Thed Björk won the main race of the FIA World Touring Car Championship (WTCC) weekend at Monza in style, elevating him to second position in the championship.
The four-time STCC champion won the race from pole position and set a new lap record to beat main rival and Honda driver Tiago Monteiro. The victory has reduced the championship lead gap to 15 points from 18 points ahead of the weekend for Björk to Monteiro.
“This was one of my best victories ever. I felt completely relaxed during the race and I never doubted that I was going to win. The team is super-happy, they have done a great job and we did what we had to do this weekend,” said Thed Björk.
Nicky Catsburg had a tough first race, dropping down to finish eighth as he sustained front splitter damage at the start of the race. The second race saw him finish fourth, a result meaning that he is third in the championship behind team-mate Thed Björk.
“I am a little bit disappointed in my personal result, we should have done better, especially as Thed proved that we had the base to win. I had contact in the first race and after that it was basically damage control. The second race was better, but I could not challenge the three guys in front. We need to look and understand why we didn’t score better, but overall a good weekend for the team,” said Nicky Catsburg.
Néstor Girolami had a tough weekend, retiring from third position in the first race with rear-right suspension damage. The Argentinian fought hard in the second race to snatch fifth place from Norbert Michelisz by a mere 0.001 seconds over the finishing line.
“The first race was obviously disappointing, but contact is a part of touring car racing and unfortunately something broke in the suspension. The second race went as we expected and I am happy to cross the line in fifth, just ahead of Norbert. I have lost some points, but there are still plenty of races left and I will be back,” said Néstor Girolami.
The WTCC weekend at legendary Monza in Italy brought Polestar Cyan Racing one pole position, a MAC3 victory, a new lap record at Monza and the main race victory, extending the lead over Honda in the manufacturers’ championship to 14 points.
“We had high expectations for the weekend and it was much harder than we ever could imagine. But we are leaving with a pole, a MAC3 win, a main race victory and an extended manufacturers’ lead. This is a truly fantastic result from the weekend thanks to an extremely solid effort by everyone in the team,” said Alexander Murdzevski Schedvin, Head of Motorsport at Polestar.
Next up is the WTCC Race of Hungary on May 13-14th. Visit our WTCC site for more information: http://wtcc.polestar.com
WTCC Race of Italy
Circuit: Autodromo Nazionale Monza
Length: 5793 m
Lap record (WTCC): 1:53.381 (Björk)
Results
Race 1 – Top 5
1 Tom Chiton Citroën C-Elysée 9 laps
2 Rob Huff Citroën C-Elysée +0.329
3 Tiago Monteiro Honda Civic +2.630
4 Esteban Guerrieri Chevrolet Cruze +6.899
5 Thed Björk Volvo S60 +7.793
…
8 Nicky Catsburg Volvo S60 +18.067
14 Néstor Girolami Volvo S60 +5 laps
Race 2 – Top 5
1 Thed Björk Volvo S60 12 laps
2 Tiago Monteiro +2.174
3 Rob Huff Citroën C-Elysée +2.779
4 Nicky Catsburg Volvo S60 +3.269
5 Néstor Girolami Volvo S60 +6.180
Q1 – Top 5
1 Néstor Girolami Volvo S60 1:52.218
2 Thed Björk Volvo S60 +0.056
3 Nicky Catsburg Volvo S60 +0.186
4 Rob Huff Citroën C-Elysée +0.536
5 Tiago Monteiro Honda Civic +0.704
Q2 – Top 5
1 Thed Björk Volvo S60 1:52.202
2 Tiago Monteiro Honda Civic +0.183
3 Nicky Catsburg Volvo S60 +0.205
4 Néstor Girolami Volvo S60 +0.286
5 Rob Huff Citroën C-Elysée +0.321
Q3
1 Thed Björk Volvo S60 1:52.505
2 Tiago Monteiro Honda Civic +0.316
3 Rob Huff Citroën C-Elysée +0.463
4 Nicky Catsburg Volvo S60 +0.508
5 Néstor Girolami Volvo S60 +4.821
MAC3
1 Volvo 3:53.448
2 Honda +2.004
Championship Standings
Drivers’ – Top 5
1 Tiago Monteiro Honda Civic 85 pts
2 Thed Björk Volvo S60 70 (-15)
3 Nicky Catsburg Volvo S60 50 (-35)
4 Norbert Michelisz Honda Civic 46 (-39)
5 Rob Huff Citroën C-Elysée 44 (-41)
…
8 Néstor Girolami Volvo S60 39 (-46)
Manufacturers’
1 Volvo 198 pts
2 Honda 184 (-14)
TV Schedule
https://www.fiawtcc.com/watch-it-on-tv/
http://www.eurosportplayer.com
2017 FIA World Touring Car Championship Entry List
No – Driver – Team – Car
3 – Tom Chilton – GBR – Sébastien Loeb Racing – Citroën C-Elysée WTCC
