Polestar Cyan Racing’s Thed Björk was pleased to have qualified in third for Sunday’s main World Touring Car Championship race in Vila Real, whilst the team also secured another MAC3 win.
Björk put in his best qualifying effort since he took pole in Italy in April by qualifying his Volvo in third for Sunday’s Main Race, ending up behind the pole-sitting Honda and Rob Huff’s independent Citroën.
All three S60s are running with 30 kg more compensation weight than the Hondas this weekend, with the cars being one of two models on the grid with the maximum 80 kg on board. Björk believes that qualifying in third with such extra weight proves the pace of the car.
“I have a good feeling with the speed that I have, especially as we have 30 kilos more than Honda,” said Björk.
“It is a really big challenge to drive at this circuit, with blind corners between guardrails at over 200 km/h. But the team has done a great job with my car and we are in a good position for the races tomorrow.”
Polestar Head of Motorsport Alexander Murdzevski-Schedvin was equally pleased with the results, including Volvo taking a win over Honda in MAC3 by almost four seconds.
“We are really happy about the result in MAC3,” added Murdzevski-Schedvin. “We had a fantastic weekend at the Nürburgring a month ago and we are paying for that now with the extra weight.
“With that in mind, this has been a good day and we hope to get even more from tomorrow.”
Championship leader Nicky Catsburg qualified in fifth after an issue in Q3 stunted his qualifying, whilst Néstor Girolami put his car in ninth and therefore second for the reverse-grid Opening Race.