2011 Junior Touring Car Championship

[James Chant]

So did I... That's the link to the artwork, get it printed, slap it on the car!

 

[Hiroshi Awazu]

I think it would be awesome if Linus was allowed to put the Scribbley RD logo that Ramon Did on his race car :wink:

Hi linus hows it going hope things are well. Mine is not on a professional level but i for the first time in my life will be doing a Track Day in September. I will be driving a semi race prepped E30 BMW 325. I'am absolutely excited about this, i've never driven a road course before in my life.I've done 1/4 mile drag racing though at Mission Racetrack. I will be at Mission Racetrack road course. I'm nervous about how well i will do but of course definately not looking for a win. A friend of mine is going to be on track as well with his R32 Skyline GTR but overall he is a far less experienced driver than me, I'm no Ricard Rydell but i know i'm more experienced in my driving overall than he is and I WILL BE PUSHING MY FRIEND TO MAKE A MISTAKE. I'm such a nice guy huh. Hopefully things go well for me and i hope i don't screw up using my GOPRO cam, for i will post video. Good luck with rest of your season and keep us posted. REGARDS HIROSHI

 

[Linus Broström]

My first raceweekend as a real driver is here and I was nervous like never before. First practice I was 14th out of the 15 in my class this race. The guy who I beat has done even less racing than me. Driver closest infront is Emma who's been doing another series for a couple of years. For some reason they grouped us up with some Danish cars and most of them was faster then all the JTCC cars. The reason is that this year the STCC is a Scandinavian Championship and not Swedish.

For qualy my aim was to beat Emma as well. I got a new set of front tires and one of my mechanics noticed that something neither I or google translate know the English word for, was broken which made the car abit loose in practice. It was quickly repaired though and I was ready for the 20 minutes qualifying session. I got a few good laps in and eventually I was almost a second quicker than Emma, 3.4 seconds behind the leader, finishing in 13th position.


Picture courtesy of Andreas Hultgren

I would have hoped to be faster but since it was my first time on this track I was happy. A lot of ups and downs around the track and those hills are way steeper than they look in Simbin's STCC The Game. Another thing I noticed is that you don't flip your car in the last turn, which I actually did just as good as the best drivers as they couldn't pass me until turn 1.

A couple of hours before the first race my nerves really started to go and got a strange feeling in my stomach, but I kept my focus on what was going to happen. The grouping for the starts was the strangest thing of all this weekend. JTCC first, then the fastest of the three groups, about 25 meters back and then the other faster group behind them. Rolling out of the first turn towards the start line got the adrenaline pumping alot more than before. Going in to turn 1 Emma had already passed me on the outside cause everyone who was on the inside was braking verry early. Also some of the Danish cars caught us in the first turn. As they all continued to pass the three I noticed on the third lap that Sebastian, the guy behind me had stopped after the hairpin on the previous lap. On the 6th lap there was a yellow flag going over the crest through turn 4, at this point I was about a second behind her but I had been catching up to here through the last few turns. As I came over and around the turn she suddenly spun right infront of me. I immediately knew the yellow flag must be cause of a blown engine so a slowed down as much as I could before the rear started to come around on me. I saved it though and continued on to see the Safety Car get deployed. When the cars were removed, the race restarted and on the first lap another car went around and in to the barrier on the inside of the same turn. He was so far off the track that the race could continue on to the end where, I was way behind the next car ahead of me. I finished 12th and even though it was last among the finishing cars, atleast I finished.

Had the 13th best laptime in race 1 so once again I got to start from the 13th spot. Standing start this time, which I had never even tried to do before. Surprisingly I got a beter start than most the drivers around me, and a car two rows infront of me stalled so I almost swerved in to another car trying to avoid it. Once again the Danish drivers caught us in turn 1 but this time I didn't let them by as easy as I did in race 1. Coming to the downhill right hander after the hairpin, I went a little too wide on entry and got the left side wheels on the grass, almost spinning the car as I started braking. I have no idea how I saved it this time. Two laps later when a Danish driver was passing me through turn 1 and as we exited the turn, he went wide just like I wasnt there so I had to go over the curbs, putting half the car off the track. I kept my pace throughout the race and with a few laps to go the last Danish driver passed me as I was still 12th in the JTCC class after a DNF cause of some issue for another driver. I kept the gap to a few seconds and on the last 3 laps I caught him quickly. With one and a half laps to go I tried a pass through the turn before the hairpin but he closed the door on me. Then I tried again on the last lap with the same result. This time I lost some time but I finished 0.7 sec behind him, once again 12th in JTCC. Since only the top 10 score points I din't score any points in my racing debute but that's not realy what anyone expected me to do this weekend.

