Photo: WTCC Media

Lada hope track knowledge will bring results at Porto

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LADA Sport Lukoil drivers James Thompson and Mikhail Kozlovskiy head to a track where they both have experience this weekend at the Circuito da Boavista in Porto, Portugal.

Thompson last raced at Porto when the World Touring Car Championship first visited the street circuit back in 2009, then in his first year with the Lada programme, competing with the larger Priora model, whilst Kozlovskiy took two wins in the WTCC-supporting European Production Series in 2011 behind the wheel of a Russian Bears Racing SEAT León Supercopa.

Coming off the back of their best weekend to date at home in Moscow, Thompson is looking to add more points to his tally at the fast Portuguese track, with his Lada Granta Sport again carrying minimum weight. The two-time British Touring Car champion moved up into 14th place in the drivers’ standings after Moscow, adding 10 points to his tally in race one but was eliminated in race two in a multi-car accident involving Honda’s Gabriele Tarquini and ROAL BMW’s Tom Coronel.

“Street circuits are never easy to overtake on,” said Thompson, “so the main task will be to secure a good qualifying result and make sure that we are as close to the front of the grid as possible for both races.

“As we were able to see from the latest round in Moscow, we’re in good shape now and I think we’re going to be able to keep on securing some top results in future. I know Porto a bit as I raced here with the Lada Priora four years ago at the start of our adventure together. Now I’m really excited to be back again with a new and more competitive car: the Lada Granta. I’m just really looking forward to the weekend ahead.”

Thompson’s 23-year-old Russian team-mate Mikhail Kozlovskiy is also optimistic ahead of Porto, echoing his team-mate’s optimism.

“This is a quite a fast lap, but as it’s a street circuit, some tactics such as slipstreaming aren’t really going to work efficiently,” he said.

“You can’t really hit the same sort of top speeds as you can on the permanent circuits, but that doesn’t make it any less of a challenge. I’m still feeling confident though! Boavista is not new to me, I raced here in 2011 in the European Production Series.”