Thed Björk says he doesn’t understand everyone’s BoP games

2017 champion Thed Björk believes other teams are playing around with their pace this weekend as well, artificially inflating the Lynk & Co team’s comparative pace in an eventful first day at Zandvoort.

The Lynk & Co driver took an easy pole position in his 03 TCR, and controlled the race ahead of team-mate Yvan Muller, with team orders in force to ensure the best possible finish for the “Lynk & Co Cyan Racing” team.

“We can’t fight each other as we need to fight for the teams’ championship; so the rule was to fight until the first corner, and then we just take care of each other,” explained Björk to TouringCarTimes.

On the Balance of Performance (BoP) dramas of the day, Björk said he was at a loss to explain the events.

“I don’t know everything that’s happened,” he said.

“When qualifying goes like that and you have a car that can just go into the corners, that’s what I love as a driver. Last week, we had no grip anywhere, so what we’ve learned is we need to go and test at Slovakia.

“Last year, here at Zandvoort with the Hyundai, we were nowhere; but here, I was surprised. I took pole with a time of 1:44.1, and last year the pole was a 1:43.9. Then, the Honda did a 1:44.0 as well, and now they’re a second off the pace? Why? They’re a little bit lighter than last year, but I would not expect it to be more than a second.

“We also have the same straight-line speed as the Honda, and in Slovakia all the other teams were a lot faster, and now they’re slower, so what is going on? I’m just asking as I don’t know, as I’m only focussed on my race.”

Tomorrow morning, Lynk & Co will tackle qualifying with their revised BoP, but Björk still thinks the results should be similar.

“Looking at my potential, I’d say I can go for pole tomorrow as well, but let’s see what the others are doing and let’s see how much more pace they find. I think that’ll be more interesting than how much slower we go.”