Fredrik Ekblom will be back on FIA World Touring Car Championship duty with Polestar Cyan Racing at WTCC Race of China later this week.
Ekblom began the season with the factory Volvo outfit but switched to a test role in the summer after Robert Dahlgren was called up for the WTCC races in Portugal and Argentina. But with Dahlgren contesting the clashing Scandinavian Touring Car Championship title decider and Néstor Girolami, who raced the second Volvo S60 Polestar TC1 in Japan, double-booked in Brazil, Ekblom has been brought back into the fold.
“I am delighted to be back racing again and I am really keen to utilise the impressive progress made by the team in the past races,” said Ekblom, a long-term member of the Volvo Polestar family. “I am very much ready for this challenge in Shanghai, especially as the team and Thed have raced here before in the WTCC.”
Ekblom, who claimed the team’s joint best so far result with fourth in Hungary earlier this season, will partner regular team-mate Thed Björk in the #62 Volvo S60 Polestar TC1 Girolami raced at WTCC JVCKENWOOD Race of Japan earlier this month. His return to the Polestar line-up is eagerly anticipated.
“Fredrik’s extensive experience is vital to the progress of our programme, both in terms of testing and racing,” said Alexander Murdzevski Schedvin, Head of Motorsport at Polestar. “It is also vital for us to be able to continue to run different drivers in preparation for next season when our goal is to fight for victories, compared to this year that is only about gathering data.”
WTCC Race of China takes place at the Shanghai International Circuit from 23-25 September.