It was a case of déja-vu for Thed Björk in the opening FIA World Touring Car Cup race on the streets of Marrakech, as he repeated the result of two years ago when the Swede also had to settle for second behind Esteban Guerrieri.
Having qualified in second for the opening race of the season, Björk found himself in a prime position to fight for the victory in the first-ever race for the new Lynk & Co 03 TCR car.
At the start, the Swede attempted to pass Guerrieri’s Honda around the outside, but backed out of the move through an abundance of caution.
The 2017 WTCC champion failed to find a genuine opportunity thereafter, as the Argentine driver cantered to a first win of the season by just over half a second from Björk.
“Esteban is so happy to win, but I almost feel just as happy,” said Björk. “We did it. We developed the car, we came here, we’re here fighting with it, qualifying really well.
“Esteban was flying; I wanted to take him at the start, as you saw, but I said no. I know how it goes if I push it too hard!
“Then it goes back to normal and I wanted to win. I was behind Esteban thinking ‘shit, I’ve been here before’.
“I was watching him trying to see if he would make a mistake, but this track is hard: hard on the brakes, hard when you try to push behind another car.
“Then I started to think [about] second place and points in our first race ever… yeah, OK. This feels super.
“So I’m really happy for Esteban to win and for Néstor to be third, because I like these guys a lot. And to be here with a new team is fantastic.”
Björk praised the potential of the new Geely Group Motorsport car, which is being run by Cyan Racing in the 2019 season.
“My car felt really good in the race. I could follow Esteban, some places he was fast, others I was really fast.
“I think we have really good potential which we can build on for the season and that’s the biggest positive I can take from the first race.”