Volvo decision in October

Decision time will come no later then the end of October about a possible expansion of Volvo's presence on the V8 Supercars Championship grid in 2015, as well as the future of Swedish driver Robert Dahlgren.

Outgoing Volvo Car Australia boss Matt Braid, who announced this week he was departing the company next month, offered that timing to v8supercars.com.au when quizzed about Volvo's 2015 V8 Supercars plans.

He also confirmed discussions had taken place with privateer team Erebus Motorsport V8 as part of that potential expansion: "We have had a chat to multiple teams and Erebus is one," he said.

Braid also offered a stout defence of the struggling Dahlgren, who he said could retain his spot at Volvo Polestar Racing/Garry Rogers Motorsport alongside Scott McLaughlin with a strong performance in the PIRTEK Enduro Cup.

"Robert has done a better job this year than people give him credit for. He has struggled a bit in the races in the biff and barge, but he has been the new kid on the block and the local street gangs have taken it upon themselves (to rough him up).

"But he has got good speed and he has done a great job linking us with (engine builder) Polestar and the advantages we have been able to pull out of that. But he has to perform, he still has time, all we can do is support him and wish him the best, but like everybody results count."

Dahlgren is running 25th and last on the points table in his rookie V8 Supercars season. The 34-year old has qualified twice in the top 10 but never finished a race that high.

Braid rated the chances of an expansion of the number of Volvo S60s on the grid for 2015 at 50:50.

"Yes, we would love to see more cars on the grid but there is a long way to go in a very short time. There is only so much time to make those sorts of decisions," he said. "Realistically you are talking by the end of October.

"The Volvo Polestar racing program is locked down, two cars. We have had approaches from numerous teams... if we actually agreed to all those we would probably have another six cars on the grid. That's not going to happen either."

"At this stage there are still a lot of questions around it and while it would be nice to have, we don't desperately need to have it for next season, I just hope we can sort a decision out in the next month."

Volvo has made no secret of its desire to increase its grid presence and rumours have swirled all year - especially of a link with Erebus, which completes a two-year customer sports deal with Mercedes-Benz AMG this year.

The speculation hit a higher gear when Volvo's global motorsport boss Derek Crabb visited the Queensland Raceway event and met with numerous teams and potential sponsors keen to get involved with the Volvo program, which has been stunningly successful in its debut year.

Of great appeal to many of the teams talking to Volvo is that a deal would bring with it at least some guaranteed factory support.

"If we went forward with a team or teams there would be a factory link there, but maybe not to the degree of what we are seeing with Volvo Polestar Racing," Braid confirmed.

"But certainly it is in our interest to hep whatever team we look at and if possible to do the best they can. We would not do it on the basis of 'here's our logo go for it', it would be making sure we work together quite strongly to achieve what we need to achieve.

"And that's a part of the consideration for this whole decision on next year - whose interested, what resources have they got, what can we provide and is it possible."

Braid also said he was not surprised the level of S60 road car sales was now coming back into line with 2013, after being well ahead in the first half of this year, a lift he had previously attributed to the successful efforts of McLaughlin and Volvo Polestar Racing.

"You may remember this time last year we started to ramp up our pre-race activity and the easy wins on the curve were going to be in the first half of the year given we didn't have much activity. We saw S60 ramp up in volume pretty much from this period last year and onwards till the end of the year.

"We know the (sales) gap will narrow down over these next couple of months, but we want to keep moving forward and we want to keep growing higher, so we have some good activities that will see us go higher in the back-end of the year."

Braid played a key role in bringing Volvo into V8 Supercars racing, but he insists his departure will have no affect on the program, which currently runs for three years.

Braid's place as VCA MD will be taken by former Volkswagen Group and Audi executive Kevin McCann.

Valvoline Racing GRM yesterday nominated pairings for the Wilson Security Sandown 500, with McLaughlin to drive with Alex Premat, and Dahlgren with Greg Ritter, as expected.