Van Lagen tests new Lada at Zandvoort

After Viktor Shapalov tested the new Lada 110 WTCC last friday, it was Jaap van Lagen’s turn to take the new race car round the Zandvoort track last wednesday. The Dutchman was pleasantly surprised by the performance of the car.
“Of course there is still a lot of work left to do, but the base of the car is good”, Van Lagen said after his test drive.

The Dutch driver will make his debute with Lada in the World Touring Car Championship on May 18th, when the first European round will be held at Valencia. Van Lagen, who won the 2006 Renault Megane Trophy, will test before that at the official WTCC tests at Oschersleben, Germany on may 6th and 7th.

“The balance of the car wasn’t quite optimal yet, but despite that I was still able to set some hopeful laptimes”, Van Lagen said on his new car. “I’m looking forward to the tests and the first race weekend for us.”

Van Lagen will be sharing one car with Viktor Shapalov at the tests in Oschersleben. The Russian driver, also the team owner of Russian Bears Motorsport, and Van Lagen will focus on the brake balance during the test. During the test of Shapalov at Zandvoort last week the driver went off at the famous Tarzan corner, after his rear tires locked. “We expect to solve this problem with different brake cylinders”, Shapalov said.

The team will also work on the balance of the rear of the car. “At Zandvoort the rear tire didn’t have enough ‘bite'”, Van Lagen said. “We will experiment with the camber of the rear tires to find a good set-up. Now the car is a bit unstable at the back. The target is to get as much data as possible at Oschersleben.”

“We’re only at the beginning of the project, so we can still make a lot of progress. The Lada 110 WTCC really surprised me. We had very good lap times. I have a lot of confidence in the future. Perhaps we can get into the top three of the privateers at the end of the season.”