The LADA Sport LUKOIL team showed some promising speed and claimed excellent results Saturday in qualifying at round six of the FIA World Touring Car Championship: Moscow Raceway, the squads home event. James Thompson set sixth-fastest time in qualifying two, which means that he will start Race One from sixth place and Race Two from fifth place (under the FIA WTCC reversed grid rules). Driving the other LADA Granta, Mikhail Kozlovskiys pace was good enough for the top 12 but he was unlucky at the exit of the final corner. Unfortunately his car slid off and valuable seconds were lost. As a result, Mikhail will start both races on Sunday from 20th placebut he is confident that the support of local fans can help boost his race performance.
After sealing his excellent grid positions, James Thompson commented: Im very pleased and this is a great reward for the whole team. Weve been a bit unlucky up to now to be fair, which has sometimes prevented us from showing the speed and potential that is in the car. Today has just been fantastic, and theres no better place for this to happen than at LADAs home race in Moscow. Starting from sixth in Race One and fifth in Race Two is a very competitive showing. It was not easy at all but we did it and thats what counts. Id like to say a big thank you to my rapid young team mate Mikhail; he gave me a very good tow and did an amazing job. His speed was quick enough for me to make the very most of it. Now well hopefully have two good races tomorrow.
His team mate Mikhail Kozlovskiy added: The first lap was not bad at all, but unfortunately I made a mistake under braking for the last corner and all that good work was undone in just a few seconds. When we put on a new set of tyres, I didnt get the chance to find a tow. At the exit of the final corner I lost time because of the car in front of me. Of course, our lap times have been better than in testing and free practicewhich shows the progress we are making all the time but today we couldnt quite get the result we wanted. Tomorrow its going to be hard to overtake, but I always set myself the highest possible goals in races and were going to be trying really hard.
Team principal Victor Shapovalov concluded: We always said that the hard work from the whole team would eventually translate into good performance. And Im really pleased that its happened here at our home race. Weve prepared for our home race in Russia better than ever before. We gathered all the data from the previous rounds, analysed it carefully, and did a lot of testing in Smolenskfrom which we learned a lot. Our drivers both did a perfect job for the team today, showing great sportsmanship, and now were all really looking forward to tomorrow.
As usual, the WTCC from Russia will be broadcast live by Eurosport. Race One will be broadcast at 13:00 (local time) and Race Two one hour later, at 14:00.
