Volvo's plan to conquer the WTCC

Volvo is back in international motorsport, and it's ready to make its mark again.

Having dominated its domestic scene for the previous four years, and with an established V8 Supercars project in good health, the marque has decided the time is right to take on its biggest challenge to date, with a two-car assault on the World Touring Car Championship through its motorsport partner, Polestar Cyan Racing.

That Volvo has reached its decision at a time where it has stability in its other projects is beneficial, but it owes nothing to the green-lighting of its WTCC programme.

It's no secret that Volvo has wanted to be immersed in the championship for some time, but the timing wasn't right when it undertook an evaluation campaign with Robert Dahlgren in 2011. Instead, it has planned its return with Polestar meticulously over the past five years - although it took some pushing from its partner.

"I'm as excited as I can get, I guess," says Polestar team principal Christian Dahl of his team's impending involvement in the WTCC. "I'm not the most emotional person but I've been fighting for this for a really long time together with Volvo."

Dahl is all smiles, and it's easy to see why. Having been part of the original team, Flash Engineering, before purchasing its assets to build Polestar (along with its Performance division, which is part of Volvo) into the company and racing team it is today, his outfit will soon fulfil his ambition of a committed assault on the WTCC.

Add in the vital element that Polestar was granted the preferred budget and technical support it asked Volvo for, and you can see why there is such anticipation about the project this time around.

"It's been a long run," he admits. "We started 10 years ago to try to go there, but I think in the last few years... 2011 was more immature; for Volvo it was a bit of an underground project to see what the championship was.

"Unfortunately outside circumstances made it impossible to continue at that time. Volvo was changing ownership to Geely [and] there were starting to be talks about new [WTCC] regulations.

Swede Rickard Rydell wrapped up the 1998 BTCC title with one round to spare © LAT

"At the time it was really disappointing that they didn't want to continue, but in hindsight I think it was a good decision in a way because just two years later, in 2013, we started looking at it again.

"Now, I think, commercially and technically everything fits together - but it's been a long run."

Once the TC1 regulations were established, Volvo saw the time was right to undertake a fresh challenge, and started to design its challenger more than two years ago. By the time the project was officially launched in October its return to the WTCC was one of the worst-kept secrets in motorsport, but it was certainly worth the wait - at least from an aesthetic perspective.

The S60 with which it will compete is the car that Volvo and Polestar always wanted to run in the championship, but only with the introduction of the TC1 regulations has that become possible. It's your quintessential TC1 WTCC car, with a 1.6-litre, four-cylinder turbo engine and a tasty 400bhp, six-speed sequential gearbox and a mix of steel and carbon fibre bodywork; nothing extraordinary in the specs, but the S60 certainly looks the part - especially in cyan.

Testing started last summer, too, so expect the challenger - in the hands of combined four-time domestic champions Thed Bjork and Fredrik Ekblom - to have some pace out of the box. That's certainly Volvo and Polestar's ambition, and the team's ultimate goals are just as bold as the looks of its challenger, if not a bit more long-term.

"The plan is simple; touring car racing is part of the DNA of our company in terms of motorsport, we have raced almost every national championship I can remember and we are four-time consecutive Swedish champions," says Alexander Murdzevski Schedvin, Polestar's head of motorsport. "But obviously we are looking for a challenge - to bring home the WTCC title to Sweden.

Volvo's S60 V8 Supercar finished on the podium in just its second start in 2014 © LAT

"The championship has very good connections to the history, tradition and values of how Volvo like to participate in motorsport. We can use a product that is closely related to what we sell as performance products; a global calendar, and technical regulations which are basically spot on to utilising our technology and future technologies as well.

"We know that the first year will be a learning year for us, but that's the whole plan - it's a multi-year engagement. We hope that we will learn really quickly in '16, challenge for podiums in '17 and then make life a little bit more difficult for the frontrunning teams and battle for the title. That is the Swedish modest ambition."

Murdzevski Schedvin's line raises a smile, but it's an accurate reflection of the project. There's plenty of optimism in the camp about its assault on the WTCC, but if anything that's surpassed by an understanding of how much work is still required before Polestar can reach that point.

This is a project of which Volvo and Polestar want to be proud, and starting with realistic ambitions is a good way to ensure it realises its biggest one - that of winning the championship.

"I think we have a good chance to do it - of course, it's a fantastic challenge, but over a couple of years I think we can do it, and we have the resources we wanted," says Dahl. "I think with a few years under our belts we can challenge."

Volvo's quest to lift the crown will likely hinge on two developments outside its control. On the one hand, its route to the top has probably been made easier by Citroen's decision to withdraw from the WTCC at the end of this season to focus on its rallying efforts.

But as a counter to that, Citroen's closest challenger (a term used loosely) in 2015, Honda, has sent a real signal of intent after signing 2012 champion Rob Huff away from fellow manufacturer Lada, as well as two-time independent champion Norbert Michelisz, to an extended three-car line-up alongside Tiago Monteiro.

Volvo enters the WTCC as Citroen starts winding down its dominant programme © XPB

Citroen's exit was met with neither a great deal of shock nor sadness in the WTCC paddock, the marque having dominated the previous two years of competition. It is likely to continue to exert that grip for a third year in 2016.

The results speak for themselves; Citroen has done a remarkable job since joining. 38 wins from the 47 races in the past two seasons is unprecedented. Giving Jose Maria Lopez the opportunity to finally show the world his worth has paid dividends, with two crushing drivers' title successes.

But just as Mercedes' dominance in Formula 1 has been deemed bad for box office, Citroen's achievements in the WTCC have had a stifling effect on competition. Citroen's own team principal, Yves Matton, has admitted that his outfit set the bar too high.

There is renewed hope that Citroen's exit can be good for the WTCC, belief that its dwindling public profile can be revitalised by new players and by the prospect of a great scrap for honours. Two seriously quick new drivers at Honda, Polestar outlining its goal to be in championship contention quickly, and talk of another new manufacturer in 2017 all point to the WTCC's fortunes changing.

"As much as we needed Citroen to come in, we need them to leave," said Huff at the end of last year. "Ultimately they're just too strong for anyone and the problem is that they have done the most amazing job.

"If you take them out of the championship, the Honda, Chevy and the Lada are all pretty close, and with Volvo coming in... I'm sure they will be straight on the pace and a force to be reckoned with. They've been around before and we know they can produce a very good car.

"With four manufacturers all running at the same sort of pace, we've got a heck of a championship back on our hands again, and that's what we need at this point in time. We don't need another Citroen."

That end of the bargain is one that Dahl hopes his team can uphold, for the sake of Volvo and Polestar's reputations, and that of the WTCC.