GRM/Volvo-related legal action just days away

The Melbourne-based Garry Rogers Motorsport squad will take legal action regarding Volvo/Polestar’s abrupt exit from both GRM and as a Supercars manufacturer, and the decision from Polestar’s partner Cyan to recall the engines and cars at the end of the current season.

It is understood the desired outcome is to hold on to the S60 chassis and engines for at least another season, in order to give the team time to strike up a fresh manufacturer or supplier deal.

According to team owner Garry Rogers, the case has been prepared and action should start within the next few days.

“We’ve had discussions with our legal people over a period of time, and we’ve tried not to get ahead of ourselves other than to gather all of the information that we would need to then proceed with some form of action,” he told Motorsport.com.

“Our party has told us that they have got all that ready, and we can basically get on with it. So that’s what we will be doing. It could take a few days, but I couldn’t see it taking much more than a few days.”

Specific parties not yet named

What isn’t yet clear is who specifically GRM will be taking action against. Volvo itself, its performance brand Polestar, and Cyan Racing all have a hand in the current arrangement, and could all come under fire from GRM’s legal proceedings.

But Rogers is keen to keep the specifics of the action under wraps – at least for now.

“We haven’t mentioned the parties associated, that will come out in due course,” he said. “That’s not to say that there win’t be certain parties that do become involved in this.”

Rogers added that the primary focus has been on leaving the Australian dealer network out of it, given how supportive it has been of Volvo’s involvement in Supercars, and based on Rogers’s own experience as a car dealer.

“What we’ve tried to do, we’ve tried to have serious discussions and negotiations with the Volvo group – and you can include Polestar, Cyan, everyone you like in that – because we were car dealers ourselves for near enough 50 years,” he said.

“We know what it’s like. The Volvo Dealer Group have been absolutely fantastically supportive of what we do, and we’ve made sure, where we can, not to make any problems that would affect those dealers. Because believe me, having been one, I know what it’s like.

“We certainly didn’t want have any publicity of any kind that would affect them, and we tried to avoid any publicity at all, but we’ve now got to the stage where we’ve been unable to have any central dialogue to resolve the issue.”

Polestar keeping quiet

Polestar, meanwhile, is staying quiet on the potential legal action, saying that it has has “no comments on this matter while it is ongoing” when contacted by Motorsport.com.

Additional reporting by Valentin Khorounzhiy