Positive weekend for Lada on 2012 debut

Lada had a good weekend on its return to the World Touring Car Championship after leaving at the end of 2009 in Hungary this weekend, with James Thompson confident the new Granta Sport has far more potential than the previous Priora.

The Lada Sport team ran the car with a newly built ORECA 1.6 turbocharged engine this weekend and were in the top ten in free practice 2, and looked set to threaten to break into Q2 in qualifying before stopping with an electrical problem.

Thompson was battling in the pack in race one before retiring after a temperature warning light signalled on the car, and was foreced to start at the back of race two, retiring on the second lap soon after being hit by Gábor Wéber’s BMW, for which the Hungarian received a drive through penalty.

“It was a tough weekend but a good weekend,” said Thompson to TouringCarTimes. “Taking the positives from it, the car’s got a lot of potential, but we just had a lot of new car maladies really. The braking systems, steering, all need refining.”

“We’ve got pace over one lap which is all you can ask when you’ve never turned a wheel, our pace I think was somewhere around the top ten, when we’re carrying maximum ballast like everyone else it’s damn good.”

The new car replaces the Priora which debuted at Porto in 2009, but Lada have taken a two year break from the WTCC before returning this weekend, and will again appear at Portimao next month with plans beyond that to be decided.

“We know what we wanted to do in 2010, and this is what we wanted to start with in 2010, but there’s a few things to sort out. It’s pleasing to say we’re within a second and of a half of the front, which is a more manageable amount.”

“It’ll be interesting to see what happens. We’ll do Portimao, we’ll treat it as two races and two test sessions, then see what Viktor (Shapovalov, Team Principal) wants to do, whether we want to do a little more development and maybe race again or just keep on developing throughout the year.”

“Although racing is great for showcasing what you’ve got, it’s not always the best for developing.”