Tough qualifying in Moscow for Polestar Cyan Racing

”This is obviously not the result we were looking for. Although it is very hard for me as a racing driver, we just have to look back at the fact that this is our first season with little or no experience with this newly constructed car in the wet. Fingers crossed for a dry track tomorrow, but we will of course continue to work on the wet setup for the races,” said Fredrik Ekblom who was fastest of the Polestar Cyan Racing drivers in 14th position.

Team mate Thed Björk was fifth fastest in the dry practice session, just five tenths from the fastest time overall, but could not find the speed on the wet circuit during qualifying.

”This is the same issue as in previous wet races, we just have not had enough testing kilometres with the car in the wet and there is no time for us to test further during the season. The car was really good in the dry but we are going to work hard overnight to try and improve the car for the race,” said Thed Björk who was 15th fastest.

The limited pre-season testing of Polestar Cyan Racing with the all-new Volvo S60 Polestar TC1 has proven an issue in wet conditions, with only a few days spent on a wet circuit prior to the season start.

”It is of course a frustrating result for the team, especially as Thed and Fredrik showed promising speed in the dry sessions on this fantastic track. Wet is not our friend at this early stage of the development, however, days like this build character and we look forward to the races tomorrow. Like stated before, 2016 is a learning year for us and I have no doubt that the results will come in due course,” said Alexander Murdzevski Schedvin, Head of Motorsport at Polestar.

The first race of the weekend in Russia starts at 11:15 CET tomorrow with Ekblom and Björk starting 14th and 15th in both races. Follow the team live at: wtcc.polestar.com

WTCC Race of Russia

Circuit: Moscow Raceway

Length: 3931 m

Lap record (WTCC): 1:40.148 (López)

Results

Q1 – Top 5

1 Nicky Catsburg Lada Vesta 1:59.073

2 Gabriele Tarquini Lada Vesta +1.338

3 Tom Coronel Chevrolet Cruze +1.548

4 Norbert Michelisz Honda Civic +1.757

5 Tiago Monteiro Honda Civic +2.002

…

14 Fredrik Ekblom Volvo S60 +4.298

15 Thed Björk Volvo S60 +4.390

Q2 – Top 5

1 Nicky Catsburg Lada Vesta 1:57.924

2 Gabriele Tarquini Lada Vesta +1.169

3 Hugo Valente Lada Vesta +2.411

4 Norbert Michelisz Honda Civic +2.412

5 James Thompson Chevrolet Cruze +2.477

Q3

1 Nicky Catsburg Lada Vesta 1:57.722

2 Gabriele Tarquini Lada Vesta +1.438

3 Hugo Valente Lada Vesta +2.479

4 James Thompson Chevrolet Cruze +3.419

5 Norbert Michelisz Honda Civic +3.635

Schedule

(Times in CET)

Sunday 12/6

11:15 Race 1 (16 laps)

12:30 Race 2 (17 laps)

Championship standings

Drivers

1 José María López Citroën C-Elysée 209 pts

2 Mehdi Bennani Citroën C-Elysée 115 (-94)

3 Tiago Monteiro Honda Civic 94 (-115)

4 Yvan Muller Citroën C-Elysée 94 (-115)

5 Norbert Michelisz Honda Civic 88 (-121)

…

12 Fredrik Ekblom Volvo S60 35 (-174)

13 Thed Björk Volvo S60 27 (-182)

TV Schedule

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

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

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.