2019 TM Master Cup Series | Race 6: Round of Sweden

Dilks spoke to media post race:

"We were hoping to build on the points we got in France, and we had a decent strategy to my understanding, but that damage we got just killed the car and we couldn't keep up. It's a shame, I really wanted to do good. We'll head to Karjala, my first time. I'm hoping we can race!"

Johnson holds on for solid points finish despite earlier incidents.
"This was probably the best car we had so far.  Despite some contact in the beginning of the race, I felt we definitely had a solid points finishing car.  We were right around the points when the 3 got into us, funny that both those involved Volpi *chuckle*.  We stayed out of trouble the rest of the day, combined with great pitwork, and that time penalty for the 55, despite what happened earlier, we got a top 15 finish out of it.  Had that not happened, I'd like to think we could've contended for a top 10, that's how good I felt this car was.  So I hope this means we're turning a corner and we're gonna take this result and get ready to qualify for Karjala."

Quick pit work leads to top 10 for Lareau

Despite a 27th place starting spot, Lareau and the Ortega team were confident that they could pull out a strong finish if things fell the right way. Fall the right way they did after attrition along with extraordinary pit work from the 25 team brought Lareau all the way up to a 9th place finish, tied for the best in his Master Cup career with the 2012 Round of Michigan that was affected by the MCMA boycott and a shortened field. "My pit crew deserves all of the credit. I just kept the thing on the track and stayed out of trouble as well as I could and they were putting in blistering stops all day that kept moving me up the field."

Lareau now heads to the Karjala GP, a race that has evaded him through his prior Master Cup stints, having never successfully qualifying for the event once in 5 attempts.

Plissken Makes All The Right Moves at Karjala, Wyld Stallyns Ticket Sales Soar with Win

It appeared as if pole sitter Chris Davenport began the day napping a bit on the start of the Round of Sweden. As a result, Kurt Plissken, who was on the outside pole, was off and running, Once the leaders sorted themselves out single file fairly early, they began to slowly distance their group from the pack as the field began to string itself out more and more. Eventually Davenport went off into the sand and that was when Plissken capitalized on Davenport's bobble and took the lead of the race. Although it was short lived, Plissken was able to absorb some much valued insight into how the track was behaving and not only discovered how his car was handling early on, but also that of his competitors as well.

Several laps later saw Davenport again slide off into the sand, and both Liv Eklund and Plissken seized to opportunity to pass the #17 car.

"I've always been comfortable on this circuit - whatever the configuration has been." Plissken responded.

Plissken won the Round of Sweden in 2013 and should have won in 2014 but for an incident that is still a sore spot for him to this day.

"Wins are hard to come by at this level and to throw one away or have it ripped from you in that manner is gut wrenching. If you get over stuff like that easily, I'd have to question your competitive nature."

With this win, Plissken becomes the first Master Cup driver to win races on both the long and shortened course versions of the track.

The day wasn't without it's share of danger for Plissken. Adept at avoiding mistakes, Plissken almost made a costly error early on when he got off the track and hopped a curb trying to snake the lead away from Liv Eklund, who was driving the #27 Alexis Rainsford tribute car. Fortunately for Plissken, he didn't damage his car and it didn't cost him any track position. Dodging that bullet not only emboldened Plissken's confidence, but also focused him more intently on the job at hand.

Plissken credited his ability to pull away late to spectacular pit work. "They did an amazing job today. Kept me upfront all day and if not for them, the outcome could've been vastly different," Plissken stated.

In the closing laps, Davenport was not through being heard from as he mounted a last race charge. When Davenport began his battle to overtake second place from Marco Diaz Castañeda, it allowed Plissken cruise unchallenged to victory lane. While Davenport began to make some noise, it was full of sound and fury and netted him a 2nd place finish,  

PSI owner William Power said of Plissken,  " He saved up everything for the very end of the race and pushed it when he needed to - he made all the right moves out there today!"

Teammate Greg Woodard finished in 14th place and gave PSI a solid top 15 performance with his tenacity. After his win, Plissken currently sits 3rd and Greg Woodard 19th in the updated overall championship points standings.

"PSI owner William Power chimed in when he commented, "The Karjala Grand Prix is a double points event. It separates the contenders from the pretenders. We absolutely need to keep up the head of steam we have going right now. We've never won one of these special events, Everyone here is thirsty to finally bag one!"

After his car unceremoniously detonated at Carbondale, Plissken has reeled off 3 stellar performances with a 3rd place finish at Georgia and a 10th at France the following race. With his win, Plissken is heading into the Karjala Grand Prix weekend with lots of positive momentum. Plissken will try to nab PSI's first ever back to back Master Cup finish and be the first in TMMC history to win Sweden and Karjala back to back as well.

With Plissken stringing together arguably his career best European stint, the Wyld Stallyns World Tour is ecstatic with the skyrocketing ticket sales. Wyld Stallyns promoter Rufus Carlin said that what were pretty lackluster ticket sales have seen a sudden and sharp spike upwards. "We're selling out all over Europe now and beyond thanks to the #16 car getting good results and plenty screen time," Carlin stated. "It's been a very beneficial partnership with PSI and we hope to do it again with them in the future should the opportunity present itself."