Volvo Polestar Racing V8 Supercar driver lineup confirmed

Swedish driver Robert Dahlgren will partner rising Kiwi star Scott McLaughlin in the new factory-backed Volvo Polestar Racing outfit in the 2014 V8 Supercar Championship.

The 34-year old Swede arrives with several years of Volvo S60 Polestar racing experience and road car development, most recently finishing a hard-fought and credible third place in the 2013 Scandinavian Touring Car Championship for Volvo Polestar Racing.

“V8Supercars is one of the toughest [championships] in the world,” Dahlgren commented, referring to his first experience in 2006 of seeing the series in Darwin. Dahlgren was obviously impressed as he pursued a full time seat in Australia’s elite motorsport category.

Dahlgren will need to rely on his previous Volvo racing experience as the V8Supercar rookie looks down the barrel of his biggest motorsport challenge to date.

“The car I’m used to racing is a bit different, still a Volvo S60 Polestar but … [it] is a DTM [German Touring Car Masters car].  This V8Supercar is completely different and I have to learn a lot of new things…such as sitting on the right side of the cockpit,” Dahlgren says.

The 2014 V8 Supercars Championship will mark 27 years since Volvo last raced in the then-Australian Touring Car Championship. The Volvo Polestar V8 Supercar team will enter the category a year after the introduction of the Car of The Future control chassis formula, and will join segment stalwarts Holden and Ford along with the Nissan and AMG efforts that entered the series in 2013.

Volvo’s entry to the sport has been aided by pairing with the formerly Holden-aligned Gary Rogers Motorsport, where Dahlgren replaces Frenchman Alexandre Premat who drove for the team in the 2012 and 2013 championships.

Progress and testing for the Volvo Polestar Racing S60 and its Volvo B8444S production-based V8 engine have been heavily guarded, although team principal Garry Rogers admits: “at this stage we are looking fair,  but I think we can improve from fair to very good, very soon!”.

The Volvo racers will make their first public appearance on February 15 at the initial 2014 V8 Supercar test day at Sydney Motorsport Park. This will give the teams a mere 12 days to iron out any issues before the 2014 V8 Supercar Championship kicks off in Adelaide with the Clipsal 500 on March 2nd.

First published at MyDrive: Volvo Polestar Racing V8 Supercar driver lineup confirmed