1996 - Birth of a company

Cyan Racing was founded in 1996 to run the factory Volvo team in the inaugural Swedish Touring Car Championship season. Success was imminent as driver Jan ”Flash” Nilsson secured the STCC title behind the wheel of a Volvo 850 Super Touring. The team claimed six of nine victories.

1997 - Double racing title

Jan ”Flash” Nilsson continued with the Volvo 850 Super Touring and secured a second straight STCC title, despite tough opposition from BMW, Ford and Opel, claiming eight of 12 victories.

1998 - Two-car team

The Volvo S40 model was introduced for the 1998 STCC and the team expanded to two cars with Jens Edman joining Jan ”Flash” Nilsson at mid-point of the season. ”Flash” finished second overall in the championship. The team made its international debut with “Flash” taking part in one race weekend of the Championnat de France de Supertourisme and won the race ahead of Audi, BMW, Ford, Opel and Peugeot teams. Later in the year the team made its second international appearance by taking part in the Guia Race of Macau, finishing fifth.

1999 - Fighting season

1999 was a tough season for the team with Jan ”Flash” Nilsson crashing at mid-point of the season and was forced out one race weekend. The team managed to get back with Jens Edman finishing fourth overall and ”Flash” fifth despite the crash, claiming victory at Knutstorp.

2000 - Relocation

The team moved from Halmstad, Sweden, to Karlstad ahead of the 2000 season. Reigning STCC champion and future DTM champion Mattias Ekström joined the team as team mate to Jan ”Flash” Nilsson, with Ekström finishing third overall after a close season finale with a double victory at Mo i Rana as the highlight of the season.

2001 - S60 Challenge

Jens Edman was back as team mate to Jan ”Flash” Nilsson for the 2001 STCC season, with ”Flash” finishing second overall after a heated fight with Audi driver Roberto Colciago. The team took part in two races of the European Touring Car Championship, with “Flash” recording seventh as best individual result. The one-make series Volvo S60 Challenge was introduced in Sweden with Cyan Racing running the series in terms of technical support, regulations, etc. Future CEO Christian Dahl joined the team as chief mechanic.

2002 - End of an era

Edward Sandström joined Jan ”Flash” Nilsson for the 2002 STCC season which was the last STCC season with the Super Touring regulations and the Volvo S40 model. ”Flash” finished second overall in the championship after another intense season of fighting with arch-rival and Audi driver Roberto Colciago.

2003 - Made in Sweden

The Volvo S60 model was introduced for the 2003 STCC season, marking the first season with the new FIA S2000 regulations. This meant the start of a new technical development project to develop the Volvo S60 S2000 version for racing in Sweden. The project went under the name “Made in Sweden”, with Swedish suspension manufacturer Öhlins as one of the key partners. Driver Jan "Flash" Nilsson finished vice champion with three victories and Rickard Rydell made a guest appearance for the team in the ETCC races at Anderstorp, finishing on the podium.

2004 - New ownership

Christian Dahl took over as sole owner of the company and Robert Dahlgren was signed as driver for the STCC programme, winning his first ever race for the team and finished second overall in the STCC.

2005 - New brand

In order to pay tribute to the origin of the company in the frozen north of Sweden and its strive towards perfection, the new brand Polestar was introduced in 2005. Edward Sandström joined Robert Dahlgren in the STCC programme, with Sandström finishing fourth in the drivers’ championship. The team took over maintenance of STCC support class Formula Renault Sweden alongside Volvo S60 Challenge on behalf of Volvo Cars Sweden.

2006 - Close to Volvo in Gothenburg

Cyan Racing moved to new facilities in Gothenburg which included engine development facilities, making the company independent on race car development. The move to Gothenburg also meant that the company took over more of Volvo’s educational activities for young car mechanics. The assignment included design, manufacturing and sales of training stations to schools with car mechanic courses. Alexander Storckenfeldt joined Robert Dahlgren as driver in the STCC.

