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VOLVO
Original Racing won the first leg of the Swedish Touring
Car Championship—the STCC—at Sturup Raceway in Skåne.
Truly a historic moment! Through its success last
weekend, Volvo, one of the very first manufacturers to
officially adopt the eco-friendly E85 fuel in the FIA’s
global Super 2000 product technical regulations, also
became the first in the world to win on ethanol power.
“There
were a few raised eyebrows when we decided to take to
the track with green fuel in keeping with our core
values, but our results here today and the FIA’s
decision last week to introduce ethanol in the world
championship series [the WTCC] in 2008 shows that
concern for the environment and motor sport can go hand
in hand,” says Alexander Murdzevski Schedvin, motor
sport manager at Volvo Personbilar Sverige AB.
“You
couldn’t get a better result than this,” says team
president Christian Dahl. “It’s a victory for Volvo, a
victory for the environment and a victory for Polestar
Racing!” This success is the joint result of everyone’s
efforts. It was an immense team operation that was
crowned by Robert Dahlgren’s skilled driving. “We’ve all
worked so hard on adjustment of engines, chassis, pit
stops, in fact, every single last detail, and
everyone—everyone—did his absolute best, and we ended up
doing so incredibly well. I just don’t have words to
describe my feelings right now!”
Head-on
Volvo’s STCC
contender
is the first car in the world to win a race on
bioethanol power.
The race
got off to a smooth start. Dahlgren took the lead from
the word go. During the first part of the race, he had
Johan Sturesson’s Peugeot snapping at his heels, and was
later followed bumper-to-bumper by Fredrik Ekblom, BMW.
But nobody was fast enough to get by.
The
Volvo team had to make a quick decision and decided on
an early pit stop. Once the competition decided to call
in for pit stops, too, things got decidedly hot for a
number of laps. “It was a bit exciting, especially when
Ekblom joined the fray and you could scarcely see the
daylight between our door handles, but I managed to keep
my cool. I think I was helped by the fact that my
wheel-change crew once again did a fantastic job—you’ve
just got to repay their extra effort by putting in that
little bit of extra effort yourself!” said Dahlgren
immediately after taking the checkered flag.
Dahlgren’s virtually perfect driving meant he simply
kept a firm hold of his lead. His closest competitor,
Jan Nilsson in a BMW, crossed the finish line four
seconds later.
In
Manila Viking Cars Inc. is the official distributor of
Volvo cars. The Volvo Makati office, showroom and
aftersales service center are at 2272 Chino Roces
Avenue, Makati City, while Volvo Ortigas Center is at
88 ADB Avenue,
Ortigas Center, Pasig City. Volvo Cebu is on A.S.
Fortuna Street, Banilad, Mandaue City. The 2007 Volvo
automobile line includes the compact all-new S40 and V50
Sportswagon, sporty S60, the flagship All-New S80 luxury
sedan, the rugged XC70 Cross Country and the
award-winning XC90 AWD.
For
details and inquiries: 893-6621 to 22 (Makati showroom);
or 637-0414 to 17 (Ortigas showroom). |
