Lukoil Racing confirm Tarquini and Dudukalo

Gabriele Tarquini and Alexey Dudukalo will team once again in the 2012 WTCC.

The 2009 World Champion and the young Russian will race under the banner of the new Lukoil Racing Team at the wheel of two SEAT León cars powered by a new 1.6-litre turbo engine that is going to be homologated by SEAT.

“I’m very happy because Lukoil confirmed me as one of their drivers, and I’m also proud because they appointed me to raise the next generation of Russia’s racers. Now I’m eagerly looking forward to the new season. We will race again with the old León, but I expect a lot from the new SEAT engine. I believe we will be a much stronger package than last year, and in the position to fight with Chevrolet,” Tarquini said.

Dudukalo added: “Last year our main problem was the engine, not enough powerful and reliable compared to our competitors. This time we will not have this problem, and furthermore we can rely on better experience and technical support.”

Team director Evgeniy Malinovskiy concluded: “I am glad that Tarquini remained in our team. He is a professional and victory-focused driver, whose experience will help us to grow stronger. This year will be very important for Dudukalo; he won many Russian titles, but lacked experience in competition at such a high level. Now we expect more consistent results from him. WTCC is one of the most effective marketing and sporting tools for Lukoil; it is an excellent platform to create guest programmes for partners.”

Lukoil Racing Team will hit the track for pre-season testing in the first days of February.