2 September 2015 – Volvo – the name stands for reliability, safety and performance in everyday road cars. Not so many people know, however, that the iconic Swedish brand has enjoyed many successes in motorsport as well. The Scandinavian Touring Car Championship (STCC) was founded as the largest touring car series in Northern Europe in 1996. Polestar Racing currently fields three powerful Volvo S60 Polestar STCC of around 420 bhp and are the reigning STCC champions powered by Castrol EDGE.
Castrol and Polestar started their successful partnership in 2001 when the team finished the STCC season runner-up behind team-mates Jens Edman and Jan “Flash” Nilsson.
2009 marked a milestone for Polestar Racing when it broke several records with the Volvo C30 powered by Castrol EDGE. Drivers Robert Dahlgren and Tommy Rustad claimed all pole positions – an STCC record still valid today – and claimed both the drivers’ and teams’ title. In 2010, Dahlgren and Rustad proved that their previous success were no coincidence by winning the team title for the second consecutive year.
In 2012, Polestar entered four Volvo S60s in the Sweden’s newly-formed TTA – Racing Elite League with drivers Tommy Rustad, Robert Dahlgren, Fredrik Ekblom and Thed Björk. The result was a record breaking Grand Slam with all three available titles: Fredrik Ekblom as drivers’ champion, Volvo Polestar Racing as teams’ champions and Volvo as the manufacturers’ champions.
The striking electric blue Volvo is driven by Thed Björk who won the STCC drivers’ title in 2013 and has refused to surrender it since then. With a stellar 2015 season performance, Björk has already ensured that Polestar Racing claimed the 2015 team title. As always, Björk appreciates the characteristics of his Volvo in racing conditions – and the qualities of Castrol EDGE. “I’ve been driving for Polestar Racing since 2012 and have been extremely successful since then,” says Björk. “The team prepares the car for the races superbly. The results show that the performance is right. The same is true of the engine oil that Polestar Racing uses in the STCC.”
With Polestar Racing and Castrol as a highly successful partnership in motorsport, fans of the Scandinavian Touring Car Championship and the Volvo brand alike can look forward to many more seasons of successful touring car racing in the Northern hemisphere.