Quadruple and reigning STCC-champion Richard Göransson have decided to leave STCC and join the new TTA-championship next year. After four STCC-titles, 37 race victories and 61 podiums in 119 starts he now looks forward to new challenges.
”I’m very proud over what I’ve acomplished in STCC and most of all that I’ve won more STCC-titles than anyone else. I aim to finish my STCC-career on a high this weekend,” Richard says.

He will now face new challenges. Before this season he signed a three year deal with BMW-team WestCoast Racing where he will continue as they are one of the teams behind the new championship.
”I believe TTA offers a good platform for drivers with long term ambitions and targets. It’s been possible to be a professional racing driver in Sweden for quite some years now and I now look forward to even better possibilities for that. TTA has an interesting concept with faster cars, better possibilities for teams, drivers and organizers and an exciting set up for the fans and the sponsors. Next year will present a new challenge for me as a driver which I’m looking forward to.”

Teammanager Dick Jönsson Wigroth has worked with Richard Göransson in six years and is happy to see their cooperation continue as the team switches to TTA. Together they have scored three STCC-championships and one ETCC-title and WestCoast Racing is the most succesful STCC-team since the championship started in 1996.
”I am of course thrilled and proud Richard Göransson and WestCoast Racing will continue our succesful cooperation. Richard is a vital part of this team and he further strengthens TTA. WestCoast Racing will participate in TTA next year and it’s a sign of strength we will have Richard with us on this new journey.”

Richard Göransson now aims to finish his STCC-career in style. He is unussaly not involved in the fight for the title this year after he was injured at the start of the season. But he will fight for the victories in the final two STCC-races which sees an expaned field.
”It’s quite funny Chevrolet feels they need three cars to win this championship and the Volkswagenteam needs four cars. We did fine last year with just one car when we took the championship. I’m not able to defend my title this year after my injury in the first race this year but I will give it my all to fight about the victories this final weekend. Anyone wanting to win this on Saturday will have to count with me and be prepared to work hard for it.”

TTA was created in 2010 by four of the most succesful teams in Sweden. Together these teams have won six out of the last seven STCC-titles. TTA is an organization for teams competing at the highest level and for race organizers, where teams and organizers are share holders in the championship.

The GT Masters race at Assen was yet another evaluationrace for WestCoast Racing as the team is coming to grips with the BMW Z4 GT3. Richard Göransson and Fredrik Larsson were the drivers this time and they qualified 19th and 22nd in the two qualifying rounds as they were down on grip and top speed. The finished ninth in the first race and was forced to retire from the second race as Richard Göransson were in the middle of start chaos in the last corner of the formation lap. He tried to avoid the cars around him as several cars slowed down causing a chain reaxction but was forced to retire with a broken front and suspension.
”The second race ended all too quickly for us”, Richard said. ”It was chaos on the formationlap when several cars started braking causing a chain reaction through the field. A Mercedes in front of me hit an Audi and I tried to avoid both of them but I touched the Mercedes and had to retired. I just tried to say out of it but to no avail. This was an evaluation weekend for us and we would have needed the second race to gain more data and information. There’s still a lot of work to do with the car.  The first race was pretty ok with a ninth position after having started from 19th position. It shows we have the race pace but we need a lot more, we are lacking top speed for instance. Anyway it was fun to drive, Assen was an awesome circuit to race on.”

Fredrik Larsson qualified 22nd for the first race after struggling with traffic on his qualifying round. He took the start and drove the first stint before handing over to Richard Göransson. He shares Richards impressions of the weekend.
”We are working very hard right now and we are trying everything and we are treating these races as test sessions. Of course we want to score results and it’s a shame we have not been able to do that although ninth place isn’t too bad. We know there is a lot of work still to be done and we need to use these races to continue the development with BMW. You have to remember though that we are putting ourselves up against the toughest possible competition on tracks where this car belongs,” Fredrik said.

WestCoast Racing has a final GT-race planned, the GT Masters season finale at Hockenheim next weekend where Richard Göransson and Fredrik Larsson will team up again.

A weekend full of lessons learnt and challenges is the summary of the GT Masters-weekend in Lausitz. 17th and 21st from the two races are results far from the expectations for this weekend. Team manager Dick Jönsson Wigroth summarizes a weekend where WestCoast Racing never quite got into the set-up of the car.
”Of course we expected better results but this soon proved to be one of those weekends where we struggled to get the car right,” he says. ”The positives we take from this weekend is that we have learnt a lot and it’s clear we need more track time to get to know this car better. We know that when we get it right it’s very quick and when we then have two such fast drivers as we ha this weekend we can challenge the very top even in a competition as tough as this one.”

Fredrik Lestrup started the first race and could quickly gain a lot of places thanks to a good start and mistakes from drivers ahead. Everything looked set for a finish in 12th position when the team was slightly less than a second to quick in the pit stop when Fredrik Larsson took over from Fredrik Lestrup. That small mistake by the team meant Fredrik Larsson had to take a drive through penalty and slip back to 21st position. In the second race Fredrik Larsson started and quickly gained a lot of positions just as Lestrup in the first race. He handed over the car in 14th place to Fredrik Lestrup who was 13th on the penultimated lap when he was forced to retire in the pits with a broken diff on the very last lap.
”We improved the car throughout the weekend but it wasn’t enough. Without the drive through penalty in the first race and the technical problem on the last lap in the second race we would have had better results but still far from what we hoped for,” Lestrup says. ”This has been a tough but informative weekend, we have gained a lot of information for the coming races here. In that respect this was an important weekend, it was a very special track and we have learnt more about how to work with the car on these kind of tracks. Looking at the results we are not happy but we have learnt a lot and we are putting ourselves up against the toughest possible competition here.”

Fredrik Larsson drove the second stint in the first race and had to take a drive through penalty after which he slipped back and did his stint pretty much alone on the track. In the second race he made a great start and could thanks to that and to mistakes by cars ahead climp to ninth position by the end of the first lap. He was 14th when he handed over the car in the pit stop to Fredrik Lestrup who was 13th when he was forced to retire on the last lap because of technical problems.
”We had higher expectations than this coming here but it has been a tough weekend where we started off a bit wrong and never fully recovered,” Larsson summarizes. ”We improved through qualifying and in between the races but not fast enough. The positives is that both me and Fredrik managed to get a lot of mileage and the team brings a lot of information back home. It was a very special track and it never quite gelled for us but we have been able to test a lot and learnt a lot and those are the good things we take with us from this weekend.”

Result, race 1
Result, race 2

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