Volvo to move quickly on driver decision for China

The Polestar Cyan Racing Volvo team will move quickly to choose its driver for the next round of the WTCC in Shanghai, with Néstor Girolami in the frame after a strong debut for the Swedish marque in Japan.

Thed Björk will continue to race the #62 car, while Robert Dahlgren is set to race at the Scandinavian Touring Car Championship at Knutstorp, as he and team-mate Richard Göransson are the only drivers in contention for the title in Volvo’s final race in the STCC before the championship’s switch to TCR regulations next year.

“We have to take the decision quite soon as we are in fact heading to Shanghai in two-and-a-half weeks,” said Polestar’s head of motorsport Alexander Murdzevski Schedvin to TouringCarTimes.

“I think it would be a pity to not give the fans in Sweden who followed us for over 20 years to not give them an all-in final with Robert and Göransson fighting it out for the championship, so who we’ll utilise for China we haven’t decided yet. There’s an option to continue with Girolami for one more race but we need to talk about it.”

The Argentinian topped the first two practice sessions on Saturday and followed that up with sixth in qualifying, moving forward to finish fifth in Sunday’s main race, however the Polestar boss refused to get excited over the practice pace on new tyres and with no compensation weight.

“Practice doesn’t mean anything,” added Murdzevski Schedvin. “It’s like being the hottest hunk in front of the mirror before you go out, the qualifying is about whether you come home alone or not.

“After qualifying I think they did a stellar job. We cannot expect Girolami to nail his first ever race start in the first heat, but he did really solid lap times. We feel a difference in our race pace now that we have started testing. This leap forward won’t come overnight; we just have to remain patient. Overall, Girolami did a great job this weekend.”