Polestar Cyan Racing to the streets of Morocco

Five fast facts

• Thed Björk became a father to a boy right after the previous race in Hungary

• The WTCC race in Morocco is the first ever for Polestar Cyan Racing in Africa

• Volvo won the African Safari Rally 50 years ago with a Volvo PV544

• The 2009 WTCC race was the first international race in Morocco since 1958

• Polestar Cyan Racing has scored World Championship points in all races this year

”I love street circuits! We are going to bring the pace that we are currently in with learning so much new things all the time. It feels like we have driven an entire STCC season in just one month,” said Thed Björk.

Both Björk and Ekblom claimed their so far best WTCC results in the previous round at the Hungaroring with fourth position.

”I am really looking forward to the race in Marrakech this weekend, especially as the circuit is new for everyone this time and not only for us as newcomers to the championship. From what I have seen of the circuit so far, it looks promising,” said Fredrik Ekblom.

The Circuit International Automobile Moulay El Hassan has been redesigned for this year and the drivers will race anticlockwise on a brand new three-kilometre track designed by world-renown architect Hermann Tilke.

”There is certainly no disadvantage for us this weekend for once having the same task as the other teams to learn a new circuit. We have learned a lot about the car in the past races and we are hoping for a strong weekend for the team,” said Alexander Murdzevski Schedvin, Head of Motorsport at Polestar.

The FIA World Touring Car Championship weekend starts tomorrow with testing followed by free practice and qualifying on Saturday and finally two races of 21 and 22 laps respectively on Sunday.

The races are broadcasted live on Eurosport, follow the team on www.twitter.com/cyanracing for live updates behind the scenes during the sessions and wtcc.polestar.com for live timing.

WTCC Race of Morocco

Circuit: Circuit International Automobile Moulay El Hassan

Length: 3000 m

Lap record (WTCC): TBC

Schedule

(Times in WEST)

Friday 6/5

12:30 Testing (30 min)

Saturday 7/5

09:00 Free Practice 1 (30 min)

11:30 Free Practice 2 (30 min)

15:00 Qualifying Q1 (30 min)

15:35 Qualifying Q2 (15 min)

16:00 Qualifying Q3 (20 min)

Sunday 8/5

12:15 Race 1 (21 laps)

17:15 Race 2 (22 laps)

Championship standings

Drivers

1 José María López Citroën C-Elysée 106 pts

2 Tiago Monteiro Honda Civic 94 (-12)

3 Mehdi Bennani Citroën C-Elysée 77 (-29)

4 Rob Huff Honda Civic 60 (-46)

5 Yvan Muller Citroën C-Elysée 54 (-52)

…

11 Fredrik Ekblom Volvo S60 19 (-87)

11 Thed Björk Volvo S60 19 (-87)

Manufacturers

1 Citroën 263 pts

2 Honda 223 (-40)

3 Lada 133 (-130)

4 Polestar 66 (-197)

TV Schedule

International: https://www.fiawtcc.com/watch-it-on-tv/

Online: http://www.eurosportplayer.com/

2016 FIA World Touring Car Championship Entry List

No – Driver – Team – Car

2 – Gabriele Tarquini – Lada Sport Rosneft – Lada Vesta WTCC

3 – Tom Chilton – Sébastien Loeb Racing – Citroën C-Elysée WTCC

5 – Norbert Michelisz – Honda Racing Team JAS – Honda Civic WTCC

7 – Hugo Valente – Lada Sport Rosneft – Lada Vesta WTCC

9 – Tom Coronel – ROAL Motorsport – Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1

10 – Nicky Catsburg – Lada Sport Rosneft – Lada Vesta WTCC

11 – Grégoire Demoustier – Sébastien Loeb Racing – Citroën C-Elysée WTCC

12 – Rob Huff – Castrol Honda World Touring Car Team – Honda Civic WTCC

18 – Tiago Monteiro – Castrol Honda World Touring Car Team – Honda Civic WTCC

25 – Mehdi Bennani – Sébastien Loeb Racing – Citroën C-Elysée WTCC

27 – John Filippi – Campos Racing – Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1

37 – José María López – Citroën Racing – Citroën C-Elysée WTCC

55 – Ferenc Ficza – Zengo Motorsport – Honda Civic WTCC

61 – Fredrik Ekblom – Polestar Cyan Racing – Volvo S60 TC1

62 – Thed Björk – Polestar Cyan Racing – Volvo S60 TC1

68 – Yvan Muller – Citroën Racing – Citroën C-Elysée WTCC

77 – René Münnich – Münnich Motorsport – Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1

89 – John Bryant-Meisner – Nika Racing – Chevrolet Cruze WTCC

99 – Dániel Nagy – Zengo Motorsport – Honda Civic WTCC

FIA World Touring Car Championship 2016 Calendar

1-3 April FIA WTCC Race of France (Circuit Paul Ricard)

15-17 April FIA WTCC Race of Slovakia (Slovakia Ring)

22-24 April FIA WTCC Race of Hungary (Hungaroring)

7-8 May FIA WTCC Race of Morocco (Moulay El Hassan, Marrakech) S

26-28 May FIA WTCC Race of Germany (Nürburgring Nordschleife)

10-12 June FIA WTCC Race of Russia (Moscow Raceway)

24-26 June FIA WTCC Race of Portugal (Circ. Internacional de Vila Real) S

5-7 August FIA WTCC Race of Argentina (Circ. Termas de Río Hondo)

2-4 September FIA WTCC Race of Japan (Twin Ring Motegi)

23-25 September FIA WTCC Race of China (Shanghai International Circuit)

4-6 November FIA WTCC Race of Thailand (Chang International Circuit)

23-25 November FIA WTCC Race of Qatar (Losail International Circuit) N

S = Street race

N = Night Race

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 drivers’ titles and seven STCC teams’ titles with the Volvo 850, S40, C30 and S60.