Cold weather stops Volvo from testing

It is about one week until the new Volvo C30 S2000 makes its official Swedish Touring Car Championship debut during the first joint tests of the year. While the prototype has been doing several laps around different circuits, the two finished cars have not done a single lap.
“We drove six test days with the prototype. We had plans to go abroad to test but we have changed them to get as much time as possible to build the cars,” said team manager Christian Dahl.

The unusually cold Swedish weather has made things more difficult. As the majority of tracks in Sweden are covered in snow, the team has been forced to cancel some of the planned test days.

“We had planned to test at Gelleråsen on Wednesday and Thursday, but it is not possible,” said said the number one Volvo-driver Robert Dahlgren.

Instead the team is going to test a few days later, hoping for better weather.
“It is going to be very tough from the first minute of the test day. The test time is more precious, especially as we have a new car,” said Dahlgren.

The team has done a lot of work in with simulations and wind tunnel testings.
“We have so much data on the car that we know how it is going to behave. Of course you need to be out on the track to know how the balance in the car is and how the setup needs to be to suit the drivers,” said Dahl.

Norwegian Tommy Rustad is going to be behind the wheel of the second Volvo C30. It was not long ago Rustad signed the car and it was not long ago the car for him was put together.
“If we go back 25 days in time we had not put a screw on the car. We have a solid organisation behind the building of these cars and I feel confident that we will get the work done before the premiere,” said Dahl.