Volvo Polestar Racing enters WTCC races in Shanghai with Thed Björk
Volvo Polestar Racing enters WTCC races in Shanghai with Thed Björk
Volvo Polestar Racing will take part in the FIA World Touring Car Championship (WTCC) races at Shanghai International Circuit in China with newly crowned Swedish Touring Car Championship (STCC) champion Thed Björk.
"We are entering this race to check the pulse of WTCC, as well as celebrating Thed Björk's amazing performance in the STCC this year," said Alexander Murdzevski Schedvin, Motorsport Commercial Director at Volvo Cars.
Björk, who secured the 2013 STCC title after winning nine of twelve races this season, is going to drive a Volvo C30 1.6T in the two races in China on November 2-3rd.
"I am looking forward to make my WTCC debut with Volvo and I am very grateful to get this opportunity. The WTCC is a very competitive championship and the challenge for us is going to be great, but that is only fueling my motivation," said Björk.
Volvo Polestar Racing ran one Volvo C30 1.6T with Robert Dahlgren in the 2011 WTCC, the very car Björk is going to drive at Shanghai.
"We moved our focus to the Volvo S60 model as our primary car for motorsport in 2012, the model that we are currently racing in Sweden and USA and that we will race in the Australian V8 Supercars next year. While our S60 model does not match WTCC well today, we still think WTCC represents possibly the best value for money and one-fits-all global motorsport solution if you want to race with a smaller c-segment car. Consequently, we are keen on staying closely informed and this is precisely our objective with Shanghai, not outright performance and results," said Murdzevski Schedvin.
32-year-old Björk is one of the most merited Swedish racing drivers with experience from F3000, DTM and Le Mans. His merits include two STCC titles, the 2001 FIA Sportscar SR2 title and the 1999 Swedish and Nordic Formula 3 titles. Björk is going to face touch opposition from drivers such as Yvan Muller (Chevrolet) and Gabriele Tarquini (Honda) in the WTCC races at Shanghai.
"We know that we have got a tough race weekend ahead of us as we never before have raced at the circuit. We keep our ambitions realistic, to make it to the top ten would be a great result, but our main mission is to gather data and information. Nonetheless, I am going to give my very best and there is no doubt that we have two exciting races ahead of us," said Björk.
About Thed Björk
Lives in Karlskoga, Sweden
Born on December 14th, 1980
Career history:
2013 - STCC Champion
2012 - TTA 3rd
2011 - Camaro Cup Sweden Champion
2009 - STCC 2nd
2008 - STCC 3rd
2006 - STCC Champion
2005 - STCC 2nd
2003 - GTR Sweden Champion
2001 - FIA SR2 Champion
1999 - Nordic F3 Champion
1999 - Swedish F3 Champion