Polestar Cyan Racing driver Thed Björk heads to Japan this weekend as the leader of the FIA World Touring Car Championship by the closest possible margin – half a point - with just three race weekends left of the season.
”I am right where I want to be. I am leading the championship and the car is as fast as it has ever been. Japan is one of my favorites on the calendar but we need to keep fighting hard to stay on top of the standings,” said Thed Björk.
Nicky Catsburg closed in on the title fight after the previous race in China, where he secured a podium, and is currently placed fourth, 22,5 points from team-mate Thed Björk.
”We scored a lot of points in the last race in China and I am closer to the top of the championship. We have a very competitive package currently and I feel confident for Japan where my ambition is to close the gap even further to the leaders,” said Nicky Catsburg.
Néstor Giorlami scored his maiden WTCC pole position and victory in China two weeks ago and is keen to keep his momentum up for Twin Ring Motegi this weekend.
”The feeling from the race weekend in China is extremely good. I had some good luck at last and we showed our true form in qualifying by claiming pole position in the wet conditions. I am going to keep this feeling going into the race weekend in Japan where I had a very good first race for the team last year,” said Néstor Girolami.
The fight in the WTCC manufacturers’ championship is equally tough and close as for the drivers, with Polestar Cyan Racing trailing main rivals Honda by just ten points.
”Our main competitor in Motegi, Honda, will be the home favorites with all the good support but pressure that goes with that. We can approach this race with a points target rather than with must-win pressure. We will of course fight for pole and race wins, but it is a big difference on stress levels between ‘aim’ and ‘must’, said Alexander Murdzevski Schedvin, Head of Motorsport at Polestar.
A typhoon passing between China and Japan has forced the WTCC organisation to move Free Practice 2 and Qualifying to Sunday due to delayed container shipment from Shanghai.
Follow Polestar Cyan Racing in the FIA WTCC Race of Japan at: wtcc.polestar.com
WTCC Race of Japan
Circuit: Twin Ring Motegi
Length: 4801 m
Lap record (WTCC): 1:57.136 (Tarquini)
Schedule
(Times in CEST)
Saturday 28/10
08:15 Free Practice 1 (45 min)
Sunday 29/10
01:00 Free Practice 2 (45 min)
02:40 Qualifying
03:40 MAC3
07:15 Race 1 (11 laps)
08:30 Race 2 (13 laps)
Championship Standings
Drivers’ – Top 5
1 Thed Björk Volvo S60 200,5 pts
2 Tiago Monteiro Honda Civic 200 (-0,5)
3 Norbert Michelisz Honda Civic 198,5 (-2)
4 Nicky Catsburg Volvo S60 177,5 (-22,5)
5 Mehdi Bennani Citroën C-Elysée 164 (-36,5)
…
9 Néstor Girolami Volvo S60 88 (-112,5)
Manufacturers’
1 Honda 640,5 pts
2 Volvo 630,5 (-10)
Compensation weights for Japan
Model – Time difference – Weight
Honda Civic – 0.0 sec – +80 kg
Volvo S60 Polestar – +0.1 sec – +70 kg
Citroën C-Elysée – +0.4 sec – +40 kg
Chevrolet Cruze – +0.7 sec – +10 kg
Lada Vesta – +1.3 sec – +0 kg
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
22 – Manuel Fernandes – POR – RC Motorsport – Lada Vesta WTCC
24 – Kevin Gleason – USA – RC Motorsport – Lada Vesta 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
FIA World Touring Car Championship 2017 Calendar
WTCC Race of Morocco (Marrakech): 7-9 April
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
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
WTCC Race of Qatar (Losail International Circuit): 30 November-1 December
Contact Details
Johan Meissner, Media Relations
+46(0)70 241 3234
About Polestar
Polestar is Volvo Car Group’s performance road car brand. On 17 October 2017, Polestar became a new separately-branded electric performance car company, offering a portfolio of bespoke Polestar cars. Polestar will enjoy specific technological and engineering synergies with Volvo Cars and benefit from significant economies of scale as a result of its connection to Volvo. These synergies will allow it to design, develop and build world beating electrified high performance cars far faster than other new entrants into the market.
Polestar also builds the S60 and V60 Polestar, 367hp performance road cars with over 250 developments over-and-above the standard Volvo products through its Polestar Engineered offering. It also offers Polestar Engineered performance hardware upgrades and engine software optimisations for existing Volvo products.
About Cyan Racing
Founded in 1996 and today known as Cyan Racing, the privately owned and operated company has been Volvo Car Group’s official team in motorsport since its conception. Cyan Racing has claimed multiple titles with the Volvo 850, S40, C30 and S60. Today, the company enjoys success on track with the Polestar road car brand as Polestar Cyan Racing in pursuit of both the World Touring Car Championship and Swedish GT, racing the Volvo S60 Polestar road going performance car.
--------------------------------
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).
