Thed Björk excluded due to ride height failure, Valente inherits Opening Race pole

Polestar Cyan Racing’s Thed Björk has had his sixth fastest time from qualifying wiped out after his Volvo S60 TC1 failed the ride height test in scrutineering, sending the Swede to the back of the grid for both races.

The removal of Björk from the qualifying results changes the order for the first race of the day tomorrow, with Honda’s Rob Huff effectively demoted to second as he’s now classified as ninth in the combined qualifying results, and with Lada’s Hugo Valente promoted to pole position for the Opening Race.

“We checked it in Q1 and it was OK when I went in, but something happened afterwards and we don’t know,” said Björk to TouringCarTimes. “I don’t think I went over anything, so we don’t know, but the pace from free practice shows we are there.”

Björk will now start 16th on the grid for both races tomorrow, while team-mate Ekblom will start third and eighth for the day’s two races, after his car was cleared.

“I was looking forward to starting fifth and sixth and starting in the pack, but now I have to start from the back and have a race from there,” added Björk.