2007 - Going green

Cyan Racing developed a new bio-ethanol race engine for the STCC programme, becoming one of the world’s first race teams to compete with the fossil-free fuel. Robert Dahlgren and Alexander Storckenfeldt continued as drivers, with Dahlgren finishing second overall in the championship. The educational activities were expanded with the Volvo Training Car Program where the team supplied Volvo cars to secondary schools for educational purposes. Cyan Racing also became a part of the Volvo Customer Service Concept to implement the “Lean Methods” at Volvo dealers around Sweden.

2008 - Race car from scratch

Cyan Racing was assigned to develop the new Volvo C30 model for racing ahead of the 2008 season, marking the first complete engineering project of the company. This saw the Cyan Racing grow by 30% overnight to take on the new engineering project. Robert Dahlgren and Tommy Rustad were contracted as drivers for the debut STCC season with the C30, where Dahlgren ended the season in promising style by winning the two last races.

2009 - Performance optimisation

The team broke several records in the 2009 STCC season with the Volvo C30. Robert Dahlgren and Tommy Rustad claimed all pole positions, a record still standing today, and claimed both the drivers’ and teams’ title. Rustad claimed the drivers’ title after a tough season of fighting with BMW driver and future Cyan Racing driver Thed Björk. Another important step was taken with the company becoming the official Performance Partner of Volvo, introducing the Polestar Performance Optimisation for Volvo road cars with turbo engines.

2010 - First concept car

Robert Dahlgren and Tommy Rustad continued as drivers for the STCC campaign and secured the team title for the second year in succession. Dahlgren secured the drivers’ title of the inaugural Scandinavian Touring Car Cup that was held in conjunction with the Swedish Touring Car Championship. 2010 saw the first ever concept road car from Cyan Racing being constructed in the form of the Volvo C30 Polestar Concept. The car received an overwhelming welcoming from media all around the world, including Top Gear.

2011 - WTCC development season

2011 saw the team going full-time international by entering a redesigned Volvo C30 in the FIA World Touring Car Championship. Part of the project was to develop a racing engine based on the next generation of Volvo engines, a race engine which proved to be one of the most powerful in the championship. Robert Dahlgren scored Volvo’s first ever world championship points during the 2011 season. Tommy Rustad and James Thompson represented Cyan Racing in the Scandinavian Touring Car Championship, with Rustad finishing third overall and the team taking the runner’s up spot in the teams’ championship. The Polestar Performance Optimisation programme saw Polestar expanding to more markets around the world and launched an optimisation for the T6 model, making it the most powerful Volvo ever with 329 hp.

2012 - S60 Concept Car

Cyan Racing entered four Volvo S60s in the newly formed 2012 TTA – Racing Elite League in Sweden with drivers Tommy Rustad, Robert Dahlgren, Fredrik Ekblom and Thed Björk. The final result was a record breaking Grand Slam with all three titles: Fredrik Ekblom as drivers’ champion, the team as team champions and Volvo as manufacturers’ champions. The month of September saw the team launching its second concept car, the 508 HP Volvo S60 Polestar Concept which received a strong media reception all over the world. The Polestar Performance Optimisation programme continued to grow to new markets with Australia, New Zeeland, Russia, Hungary, Turkey, Czech Republic and Mexico. The Gothenburg street circuit City Arena was acquired, located right in the heart of Gothenburg, hosting races for TTA and the STCC.

2013 - First production car

A milestone came in 2013 with the introduction of Cyan Racing's first production model in the form of the Volvo S60 Polestar. The car was launched in a limited edition of 100 cars to the Australian market as an evaluation for future expansion. The racing success for Cyan Racing continued in 2013 as Thed Björk secured a dominating STCC title with eight out of 12 victories. Robert Dahlgren claimed a strong third in the championship and the team claimed the teams’ title.

