Lada happy with Priora test at Zolder

The Lada team enjoyed a positive test day at Zolder this week, as the team prepares to hand all drivers the new Priora at the next round at Oschersleben. The Priora made its race debut earlier this season in the hands of James Thompson at the Porto round of the World Touring Car Championship.

Alongside Thompson’s Priora, the team continued to race two Lada 110s for Jaap van Lagen and Kirill Ladygin, but the team aims to phase out the 110, giving both Ladygin and van Lagen the Priora when the WTCC season resumes at Oschersleben in September.

Thompson spent the day focusing on developing the cars suspension at the Belgian circuit, as well as building his confidence in the car.

The Priora has shown a gradual increase in competitiveness in the races at Porto and Brands Hatch, and conducting a test with a driver with the experience of Thompson providing insight can only serve to develop the car further.

Jaap van Lagen spent the day running the 110, using some similarities of the cars characteristics, to work on general set-up for the next rounds of the championship.

Viktor Shapovalov, the owner of the Russian Bears team, was pleased with the test day, as the team “completed a lot of extremely useful work”

“Over the course of the day we were able to try out various different solutions, which showed a lot of potential”, added Shapovalov.

The has another test day scheduled at Magny-Cours on August 22nd, where they will focus on engine development.

“We will continue now to work hard on development in order to keep on improving the car all the way to the end of the season”, said Shapovalov, clearly showing his team’s intentions to make the car as competitive as possible.

When Thompson joined the team in Porto, Shapovalov gave up his own race seat to focus on managing the team. However, due to Thompson’s commitments in the Australian V8 Supercar Championship’s endurance races, Shapovalov will step in for the race at Oschersleben.