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.