Team Volvo Polestar scored a second Manufacturers Against the Clock victory in succession, comfortably beating Team Honda in the Tour de France-inspired time trial at FIA WTCC OSCARO Race of Italy today.

Thed Björk, Nestor Girolami and Nicky Catsburg were 2.004s quicker than Tiago Monteiro, Norbert Michelisz and Ryo Michigami over the course of the two-lap team challenge to secure 12 points for the Swedish make compared to the eight collected by the Japanese firm.

Combined with Björk’s run to the DHL pole position in Qualifying, Volvo Polestar now heads Honda by six points having started the day level on 96.

“It was a fantastic pole position for Thed and now we have won MAC3 again,” said Girolami. “The result for the team is very good. We tried to get the slipstreaming right in qualifying and we did it perfectly this time too.”

Alexander Murdzevski Schedvin, Head of Motorsport at Polestar, said: “All weekend we’ve seen that the car is doing really well and also that the drivers have been well on the lap times. So we had a moment of anticipation there in the start sequence. They got off the line well."

"When they did, we felt quite comfortable that they will be able to perform. You never know what the competitors will do but in MAC3 you cannot focus on anything but your own performance really, so we just wanted to keep it nice and tidy and [have a] good start. So when they got off the line well we were quite hopeful that eventually it’d be enough." He added

Volvo Polestar and Honda will be back on track on Sunday when the legendary Monza hosts rounds three and four of the FIA World Touring Car Championship season.

Kevin Gleason will make his FIA World Touring Car Championship debut at WTCC Race of Italy at Monza this weekend, becoming the first American to compete in the modern TC1 era.

Gleason, 30, has signed to drive RC Motorsport’s second entry alongside fellow rookie, Frenchman Yann Ehrlacher. He will test for his new team at Magny-Cours in France today, Tuesday, prior to heading to Italy for the second weekend of the wide-open WTCC season when he will bring the total number of nationalities represented in this year’s all-action championship to 10.

“I have followed the series closely for a few years now and have been along to a few of the races,” said Gleason. “I have been very impressed at the levels of professionalism and of course the quality of the drivers so when the opportunity came along to join RC I jumped at the chance. I’m looking forward to joining all of the top-level drivers in this highly competitive series; the only downside is that things have come together very late and I will only sit in the car for the first time today so I am managing my expectations for Monza.

“Up until last weekend we were still working on a deal to return to the TCR International Series so to be taking the grid a week later in the WTCC is a bit of a surprise! I have to thank all those involved in pulling this together including RC Motorsport and BAM Motorsport Promotions who have gone the extra mile to get me into the championship.”

François Ribeiro, Head of Eurosport Events, the WTCC promoter, said: “We’re very pleased Kevin is stepping up to the WTCC having proved his ability in lower-level categories. It will be a big step for him but if he displays the same level of commitment and enthusiasm he has throughout his career, then there’s no reason why he can’t establish himself at world championship level.”

Gleason, from Pennsylvania, has been racing since 2010 and placed fifth in the 2015 TCR International Series with two wins. His partial programme in the series last season netted one win. Following WTCC Race of Italy it is hoped Gleason will complete the entire world championship season. The Velocity channel, which has 62.3 million subscribers in the USA and Canada, will show highlights of all WTCC races.

Polestar Cyan Racing’s Thed Bjork will start the Main Race at WTCC OSCARO Race of Italy at Monza tomorrow from pole position after topping qualifying for the first time in the FIA World Touring Car Championship.

The Swede dramatically jumped to the top of the times with the final run in the Q3 top-five shootout to bump Castrol Honda World Touring Car Team’s Tiago Monteiro down to second for what was also Volvo Polestar’s first qualifying best. Björk becomes WTCC driver number 25 to take pole in the world championship, while Tom Coronel will start the reverse-grid Opening Race at the front for the second time in as many events. 

Rob Huff, running without the benefit of team-mates to tow him around the legendary parkland circuit, was the star of Q1. He jumped from P13 to the top of the times with six minutes to go in his ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport Citroën C-Elysée WTCC. The Briton then lowered his own benchmark on the following lap with a time of 1m52.754s. 

