Nicky Catsburg claimed a strong pole position for the FIA World Touring Car Championship weekend in Argentina, followed by the fifth out of six MAC3 victories for Polestar Cyan Racing
The flying Dutchman was fastest in all three qualifying sessions and claimed five vital points to the drivers’ championship, reducing the gap to points leader and Honda driver Tiago Monteiro to eight points.
“The start to the weekend has been perfect. I felt that the car was great from the first session and we were able to improve from there. Five points to the championship is very important and all of our attention is of course on capitalising on this for the two races tomorrow,” said Nicky Catsburg.
Thed Björk looked set for a strong time in the Q3 session but made a mistake, dropping him to fifth. The four-time STCC champion was pleased nonetheless.
“I pushed a bit too hard on my lap unfortunately. But I am pleased with our pace, the MAC3 victory and Nicky did a great job to take pole position. I am in a good position for the races tomorrow and my ambition is definitely to climb,” said Thed Björk.
Local hero Néstor Girolami fought for the top positions during qualifying, ultimately finishing sixth after a vibration issue.
“I had technical issues with the car, making it hard to challenge for the top positions. But the team did a great job with the car and in their efforts to repair it. We are going to work hard tonight for a strong comeback in the races,” said Néstor Girolami.
MAC3, where three drivers from each manufacturer set one joint lap time, saw Polestar Cyan Racing claiming a fifth victory, extending the manufacturers’ points lead over Honda to 31 points.
“This was one of the closest qualifying sessions we have ever been in and to come out on top is of course extra rewarding. Nicky, Thed, Nestor and the team have done a great job today and the goal for the races is at least one victory,” said Alexander Murdzevski Schedvin, Head of Motorsport at Polestar.
Follow Polestar Cyan Racing during the two races in Argentina tomorrow at: http://wtcc.polestar.com
WTCC Race of Argentina
Circuit: Circuito Termas de Río Hondo
Length: 4806 m
Lap record (WTCC): 1:45.899 (López)
Results
Q1 – Top 5
1 Nicky Catsburg Volvo S60 1:43.448
2 Thed Björk Volvo S60 +0.189
3 Norbert Michelisz Honda Civic +0.299
4 Tiago Monteiro Honda Civic +0.370
5 Néstor Girolami Volvo S60 +0.431
Q2 – Top 5
1 Nicky Catsburg Volvo S60 1:43.085
2 Norbert Michelisz Honda Civic +0.050
3 Thed Björk Volvo S60 +0.277
4 Tiago Monteiro Honda Civic +0.303
5 Esteban Guerrieri Chevrolet Cruze +0.500
…
6 Néstor Girolami Volvo S60 +0.605
Q3
1 Nicky Catsburg Volvo S60 1:43.088
2 Norbert Michelisz Honda Civic +0.184
3 Tiago Monteiro Honda Civic +0.391
4 Esteban Guerrieri Chevrolet Cruze +0.616
5 Thed Björk Volvo S60 +0.627
MAC3
1 Volvo 3:33.885
2 Honda +15.602
Schedule
(Times in CEST)
Sunday 16/7
20:00 Race 1 (11 laps)
21:15 Race 2 (13 laps)
Championship Standings
Drivers’ – Top 5
1 Tiago Monteiro Honda Civic 167 pts
2 Thed Björk Volvo S60 161 (-6)
3 Nicky Catsburg Volvo S60 159 (-8)
4 Norbert Michelisz Honda Civic 141 (-26)
5 Mehdi Bennani Citroën C-Elysée 133 (-34)
…
9 Néstor Girolami Volvo S60 58 (-109)
Manufacturers’
1 Volvo 513 pts
2 Honda 482 (-31)
Compensation weights for Argentina
Model – Time difference – Weight
Citroën C-Elysée – 0.0 sec – +80 kg
Volvo S60 Polestar – 0.2 sec – +60 kg
Honda Civic – +0.2 sec – +60 kg
Chevrolet Cruze – +0.8 sec – +0 kg
Lada Vesta +1.5 sec – +0 kg
TV Schedule
https://www.fiawtcc.com/watch-it-on-tv
http://www.eurosportplayer.com
2017 FIA World Touring Car Championship Entry List
No – Driver – Team – Car
