LADA Sport Lukoil have confirmed that young Russian Mikhail Kozlovskiy will replaced Aleksei Dudukalo in the team for the forthcoming Moroccan round of the World Touring Car Championship.
The decision to drop Dudukalo has been taken after the Russian driver speared into the side of team-mate James Thompson during qualifying in Monza, taking both cars out of the race weekend.
Kozlovskiy, who competed in the Russian Racing Championship in 2012, will line up alongside experienced Brit James Thompson in Morocco.
Team Principal Viktor Shapovalov admitted that withdrawing from the first round of the year had been a big disappointment to the team and the manufacturer.
“It was very disappointing missing the first races of the year, but safety comes first and we did not want to take any risks,” explained Shapovalov. “The sort of repairs that were needed could only take place back at base in Magny-Cours and this is why we took that tough decision. Now our main task is to prepare ourselves for the races in Marrakech.”
LADA Sport Lukoil returned to base near Magny-Cours after the opening round of the championship in order to repair Dudukalo’s former car and to rapidly build up a replacement car for Thompson.
[…] the incident during qualifying at Monza, the team have called up young Russian Mikhail Kozlovskiy to partner double British Touring Car Champion James Thompson for the rest of the 2013 […]