Thed Björk crowns the 2016 WTCC season finale with a podium
Thed Björk crowns the 2016 WTCC season finale with a podium
Thed Björk crowned the 2016 FIA World Touring Car Championship (WTCC) season finale in Qatar with his second podium finish of the season for Polestar Cyan Racing, climbing into the top ten of the drivers’ championship.
The four-time STCC champion crossed the line of the final race in second, a mere second behind race winner Mehdi Bennani, putting hard pressure on the Citroën driver throughout the race.
”The team gave me a great car and I had the pace on Mehdi, but he did a really good job with no mistakes and left no room for me to pass. While I of course wanted our second win, this result really underlines our progress in the final part of the season with a victory, two podiums and two Q3 sessions in the past two race weekends,” said Thed Björk.
Team-mate Robert Dahlgren had two tough races with one retirement but managed to secure his first world championship points of 2016 in the first race with seventh position.
”Result-wise I am not pleased, we hade the pace for more. But I am very pleased to see our development work taking us up through the field. The team did a great job with the car this weekend and I can’t wait to get back behind the wheel again,” said Robert Dahlgren.
The 2016 WTCC was a learning season for Polestar Cyan Racing as start of a long-term programme but still resulted in one victory, two podium finishes, three Q3 sessions, five top five finishes and 23 top ten finishes.
”To end the season with a main race podium finish is a morale booster that everyone in the team wanted. Thed did an amazing job, fighting hard to catch up with the leader and fight for the win. This learning year has definitely left us with a taste for more and exceeded all of our expectations,” said Alexander Murdzevski Schedvin, Head of Motorsport at Polestar.
WTCC Race of Qatar
Circuit: Losail International Circuit
Results
Race 1
1 Gabriele Tarquini Lada Vesta 14 laps
2 Tom Chilton Citroën C-Elysée +6.617
3 Rob Huff Honda Civic +7.246
4 Yvan Muller Citroën C-Elysée +8.968
5 Norbert Michelisz Honda Civic +9.648
…
6 Thed Björk Volvo S60 +10.137
7 Robert Dahlgren Volvo S60 +11.108
Race 2
1 Mehdi Bennani Citroën C-Elysée 15 laps
2 Thed Björk Volvo S60 +1.176
3 José María López Citroën C-Elysée +4.815
4 Norbert Michelisz Honda Civic +10.575
5 Tiago Monteiro Honda Civic +11.827
…
DNF Robert Dahlgren Volvo S60
Championship standings
1 José María López Citroën C-Elysée 381 points
2 Yvan Muller Citroën C-Elysée 257 (-124)
3 Tiago Monteiro Honda Civic 214 (-167)
4 Norbert Michelisz Honda Civic 212 (-169)
5 Medhi Bennani Citroën C-Elysée 206 (-175)
…
10 Thed Björk Volvo S60 117 (-264)
13 Fredrik Ekblom Volvo S60 45 (-336)
15 Néstor Girolami Volvo S60 12 (-369)
19 Robert Dahlgren Volvo S60 6 (-375)
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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. The company is owned by Christian Dahl and handles all motorsport operations of Polestar. Cyan Racing, formerly named Polestar Racing, has claimed five STCC driver titles and seven STCC team titles with the Volvo 850, S40, C30 and S60.