3 – Tom Chilton – GBR – Sébastien Loeb Racing – Citroën C-Elysée WTCC
5 – Norbert Michelisz – HUN – Honda Racing Team JAS – Honda Civic WTCC
8 – Aurélien Panis – FRA – Zengő Motorsport – Honda Civic WTCC
9 – Tom Coronel – NED – ROAL Motorsport – Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1
12 – Rob Huff – GBR – Münnich Motorsport – Citroën C-Elysée WTCC
18 – Tiago Monteiro – POR – Honda Racing Team JAS – Honda Civic WTCC
22 – Manuel Fernandes – POR – RC Motorsport – Lada Vesta WTCC
24 – Kevin Gleason – USA – RC Motorsport – Lada Vesta WTCC
25 – Mehdi Bennani – MOR – Sébastien Loeb Racing – Citroën C-Elysée WTCC
27 – John Filippi – FRA – Sébastien Loeb Racing – Citroën C-Elysée WTCC
34 – Ryo Michigami – Honda Racing Team JAS – Honda Civic WTCC
61 – Néstor Girolami – ARG – Polestar Cyan Racing – Volvo S60 TC1
62 – Thed Björk – SWE – Polestar Cyan Racing – Volvo S60 TC1
63 – Nicky Catsburg – NED – Polestar Cyan Racing – Volvo S60 TC1
68 – Yann Ehrlacher – FRA – RC Motorsport – Lada Vesta WTCC
86 – Esteban Guerrieri – ARG – Campos Racing – Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1
99 – Daniel Nagy – HUN – Zengő Motorsport – Honda Civic WTCC
FIA World Touring Car Championship 2017 Calendar
WTCC Race of Morocco (Marrakech): 7-9 April
WTCC Race of Italy (Monza): 28-30 April
WTCC Race of Hungary (Hungaroring): 12-14 May
WTCC Race of Germany (Nürburgring Nordschleife): 25-27 May
WTCC Race of Portugal (Vila Real): 23-25 June
WTCC Race of Argentina (Termas de Río Hondo): 15-16 July
WTCC Race of China (Shanghai Ningbo Circuit): 13-15 October
WTCC Race of Japan (Twin Ring Motegi): 27-29 October
WTCC Race of Macau (Circuit de Guia): 17-19 November
WTCC Race of Qatar (Losail International Circuit): 30 November-1 December
Contact Details
Johan Meissner, Press Manager
+46(0)70 241 3234
About Polestar
Polestar is Volvo Car Group’s performance road car brand and was founded by Polestar Racing, today known as Cyan Racing. Polestar’s birth was a result of Cyan Racing’s race engineers desire to explore how technology behind the multiple title-winning success in racing could be applied to the performance of road going Volvo cars, on all roads and conditions in everyday life. The first road-going performance Concepts were launched in 2010 and the first performance cars, based on the Volvo S60 and V60, were ready in 2012. In 2015, Volvo Cars acquired Polestar Performance. Today, Polestar builds the S60 and V60 Polestar, a 367-hp performance road car with over 250 developments over-and-above the standard Volvo products. It also offers Polestar Engineered performance hardware upgrades and powertrain software optimisations for existing Volvo products.
In the future, Polestar will become a new separately-branded electrified high-performance car company. Polestar will offer a portfolio of bespoke Polestar branded cars that will no longer carry a Volvo logo. Polestar will enjoy specific technological and engineering synergies with Volvo Cars and benefit from significant economies of scale as a result of its connection to Volvo. These synergies will allow it to design, develop and build world beating electrified high performance cars.
About Cyan Racing
Founded in 1996 and today known as Cyan Racing, the privately owned and operated company has been Volvo Car Group’s official team in motorsport since its conception. Cyan Racing has claimed multiple titles with the Volvo 850, S40, C30 and S60. Today, the company enjoys success on track with the Polestar road car brand as Polestar Cyan Racing in pursuit of both the World Touring Car Championship and Swedish GT, racing the Volvo S60 Polestar road going performance car.