Rob Huff joins Lada with a two-year deal from 2014

2012 champion Rob Huff will join James Thompson and Mikhail Kozlovskiy at Lada behind the wheel of a new-for-2014 Lada Granta next season.

The 33-year-old will return to a manufacturer drive after one year racing for the independent Münnich Motorsport team in the WTCC, after Chevrolet left the Championship at the end of 2012 with whom Huff had driven since the Championship began in 2005.

“I’m absolutely delighted with this new association with LADA Sport Lukoil and it’s a massive thrill to be back with a manufacturer team,” said Huff.

“It will be an honour to work with such an ambitious and hard-working group of people who share my vision for the future. I’m also really excited about racing as a team-mate to James Thompson, because we’ve raced together for many years and I have a huge amount of respect for him.

“In fact, he won the British Touring Car Championship in 2004, which was my maiden season in touring cars. I’m determined to emulate the sort of success I had previously with Chevrolet, taking LADA Sport to the top in the WTCC. The team is still fairly new to the championship and I hope to be able to use my knowledge and experience to make an active contribution towards building a championship-winning outfit.”

Team Principal Viktor Shapovalov added: “We are very happy to have such a talented and experienced racing driver as a part of our team. LADA Sport Lukoil has made a significant progress since the start of the season. Through the current season, we have proved that Lada Granta car is capable of being in the top ten and fighting for top five positions.

“The competitive car together with the excellent driving skills of Rob Huff can contribute much to the team’s success. The increased driver line-up for 2014-2015 will help us to strengthen our positions in the Championship. In view of a forthcoming season with new manufacturers joining WTCC we set very ambitious goals. I am sure that the pair of drivers Huff-Thompson will be one of the strongest tandems in the Championship. Our young talented driver from Russia Mikhail Kozlovskiy will get even more experience cooperating with them.”