2014 - International expansion

In 2014 the Volvo S60 and V60 Polestar was launched on eight markets around the world as the company’s first proper production model. 750 cars were produced in the Volvo Torslanda factory, making Cyan Racing the first independent partner to be included in the production process. Thed Björk made it two out of two by claiming the STCC drivers’ title for the second year in succession, with team mate Fredrik Ekblom finishing third overall and the both securing the STCC teams’ title together. 2014 also saw Cyan Racing making its V8 Supercars debut in style. Driver Scott McLaughlin finished fifth overall with five victories, ten podium finishes and ten pole positions. Two new S60 race cars based on the V8 Supercars regulations were built with the 650 hp Volvo V8 engine that turned out to be one of the most powerful engines of the championship.

2015 - Introducing the brand Cyan Racing

This year marked another big step in the history of Cyan Racing as Volvo Cars bought the performance brand and section of the company. The new brand Cyan Racing was formed and a close cooperation with its former performance section, still branded Polestar but under Volvo Cars ownership, was maintained with Cyan Racing as the official motorsport partner to Polestar. Thed Björk secured his third straight STCC drivers’ title and the team its third straight STCC teams’ title.

2016 - First WTCC win

Cyan Racing entered the 2016 FIA World Touring Car Championship under the name Polestar Cyan Racing as start of a multi-year programme. Thed Björk claimed the maiden WTCC victory for the team and Volvo Cars in the penultimate race of the year at Shanghai International Raceway. There was success on the racing circuits in Sweden as well with Richard Göransson securing a record-breaking fourth consecutive double Scandinavian Touring Car Championship title for the team.

2017 - World Champions

Cyan Racing became the first Swedish team to claim a World Title of racing and Thed Björk became the first ever Swedish driver to claim a World Title of racing as the team won both titles of the 2017 FIA World Touring Car Championship. Prince Carl Philip secured the runner-up spot of the Swedish GT endurance championship in Sweden. Cyan Racing completed construction of a new state of the art HQ in Gothenburg, Sweden.

2018 - A new chapter

Cyan Racing started a new chapter with Lynk & Co, launching a WTCR programme and a performance road car project with the new Lynk & Co 03 model. The team ran a joint FIA WTCR programme with Yvan Muller Racing that resulted in the World Title for teams and the vice-champion trophy for driver Yvan Muller. Prince Carl Philip claimed the vice-champion title in the 2018 Swedish GT season in a Lotus GT4 Evora under the banner Lotus Cyan Racing.

2019 - Lynk & Co

Two major projects were undertaken by Cyan Racing in 2019 with the launch of the Lynk & Co 03 Cyan Concept performance road car and the start of the 2019 FIA WTCR programme with the Lynk & Co Cyan Racing with four Lynk & Co 03 TCR race cars for drivers Thed Björk, Yvan Muller, Andy Priaulx and Yann Ehrlacher. The team claimed a historic first World Title in motorsport for a Chinese automotive manufacturer and its third consecutive team world title.

2020 - World Champions and P1800 Cyan

2020 saw Cyan Racing launching the Volvo P1800 Cyan, an interpretation of the iconic Volvo sports car from the sixties. The team claimed the two World Titles of the WTCR under the Lynk & Co Cyan Racing banner, fielding four Lynk & Co 03 TCR race cars.

2021 - Fifth straight World Title

History was made in 2021 when Cyan Racing claimed its fifth straight touring car world title. Yann Ehrlacher became the first driver to claim back-to-back WTCR titles as Lynk & Co Cyan Racing claimed both the drivers' and teams' titles of the 2021 FIA WTCR season with the Lynk & Co 03 TCR race cars.

2022 - Continuing a winning streak

Cyan Racing continued its winning streak in the FIA World Touring Car Cup, before withdrawing from the season due to tyre safety concerns. Production of the Volvo P1800 Cyan continued, with cars being delivered to customers in the US. The car was exhibited at various shows and media throughout the world, such as the Quail and Jay Leno's Garage.

2023 - World title no 9

Cyan Racing entered the new TCR World Tour for 2023, fielding four Lynk & Co 03 TCRs of the new generation. The programme resulted in the teams' World Title, making it Cyan Racing's ninth world title since 2017. Meanwhile, production of the Volvo P1800 Cyan continued with further deliveries to customers in the US.