I am realy happy with the results from this weekend and since my fastest lap was the third last lap I did, I kept improving till the very end. The team is awesome and I can't thank them enough for giving me this chance to fulfill my dream. Also my dad/sponsor for giving me alot of time for this.

Thanks for the good picture Andreas, and thanks to everyone for all the wishes and nice comments. I hope that next time one of you is at a race you come by and say hello. I will be in the STCC pit area along with a STCC BMW and a Camaro.

Next race will be at Mantorp Park in 2 weeks.

Linus Broström is a long time sim racer here at RaceDepartment and this year makes his debut in the real racing world in the Junior Touring Car Championship in Sweden. A registration of his adventures he will blog here at RD!

 

[Caramidaru Andrei Bogdan]

Linus, take smal steps but sure ones, u will get there
bestoff luck Mr. C

 

[Dave Stephenson]

Sounds Like you had a great time Linus. Great write-up.

Good luck @ Mantorp. Look forward to reading about it.

 

[Danny Asbury]

Wow, that is awesome stuff Linus. I'm jealous man, I think I'll spin you next time we're on the virtual track to make myself feel better:wink:

 

[Linus Pettersson]

Great stuff, nice to read. Good luck at Mantorp!

 

[David Garcia]

Very nice to read! And great shot by Mr. Hultgren!

 

[Xosé Estrada]

It's such a great thing to be able to follow you at RD like this

Hultgren -> Pro

 

[Eckhart von Glan]

great Linus, keep going, too bad Sweden is not round the corner. I just checked the STCC calendar and all through my summer holidays there is not a single race Great shot by Andreas and also great to let us participate in your weekend via facebook.

 

[Christoffer Haugen Pettersen]

great stufff buddy

hey u should add a little racedepartment logo on the car ;D

 

[William Yunck]

That is Awesome Linus, I am really happy for you. Just being out there in a car is worth celebrating....I think I will open up a Trappist ale and celebrate for you.

 

[Bram Hengeveld]

We have all raced against him on the virtual touring car tracks here at RaceDepartment in the last couple of years. What most of us don't do is taking our motorsport ambition to the next level and start a real racing career. Linus however got the chance to race in the Swedish JTCC this year in a Citroen C2 and already got some attention during pre-season testing from the media.

Filmed during tests at Karlskoga Linus speaks to the Swedish CTVPlay with english subtitles. Do you guys want to take your racing ambition to the next level as well and become a real racer?

You can follow Linus' blog at RD here

 

[Erik Tveit]

Cooool mate!

 

[Christoffer Haugen Pettersen]

nice buddy

 

[Jonathan Johansson]

Very nice! good luck Linus

 

[Ondrej Kapal]

i so envy you i wont get such a change in my life
good luck!

 

[Andreas Hultgren]

Well done yesterday, Linus! You had really good speed in the second half of race 1 :thumb: Too bad about the spin in race 2, happened right infront of me. But you cought the Pug anyways!

Didn't really get a good photo of you this time, this one is the best I got.

:ups:

 

[Linus Broström]

Race 3 & 4 - May 21st-22nd 2011 - Mantorp Park

I'm back to where it all started. Mantorp Park, the place where I got my license. Didn't start to well though as my seatbelt didn't get through the thursday afternoon pre-race inspection. Luckely the Ahlberg's knew a guy in another team who had a racecar about 35km away from the track so they talked to him then they went to get one of his belts.

When I got that belt through inspection Friday morning I was of to the track for the 20 minute free practice. After 5 or 6 minutes they showed me the technical flag so I went in to the pits where a guy started looking at the side of my car then just walked away. A few minutes later they let me get back on track and afterwards they told me the window net was sitting to low and to far back. But they have had the net like that since they built the car in 2007. Practice I finished 15th out of 17 with Sebastian and Emma behind me.

For qualifying we had fixed the net and also moved the seat up abit cause I couldn't see the inside edges of the last few turns properly. It helped abit and I got some realy good laps in. On the last lap I had just been passed by Patrik Eriksson so I followed him around and that lap was only 0.6 slower then his last lap. I finished qualy in 14th, 2.294 seconds behind pole which I was realy happy with.

The start of race 1 I got away good but as we got through turn 1 I saw a car going sideways while being pushed by two others. I slowed down alot, not to hit someone else which sadly caused me to end up last since that car didn't spin out fully. I passed Sebastian pretty quick and then Emma a couple of laps later. Then the Mini Cooper with Erik Berggren got in to one of the VW's giving him to much damage to keep good speed. I got by him on the drag strip with a few laps to go and then with 2 laps to go Ruben Kressner just went straight of in turn 1. Turned out something was wrong with his gearbox. I ended up in 13th position which was my best result so far. And the thing I was most excited about at the finish is that I kept up with the back of the field until the finish.

