WestCoast Racing prepares for their second race with the BMW Z4 GT3 in ADAC GT Masters. At EuroSpeedway this weekend WestCoast Racing will field the winning duo from the Swedish GT League. Fredrik Lestrup, recently the newly crowned Swedish GT Champion, will team up with Fredrik Larsson who together with Fredrik Lestrup has won the last three Swedish GT-races.

Fredrik Lestrup showed signs of high speed at the GT Masters-round at Nürburgring and he now looks forward to tame EuroSpeedway together with Fredrik Larsson.
”This is going to be a lot of fun,” he says. Me and Fredrik has worked great together in the Swedish races and performance wise I think we will be competitive. This is gonna be great.”

Fredrik Lestrup has the fourth fastest lap time in the second race at Nürburgring, proving the speed is there in the BMW Z4 and the team. Together with Fredrik Larsson he belives the pair will stand a good chance at EuroSpeedway.
”It’s a new track for the both of us but I still think we have a good chance to be in there fighting. Both Fredrik and I are fast and after Nürburgring the whole team know much more how it works in GT Masters with strategies and we have a better feeling of the competition. That is something to build on and this time we can focus more on the driving. I think we can surprise the others and mix it in the top ten.”

After three races together with WestCoast Racing and Fredrik Lestrup the former Indy Lights- and Carrera Cup driver Fredrik Larsson looks forward to take the cooperation into GT Masters. HE is both quick and experienced and looks forward to the races.
”It will be a lot of fun to drive with Lestrup again,” Larsson says. ”We have gotten to know each other well in the last races together and I think this will be both an interesting and learning experience. We are both quick and work well together.”

Larsson shares his team mates expectations and think the pair has a realistic chance to some good results this weekend.
But he emphasizes the fact that there is a lot of new things waiting for them.
”The track is a completely new experience for both of us but from what I’ve seen it doesn’t seem to be too complicated but that last vital tenth is always hard to find. I can’t have any huge expectations, we just have to take it step by step. We are new and that is the attitude we will tackle this weekend with. We need more testing in the car to really get to know it but having said that, if we can get it all together I don’t think it’s impossible to be in the top 10 this weekend,” Larsson finishes.

Team manager Dick Jönsson Wigroth summarizes the teams expectations for the weekend and expects an exciting race weekend in GT Masters, a weekend he looks forward to.
”This will be very exciting. I feel safe in the knowledge we this weekend have two quick drivers who have worked together in several races now and knows each other well. That will be important this weekend. Between the both of them there is a lot of experience and speed.  This is still too new for us to to be able to have any special expectations and we have a lot of respect for the other teams and drivers. But we should be able to be in top 10, I think that is a goal we must set ourselves this weekend,” Dick Jönsson Wigroth summarizes.

Info, GT Masters EuroSpeedway:
The GT Masters weekend at EuroSpeedway outside Lauzits starts on Friday with two one-hour long practice rounds followed by a 50 minutes long qualifying. In qualifying each driver drives 20 minutes each with a 10 minute break between the two qualifying rounds. The starting grid for the first race is determined by the first qualifying round and the starting grid for the second race is determined by the second qualifying round.

The first one horu long race is held on Saturday, a race with one mandatory pit stop where a driver change must be made. The driver who drove the first qualifying round will be the starting driver for the team in the first race. The second race, also one hour long with a mandatory pit stop, is held on Sunday where the driver who drove the second qualifying round will be the starting driver.

More info at http://www.adac-gt-masters.de/

Live-timing: http://masters.wige-livetiming.de/index.php

Teams and drivers: http://www.adac-gt-masters.de/steckbriefe/index.php?&flash=&lg=d&st=15&

Time schedule, ADAC GT Masters EuroSpeedway:

Fredag September 2:
09:45 Free practice, 1 hour
13:10, Free practice, one hour
16:50 Qualifying, 50 minutes

Saturday september 3:
12:00 Race 1, one hour

Sunday september 4:
12:00 Race 2, one hour

WestCoast Racing finished their weekend in Denmark on a high when Martin Öhlin finished third, claiming his first podium finish in STCC, while Richard Göransson starting from the 16th spot on the grid flew through the field to finish 6th. Martin Öhlin was very happy after the race.

”Finally my speed this season pays off,” he said. ”Even though it felt like I had a hard time finding the rhythm in this race, we had a good weekend. Coming in to this weekend I tried changing my focus and find my joy of racing again, and it helped. Points-wise we were among the best, and now we’re going to keep going in that direction.”

