Photo: WTCC Media

James Thompson to race for Lada Sport

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James Thompson will return to WTCC driving duties this season with Lada, as they enter two rounds of the championship at Hungary and Portugal with the new Lada Granta.

Thompson last drove in the WTCC in 2009, again with Viktor Shapovalov’s Lada team, then in the Priora. Most recently, Thompson has raced in Sweden for Volvo and made a one-off appearance for Motorbase Performance in the final round of the 2011 BTCC season.

“I’m really pleased to have this deal,” said Thompson, speaking to AUTOSPORT magazine. “There’s a totally new structure at Lada as far as racing goes, and that gives me a lot of confidence that this can go somewhere.”

Thompson also confirmed that race engineer Marco Calovolo will assist with the development of the car, but won’t be present with Lada at their race appearances due to clashing duties with the Proteam Racing team.