Lada drivers revel with best possible qualifying result at home

Nicky Catsburg, Gabriele Tarquini and Hugo Valente have been celebrating Lada Sport’s best Saturday in the World Touring Car Championship at the Russian marque’s home circuit, with Catsburg not only scoring his and the team’s first pole position, but with Lada locking out the top three spots with Tarquini and Valente right behind in a dramatic and wet qualifying session.

Catsburg dominated throughout each of the three segments, setting times consistently in the 1:57s well ahead of his rivals, with Tarquini and Valente completing the perfect result for the team.

Lada also celebrated winning their first MAC3 time trial event of the season ahead of Honda and Citroën, though that success was short-lived when Gabriele Tarquini’s false start earned the team a 30-second penalty dropping them to third.

“I’m absolutely amazed,” said Catsburg, who a week ago was testing for Chevrolet at Le Mans and was shortlisted as a possible replacement for the injured Paulo Ruberti.

“In Free Practice 2 it was wet and I was the slowest of the three Lada drivers and I was struggling, hoping for it to be dry. But I took some time to speak to Gabriele and he took some time to explain everything to me. I followed his advice, we made some set-up changes and it was all fine.

“I’m just as surprised as everyone else. I don’t know why we were so fast but it shows the team is doing some good steps forward and every race we are improving. I’m just super-happy that we did a 1-2-3 here in Russia in front of our fans and in front of our sponsors.”

Catsburg was joined by team-mate Hugo Valente in thanking Tarquini for helping them find the set-up for the wet conditions, which had worsened since Free Practice 2.

“I want to thank Gabriele for the experience he has brought to the team this year. It’s amazing to work with him,” said Valente. “He taught us a lot about driving in the rain today and thank you to Lada Sport Rosneft. It’s amazing to have a 1-2-3 here today.”

Reflecting on Catsburg’s achievement, scoring Lada’s first pole position in their fifth full season in the championship with the ever-improving Vesta WTCC, Tarquini added:

“I don’t know if I’m a very good teacher or if he is a very good student but the result is he beat everybody. I’m very happy, he deserved it, it was a fantastic qualifying and he was faster from the very beginning. I’m watching the team work. We work like a family and we share everything.

“I had a very good feeling and we share also the feeling and all three cars improved and I am very proud of this. I hope my experience helps and I can’t think of a better dream than 1-2-3 on the grid for our home race. Our dreams really came true today.”