Bjork : I wanted that winning feeling again

Thed Björk had his second consecutive FIA World Touring Car Championship victory firmly in his mind when he began to hunt down Mehdi Bennani in the Main Race at WTCC DHL Race of Qatar yesterday.

Björk claimed his, Volvo Cars and Polestar Cyan Racing’s maiden WTCC victory at the previous event in China and closed up to within less than three tenths of a second of Bennani’s privateer Citroën, having retaken P2 from José María López. However, he couldn’t mount a meaningful challenge and had to make do with second place, 1.176s behind Bennani.

“Firstly, I was really happy with starting second,” said the Swede. “I tried to do a really good start but it was not easy to get up alongside Mehdi and I even lost a place to José. I really had the speed and I enjoyed that José saw I was pushing and gave me a really good gap and I could go for it. Then I started to chase Mehdi and I just wanted to win because I know how good it feels. I was pushing really hard and did all I could. I thought I had really good speed in the car. I got close to Mehdi but it’s not easy to be close to the other car so I just waited and tried to see if he did a mistake. But he kept the whole race together with no mistakes and really deserved the win so I’m really happy for him.”

Björk continued: “I’m also really happy for the team because of the second place, all the guys, the mechanics, working really hard. It feels really good to have the Volvo up there and now in qualifying so we’re just really, really happy.”