Lynk & Co Cyan Racing wins first world championship race for a Chinese manufacturer
Lynk & Co Cyan Racing has achieved something great here – achieving victory in their maiden outing as a racing team in the World Touring Car Cup (WTCR) in the first race of the season. This is also the first win for a Chinese manufacturer in an FIA-sanctioned world championship.
They looked threatening all weekend, and even getting so close to the top podium place in Race 1 as Thed Bjork finished second behind Esteban Guerrieri driving his Honda Civic TCR. But it was the third race where Thed exceled, fighting off Frederic Vervisch in an Audi RS3 LMS who gave a tight battle. All in all, the weekend resulted in one victory, three podium finishes, second place in the team standings, and lead in the driver’s championship for Lynk & Co Cyan Racing.
"This is a historic moment for Chinese automotive industry, with Lynk & Co claiming the first ever World Cup motorsport victory by a Chinese car manufacturer. This is an incredible start to the season. I wish to thank our partners Shell and Denso, and above all, Cyan Racing. We wish the team the best of success in the coming races," said Mr. Victor Yang, Vice President of Communications at Zhejiang Geely Holding Group.
The team consists of four drivers: Yvan Muller, Andy Priaulx, Thed Bjork and Yahn Ehrlacher, which is arguably the strongest line-up of drivers in the championship with 79 victories and eight titles world touring car titles between them.
Actually, four-time world champion Yvan Muller would have been on the top step of the podium in Race 3 had a suspension failure not caused him to retire and passing the lead to Thed. "I was really disappointed to retire from the lead after showing strong form in both qualifying and the races," said Yvan Muller. "But I am very happy for the team, delivering a victory and points lead on debut with a manufacturer that is completely new to motorsport, Lynk & Co."
“Everyone in the team has worked so hard during the winter and to win in the debut race of the all-new Lynk & Co 03 TCR race car is a fantastic reward for all involved," said Thed Björk.
"We were a bit surprised by our speed, especially as this is one of the toughest fields in the history of touring car racing. I can't thank everyone in the team enough, this is a fantastic start to continue building on for the remainder of the season that no doubt will be ultra-challenging," he added.
Based on the race performance from all drivers and teams, we can expect to see intense and close racing once the championship reaches Sepang for the first time. The WTCR Race of Malaysia is the tenth-round and season-ending race which will happen from 13 to 15 December 2019.
