Lukas Sundahl from Växjö captured his fifth straight title in Porsche Carrera Cup Scandinavia on Saturday. The 26-year-old Smålander, who secured the title in a very exciting and dramatic final at Mantorp Park, also became Swedish GT champion. Afterwards, Sundahl celebrated together with his gold team, Micke Kågered Racing. The Linköping-based team took the grand slam with all three titles in the championship. Dalkarlen Andreas Ahlberg won the Porsche Approved Cup class and together with Albin Wärnelöv Sundahl and Ahlberg also won the team gold.

It was a particularly eventful and dramatic final weekend in Porsche Carrera Cup Scandinavia, which offered the large audience in Östergötland a 25-car strong starting field seasoned IndyCar stars, guest drivers Marcus Ericsson and Felix Rosenqvist.

The latter came into focus in the opening heat where he was convicted of a failed attempt to overtake leading Marcus Annervi on the final lap.
The incident paved the way for Ola Nilsson. He finished victorious ahead of Emil Persson and Hampus Ericsson and thus went up into a shared lead with Lukas Sundahl, who had to settle for fifth place.

The situation before the final and absolutely crucial race of the season was thus the best possible from a crowd point of view: 228 points for both Sundahl and Nilsson. First in the finish in the final heat would be the champion.

Nilsson penalized
Sundahl got himself in the best starting position through a good start, where he overtook Nilsson and went out third behind Annervi and Persson. Nilsson was aggressive initially and almost past Sundahl on the final bend of the first lap.

Then Sundahl slid past to be threatened again from behind by Nilsson at the end of the 30-minute race. In a last-ditch attempt to get over, Nilsson happened to bump into Sundahl who went off the track and dropped all the way down to eighth place.

Nilson took the goal flag as third behind Annervi, who got his revenge, and Persson. But was he really a champion? Yes, for an hour approximately. Then came the news that Nilsson had been penalized with time extensions that put him behind Sundahl in both the epilogue and in the championship table.

The start was crucial
”I felt I had to go for it and tried on the inside. Once you've made up your mind, you're there, and then Luke would have had to leave more room. I think he steered in a little abruptly, but accepts the verdict," said Nilsson, who was not terribly disappointed afterwards.

"No, Lukas is a worthy champion and we are really happy with second place in a very good season overall.

Lukas Sundahl was of course also very pleased afterwards. Although it was some time before he and the team were allowed to cheer.
"After the incident, my father yelled in the lures that I should continue driving and that the incident was under investigation. Then when I got to see the footage of the overtaking attempt, I was sure Ola would get a penalty," said Sundahl, whose start decided.

"Given the situation in the table and the fact that we were next to each other in the second start, I knew that the start was everything. I did what I did at Rudskogen last time, sneaked up on the inside and this time he left some room," said Sundahl, who really had to fight for his fifth title.

"This hasn't been my best season. There has been a lot of trouble with run-offs and some technical problems, but whoever has the most points when you finish in the last heat wins the title.

Satisfied third
Emil Persson was another happy Porsche driver at Mantorp Park. Double second places meant that for the first time he took a medal place in the championship.
”Nice revenge for last year when I missed by a single point. We've gotten faster and faster throughout the season and next year we'll be back to win," the KMS driver said.

Nice ending?
The corners of his mouth were also on Andreas Ahlberg, the champion of the Porsche Approved Cup, the class for the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup (991 II). He came to the final with a lead of ten points to Hannes Morin from Umeå. The latter was the sharpest in qualifying, capturing two bonus points for that effort and looking set to put up a real fight for the title.
However, Ahlberg wanted otherwise, making a fantastic first lap in the opening heat where he passed five drivers including Morin. When the latter then drove off and dropped several places, Ahlberg was able to clutch a hold on the title that lasted even over the final race.

The title was Andreas Ahlberg's first of his career. If there will be any continuation, he could not answer on Saturday night. "If it wasn't, this was at least a nice ending," he said, smiling.

Attracted large crowds
For the aforementioned IndyCar stars Marcus Ericsson and Felix Rosenqvist, there was a mixed result in the final. Felix was penalized in the first heat and in the second he edged off in an attempt to get up the field. Therefore, it was only ninth place, and in fact the first time he missed the podium in his guest appearances in the Porsche Carrera Cup.
For Marcus Ericsson, this was his first appearance in the championship. Above at the car and track, he accounted for a strong performance by conquering eighth and fifth place.
Ericsson and Rosenqvist's participation was appreciated in the audience and they themselves thrived at Mantorp Park and in the Porsche Carrera Cup.
"I knew when I came here that it was going to be extremely difficult. I've never done a lap in a GT car and jumping in and thinking you're going to drive away from everyone here isn't realistic. I was mostly there to give back to the Swedish motorsport fans, but the horns always grow out so it was fun to still be able to finish with a fifth place, ericsson said with a smile.
Next door stood little brother Hampus, looking even happier. He defeated his brother, the Indy 500 winner, in both races.