LADA Sport LUKOIL score valuable WTCC points in Budapest

The LADA Sport LUKOIL team has come away with valuable points following round four of the FIA World Touring Car Championship, which was held at the Hungaroring in Hungary this weekend. The two LADA Granta drivers started from the middle of the grid for both races, which gave them a tough task when it came to climbing up the leaderboard. Once more, the FIA WTCC weekend was action-packed, with many of the top drivers eliminated just after the race start in various incidents and accidents.

In Race One, a number of cars got caught up in a clash between Tom Coronel and Tiago Monteiroincluding the LADA Granta of Britains James Thompson. James had got up to 16th thanks to some excellent overtaking moves before he was forced to stop. His team mate Mikhail Kozlovskiy managed to survive the carnage and finish 17th.

Race Two also brought plenty of action but more success for James this time, who finished 12th. The race got off to a dramatic start with a spectacular collision between Gabriele Tarquini and Franz Engstler on lap one, who were both subsequently taken to hospital for a check-up.

Between the two races, LADA asked to take Jamess car out of parc ferme in order to have extra time to complete repairs following the accident in the first race. The request was granted but it meant that James would have to start from the back of the grid in 22nd place rather than his 16th grid slot.

Mikhail kept up his perfect finishing record to come 20th in Race Two.

In the manufacturers championship, LADA bagged another 50 points in Hungary. This brings the Russian teams total up to 179 points: the second-classified official manufacturer in the rankings.

James Thompson said: Race One was unlucky because of the crash straight after the start in the first corner, but this is part of the sport sometimes. Thats the thing with touring car racing: the drivers fight wheel to wheel and as a result it can sometimes end up as a contact sport. Once more we saw that this weekend: when a few cars came together in Race One and I was hit from behind and it was all over for me. Race Two was a lot more successful for us. On the whole Im pleased with the speed of the car and the new parts we tested. Hopefully well be able to show some even better results at the next round in Austria, and keep on testing new ideas that will help us get significantly faster.

Mikhail Kozlovskiy added: On the whole this weekend wasnt too bad for me; with the possible exception of the final results and outright lap times, which probably dont accurately reflect our potential. Nonetheless weve certainly made progress, although we need to carry on working hard. Hopefully the tests weve got planned at the Smolensk Ring near Moscow at the end of the month will be useful. I generally felt that we had good pace in Race One this weekend. In Race Two we struggled a bit from the start, as the set-up wasnt quite right. We got involved in a few scraps but our rivals benefitted from that. Over the final few laps I was fighting with Hugo Valente: first he overtook me and then I got the place back. On the final lap the pace of my car wasnt particularly good so Valente was able to overtake me again. The main aim now is to find a set-up that works well for the whole race. In Race One I think we achieved that, so our target is clearly to build on this progress.

Team principal Victor Shapovalov concluded: It wasnt a bad weekend but it could have been better. The car is acceptable at this point but we have been a bit unlucky with crashes since the start of the season. Theres no point in complaining though as this is just part of touring car racing. We simply need to create a bit more luck for ourselves. Hopefully we will manage to exploit the clear potential of the car better in the next few races.


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