Martin started from second and went round the outside in the first two curves, making sure to stay out of trouble and then fall back in line in third. He then guarded his position until he started to attack Mattias Andersson in second place, but in the end he had to settle for third, crossing the finish line only a couple of tenths behind. An incident in the beginning of the race meant that the first laps were driven behind the safety car which cost Martin valuable time.

”During the first laps I was a little defensive and made sure I secured third place. Then I was able to begin attacking Mattias Andersson, but not many laps were left. I tried saving my tyres to have the grip for a final go at him towards the end of the race, but there wasn’t enough laps left. I’m still pretty happy, I’ve been chasing this podium for much too long,” he said.

Richard Göransson was once again able to charge through the field and advanced quickly from 16th on the grid. He had the fastest lap of the race by far and crossed the finish line in 6th place.

”Ten spots up is okay, I think,” said Richard. ”We showed that we were as fast as we knew we were and were able to salvage part of this weekend. We set the fastest lap time and considering what happened in the first race, sixth feels okay.”

He advanced several places at the start of the race where a numbers of cars went off the track and then continued to plough through the field. Towards the end he was fighting Rickard Rydell.

”Both Rydell and Hallrup drove very defensively and closed the door a lot, and there just weren’t enough laps to pass Rydell too. The first race defined our weekend, but I think we’re still ahead in our own championship and we didn’t lose too much overall. We’ll have to be satisfied and remember that we were the fastest. It’s looking good for Knutstorp!”

Team manager Dick Jönsson Wigroth had high expectations for the weekend, but thought afterwards that considering how it began, the weekend turned out alright.

”Martin has had a really good weekend. He’s looked confident and secured a lot of points, and it was about time he stood on the podium. Overall we would have been able to claim even more points, but the timing of the tyre choice for Richards qualifying and his first race didn’t go according to plan. Martin still got a lot of points and he can get a strong finish to the season. Richard showed in the second race that we were once again the fastest, and that’s what we’re bringing to Knutstorp.”

The next race is at Ring Knutstorp in two weeks.

Results, top 8 Jyllandsringen:
1: Fabrizio Giovanardi, Honda 16 laps
2: Mattias Andersson, Alfa Romeo + 0.590
3: Martin Öhlin, BMW + 0.918
4: Johan Kristofersson, Volkswagen + 2.728
5: Rickard Rydell, Chevrolet + 5.718
6: Richard Göransson, BMW + 5.980
7: Viktor Hallrup, Chevrolet + 6.269
8: Patrik Olsson, Volkswagen + 12.001

Martin Öhlin secured a front row start for the second race at Jyllandsringen by finishing seventh in the first STCc-race at Jyllandsringen. He held on to his sixth place through most of the race as he and Johan Sturesson where chasing the two Volkswagens hard as they defended their positions hard. Towards the end Martin lost sixth position after a small mistake under braking.
”It was not an easy race to drive. The car was much more difficult to drive now than it has been previously this weekend and the Volkswagens defended themselves hard. It was impossible to find a way past them. In the end I made a small mistake which gave Mattias a chance to pass me,” Martin said afterwards.

He will now start in second place for the afternoon race and with some rain coming in over Jyllandsringen he hopes to finish the weekend in Denmark on a good note.
”We have to find something out for the next race. I will line up on the outside again but this time I just have one car in front of me. We have a good opportunity to finish in a strong position, I’m usually strong in the rain so we will see what the weather will be up to. I can promise you we will go for it no matter what,” Martin finished.

Richard Göransson’s race ended quickly as he got sandwhiched between two cars in the hairpin which made the BMW airborn and severly damaged. After a pitstop the decision was taken that the car was too damaged to continue the race with and Göransson was forced to retire. He will now line up in 16^th position for the next race.
”I got sandwhiched between Tarquini and Rydell and had nowhere to go and all three of us were forced to retire. The rear wheels were pointing in all kind of directions. It’s part of racing as they say, I guess even we will be forced to retire from a race. We will recharge for the next race, starting from 16^th position will probably be quite exciting,” Richard said.

Next race starts 15.35.

Result top , race 1 Jyllandsringen:
1. Tommy Rustad, Volvo 16 laps
2. Colin Turkington, BMW + 1,977
3. Fredrik Ekblom, Volkswagen + 10,391
4. Johan Kristofersson, Volkswagen + 11,673
5. Johan Stureson, BMW + 12,176
6. Mattias Andersson, Alfa Romeo + 12,796
7. Martin Öhlin, BMW + 13,179
8. Fabrizio Giovanardi, Honda + 14,188

Richard Göransson DNF