Polestar’s Head of Motorsport, Alexander Murdzevski-Schedvin, believes his team ‘can do better’, despite drivers Néstor Girolami and Thed Björk making it into the top ten in qualifying for the World Touring Car Championship in Japan.
Girolami was particularly on the pace on Saturday, putting his Polestar Volvo S60 at the top of the timesheets in both of the morning’s free practice sessions.
The Argentine driver then went on to qualify in sixth for the Main Race – in what is only his first weekend driving for the Swedish team.
To make things even better for Polestar – who run this weekend without any compensation weight – Björk then went on to qualify in eighth, giving them both of their cars inside the top ten.
“The team gave 100% today and Néstor, doing his first race weekend with Polestar Cyan Racing with a new team, car and track, was nothing short of impressive,” said Murdzevski-Schedvin. “Still, all of us feel we can do even better, so we look forward to the race day.”
Girolami once again reiterated his thanks to the team for giving him another chance in the WTCC, after he competed in two race weekends with the Swedish Nika Racing outfit in 2015.
“I want to extend a big thanks to the team for giving me this opportunity,” said Girolami. “They have worked really hard to improve on all areas here in Japan.
“I am quite pleased with my time, [which was] not far from Q3. I look forward to working on the setup with the team and improve further for the races.”
Björk added that he feels the team have stronger race pace than single-lap pace, which bodes well for Sunday’s pair of races at the Twin Ring Motegi.
“We came close to making it into Q3 which is really positive,” said Björk, “but we have more work to do on our qualifying pace.
“I think we are in a better position for race pace though, so I feel inspired for the two races tomorrow.”