Polestar Cyan Racing is ready for a new challenge in the 2016 FIA World Touring Car Championship (WTCC) season finale at Losail International Circuit in the form of a night race.
The team arrives to Qatar strengthened following the previous race at Shanghai International Raceway in China where Thed Björk scored his, Volvo Cars’ and Polestar Cyan Racing’s maiden WTCC victory in style.
”I’m feeling really strong after the Shanghai, to claim the lead and the win on the very last lap was amazing. Our first season has exceeded our expectations both in terms of race weekends and testing in between, so I am very much looking forward to continue this under the floodlights in Qatar,” said Thed Björk.
Björk will be joined by Robert Dahlgren who has been busy in the development programme between the races.
”To put the work into use from the development programme by racing in the season finale feels really rewarding for me and I can’t wait for it to begin,” said Robert Dahlgren.
The 2016 season finale will conclude the first season of Polestar Cyan Racing’s new WTCC programme that so far has resulted in 22 top ten finishes, four top five finishes, two fastest laps and one victory.
”The break from the last race has given us vital time to proceed with our development. We hope to pick up on the form from the previous race in China and end the season on a high,” said Alexander Murdzevski Schedvin, Head of Motorsport at Polestar.
Unique for the season finale is that the races are held on Friday night, with the first race starting at 21:20 local time and the second at 22:35.
Follow the team during the season finale in Qatar at: http://wtcc.polestar.com
WTCC Race of Qatar
Circuit: Losail International Circuit
Length: 5380 m
Lap record (WTCC): 2:01.628 (Lopez)
Schedule
(Times in CET)
Thursday 24/11
12:00 Shakedown (30 min)
14:00 Free Practice 1 (30 min)
19:00 Free Practice 2 (30 min)
Friday 25/11
12:30 Qualifying (60 min)
19:20 Race 1 (12 laps)
20:35 Race 2 (13 laps)
Championship standings
1 José María López Citroën C-Elysée 361 points
2 Yvan Muller Citroën C-Elysée 235 (-126)
3 Tiago Monteiro Honda Civic 204 (-157)
4 Norbert Michelisz Honda Civic 190 (-171)
5 Rob Huff Honda Civic 180 (-181)
…
11 Thed Björk Volvo S60 89 (-272)
13 Fredrik Ekblom Volvo S60 45 (-316)
15 Néstor Girolami Volvo S60 12 (-349)
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
12 – Rob Huff – Honda World Touring Car Team – Honda Civic WTCC
18 – Tiago Monteiro – Honda World Touring Car Team – Honda Civic
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 – James Thompson – Münnich Motorsport – 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 (Circuit 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 Int. 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 six STCC drivers’ titles and eight STCC teams’ titles with the Volvo 850, S40, C30 and S60.