Cyan Racing, the official motorsport partner to Polestar, Volvo’s now in-house performance brand, started together back in 1996 and have six STCC driver titles and seven team titles in their kitty; the most recent being a double 2015 STCC title for the third year in succession.
After spending an evaluation season in the 2011 WTCC with two seasons in the Australian V8 Supercars, 2016 will be Polestar Cyan Racing’s first multi-year programme in a world championship.
The all-new Volvo S60 Polestar TC1 race-car carries the legacy of the 240 Turbo – a race-car that dominated in the mid-80s with its four-cylinder turbo motor against V8- and V12-powered competition. It comes powered by a newly-developed Drive-E family-based four-cylinder turbo-petrol engine making 400 PS.
Leading the charge in the WTCC development programme are reigning Swedish Touring Car Championship (STCC) champion Thed Björk, three-time STCC champion Fredrik Ekblom, and multiple STCC race-winner Robert Dahlgren.
Niels Möller, COO of Polestar, said “We have chosen the FIA WTCC as our global motor sport platform as it combines the cutting edge technology of our Volvo cars with exciting racing all over the world. The championship enables us to further develop our technology and utilise development from the racing circuits directly to our products for performance oriented Volvo customers.”
This move comes as huge positive for the Swedish carmaker who have recently tasted success with their new car lines and are emerging as genuine challengers in new markets to the German big three. We hope to see more road-going Polestar models further developed with inputs from their racing programme.
Here’s the video:
Story: Jim Gorde
