Hampus Ericsson became the man of the weekend in the Porsche Carrera Cup Scandinavia at Gelleråsen Arena. The 19-year-old from Kumla followed up the victory in Falkenberg earlier this summer by winning both heats in Karlskoga - before championship leader Lukas Sundahl. - Three victories! I do not really know what to say. It feels great! Awesome, said a very happy Ericsson.

In Friday's qualifier, Hampus Ericsson and Lukas Sundahl shared first places. When the winners were to be distributed on Saturday, Hampus Ericsson took both. Thanks in part to good starts. In the first heat he took command from pole position, got help from guest driver Fredrik Ekblom to create a gap down to Sundahl and was able to win fairly easily.
In the second race, Sundahl had the advantage of pole position and the important inner track. But it did not help. “I got such a good start and was able to challenge Lukas and when I managed to get past him down to the first corner, I just closed. It was perfect”.

Challenging task
After that, the young nerd had the three-time Porsche Carrera Cup champion in the rearview mirror in 29 gasping laps.
”It was not fun”, Ericsson laughs and continues: ”A challenge. Lukas is a very fast driver and knows exactly what to do. However, it is difficult to re-drive on this track if the driver drives in the right way and places close, save tires and set the exits. I succeeded in that today”. But it was close at the end. During the last laps, Sundahl was really hot.
”I made a few small mistakes, you do, of course, but I just tried to be as concentrated as possible on the driving, not check too much in the rearview mirrors and stress myself to a mistake. I succeeded and the car was perfect”, he says and pays tribute to the staff of Fragus Motorsport, the team he represents in the championship.

Does big brother Marcus match
”It's hard to say, but I'm very happy with my double win here at Gelleråsen. Before the competition in Falkenberg earlier this summer, Hampus Ericsson had no victory in the Porsche Carrera Cup Scandinavia. Now he has taken three straight! An achievement not even the IndyCar star, big brother Marcus Ericsson can match.
”Three victories! It feels great, awesome. I'm going to try to imitate my brother and what he's doing in the United States”. Now Hampus really has something to say next time Marcus calls.

The lead remains
Behind Hampus Ericsson was the championship leader Lukas Sundahl, Sundahl-Pampas Racing, who took the most points in Karlskoga with double second places. In the first heat, it took a long time before he could get past Fredrik Ekblom, but then the distance up to Ericsson was too great. In the second race, the start was decisive.” It was bad on my part. Towards the end, I felt that I was faster than Hampus, but he closed effectively and made no mistake”, said Lukas, who came to Karlskoga with a cup lead of 44 points to Emil Persson. Home to Småland, he returned with a 43 point lead to the new runner-up Ericsson. And the next sub-competition will be decided in the Norwegian Rudskogen and neither Hampus nor Emil have ridden there before, Sundahl states, not entirely dissatisfied with the starting position for the continuation after all.

Unlucky collision
After a stable qualifier, Emil Persson, teammate with Hampus Ericsson, started both races from the fourth starting box. First, the Karlskoga driver was forced to break with a broken radiator, a result of the contact that arose between him and Hugo Andersson in the battle for fourth place.
In the second, things went better for the home driver. He finished third.
”A good start, I hung on pretty well in the beginning, but then I did not have the same pace as Hampus and Lukas”, said Emil who thus dropped down to third place in the table.

Surprised Ekblom
It was also third place for Fredrik Ekblom, who made his second appearance in Porsche Sweden's guest car with start number 911. The podium came in the first heat where he got a great start on the outside and advanced from sixth to second place. He kept it far into the race, but in the end he had to give up.
”But I am surprised that I could keep Lukas behind me as long as I did”, said Ekblom, who obviously did not mind that he with his driving in a way helped Hampus Ericsson to the victory. Both are from Kumla. In the second race, Ekblom finished in fifth place.

Okay result
In the competition in Falkenberg in July, Edvin Hellsten won his first race in the Porsche Carrera Cup Scandinavia. He and Nova Racing followed up that achievement with double fourth places in Karlskoga.
”Okay, but no more than that”, Edvin himself thought. The team struggled with some technical problems (among other things, they changed the gearbox) and a not entirely successful qualifier meant that the starting position in both races was not the best. ”It is not easy to drive again here, but we advanced in both races and must still be quite happy with the weekend”.

Karlsson's best
Satisfied were also Thomas Karlsson and Christoffer Bergström, the winners of the Masters Cup, the class for drivers over 40 years. Karlsson was first in class before Prince Carl Philip and Bergström in the first heat. In the second, Bergström took the full pot before Karlsson and Krister Andero.
”I am very happy with the weekend. I qualified well and the performance in the first heat, where I finished fifth overall, is my best so far in the championship. I was fifth in a race in Skövde in 2015, but then there were many who broke so this was better”, said a satisfied Karlsson.

Bergström was at least as pleased afterwards. Especially with the second race where he again took a victory in the championship, and thus also helped to guard Sundahl-Pampa's lead in the team championship.