Åhlin-Kottulinsky back on the podium in Skellefteå

Mikaela Åhiln-Kottulinsky was back on the TCR Scandinavia podium, after a second place finish in Skellefteå race 2.

Mikaela Åhlin-Kottulinsky made herself protagonist of another solid weekend during the third round of the Scandinavian TCR in Skellefteå, the "Midnight Sun" round.

It was the first visit for the TCR-sanctioned championship on the 4.120 km race circuit in the Swedish Lapland, just 300km south of the arctic circle, where at this time of the year it’s daylight all day.

After qualifying in sixth position, the young Swede had an excellent start of race 1, taking advantage from Hannes Morin and Tobias Brink's early mistakes and immediately took fourth place.

Wernersson and Dahlgren grabbed the lead of the race by pulling away from the rest of the group, while behind them Ahlberg had to defend the third position from the attacks of Kottulinsky and Brink, who tried to strip him of P3 until the very end of the race.

Saturday's first round ended in an exciting photo-finish, with Wernersson taking victory by just 0.022 seconds over Dahlgren.

Ahlberg retained the third position up until the checkered flag, with the Mikaela's Cupra finishing the race in P4.

But the real weeekend's masterpiece for the Swedish lady driver was the late afternoon's second race: starting again from sixth on the grid, she managed to cross the finish line in second place, after an overtaking-packed race by all the TCR racers.

Ultimately, it was Mikaela's PWR team-mate Robert Dahlgren to came out on top, with the pair completing a fantastic 1-2 for the Cupras. Third position went to the Audi driven by Andreas Wernersson.

Kottulinsky, without prior experience of the Skellefteå racetrack, came home with another podium finish after her strong start of the season at Knutstorp. With this weekend's points, she now stands 5th on the points table.

Next TCR Scandinavia round will be at Falkenberg in four weeks’ time.

In Mikaela's words:

“P1 and P2 mate!!!!! From P6 to P2 in race 2, sweet to bring home some silverware. Fantastic car from PWR Racing Team, so thankful! P4 in race 1, so bringing some good points with us from Norrland”

Ph credits: PWR Racing / Joakim Åstrom