2011 Junior Touring Car Championship

[Will Marquez]

Good luck Linus!

 

[William Elgh]

i might ask what did you race before this? good luck in 2011

 

[Keith Barrick]

Good luck young grasshopper!

Make sure to let the announcer know your nickname in simracing was "Trouser Goose" lol

 

[Fredrik Arbegard]

Congratulations!
Here's the 2011 Calender: http://www.stcc.se/26/
If I have time and oppertunity I'll try to attend an event.

 

[Adam Eggbeer]

Best of luck

 

[Ethan Bass]

Ahh, he doesn't look bothered at all. Mika your idol? Good luck mate.

*Argh, why is picture so small!*
​

 

[Linus Broström]

Thanks guys. William I never race anything ever in my life before this.

 

[Bram Hengeveld]

Thanks guys. William I never race anything ever in my life before this.

I think you did a million virtual miles the last couple of months here at RD so youll be our first RD Academy racer that makes it into the real world.

 

[Glenn Petersen]

Best of luck to you in following your dreams, Linus.

 

[William Yunck]

Good luck Linus, Congratulations! :wink:

Take some pictures of your car for us.

 

[Reggie Blain]

Great news Linus and best of luck m8

 

[William Elgh]

Thanks guys. William I never race anything ever in my life before this.

thats is amazing!

 

[Andreas Hultgren]

Best of luck, Linus! I'll probably be at Knustorp and definitely Mantorp and Gothenburg to snap some photos of you

 

[ufunacaoenn]

Fantastic news mate, first race is at 6th of Maj.

 

[Kevin Ascher]

All the best mate
How did you actually get the chance to 'test' the car in the first place?

 

[Murat Erdogdu]

Congratulations, good luck Linus. Hoping to see videos of your real races

 

[Nathan Magrath]

Best of luck Linus!!

 

[Linus Broström]

Hi everyone. As most of you know I'll be racing in the Swedish Junior TCC this year, and I decided I should have a continuous update on how I'm doing here at RaceDepartment.com

with English subtitles

In this first post I'll tell you the long version of the story about how I got in to racing with no experience at all, apart from sim-racing at RD =)

Test/Race reports can be found in posts: #3 Test 1 @ Karlskoga - #5 Test 2 @ Kinnekulle - #17 Race 1 & 2 @ Knutstorp - #26 Race 3 & 4 @ Mantorp

Race Schedule for JTCC:
Test 1 Karlskoga 4 April (full day)
Test 2 Kinnekulle Ring 16-17 April (2 day test)
1 Ring Knutstorp 6-7 May (My first race ever) - 12th & 12th
2 Mantorp Park 20-21 May - 13th & 11th
3 Falkenberg 1-2 July
4 Kinnekulle Ring 30-31 July (No STCC or Camaro, JTCC only)
5 Karlskoga 12-13 August (Home track)
6 Ring Knutstorp 9-10 September
7 Mantorp Park 23-24 September

So, it all started on a wednesday afternoon in 2009 when i was out practice driving with my dad, since I didn't have a license back then. After a while he wanted to return home but since wednesdays at Karlskoga is open for practice for any team between 4pm-8pm I wanted to go and see who was there. Since I was driving I got what I wanted. When we entred the grand-stand, we saw this red Citroën C2 driven by Andreas Ahlberg, who had just won both races last weekend, going past with two big "?" on the side.

Since my dad's company needed good exposure back then, we walked over to them and asked how much it would cost to replace the ?'s with a Badatunna logo for the Karlskoga race. That one race turned in to the rest of the season in which he finished 2nd, losing by just 0.4 sec.

The following season, Andreas would move over to Camaro Cup, with his brother Joakim Ahlberg returning to STCC. Dad wanted to continue the sponsoring of Andreas when he moved to Camaro so they agreed on some deal which I'm not at all involved in. As a bonus he got his company name on Joakims BMS aswell and eventually Badatunna became the main sponsor of the team.

After the first two races of the 2010 season I asked them if I could come with them to the next race, and ofcourse they said yes. During this race weekend I got to know alot more about what it's like behind the scene in a race team. And also what a great bunch of people they are at BMS Event.

After this race I followed them to every single race for the rest of the season. With two races to go they still hadn't been able to sell their C2 so they decided to give me an early birthday present and let me try it out. With Andreas and team mecanic Olle Erixon there to help, I took my first step towards living my dream. The first test went so well they decided I should get another go, which turnde in to another and yet another go.

After four runs, someone came up with the idea I should drive it in the 2011 JTCC, and when the question came to me ofcourse I said yes. So now after alot of sponsor hunting and alot of work and practice hours put in, this is where we are today, ready to go for the 2011 Junior Touring Car Championship "Rookie of the Year".

Linus Broström #71​

 

[Eckhart von Glan]

from rags to riches is what they say in America, great story Linus. Keeping all my fingers crossed and (having just checked Badatuna) relax afterwards in a nice hot tub

 

[Linus Broström]

Test #1 - April 4th 2011 - Karlskoga Motorstadion - Full day test 9am-6pm

We arived at a wet Karlskoga track around 8am, unloaded the car and got ready for a ton of testing. My help today was STCC teammate, 2007 JTCC Champion, Joakim Ahlberg.

First couple of runs was just to get back in the rythm and to get a feel for how the car behaves when the track is wet. Feelt realy good to be back in the car after a way to long winter. After I made my first to runs Joakim did some setup changes to the car, and even though I didn't go much faster, the car felt more stable. Then on my forth run, Joakim jumped in the car with me to get a better view on what lines im taking in diffrent corners of the track. After this I got to ride with him, and I had no idea the car had som much grip when the track was wet.

When the afternoon came around the track started to dry up and I was just going faster and faster. Finaly I found a good line through the last turn aswell, which is something I've been trying to do since day 1. After posting some fast laptimes with the track being dry I went out along with fellow JTCC driver -name will be posted later- who also never raced anything before. First run I left the pits ahead of him, and I never saw him again. Second run he went out first. And it took just a few laps, then I'd passed him.

On my last run of the day I had built up so much confidence in the car I decided to push it a little harder then I had ever done before. I managed to get a 1:22.42 just before I ran out of fuel. Luckely I made it back to the pits without the car completely stoping. Las year they used the kind of tires currently on the car (2009) the laptimes at Karlskoga was around 1:20.xx. But remember that the tires I'm using is over 1.5 years old and have been runing for 500+ laps, so I think Rookie of the Year is a realistic goal for the season.

Oh and I forgot to mention the STCC Chevy team was there, having a full test day with Rickard Rydell and Viktor Hallrup.

Here's a picture of me and Rydell going side by side out of the last turn =)

Linus Broström #71​