Thed Björk believes he ‘has to do something clever’ to stay at the top of the FIA World Touring Car Cup (WTCR) field, despite taking a lights-to-flag victory in the opening race in Ningbo.
Having taken his seventh pole of the season, Björk romped away at the front of the field in the first race, elevating the YMR driver up to third overall in the drivers’ championship standings.
The Swede has been at the top of the times for the whole weekend so far in China, and put his victory in race one in part due to Frédéric Vervisch and Esteban Guerrieri battling each other for second early in the race.
“It was a really nice race for me starting from pole,” said Björk. “I made a good start, otherwise I would have expected a really hard fight from both Esteban and Frédéric.
“I got away clean and built a small gap to Esteban when they were fighting each other and could hold that, so it was a really nice race for me.
“It’s not easy to lead as well, but I’d rather be there than chasing. I could control the car and the set-up was fantastic. Clearly my car was in the window from first practice all the way through to the race. I’m really happy with the performance.”
Björk is now just 24 points from the top of the table with 11 races still to run in the season, admitting that he is pleased to start the second phase of the season with a controlling victory.
“When we have such a long summer break and still so many points to fight for, the goal was to get it back as soon as possible, be on the edge and see where I can go.”
However, the Swede believes that he will have to up his game for Sunday’s qualifying and two races, including the reverse-grid race, in order to remain at the sharp end of the field.
“I’m just focussed on tomorrow [now]. There are three races per weekend which is fantastic, lots of points for the championship. I have to do something clever or they will beat me tomorrow.”
Second qualifying and races two and three take place on Sunday.