Anderstorp Race Festival It’s Raining Again…

This year’s fourth round of the Swedish Historic Championships was run at a wet Anderstorp, but unlike last year, most of the rain fell during free practice and qualifiers, while most races were run on a dry, or drying track.  It was 50 years since the first World Championship race for Formula 1 was run in Anderstorp, but unfortunately there was no special celebration around this.  Bengt-Åce Gustavsson reports….

Formula Vee

Formula Vee, once called “the poor man’s F1” was a very popular class in Sweden, and that’s how it is today, with lots of cars still in circulation.  Home driver Lars-Gunnar “Vegas” Johansson took pole ahead of Jan Lindqvist and Johan Lund, but it was Lund that took the lead at the start and created a small gap to the rest of the field.  Behind, in a tight cluster, “Vegas”, Reine Bergström, Pontus Bencsik, Sami Lindholm and Richard “Tiny” Persson fought for the next places.  Meanwhile a large pool of water had formed in the Karusellkurvan and when the bunch came through, “Vegas” ended up on the wrong side of the track and drove straight through the standing water causing cascades of water as “Vegas” spun and the cluster split up.  Lund was able to take an unchallenged victory ahead of the big surprise, Sami Lindholm, taking his first ever podium.  Not only that, he also set the fastest lap and thus got pole for the second race!  Pontus Bencsik took third.

Lindqvist overtook Lindholm at the start in the second race, but his throttle cable suddenly snapped and the unfortunate Lindholm behind him lost precious seconds with nowhere to go as the avoiding field passed by.  Lindholm started to drive up through the ranks, but when he got to the Opel curve, he collided with “Vegas”, who went off and got stuck in the gravel.  Lindholm lost many places and had to start a new catch-up.  Brother Robert Lindholm was in the action, taking the lead on the first lap and losing it to Lund on the second.  On the third lap, Pontus Bencsik spun off after the long straight and the safety car came out and collected the field.  After the restart, Robert managed to stress Lund into a mistake when he braked too late after the long straight.  Lindholm took over the lead but fell of his own accord a couple of laps later when he made the same mistake and spun into the corner.  Lund eventually won the race ahead of Persson and Bergström.  The brothers Robert and Sami finished fifth and sixth, and they really were the highlight of the weekend with their fine driving!

In class B Thomas Lundström was the fastest in qualifying ahead of Rasmus Bencsik and Fredrik Häger, but the roles were reversed with Bencsik taking class honours.  In race 2 the big surprise was the class third of racing debutant and world-famous TV chef Tareq Taylor.  A few weeks before, the Bencsiks had been testing at Sturup Raceway, where they met Taylor who was doing a few laps with his old Volvo Amazon.  Tommy Bencsik, his leg not yet fully recovered, offered Taylor the use of his car.  Taylor, who is very interested in cars, accepted the challenge and was rewarded with a class podium.

For a rundown of all the racing, see our October 2023 issue.  Also available as a digital edition.