For race 2 I was once again starting 14th and I thought I got of the grid well but when going in to 3rd gear Sebastian came flying passed me. Getting to turn 1 I was last but at the exit Sebastian got abit wide, lost the car and slid accross the track where he saved it only to lose it again and slam in to the tire wall. Saftey Car was deployed for 2 laps and at the restart I spun in turn 2 cause of all the gravell. At this point I was way behind everybody but I knew that I had to push it since the races are only 8 laps long on this long track. After 3 laps I had almost caught the back of Emma who was the car closest infront of me and with 2 laps to go I almost gave up cause I thought I was to far behind. But I was so much faster on that lap so going in to the 2nd turn on the last lap I was right at her bumper and going through the chicane on to the drag strip I was pushing so hard I had all four tires on the curbs on the exit and half way down the strip I was right next to her. We braked at about the same time but I had the inside so I got passed and just did all my best through the last turns to the finish. I though I was 15th at this point but when I got to parc fermé it turned out 1 car didn't starta and 3 others fell out in the last few laps so in race 2 I finished 11th, 1 place out of the points.

I am realy pleased with my results of this weekend and I got better results then I did at Knutstorp so I did all I had to do. Now we will just keep working on the same goal. Improve from the last race, which means atleast 1 points at Falkenberg in 6 weeks. Hope I can see atleast one of you guys there.

Andreas have you got any pictures of me when I spun?? Or Sebastian when he crashed?? Or when I killed the curbs in turm 4 on the last lap Btw I can see air between the rear tire and the ground on that photo. Thanks mate. Stop by and say hello next time

 

[Linus Broström]

I'm back to where it all started. Mantorp Park, the place where I got my license. Didn't start to well though as my seatbelt didn't get through the thursday afternoon pre-race inspection. Luckely the Ahlberg's knew a guy in another team who had a racecar about 35km away from the track so they talked to him then they went to get one of his belts.

When I got that belt through inspection Friday morning I was of to the track for the 20 minute free practice. After 5 or 6 minutes they showed me the technical flag so I went in to the pits where a guy started looking at the side of my car then just walked away. A few minutes later they let me get back on track and afterwards they told me the window net was sitting to low and to far back. But they have had the net like that since they built the car in 2007. Practice I finished 15th out of 17 with Sebastian and Emma behind me.

For qualifying we had fixed the net and also moved the seat up abit cause I couldn't see the inside edges of the last few turns properly. It helped abit and I got some realy good laps in. On the last lap I had just been passed by Patrik Eriksson so I followed him around and that lap was only 0.6 slower then his last lap. I finished qualy in 14th, 2.294 seconds behind pole which I was realy happy with.

The start of race 1 I got away good but as we got through turn 1 I saw a car going sideways while being pushed by two others. I slowed down alot, not to hit someone else which sadly caused me to end up last since that car didn't spin out fully. I passed Sebastian pretty quick and then Emma a couple of laps later. Then the Mini Cooper with Erik Berggren got in to one of the VW's giving him to much damage to keep good speed. I got by him on the drag strip with a few laps to go and then with 2 laps to go Ruben Kressner just went straight of in turn 1. Turned out something was wrong with his gearbox. I ended up in 13th position which was my best result so far. And the thing I was most excited about at the finish is that I kept up with the back of the field until the finish.

For race 2 I was once again starting 14th and I thought I got of the grid well but when going in to 3rd gear Sebastian came flying passed me. Getting to turn 1 I was last but at the exit Sebastian got abit wide, lost the car and slid accross the track where he saved it only to lose it again and slam in to the tire wall. Safety Car was deployed for 2 laps and at the restart I spun in turn 2 cause of all the gravell. At this point I was way behind everybody but I knew that I had to push it since the races are only 8 laps long on this long track. After 3 laps I had almost caught the back of Emma who was the car closest infront of me and with 2 laps to go I almost gave up cause I thought I was to far behind. But I was so much faster on that lap so going in to the 2nd turn on the last lap I was right at her bumper and going through the chicane on to the drag strip I was pushing so hard I had all four tires on the curbs on the exit and half way down the strip I was right next to her. We braked at about the same time but I had the inside so I got passed and just did all my best through the last turns to the finish. I though I was 15th at this point but when I got to parc fermé it turned out 1 car didn't starta and 3 others fell out in the last few laps so in race 2 I finished 11th, 1 place out of the points.


I am realy pleased with my results of this weekend and I got better results then I did at Knutstorp so I did all I had to do. Now we will just keep working on the same goal. Improve from the last race, which means atleast 1 points at Falkenberg in 6 weeks. Hope I can see atleast one of you guys there.

Until next time guys and thanks for all the nice comments!

Linus Broström is a long time sim racer here at RaceDepartment and this year he makes his debut in the real racing world in the Junior Touring Car Championship in Sweden and blogs about his experiences.