MOTORSPORT: Volvo back in love with racing

As the Volvo global sales chief who declared 10 months ago that motorsport “does not conform with our brand” switches to sister brand Geely Auto today, the Swedish manufacturer has announced its support of a new World Touring Car Championship campaign.

Alain Visser wanted to concentrate Volvo’s sport efforts solely on the round-the-world sailing race, but now the Polestar high-performance vehicle company it acquired this year and Polestar’s official motorsport partner Cyan Racing are taking it back into the WTCC next year.

Polestar Cyan Racing will field a pair of Volvo’s S60s under the WTCC’s TC1 regulations that prescribe four-cylinder 1.6-litre turbocharged engines that produce about 400 horsepower.

The drivers have not been named, but Robert Dahlgren – the Swede who raced, unsuccessfully, in last year’s V8 Supercar Championship – is in the frame to be one of them.

It is not immediately clear what the latest decision means for Volvo’s participation in Australia's V8 Supercars Championship with 5.0-litre 600hp S60s – one of them driven by young New Zealand star Scott McLaughlin.

Volvo Cars Australia has always maintained it would review its position in the lead-up to the expiry of its contract with Garry Rogers Motorsport at the end of next year, which will be the last of V8s exclusively in the Australian championship ahead of allowing smaller-capacity turbocharged engines under the yet-to-be-finalised 'Gen2' rules in 2017.

Despite Belgian Visser’s opposition to motorsport, he has been largely credited with Volvo attaining record global sales – 465,866 vehicles last year and with sights on 500,000 this year.

Visser had wanted Volvo out of motorsport because he said it stood “for smaller engines and safety”.

As he moves to Geely Auto, which like Volvo is owned by China’s Zhejiang Geely Holdings, he will be replaced by Swede Bjorn Annwall, who has worked closely with Volvo the past five years through global consulting firm McKinsey & Co.

Polestar raced Volvos sporadically in the WTCC between 2007 and 2010 with entries for Dahlgren before a full campaign with him in 2011 in a C30.

It also made a one-off appearance in 2013 with multiple Scandinavian touring car champion Thed Bjork, another contender for one of next year’s two race seats.

The new Volvos will compete against Citroens, Hondas, Ladas and Chevrolets in the series, which will comprise 12 races on a calendar yet to be confirmed but visiting key markets China, Germany, Japan and Russia as the Swedish brand targets sales of 800,000 cars and SUVs by 2020.

“We have chosen the FIA (Federation Internationale de l’Automobile) WTCC as our global motorsport platform as it combines the cutting edge technology of our Volvo cars with exciting racing all over the world,” Polestar chief operating officer Niels Moller said.

“The championship enables us to further develop our technology and utilise development from the racing circuits directly to our products for performance-oriented Volvo customers.”

Polestar’s motorsport head, Alexander Murdzevski Schedvin, said the WTCC program would “boil down to one thing – to bring the world title to Sweden”.

“We have got respect for the task ahead of us that we take on with absolute commitment,” he said.

“This is a long-term effort and we have got an extensive testing program during the [northern] winter that will continue alongside our first WTCC season in 2016, which is all about learning.

“Racing touring cars is part of the DNA of our company.

"We are also at the time now [where] we are reigning four-time consecutive Scandinavian Touring Car Championship champions, and we are looking for a [new] challenge.

“The WTCC has a very good connection to the history, tradition and values of how Volvo like to participate in motorsport.

“As an engineering challenge, taking on the frontrunner today (Citroen), which has won 10 titles [across the World Rally Championship and WTCC], I don’t think you can find that in many other championships.

“So it's a fantastic challenge for us, which means that this is one of the biggest projects in the history of our motorsport heritage.

“We know that the first year will be a learning year for us, but that's the whole plan – it's a multi-year engagement.

“We hope that we will learn really quick in 2016, challenge for podiums in 2017 and then make life a little bit more difficult for the front-running teams in the championship and battle for the title.”

The WTCC is promoted by Eurosport Events, whose head, Francois Ribeiro, welcomed Volvo’s return because of its “strong pedigree” in the championship.

“It’s a big credit to the WTCC as a global platform to be selected by a premium brand looking to showcase its exciting performance brand, Polestar,” Ribeiro said.

“This will be a serious manufacturer entry with the design, chassis and engine development and running of the team all taken care of under one roof.”

FIA president Jean Todt said Volvo’s re-entry to the WTCC was “testament to the maturity of the championship and to the attractiveness of the TC1 regulations for manufacturers”.