Mixed emotions for Volvo after Bathurst 1000

Volvo Polestar Racing had a tough Bathurst 1000 race where Scott McLaughlin and Alexandre Prémat finished 17th after a lengthy pitstop for repairs which saw them losing 11 laps on the leaders.
”I am very disappointed with the result, we had a really strong car that was good enough to win the race,” said McLaughlin.

McLaughlin had put the number 33 Volvo on third position on the grid, a position he improved to first coming into the first corner after a rocket start. The strong form continued for the first half of the race where McLaughlin and Prémat held the lead for many laps, despite several safety car restarts. But it all came to an end on lap 119 when McLaughlin went into the wall at The Cutting as Shane Van Gisbergen made his way past.

”I didn’t know he was there until the last second and paid the price. I just got caught in the marbles, couldn’t back out of it. It was a fair move, but I couldn’t turn in or hang around the outside,” said McLaughlin.

The second Volvo of Robert Dahlgren and Greg Ritter struggled in qualifying and started from 20th position, but climbed several positions until Dahlgren ended the race in the very same corner as McLaughlin was about to crash in four laps later.

”Everything went our way at first and Greg did a great job. We climbed from 20th on the grid and were definitely in for a top ten finish. Unfortunately I made a mistake that was really costly and I am sorry for the team,” said Dahlgren.

Despite the result, Polestar owner Christian Dahl was upbeat on the strong form and looked forward to mounting a new challenge next year.

”It was a frustrating end to an exciting race. But we bring the positive points with us. The team made a fantastic job repairing the car mid-race, Scott continues to impress and we led almost half the race in our first year at Bathurst. We look forward to taking on the 2015 Bathurst 1000,” said Christian Dahl, owner of Polestar.