Néstor Girolami to make WTCC return in place of Robert Dahlgren in Japan
Two-time Argentinian Super TC 2000 champion Néstor Girolami will make his third race appearance in the World Touring Car Championship on September 4th, taking over the second Volvo S60 of Polestar Cyan Racing at Twin Ring Motegi, Japan.
Girolami joined Polestar Cyan Racing for a day’s testing at Termas de Río Hondo in Argentina following the last round of the championship, joining regular Thed Björk at the test while Robert Dahlgren returned to Sweden to take part in the next round of the Scandinavian Touring Car Championship at Karlskoga.
With Dahlgren in hot contention for the drivers’ title, 11 points behind his Volvo team-mate Richard Göransson, the Swedish manufacturer has chosen to return Dahlgren to the STCC for the last two rounds of the season, which clash with the next two WTCC rounds in Japan and Shanghai, China.
“I am very grateful to Polestar Cyan Racing for this opportunity to race in Japan,” said Girolami. “I will give all my best to have a great weekend. I have followed their track record and I am privileged to be in such a professional team.
“I shared the race weekend with the team and I learned a lot about the car before the test…my goal for Japan is to take this one step further and above all demonstrate that I have the speed, engineering skills and race craft to become a part of the team in the future.”
Girolami’s arrangement with Volvo is currently for one race only. The 27-year-old last raced at Vila Real in Portugal last year for another Swedish outfit, the Nika International Honda team, and currently competes in the Stock Car Brasil Championship for the EisenBahn Racing Peugeot team.
“We have chosen to let Robert focus his efforts on the STCC as he is in a competitive position for the title,” said Alexander Murdzevski Schedvin, head of motorsport at Polestar. “At the same time utilise the unique opportunity to test Néstor during a race weekend, something that will be different next year when our championship title challenge phase begins.”
