Polestar Cyan Racing claim that it has made progress in their World Touring Car Championship campaign after qualifying in Portugal, with Thed Björk putting his car in sixth on the grid for the Main Race.
Björk ultimately missed out on Q3 by half a second, and despite having a new team-mate for the weekend he continued his run of being the best Volvo in qualifying, which he has now achieved in five out of seven sessions in 2016 so far.
“We are gaining on the others and we have made good progress, testing a lot of different things, even during the qualifying sessions,” said Björk. “The track is tough and it will be really difficult to overtake, but I do like the track.”
Björk is joined by fellow former Scandinavian Touring Car Champion Robert Dahlgren this weekend, who has switched with Fredrik Ekblom in the second Volvo S60.
Dahlgren admits that the high-speed street circuit is not an easy circuit on which to make his first return to the WTCC since 2011.
“We couldn’t have picked a more difficult track for my return to the championship, but I have to say that I have a good feeling after qualifying,” said Dahlgren, who ended up 11th on the grid. “I am of course always aiming for the top, but for my first WTCC race since 2011, I am not unhappy with the result.
“There is of course more to do in terms of me getting to grips with the car and working with the setup, but I am confident we will continue to make progress.”
Alexander Murdzevski-Schedvin, Head of Motorsport at Polestar, praised his drivers for their stronger qualifying performance compared to the previous event in Russia, where neither of the S60s made it out of Q1.
“The weekend is proceeding according to plan, we have closed the gap to the competitors compared to the previous race,” said Murdzevski-Schedvin.
“If the conditions remain the same, we will continue to close the gap tomorrow and hopefully our drivers will put on a good show for our 500 guests with Volvo Cars Portugal on site.”