5 – Norbert Michelisz – HUN – Honda Racing Team JAS – Honda Civic WTCC
8 – Aurélien Panis – FRA – Zengő Motorsport – Honda Civic WTCC
9 – Tom Coronel – NED – ROAL Motorsport – Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1
12 – Rob Huff – GBR – Münnich Motorsport – Citroën C-Elysée WTCC
18 – Tiago Monteiro – POR – Honda Racing Team JAS – Honda Civic WTCC
25 – Mehdi Bennani – MOR – Sébastien Loeb Racing – Citroën C-Elysée WTCC
27 – John Filippi – FRA – Sébastien Loeb Racing – Citroën C-Elysée WTCC
34 – Ryo Michigami – Honda Racing Team JAS – Honda Civic WTCC
61 – Néstor Girolami – ARG – Polestar Cyan Racing – Volvo S60 TC1
62 – Thed Björk – SWE – Polestar Cyan Racing – Volvo S60 TC1
63 – Nicky Catsburg – NED – Polestar Cyan Racing – Volvo S60 TC1
68 – Yann Ehrlacher – FRA – RC Motorsport – Lada Vesta WTCC
86 – Esteban Guerrieri – ARG – Campos Racing – Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1
99 – Daniel Nagy – HUN – Zengő Motorsport – Honda Civic WTCC
TBC – Kevin Gleason – USA – RC Motorsport – Lada Vesta WTCC
FIA World Touring Car Championship 2017 Calendar
WTCC Race of Morocco (Marrakech): 7-9 April S
WTCC Race of Italy (Monza): 28-30 April
WTCC Race of Hungary (Hungaroring): 12-14 May
WTCC Race of Germany (Nürburgring Nordschleife): 25-27 May
WTCC Race of Portugal (Vila Real): 23-25 June S
WTCC Race of Argentina (Termas de Río Hondo): 15-16 July
WTCC Race of China (Shanghai Ningbo Circuit): 13-15 October
WTCC Race of Japan (Twin Ring Motegi): 27-29 October
WTCC Race of Macau (Circuit de Guia): 17-19 November S
WTCC Race of Qatar (Losail International Circuit): 30 November-1 December N
S = Street race
N = Night Race
Contact Details
Johan Meissner, Press Manager
+46(0)70 241 3234
About Polestar
Polestar is the performance brand of Volvo Cars. The company was founded as a motorsport team in 1996 and has been successful in numerous championships, racing with various Volvo models. In 2009, Polestar started to offer performance related products and thereby intensified the business relations with Volvo Cars. The first performance cars, based on Volvo’s S60 and V60, were launched in 2014.
In 2015, Volvo Cars acquired the performance unit of Polestar, as a strong commitment towards a credible performance offer and with the mission to define future premium performance.
About Cyan Racing
Cyan Racing is the motorsport partner to Polestar was founded as a motorsport team in 1996 and has been successful in numerous championships. The company is owned by Christian Dahl and handles all motorsport operations of Polestar. Cyan Racing, formerly named Polestar Racing, has claimed seven STCC drivers’ titles and eight STCC teams’ titles with the Volvo 850, S40, C30 and S60.
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Volvo Car Group in 2016
Voor het boekjaar 2016 liet Volvo Car Group (Volvo Cars) een bedrijfswinst optekenen van 11 miljard SEK (EUR 1,2 miljard), tegenover 6,6 miljard SEK (EUR 697 miljoen) in 2015. De omzet voor dit boekjaar bedroeg 180,7 miljard SEK (EUR 19,1 miljard), tegenover 164,0 miljard SEK (EUR 17,3 miljard) in 2015. In 2016 verkocht Volvo Car Group wereldwijd 534.332 auto's, ofwel 6,2% meer dan in 2015. Deze recordcijfers qua omzet en bedrijfswinst betekenen dat Volvo Car Group kan blijven investeren in het wereldwijde transformatieplan.
Over Volvo Car Group
Volvo is actief sinds 1927. Vandaag is Volvo Cars een van de bekendste en meest gerespecteerde automerken ter wereld. In 2016 werden 534.332 Volvo's verkocht in ongeveer 100 landen. Sinds 2010 is Volvo Cars eigendom van Zhejiang Geely Holding (Geely Holding) uit China. Het bedrijf maakte deel uit van de Zweeds Volvo Group tot 1999, wanneer het werd gekocht door het Amerikaanse Ford Motor Company. In 2010 werd Volvo Cars uiteindelijk overgenomen door Geely Holding.
In december 2016 stelde Volvo Cars wereldwijd meer dan 31.000 medewerkers tewerk. De hoofdzetel, productontwikkeling, marketing en administratie van Volvo Cars zijn grotendeels gevestigd in Göteborg, Zweden. Het hoofdkantoor van Volvo Cars voor China is gevestigd in Shanghai. De grootste autofabrieken van het bedrijf zijn gevestigd in Göteborg (Zweden), Gent (België) en Chengdu (China), terwijl de motoren worden gemaakt in Skövde (Zweden) en Zhangjiakou (China) en de carrosserie-onderdelen in Olofström (Zweden).
