Thed Björk overjoyed with first pole position in Italy

Thed Björk put together a perfect lap in qualifying to take Polestar Cyan Racing’s first pole positon in their third full season in the World Touring Car Championship, with the Swede tasked with fighting off points leader Tiago Monteiro for the victory in tomorrow’s main race.

Björk, a race winner in the WTCC already in Shanghai last year, will start the first race from tenth position courtesy of the reversed grid, while in the main race, he’s in the best position to fight for Volvo’s second victory in the championship.

“I feel really happy,” said Björk after qualifying. “I just felt great from the beginning of the day. Every qualifying was nice. Q1, Q2 and Q3, and I just kept it together this time. Last year when I got to Q3, I pushed a little too hard, now it felt like I could get there.

“I think the races tomorrow are going to be really interesting. What I’ve learned in Monza is that you can overtake during the whole race, and I think in this series a lot of people are going to want to get in front of me.”