Motorsport News
Tough Start for Volvo C30 in the STCC
By source: Polestar Racing
May 12, 2008, 19:24

Race no 1: Tough start for Volvo in STCC

"We have gained more experiences at this premiere race at Knutstorp than during the whole pre-season. Our new C30 racing car has an enormous potential and we take steady steps forward", says Volvo driver Robert Dahlgren, who had to retire after a collision on the first lap.

Team mate Tommy Rustad ended at eleventh position. Despite that, he was very satisfied with the weekend.

"I drove more today than I've test driven the new car earlier", he says.

The Volvo Polestar Team has changed to a brand new car for the 2008 season. The C30 ethanol racing car has gone from a blank sheet to competition in just six months. It was no surprise that the premiere was going to be a challenge.

BMW took a grandslam. Richard Göransson won. Team mates Fredrik Ekblom and Robin Rudholm were second and third.

Race no 2: Fault-free Dahlgren pushed off whilst leading
The Volvo team was five laps from victory in the second STCC race of the season at Sturup Raceway. A dubious manoeuvre from the second placed Honda driver Thed Björk changed the result from a total jackpot to no points.

In the second race of the season, in this year STCC saw for a long time that this would be Volvos weekend. Robert Dahlgren was fastest in Sundays free practice session, fastest in the initial qualifying and secured pole position in super pole. His team mate Tommy Rustad secured fifth start position. Dahlgren went on to control the race from start and until five laps from the end, when second placed Honda driver undertook a rather uncontrolled overtaking manoeuvre at the fastest part of the track. Instead of passing Dahlgren, he pushed him off the track. While Thed went off as well, Robert Dahlgren was stuck in the run off area.

- In spite of a bitter end to the competition it still feels like we made a fantastic step forward and showed the competition that the C30 is a car to have respect for. We wont let today's incident on Robert influence us but we will continue our sporting strategy says Alexander Murdzevski Schedvin, Motorsport Manager at Volvo Cars Sweden.

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