Thed Björk explains “cool” consistency was the key to his championship

Polestar Cyan Racing’s Thed Björk has said his calm approach to the 2017 World Touring Car Championship was a vital part in his championship success, after winning the last WTCC season of the Super 2000 era.

A steady pair of finishes yesterday at the season finale in Qatar delivered Volvo driver Björk the 2017 drivers’ championship title, 28.5 points clear of Honda rival Norbert Michelisz, in a season where the Swede won two races and started from pole position once.

Björk’s last victory was six months ago, winning the opening race at the Nürburgring Nordschleife, but has led the championship since China, assuming the lead from the absent Tiago Monteiro, and fighting off a strong charge from Monteiro’s Honda team-mate Norbert Michelisz during the final leg of the championship.

“It’s indescribable, it’s a completely crazy feeling,” said Björk. “Obviously Honda’s problems made it easier today, but I’ve been putting the championship together all year. For me I feel like I won it in Macau; I’d never been there before while these guys have been there many times, and was just trying to keep the lead as Norbi was really fast there.

“We got a lot less sleep (last night) because Norbert was so fast yesterday, so we were sitting in briefings until 4am and working out what to do,” Björk told TouringCarTimes. “We couldn’t change too much as we have the car we have, and we didn’t think it was going to be easy coming into today, but Norbert’s problems were good for us.”

The 36-year-old Swede also praised the Polestar Cyan Racing team, as well as his two new team-mates this year Nicky Catsburg and Néstor Girolami, as a key part of what helped him to the title.

“My team-mates are fantastic. I’ve seen their strengths and I’ve tried to work on my strengths,” he said. “Which perhaps was to be the calm one and to deliver all the time; while they’ve been a bit more up-and-down, having blistering speed but also having a bit of bad luck or being in the wrong place. People say it’s harder when you have good team-mates, but I believe it’s better, as I’ve been able to learn from Nicky and learn from Néstor, and they’ve brought a lot.”

Volvo’s programme was accelerated this year, with the team changing their plans to focus on winning the championship in their second season, with an all-or-nothing approach especially when it became clear this was to be the last season for the TC1 specification cars.

“It wasn’t my focus when I was driving, but it was definitely (team principal) Christian (Dahl’s) focus and Honda’s focus, in that it was all-in to win this year,” added Björk. “For me, it was more about putting together what I can do. I have great respect for everybody here, but I think I’m champion because of the tactics, and relaxed, cool approach, not over-the-moon fast all the time. I had some nice fast races, but I was also more consistent.”