Dahlgren speaks of the crash and looks forward to 2012

Robert Dahlgren is back home after the WTCC finale at Macau where the Swede crashed in qualifying as fastest driver, injuring his right thumb.
“I have been at a Swedish hospital after I got home and the doctors say that the healing process will be quite quick. I am going to have a surgical cast for four to six weeks,” said Dahlgren to TouringCarTimes.

The Volvo Polestar Racing driver had a tough assignment at Macau as he had never been at the track before, combined with a drying track in practice and lost track time due to an early technical problem.
“This was by far the toughest challenge in my racing career. I hadn’t even been able to walk around the track. I went around it for two laps in a taxi, trying to find brake points. I sat down the night before, noting how to take on the track in order to learn fast and be able to give my team correct feedback on how to set up the car,” said Dahlgren.

After a couple of struggling practice sessions, Dahlgren claimed fastest time of all drivers in Q1, improving his best lap time by over ten seconds.
“It was my best qualifying lap ever. I saw the track in a completely new light as I went so much faster,” said Dahlgren.

After a strong first sector of his first flying lap in Q2, things came to an abrupt stop for the Volvo driver.
“I had a really good first sector and went even faster than in Q1. As I came to my braking point, I braked at the exact same spot as in Q1 and I was 3 km/h faster, looking at the data after the crash. It felt good as I hit the brakes, but after less than half of the braking distance I just lost the grip, like I had hit oil or debris. My only though was “Damn, this is going to hurt”,” said Dahlgren.

Dahlgren hit the barriers hard, resulting in a small fire in the engine bay of his Volvo C30.
“I saw the barriers getting closer and I tried to get the side of the car towards the barriers, I didn’t want to go in with the front. I saw the fire and got out of the car as quickly as I could. And as I tried to jump over the barriers, I felt the pain in my hand. I wasn’t able to lift my wrist and I saw some blood through my glove,” said Dahlgren.

The race weekend was over for Dahlgren and Volvo Polestar Racing, as was the season. Looking back at the year, Dahlgren still ranks the Macau weekend highly.
“One of the high points was Macau, even though it might sound strange. I am really pleased that I was able to give my engineer correct information on how to set up the car to be in the top of qualifying, despite that neither me nor the team has been there before. This has been the story all year with so many new tracks and we have managed to get a really good system on how to learn and adapt quickly, something that can be useful in the future,” said Dahlgren.

Speaking on the subject of the future, Dahlgren has got a number of different options for 2012.
“There is nothing set yet with Volvo for 2012. There has been some indications, but I know that it isn’t over until the fat lady sings. I have got alternative options and not only within WTCC. And overall, I think that is an encouraging sign. I have never gotten this much positive attention despite not being on the podium once this season in the WTCC. That is a strong score not only for me, but for the entire team effort this year,” said Dahlgren.

The Swede has raced for Volvo since 2004 and his ambition is to remain with them for 2012.
“I’ve had a goal since I was 13 and that is to become world champion. I have worked with Volvo and Polestar for a good while and I really like it there, they are a great bunch of guys. You need to find what’s right for you and my dream is to become world champion with Volvo and Polestar,” said Dahlgren.

Volvo has not yet announced their plans for 2012, whilst there are indications of a reduced program in place of a full expansion for 2012 in the FIA World Touring Car Championship.