Thed Björk climbs World Championship standings after superior victory at Monza
Thed Björk won the main race of the FIA World Touring Car Championship (WTCC) weekend at Monza in style, elevating him to second position in the championship. The four-time STCC champion won the race from pole position and set a new lap record to beat main rival and Honda driver, Tiago Monteiro. The victory has reduced the championship lead to 15 points from 18 points ahead of the weekend, for Björk to Monteiro.
“This was one of my best victories ever. I felt completely relaxed during the race and I never doubted that I was going to win. The team is super-happy, they have done a great job and we did what we had to do this weekend,” says Björk.
Nicky Catsburg had a tough first race, dropping down to finish eighth as he sustained front splitter damage at the start of the race. The second race saw him finish fourth, the result of which means that he is third in the championship behind team-mate Thed Björk.
“I am a little bit disappointed in my personal result; we should have done better, especially as Thed proved that we had the pace to win. I had contact in the first race and after that it was basically damage control. The second race was better, but I could not challenge the three guys in front. We need to look and understand why we didn’t score better, but overall a good weekend for the team,” says Catsburg.
Néstor Girolami had a tough weekend, retiring from third position in the first race with rear-right suspension damage. The Argentinian fought hard in the second race to snatch fifth place from Norbert Michelisz by a mere 0.001 seconds over the finishing line.
“The first race was obviously disappointing, but contact is a part of touring car racing and unfortunately something broke in the suspension. The second race went as we expected and I was happy to cross the line in fifth, just ahead of Norbert. I have lost some points, but there are still plenty of races left and I will be back,” says Girolami.
The WTCC weekend at the legendary Monza circuit in Italy saw Polestar Cyan Racing bag one pole position, a MAC3 victory, a new lap record and the main race victory, extending the lead over Honda in the manufacturers’ championship to 14 points.
Alexander Murdzevski Schedvin, Head of Motorsport at Polestar, says: “We had high expectations for the weekend and it was much harder than we ever could imagine. These are truly fantastic results from the weekend, thanks to an extremely solid effort by everyone in the team.”
The WTCC Race of Hungary on 13-14 May is next on the calendar.
WTCC Race of Italy
Circuit: Autodromo Nazionale Monza
Length: 5.793 km
Lap record (WTCC): 1:53.381 (Björk)
Results
Race 1 – Top 5
1 Tom Chiton Citroën C-Elysée 9 laps
2 Rob Huff Citroën C-Elysée +0.329
3 Tiago Monteiro Honda Civic +2.630
4 Esteban Guerrieri Chevrolet Cruze +6.899
5 Thed Björk Volvo S60 +7.793
…
8 Nicky Catsburg Volvo S60 +18.067
14 Néstor Girolami Volvo S60 +5 laps
Race 2 – Top 5
1 Thed Björk Volvo S60 12 laps
2 Tiago Monteiro +2.174
3 Rob Huff Citroën C-Elysée +2.779
4 Nicky Catsburg Volvo S60 +3.269
5 Néstor Girolami Volvo S60 +6.180
Q1 – Top 5
1 Néstor Girolami Volvo S60 1:52.218
2 Thed Björk Volvo S60 +0.056
3 Nicky Catsburg Volvo S60 +0.186
4 Rob Huff Citroën C-Elysée +0.536
5 Tiago Monteiro Honda Civic +0.704
Q2 – Top 5
1 Thed Björk Volvo S60 1:52.202
2 Tiago Monteiro Honda Civic +0.183
3 Nicky Catsburg Volvo S60 +0.205
4 Néstor Girolami Volvo S60 +0.286
5 Rob Huff Citroën C-Elysée +0.321
Q3
1 Thed Björk Volvo S60 1:52.505
2 Tiago Monteiro Honda Civic +0.316
3 Rob Huff Citroën C-Elysée +0.463
4 Nicky Catsburg Volvo S60 +0.508
5 Néstor Girolami Volvo S60 +4.821
MAC3
1 Volvo 3:53.448
2 Honda +2.004
Championship Standings
Drivers – Top 5
1 Tiago Monteiro Honda Civic 85 pts
2 Thed Björk Volvo S60 70 (-15)
3 Nicky Catsburg Volvo S60 50 (-35)
4 Norbert Michelisz Honda Civic 46 (-39)
5 Rob Huff Citroën C-Elysée 44 (-41)
…
8 Néstor Girolami Volvo S60 39 (-46)
Manufacturers
1 Volvo 198 pts
2 Honda 184 (-14)
Thed Björk climbs World Championship standings after superior victory at Monza https://t.co/NZVviP6pge pic.twitter.com/v8GgypfUzk
— Arrive Alive (@_ArriveAlive) May 2, 2017
