Polestar Cyan Racing targets world title in WWTC
Following its inaugural FIA World Touring Car Championship (WTCC) season in 2016 that exceeded all expectations, Polestar Cyan Racing has ramped up its 2017 programme with three new Volvo S60 Polestar TC1 race cars, a new driver line-up and a firm goal to become world champions.
Three key elements have been put into place to achieve this ultimate target:
- Experienced drivers – Thed Björk, Néstor Girolami and Nicky Catsburg
- Significant increase in engineering and technical resources
- An extensive off-season test programme
“We have full confidence in the preparations and abilities of the Polestar Cyan Racing team and the driver line-up with Thed, Néstor and Nicky,” said Alexander Murdzevski Schedvin, Head of Motorsport at Polestar.
“However, we are by no means expecting an easy time in reaching our goal, which has been brought forward by one year, and the opposition is as tough as ever. But there should be no doubt that we have the world title as our ultimate objective this year.”
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Four-time STCC champion Thed Björk continues as a driver for Polestar Cyan Racing, having been a vital part of the development programme as well as claiming the team’s first WTCC victory in Shanghai last year. Björk is joined by two new drivers.
Double Argentinian Super TC 2000 champion Néstor Girolami drove one race weekend for the team last season and impressed on his debut, earning him a full-time drive, as well as a part in the development programme.
New to the Polestar Cyan Racing team, but not to the WTCC, is experienced Dutch racer Nicky Catsburg, who has raced and won in the WTCC since 2014.
“The feeling of winning our first race already in our first season was incredible and it really boosted my confidence ahead of the new and higher targets we have set for this season,” said Thed Björk.
Néstor Girolami continued: “I am extremely grateful to have this opportunity at Polestar Cyan Racing. My first race with the team last year was really promising and I felt right at home with them. I hope to, together with everyone in the team, take the next step forward in the standings this year.”
Nicky Catsburg concluded: “I followed Polestar Cyan Racing’s progress closely from a competing team in 2016 and I am very glad to join them now. Their results from last year were impressive and I hope that I, together with Thed and Néstor, can contribute to a performance graph pointing straight up, in order to deliver on our tough goals for the 2017 season.”
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The Polestar Cyan Racing team has been busy since the 2016 season end in November last year with an off-season test programme on circuits in southern Europe with the 300 kW Volvo S60 Polestar TC1 race car.
The 2017 WTCC season starts on April 8th in Morocco and spans ten race weekends on four continents, ending on December 2nd in Qatar. Next up for the Polestar Cyan Racing team is the official WTCC pre-season test at the legendary Monza circuit in Italy on 14 and 15 March.
2017 WTCC Calendar
- March 14-15 – Pre-season test – Monza, Italy
- April 9 – Marrakech, Morrocco
- April 30 – Monza, Italy
- May 14 – Hungaroring, Hungary
- May 27 – Nürburgring Nordschleife, Germany
- June 25 – Vila Real, Portugal
- August 6 – Termas De Rio Hondo, Argentina
- October 15 – Shanghai, China
- October 29 – Motegi, Japan
- November 19 – Macau, China
- December 1 – Losail, Qatar