Progress made in Japan as Néstor Girolami impresses on debut

2016-09-03

Both Polestar Cyan Racing cars made it into the Q2 session of the FIA World Touring Car Championship (WTCC) qualifying at Twin Ring Motegi in Japan, with multiple Argentinian champion Néstor Girolami impressing on his debut for the team by being sixth fastest.

”I want to extend a big thanks to the team for giving me this opportunity, they have worked really hard to improve on all areas here in Japan. I am quite pleased with my time, not far from Q3. I look forward to working on the setup with the team and improve further for the races,” said Néstor Girolami.

Girolami showed strong form straight out of the box, claiming the fastest time overall of both free practice sessions.

Team-mate Thed Björk was not far behind and improved in all sessions to claim eighth position in Q2, just two tenths behind Girolami.

”We came close to making it into Q3 which is really positive, but we have more work to do on our qualifying pace. I think we are in a better position for race pace though, so I feel inspired for the two races tomorrow,” said Thed Björk.

Polestar Cyan Racing completed their first non-race weekend test sessions two weeks ago with the all-new WTCC test car, providing the team with vital data that has seen them already take a small step forward in terms of pace.

”The team gave 100% today and Néstor, doing his first race weekend with Polestar Cyan Racing, a new team, car and track, was nothing short of impressive. Still, all of us feel we can do even better, so we look forward to the race day,” said Alexander Murdzevski Schedvin, Head of Motorsport at Polestar.

Follow the team live during the two races tomorrow at: http://wtcc.polestar.com

WTCC Race of Japan

Circuit: Twin Ring Motegi

Length: 4806 m

Lap record (WTCC): 1:57.136 (Tarquini)

Results

Q1 – Top 5

1 José María López Citroën C-Elysée 1:56.759

2 Norbert Michelisz Honda Civic +0.366

3 Rob Huff Honda Civic +0.432

4 Yvan Muller Citroën C-Elysée +0.512

5 Tiago Monteiro Honda Civic +0.513

8 Néstor Girolami Volvo S60 +0.777

11 Thed Björk Volvo S60 +0.878

Q2 – Top 5

1 José María López Citroën C-Elysée 1:55.887

2 Yvan Muller Citroën C-Elysée +0.460

3 Tiago Monteiro Honda Civic +0.736

4 Mehdi Bennani Citroën C-Elysée +0.755

5 Tom Chilton Citroën C-Elysée +0.864

6 Néstor Girolami Volvo S60 +0.982

8 Thed Björk Volvo S60 +1.208

Q3

1 José María López Citroën C-Elysée 1:55.602

2 Yvan Muller Citroën C-Elysée +0.807

3 Mehdi Bennani Citroën C-Elysée +0.933

4 Tiago Monteiro Honda Civic +1.000

5 Tom Chilton Citroën C-Elysée +1.275

Schedule

(Times in CET)

Sunday 4/9

07:35 Race 1 (13 laps)

08:50 Race 2 (14 laps)

Championship standings

1 José María López Citroën C-Elysée 289 pts

2 Tiago Monteiro Honda Civic 169 (-120)

3 Yvan Muller Citroën C-Elysée 164 (-125)

4 Rob Huff Honda Civic 158 (-131)

5 Mehdi Bennani Citroën C-Elysée 147 (-142)

12 Thed Björk Volvo S60 41 (-248)

13 Fredrik Ekblom Volvo S60 35 (-254)

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

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

68 – Yvan Muller – Citroën Racing – Citroën C-Elysée WTCC

77 – René Münnich – Münnich Motorsport – Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1

81 – Néstor Girolami – Polestar Cyan Racing – Volvo S60 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 (International 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 Intl. 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.