of GRP tires from Emanuel. Very much appreciated!

During lunch I changed the engine to an older backup engine. But even before I started the race I was experiencing the same issues with the idle. I managed to race pretty good in the start, setting the best lap time over a second faster than the second best, but the engine died once again and I could never get it to run to be able to finish the race. In this heat I finished fifth, but it meant I was still in the A-heat. Very important for getting some ok points.

For semi final I changed the carburator and the spark plug, as the problem was not with the engine itself. I should probably have tried these before changing the engine as that's a way bigger project. But that didn't matter, still not going ok. I managed to race one lap just to be able to get the points from the heat. The rules are that you have to race at least one lap to get points.

Ok, only one thing left to check. If everything on the engine side has been changed, what's left? The fuel system. I check the lines so nothing was stuck in them. Then only one thing left. The fuel filter. This was the problem! I got a new fuel filter from fellow racer Håkan Kågström and I was finally good to go for the final.

The starting order in the final is based on all the points you've collected before which gave me a fourth spot on the grid. 
With a working engine I could quickly gain some positions and was battling with Morgan for the first place. We had a good battle a couple of laps but after an accident for Morgan I managed to get away from the field. But Morgan was consistent and the gap was 7-8 seconds for a long time bu then I managed to push some harder and get about 16-17 seconds. It was just a couple of minutes left and I only had to keep calm and drive it to the finish line. That when it happened, from nowhere there was a car upside down in the middle of the straight where you have the most speed. I just saw it and didn't have time to react. It was a pretty bad hit, I thought this was it. It took a while before my car was turned around but I could actually continue, the car was still intact.
This is where it gets really unbelievable, two laps later on the exact same spot there is a car on the roof again and I hit it another time. This time Morgan gets pass me, I make a smaller mistake but make a final push the last minute and a half. I'm getting closer and closer and in the last corner Morgan get wide and for a split second I can see would be able to push him out but chooses not to as it wouldn't bee the right thing to do. I still try to take the inner line but I think he wins with about half a meter. 

This was almost as a bad race as last year in Sandhem, but at that time I managed to take the win but very little points. This time I got ok points, but might not be enough to get the cup win. Now I really have to collect all the point I can get and the other drivers need to have some mishaps. I was a little bit upset for not taking the win after a comfortable lead, but that is racing. You never now what happens and the race is not over until you pass the finish line.

I want to congratulate Morgan for very consistent driving all day earning him full points and the win and to Emanuel making it up the field from also having engine problems to third place.

On to the next race in Linköping on June 3:rd. This time with no engine problems…hopefully…

If you want to check out images from the event you can get a bunch of the here.