Lada and Lukoil close to deal for 2013

Lada Sport and Lukoil have confirmed that they are close to secure a deal for the 2013 FIA World Touring Car Championship.
“We are in the final stages of the negotiations and close to sign the agreement with LADA Sport. We hope that our support and experience in WTCC will help LADA Sport and that we will be one of the best teams,” said Evgeny Malinovskiy, head of Lukoil Racing.

Lada is going to run two cars next year for James Thompson, who did two races for the Russian manufacturer this year, and Aleksei Dudukalo.
“We are very pleased and proud with Lukoil’s decision to support our WTCC programme. The whole team are very motivated and work flat out to develop competitive cars for our drivers. We are very excited looking forward to the start of the season,” said Lada Sport team manager Victor Shapovalov.

Thompson took part in the WTCC races in Hungary and Portugal this year and while the Brit failed to score points, the team says that there is a lot of potential in the car and that their hopes are high for 2013.
“Testing said that the Granta is a fast car, with a powerful engine. We believe that Aleksei and James will be in the position to fight for top positions in every race,” said Shapovalov.