It was a premiere weekend marked by crashes and few race laps in Porsche Carrera Cup Scandinavia in Anderstorp. When many left Småland disappointed, Hampus Ericsson was quite pleased. There was a reason for that. With two second-place finishes in his new Porsche 911 GT3 Cup (992), he leads the championship ahead of the future. - Fun to top the table. We took a lot of important points today and the series is long, said the 20-year-old from Kumla who only had Pontus Fredricsson and Lukas Sundahl ahead of him in the results lists.

Pontus Fredricsson won the record-short opening heat after a lot of palaver and rule interpretations. Due to track repairs after a run-off already on the first lap, the race was red-flagged and in total there were only three full-speed laps.
Crucial to Fredricsson's first victory in the championship was his overtaking of Lukas Sundahl already in one of the first corners.
"I got off to a great start, got a good overtake of Lukas and a successful restart once the race got going again after the long break," said Fredricsson, who wasn't as happy with the outcome of race two.
There he was one of six drivers who disappeared instantly in an extensive take-off crash.

Quick revenge for the champion
In the second heat, reigning champion Lukas Sundahl took the first victory of the year from pole position. He had a second place behind Fredricsson in the first when he very unexpectedly went off and broke.
"I had problems with the brakes in the first heat and don't trust them at all. Nice still with a victory in the second race, but as a whole I am not happy with the weekend, said the Småland native.

Danish dynamite
One who succeeded almost as well as championship leader Hampus Ericsson was the Dane Jan Magnussen. The former Formula 1 driver was booked for double third place and is second in the championship table after the premiere. For Magnussen, who has previously made guest appearances in the Porsche Carrera Cup but who this year will run several races, this was his first podium visit to the championship.
"I am very happy about the podiums and am now working on getting to the start also in the second round, which will be decided at Drivecenter Arena in Fällfors," Magnussen said.
That competition was not on the Dane's calendar from the beginning, but hopefully he will come to Norrland.

Good debut
Marcus Annervi was fourth in both heats. Last year's Porsche Sprint Challenge winners could thus sum up a successful debut weekend in the "big brother" class.
"I can't be anything but pleased. Too bad there wasn't a longer race, Annervi thought.

Ahlberg at the top
in the Porsche Approved Cup for those driving the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup (991 II), Andreas Ahlberg tops the table after the premiere. Second place behind Hannes Morin in race one, he followed up with a victory in the second. Morin was unfortunately one of the unfortunates in the second heat's starting crash.
Second and third respectively in the Porsche Approved Cup are Kjelle Lejonkrans and Christoffer Bergström.

Lund Svindal won
the Porsche Sprint Challenge Scandinavia, the class competing with the Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 Clubsport, also had its season premiere in Anderstorp. There, one of the race winners was aksel Lund Svindal. The alpine legend from Norway made his debut in racing and impressed greatly with offensive driving.
In the second heat, Kenneth Ahnelöv, who also tops the championship after the premiere, prevailed.