Polestar’s Head of Motorsport Alexander Murdzevski Schedvin has concluded that the team’s ‘all-Swedish’ approach is working after its drivers came away with points in the opening World Touring Car Championship meeting in France.
Both Björk and Ekblom managed to take home points in the first two races of the season, despite both drivers also recording non-finishes in one of the two races.
In the opening race, Björk brought his Volvo S60 home in seventh, whilst in the main race Ekblom managed a single point for tenth.
“We can conclude that our setup with a Swedish car, Swedish drivers and an all-Swedish crew is working,” said Murdzevski Schedvin. “Our mission for the first race was to gather data. We have done more than that with Thed giving us a great show in the first race and both drivers scoring world championship points.”
Björk himself was pleased with the weekend’s efforts, despite having had his qualifying times deleted on Saturday for failing the ride height check. That caused him to have to battle for his points on Sunday, starting both races from the back of the grid.
“I am really pleased with the weekend,” added Björk. “We have got a receipt that we are on the pace.
“We had some issues but that is to be expected and the team has done an amazing work with the car. I can’t wait to get to the next race in Slovakia.”
Ekblom retired from the opening race when his S60 picked up suspension damage whilst battling for points. However, the former STCC champion held on for points in the second race of the day.
“We have had a good first race and I am delighted leave Paul Ricard with points,” said Ekblom. “The car is fast and I am longing for us to sink our teeth in all the data we have gathered in order to sharpen our knives even further ahead of the rest of the season.”