LADA will contest two rounds of the 2012 World Touring Car Championship, it has been announced. The Russian car company’s parent AvtoVAZ has confirmed that TMS Motorsport will enter a Lada Granta for two rounds of next season’s championship.
Russia’s most famous motoring brand was last seen in the WTCC in 2009 when a trio of cars were run for Viktor Shapovalov, Jaap van Lagen, Kirill Ladygin and mid-way through the season James Thompson. It was Thompson who took the team to their strongest-ever finish in the championship with a brace of sixth-placed finishes late in the season at Imola.
The LADA Granta has recently been developed to compete in the LADA Granta Cup. Although not an S2000 series, it is understood that TMS are currently working on an S2000-specification version of the car.
The S2000 Granta is expected to appear at Hungary’s Hungaroring in Budapest on the 6th May 2012 and again at Portugal’s Estoril on the 3rd June 2012. It is anticipated that this will lead up to a full assault on the series in 2012.