Girolami to race for Volvo in WTCC's Japan round

Girolami tested with Volvo at Termas de Rio Hondo in Argentina, following the last round of WTCC season, joining regular Thed Bjork.

Robert Dahlgren, meanwhile, returned to Sweden to take part in the Scandinavian Touring Car Championship at Karlskoga.

With Dahlgren in contention for the STCC drivers’ title, 11 points behind teammate Richard Goransson, the Swedish manufacturer decided that Dahlgren would compete in STCC in the last two rounds of 2016, which clashes with WTCC rounds in Japan and China.

“I am very grateful to Polestar Cyan Racing for this opportunity to race in Japan,” said Girolami. “I will give all my best to have a great weekend.

"I have followed their track record and I am privileged to be in such a professional team. I shared the race weekend with the team and I learned a lot about the car before the test.

"My goal for Japan is to take this one step further and above all demonstrate that I have the speed, engineering skills and race craft to become a part of the team in the future.”

Girolami’s arrangement with Volvo is currently for one race only. The 27-year-old last raced at Vila Real in Portugal last year for Nika International Honda team, and currently competes in the Stock Car Brasil Championship for the EisenBahn Racing Peugeot team.

“We have chosen to let Robert focus his efforts on the STCC as he is in a competitive position for the title,” said Alexander Murdzevski Schedvin, head of motorsport at Polestar.

“At the same time utilise the unique opportunity to test Nestor during a race weekend, something that will be different next year when our championship title challenge phase begins.”

Neil Hudson / TouringCarTimes