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