Polestar Cyan Racing is headed to Japan this weekend as the FIA World Touring Car Championship resumes at Twin Ring Motegi, with crucial preparations for 2017 and beyond intensifying.
”I am really looking forward to get going again and especially at Twin Ring Motegi. I have never raced there before but from what I understand it is great for racing with plenty of overtaking opportunities. It is also an important weekend to start digesting the initial data we have received from testing in preparation for next year,” said Thed Björk.
Björk will be joined by a new team-mate for the races in Japan in the form of multiple Argentinian touring car champion Néstor Girolami who tested for the team after the previous race at Termas de Río Hondo.
”It’s a big challenge to race in Japan. I've been watching some on board cameras and it looks like a very fast and technical circuit with very hard braking points. I have to adapt myself step by step and find the limits. My goal is to learn as much as possible and improve during the race weekend,” said Néstor Girolami.
The Japanese races marks the ninth race weekend of 2016 and just three remain as Polestar Cyan Racing prepares for 2017.
”We have just started our test programme between race weekends with our new test car that together with the final races of 2016 plays and important role in our plan to increase our competitiveness to challenge podiums and race wins next year. This weekend will also be special for us as we will perform a race evaluation with Néstor who did a good job when testing for us last month,” said Alexander Murdzevski Schedvin, Head of Motorsport at Polestar.
Follow the team during the race weekend in Japan at: http://wtcc.polestar.com
WTCC Race of Japan
Circuit: Twin Ring Motegi
Length: 4806 m
Lap record (WTCC): 1:57.136 (Tarquini)
Schedule
(Times in CET)
Friday 2/9
10:00 Shakedown (30 min)
Saturday 3/9
01:45 Free Practice 1 (30 min)
04:00 Free Practice 2 (30 min)
08:00 Qualifying (60 min)
Sunday 4/9
07:35 Race 1 (13 laps)
08:50 Race 2 (14 laps)
Championship standings
1 José María López Citroën C-Elysée 284 pts
2 Tiago Monteiro Honda Civic 167 (-117)
3 Yvan Muller Citroën C-Elysée 160 (-124)
4 Rob Huff Honda Civic 158 (-126)
5 Mehdi Bennani Citroën C-Elysée 144 (-140)
…
12 Thed Björk Volvo S60 41 (-243)
13 Fredrik Ekblom Volvo S60 35 (-249)
TV Schedule
International: https://www.fiawtcc.com/watch-it-on-tv/
Online: http://premium.fiawtcc.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
62 – Thed Björk – Polestar Cyan Racing – Volvo S60 TC1
63 – Robert Dahlgren – Polestar Cyan Racing – Volvo S60 TC1
68 – Yvan Muller – Citroën Racing – Citroën C-Elysée WTCC
77 – René Münnich – Münnich Motorsport – Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1
86 – Esteban Guerrieri – Campos Racing – Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1
89 – John Bryant-Meisner – Nika Racing – Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1
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.