Photo: WTCC Media

Lada rue missed opportunity to make the top ten at Marrakech

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LADA Sport Lukoil drivers James Thompson and Rob Huff are sure the new Granta Sport could have made the top ten in qualifying this weekend, but Huff was caught out by the red flag in Q1 and Thompson’s car is suffering from an unknown straight line speed issue as well as a lack of track time.

Thompson qualified 11th, just outside the all-important top ten at the Moulay El Hassan circuit, while team-mates Rob Huff and Mikhail Kozlovskiy will start 13th and 14th, just ahead of the BMW of Franz Engstler, who may be a threat at the start with his rear-wheel drive car.

Rob Huff was 13th in the final moments of Q1 and was set to improve on his final flying lap, which would have dropped his former team-mate and team boss René Münnich out of the top 12, but was caught out after Campos Racing’s Petr Fulín crashed out at the second chicane.

“The run on my second set of tyres was cut short by a red flag. I was about a second up on my best time and would have comfortably made it into the top ten, even with the vibration,” said Huff. “So it’s frustrating because we definitely have a lot more pace in the car, but we always knew this would be an uphill struggle.”

“We’re suffering with the language barrier at the moment and I’m having to start learning Russian quite quickly to make sure we solve issues and improve the car,” added Huff. “I had a vibration as soon as I left the garage, which prevented me from accelerating along the straights and pushing through the corners. It’s frustrating, but the team will pull the car apart once it’s out of parc ferme and solve the problem.”

James Thompson similarly was suffering with a problem with his Lada Granta Sport, but managed to qualify 11th despite only setting 12 laps in all three of the practice sessions before qualifying.

“My car has not been fast enough in a straight line compared to the other two all weekend and it wasn’t possible to follow cars, even in the slipstream,” said Thompson. “We’ve been blighted by various other teething problems too and, although I’m satisfied to have done the best I possibly could, it’s frustrating to come so close to breaking into the top ten. We need to figure it out and find performance overnight because this is one opportunity we’ve missed”