Polestar Cyan Racing extended the manufacturers’ points lead after a MAC3 victory in the FIA World Touring Car Championship qualifying at the Nürburgring Nordchleife, as well as Nicky Catsburg recording the fastest ever WTCC lap on the world’s most challenging circuit, the day after announcing the record lap of the Volvo S60 PCP3 road car.
Catsburg was second fastest in qualifying but it was in the official practice session when the flying Dutchman recorded a lap time of 8:43.813, the fastest a WTCC car has ever been driven around the legendary 25-kilometre circuit (Nordschleife + GP circuit).
“We definitely have the pace to win here and that is the important bit. My lap in practice was really good, but I’m a bit disappointed with my qualifying lap as I had an issue on my final run that also affected my car for MAC3. In total a good day for us though, scoring important points in both qualifying sessions,” said Nicky Catsburg.
Thed Björk claimed position five on the grid, just under three seconds from the pole position time, a time difference that translates to a couple of tenths on a normal length circuit.
“We have made good progress with the car and it is a vast improvement at this circuit compared to last year. But I am disappointed with fifth, we went in the wrong direction with the setup ahead of my final lap. However, this is a good track to overtake on and that is what I hope to do tomorrow,” said Thed Björk.
Néstor Girolami will start from pole position in the first race following tenth position in qualifying with the reversed grid order.
“Personally, I am not satisfied with being tenth fastest, but for us as a team this is really good with the reversed grid pole. The track is completely new to me and I am happy with the steps I have taken forward. The team has done a really good job with the balance of the car and I am in a good position for the first race tomorrow,” said Néstor Girolami.
The MAC3 victory is Polestar Cyan Racing’s third of the season, meaning an extension of the manufacturers’ championship lead, now 14 points ahead of main rivals Honda.
“The saying goes that luck usually favours the prepared and our results here are not on chance, but coming from a lot of hard work here in our “green office” where we also spend a lot of time with our road cars. The highlight of the day is of course to extend the championship lead and to have all three cars more or less unscathed for the two races tomorrow,” said Alexander Murdzevski Schedvin, Head of Motorsport at Polestar.
Follow the team during tomorrow’s two races at the Nürburgring Nordschleife with live commentary, timing and more: http://wtcc.polestar.com
WTCC Race of Germany
Circuit: Nürburgring Nordschleife + GP circuit
Length: 25378 m
Lap record (WTCC): 8:40.688 (López)
Results
Qualifying – Top 5
1 Norbert Michelisz Honda Civic 8:38.072
2 Nicky Catsburg Volvo S60 +0.608
3 Rob Huff Citroën C-Elysée +1.469
4 Tiago Monteiro Citroën C-Elysée +2.130
5 Thed Björk Volvo S60 +2.924
…
10 Néstor Girolami Volvo S60 +6.558
MAC3
1 Volvo 9:01.365
2 Honda +20.205
Free Practice 2 – Top 3
1 Nicky Catsburg Volvo S60 8:34.813
2 Norbert Michelisz Honda Civic +2.388
3 Rob Huff Citroën C-Elysée +4.515
…
4 Thed Björk Volvo S60 +6.583
8 Néstor Girolami Volvo S60 +9.892
Free Practice 1 – Top 3
1 Norbert Michelisz Honda Civic 8:43.255
2 Rob Huff Citroën C-Elysée +0.819
3 Tom Chilton Citroën C-Elysée +2.337
…
4 Nicky Catsburg Volvo S60 +3.779
8 Néstor Girolami Volvo S60 +5.516
# Thed Björk Volvo S60 No time
Championship Standings
Drivers’ – Top 5
1 Tiago Monteiro Honda Civic 125 pts
2 Nicky Catsburg Volvo S60 89 (-36)
3 Tom Chilton Citroën C-Elysée 81 (-44)
4 Thed Björk Volvo S60 78 (-47)
5 Mehdi Bennani Citroën C-Elysée 73 (-52)
…
9 Néstor Girolami Volvo S60 52 (-73)
Manufacturers’
1 Volvo 312 pts
2 Honda 298 (-14)
Compensation weights for Germany
Model – Time difference – Weight
Volvo S60 Polestar – 0.0 sec – +80 kg
Citroën C-Elysée – +0.0 sec – +80 kg
Honda Civic – 0.1 sec – +70 kg
Chevrolet Cruze – +0.5 sec – +30 kg
Lada Vesta +1.4 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
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.
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.