But the Volvo Polestars worked brilliantly as a team, running as a three-car train. The trio crossed the line with three minutes of Q1 to go and bumped Huff to fourth. Néstor Girolami was on top with a 1m52.218s to head Polestar team-mates Björk and Nicky Catsburg. 

The three Volvos, Monteiro and Huff topped the timesheets in Q2 to make it through to the shootout. Huff was the first to go in the nail-biting one-at-a-time climax to the session. The Briton set a target of 1m52.968s and looked delighted with his effort. 

Girolami was next to go, but buckled under the pressure and cut the second chicane, automatically annulling his time. Catsburg followed Girolami, but couldn’t bump Huff from the top spot. 

Now Monteiro set off on his lap. In the first two sectors he was fastest overall, but ran wide on the exit of Ascari. Still, his time of 1m52.821s was enough to push Huff from pole position. 

But Björk was still to go and the Swede held his nerve to take pole with a 1m52.505s – obliterating Yvan Muller’s previous pre-TC1 WTCC qualifying lap record from 2013 by almost four seconds. “It feels great!” said Björk. “I had a really good car from the beginning of qualifying. I pushed a little bit too hard at the last corner – it was a little bit too tight. But I lifted a little and it was okay.”

Norbert Michelisz will start sixth for the Castrol Honda World Touring Car Team with Tom Chilton, Esteban Guerrieri, Mehdi Bennani and Tom Coronel completing the top 10. Ryo Michigami was P11 with rookie Yann Ehrlacher also making it through to Qualifying Q2 for RC Motorsport. John Filippi, Aurélien Panis, newcomer Kevin Gleason and Dániel Nagy lost out in Q1. 

Privateer Coronel at the front for Opening Race 

Tom Coronel clinched a dramatic reverse-grid DHL Pole Position for the FIA World Touring Car Championship Opening Race at Monza. The Dutchman left it late to set a lap in Q2 and set ninth best time among the 12 runners. He needed 10th position for the reverse-grid pole, and Sébastien Loeb Racing’s Mehdi Bennani obliged by then beating his time and knocking the ROAL Motorsport Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 into the prize spot. “I’m very happy,” said Coronel. “This was the goal we had. I made a big mistake behind Tiago [Monteiro] on my first run, so on the last run I had to do it alone and I played it safe to get into the top 10. I know I cannot be completely in front [on pace] so these are our chances. The moment of fame is ours, at least for the first race.”

Esteban Guerrieri scored his maiden FIA World Touring Car Championship victory with the Opening Race spoils in Marrakech, while top spot for Tiago Monteiro in the big-scoring Main Race at WTCC AFRIQUIA Race of Morocco puts the Portuguese at the head of the charge for world title glory following the first weekend of the season.

Guerrieri started the Opening Race second on the grid but capitalised on Tom Coronel’s fading brakes to win ahead of Polestar Cyan Racing’s Thed Björk and local hero Mehdi Bennani. Norbert Michelisz followed his Honda team-mate Monteiro home in the Main Race, which is longer and offers more points than previously. Néstor Girolami took third for the factory Volvo Polestar squad, which is level with Honda in the Manufacturers’ standings heading to the next race in Italy.

With eight potential world champions in action, this season’s world championship is already shaping up to be the most open in nearly a decade, while Guerrieri’s victory points to a bright WTCC future for the talented Argentine, once a rival of Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel in Formula 3. His pace in the Main Race also earned him the prestigious TAG Heuer Best Lap Trophy and a watch.

Other notable performances came from rookie racer Aurélien Panis and Ryo Michigami, who took their first WTCC point with P10 in the Opening Race and Main Race respectively. After Guerrieri secured the WTCC Trophy laurels in the Opening Race, Tom Chilton secured the Main Race victory when on-the-road winner Bennani received a two-second penalty for a collision with Nicky Catsburg, which dropped him from fourth to sixth overall and from first to second in the classification for privateer racers.