Gabriele Tarquini says Lada ‘better than we showed’

Lada endured a tough weekend at Termas de Río Hondo, Argentina. The Russian cars were far off the pace in qualifying and, on top of the performance issues, Gabriele Tarquini also had to undergo an engine change after free pratice.

“I think we were better than our results really showed today,” said the Italian. “We had a bad qualifying and that put us to the back and from there it’s always hard. I think we probably had the pace for the top 10. We couldn’t have fought for a podium this time, but we were better than we showed.”

Nicky Catsburg lost his third place in the championship, but he track time and improvements in his driving still make him rate the Argentinian weekend as positive: “I’m actually quite happy because I think I am improving as a driver,” said the Dutchman. “My starts are getting really good and we improved the car a lot through the races. I think if I had started the main race in, say, 5th position I could have held that pace. I am looking forward to Japan to try and make up for the ground lost this weekend.”

Hugo Valente failed to finish in both races, despite being the fastest of the trio in qualifying: “It was a frustrating weekend for me with being the quickest Lada in qualifying only a very small consolation. In the first race I was battling closely with Nicky having a nice battle but on lap 5 I had a loss of power and had to pit. In Main Race I hoped for better but a puncture (probably caused through contact with Gregoire Demoustier’s Citroën) saw me once again have to retire from the race.”

Lada scored two wins this year, both at their home race in Russia.