Lada drivers Tarquini and Valente take the blame for missing the top ten

Lada Sport’s drivers were happy with the performance of the Vesta WTCC in qualifying at the Hungaroring, despite carrying 50kg of compensation weight this weekend, with drivers Gabriele Tarquini and Hugo Valente blaming themselves for missing the top ten.

Nicky Catsburg is the best placed of the Russian marque’s drivers after qualifying in seventh position, while Tarquini has qualified in 12th position, just one spot ahead of Valente in 13th.

“To be honest I was more happy in free practice with used tyres,” said Tarquini to TouringCarTimes, who’d topped FP1 and set the second fastest time in FP2 on Saturday. “The car’s working perfectly. I had a very good set-up and I was happy after Q1, but unfortunately I made a mistake in Q2 which cost me a few positions.”

Catsburg believes the top five shootout was achievable, but with the times so close, he’s not unhappy with the performance in qualifying.

“I’m disappointed to miss Q3,” Catsburg told TouringCarTimes. “I think it was in there but it’s not easy. I’m still quite happy with the car and the balance, with 50kg I was expecting a disaster, and after (Friday testing) I thought it was going to be a disaster, but we did some work and listened to Gabriele again…”

Tarquini added:
“Yes, after Free Practice 0, the car was the worst that we drove and we were all unhappy, but since Saturday morning it was better and better.”

Hugo Valente had his worst qualifying of the year so far. The Frenchman was tenth in the first two races of the season, which awarded him the reversed grid pole in France and Slovakia, but his #7 Vesta will line-up 12th and 13th for both of today’s races on the provisional grid.

“I made mistakes in Q1 and couldn’t recover,” lamented Valente. “I should have got ahead of Yvan (Muller, P12), but I f***** up my sector three and lost time there.”