Volvo Polestar satisfied with opening races

After months of preparations, Polestar Racing and Robert Dahlgren kicked off Volvo’s evaluation season in the WTCC.

"We were satisfied with this opening as it met with our expectations and was encouraging for the continuation of the season," said Christian Dahl, Managing Director of Polestar Racing, adding: "Before last weekend, Curitiba was just a point on the map for us. Now we came back with one gigabyte of data and a lot more experience. The development work will benefit from this."

The team’s Volvo C30 ran with the 2.0L naturally-aspirated engine. A switch to the newly developed 1.6L turbo is going to take place later during the season.

“Compared to our competitors’ new turbo engines the gap in power was especially clear at Curitiba that is located 1000 metres above the sea. Our calculations showed it was about nine tenths per lap. But keeping in mind how close we were to the top of the field, it shows that our development work with the chassis during the winter has paid off," said Dahl.

Dahlgren beat the pole position time from last year in Q1 and missed the qualification for Q2 by just 0.4 seconds. In spite of a clutch problem he finished both races in 12th and 13th respectively.

"We look forward to the next event with confidence. We know that we have a strong concept and the development of our new turbo engine progresses nicely. We have learnt a lot in Brazil and that was our plan," Dahl concluded.