Lada Sport to focus on development

After taking part in the events in Hungary and Portugal, the LADA Sport team will not race in any of the remaining WTCC meetings.

Sticking to the original plan, the Russian team will focus on testing and technical development, with the aim to join the whole 2013 season.

The 11th place achieved in the second race at Portimão by James Thompson and his LADA Granta Sport was considered a positive result by team principal Victor Shapovalov: “It was not bad. This was the first time the car did not suffer from any technical issues and it showed a good potential. Now it’s up to us to develop it and make a further step forward.”

In Portugal’s first race, Thompson was chasing the drivers who were fighting for the 9th, 10th and 11th positions, before retiring on the last lap with a broken drive shaft.

“I was pleased to see that the car is fast. The engine built by Oreca is powerful and has a very good range. This enabled me to keep a good pace and not losing contact with the likes of Monteiro, Oriola and D’Aste. It was nice that we were able to run for the whole race distance. We have a lot of work to do, but we also get the time to homologate the car and develop it enough to aim for making the top ten next year,” Thompson said.