Polestar Cyan Racing secured a fourth consecutive Scandinavian Touring Car Championship (STCC) teams’ title at Solvalla in Sweden this weekend, making the team and Volvo the most successful ever entrants of the championship.
The title was secured thanks to a double podium finish in the second race by team-mates and title rivals Robert Dahlgren and Richard Göransson, as they keep the drivers’ title fight wide open for the season finale at Knutstorp.
”What a couple of races it was! But I am above all proud over winning the teams’ championship, that was our main mission for this season and to get the fight for the drivers’ championship between us,” said Robert Dahlgren.
And the duo did fight hard for the drivers’ championship points in the first and second rain-hit race, making contact that meant a retirement in the first race for Dahlgren as Göransson finished fourth. But Dahlgren got revenge in race two with second place as Göransson finished third.
”It was two difficult and strange races with incidents and cars everywhere. I am pleased with third in the second race and that Polestar Cyan Racing won the team title. It has been an amazing weekend for the team,” said Richard Göransson.
Prince Carl Philip had a mixed weekend where he made it to the Q2 session in qualifying for the first time this season, retired from the first race but managed to secure sixth position in the second race.
"Both races were chaotic and the first race ended too early for me. I was able to secure sixth position in the second race despite several incidents and I am pleased with that," said Prince Carl Philip.
Göransson extended the gap to team-mate Dahlgren from 11 points ahead of the weekend to 22 points after the Solvalla races. However, the regulations state that all drivers must drop their worst weekend from the championship that brings Dahlgren even closer to a gap of 16 points.
”The title is going to be decided in the season finale and it is going to be tough! I hope it will be settled fairly and not because of other drivers,” said Richard Göransson.
”I am not completely happy with how things played out this weekend. But I am going to give it my everything at Knutstorp,” said Robert Dahlgren.
The 2016 STCC team title is Polestar Cyan Racing’s eighth since the inaugural season of the championship and the fourth straight title since 2013.
”Solvalla became just as tough as we expected, but the team made a fantastic job to secure the team championship. We won the first STCC title in 1996 and it feels incredibly great to be able to park our cars after the 2016 season as the most victorious team and manufacturer in terms of titles. There is just one detail left, whether it will be Robert or Richard as drivers’ champion and as we could see already this weekend, the fight is going to be very tough at Knutstorp,” said Alexander Murdzevski Schedvin, Head of Motorsport at Polestar.
The 2016 STCC drivers' title is going to be decided at Knutstorp in the south of Sweden on September 23-24th.
STCC Solvalla
Circuit: Solvalla
Length: 1250 m
Lap record (STCC): 0:43.262, Björk
Results
Race 1 – Top 5
1 Daniel Haglöf SEAT León 26 laps
2 Björn Wirdheim Saab 9-3 +1.577
3 Philip Morin SEAT León +2.792
4 Richard Göransson Volvo S60 +4.419
5 Reuben Kressner Saab 9-3 +4.985
…
DNF Robert Dahlgren Volvo S60
DNF Carl Philip Bernadotte Volvo S60
Race 2 - Top 5
1 Linus Ohlsson Nissan SE 26 laps
2 Robert Dahlgren Volvo S60 +38.303
3 Richard Göransson Volvo S60 +31.473
4 Rasmus Mårthen Ford Mondeo +38.333
5 Philip Morin SEAT León +1:03.046
…
6 Carl Philip Bernadotte Volvo S60 +2 laps
Q1 – Top 5
1 Björn Wirdheim Saab 9-3 43.848
2 Daniel Haglöf SEAT León +0.050
3 Philip Morin SEAT León +0.247
4 Richard Göransson Volvo S60 +0.409
5 Robert Dahlgren Volvo S60 +0.433
…
8 Carl Philip Bernadotte Volvo S60 +1.204
Q2 – Top 5
1 Björn Wirdheim Saab 9-3 44.267
2 Daniel Haglöf SEAT León +0.063
3 Richard Göransson Volvo S60 +0.666
4 Philip Morin SEAT León +0.746
5 Robert Dahlgren Volvo S60 +0.818
…
8 Carl Philip Bernadotte Volvo S60 +1.607
TV Schedule
SVT1 17:00 4/9
Live online: http://bit.ly/29jLagV
Championship standings
Drivers – Top 5
1 Richard Göransson Volvo S60 289 points
2 Robert Dahlgren Volvo S60 267 (-22)
3 Johan Kristoffersson SEAT León 189 (-100)
4 Björn Wirdheim Saab 9-3 187 (-102)
5 Daniel Haglöf SEAT León 185 (-104)
…
11 Carl Philip Bernadotte Volvo S60 66 (-223)
Team – Top 5
1 Polestar Cyan Racing 518 points – Champions!
2 SEAT Dealer Team 377 (-141)
3 Flash Engineering 318 (-200)
4 Dacia Dealer Team 158 (-360)
5 Brovallen Design 107 (-411)
2016 Scandinavian Touring Car Championship Entry List
Driver – Team – Car
Robert Dahlgren – Polestar Cyan Racing – Volvo S60
Richard Göransson – Polestar Cyan Racing – Volvo S60
Carl Philip Bernadotte – Polestar Cyan Racing – Volvo S60
Johan Kristoffersson – PWR Racing – SEAT León
Philip Morin – PWR Racing – SEAT León
Daniel Haglöf – PWR Racing – SEAT León
Björn Wirdheim – Flash Engineering – Saab 9-3
Reuben Kressner – Flash Engineering – Saab 9-3
Linus Ohlsson – Flash Engineering – Saab 9-3
Mattias Andersson – Dacia Dealer Team – Dacia SE
Rasmus Mårthen – Brovallen Design – Ford Mondeo
Scandinavian Touring Car Championship 2016 Calendar
31-1/5 Skövde Airport Race
26/5 Mantorp Park
18-19/6 Anderstorp
09-10/7 Falkenberg
13-14/8 Karlskoga
02-03/9 Solvalla
23-24/9 Knutstorp
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 six STCC drivers’ titles and eight STCC teams’ titles with the Volvo 850, S40, C30 and S60.